It’s time, French coach shows, we walk up the stairs to the track. I mount the bike as he holds me and then he starts to push me up track as I pedal slightly. I’ve never had this luxury before, and he scolds me for pressing on the pedals. Who knew! Learning every time I ride.
There is a story that I remember as I was racing the points race and then there is the story I can tell after watching the YouTube video of the event. If you care to watch the video, here is a link to days 5-8, my race starts at about 4 hours 52 min. of the 5th day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONFLjqSwrcw&t=17535s The two stories are not necessarily the same story, surprising right? What I felt and experienced is fun to recall but the race can be a bit hectic and trying to remember where I was each lap or each sprint, well, gets mixed up some while I’m living it. Kudos to the officials at the velodrome for being able to sort out the confusion. I am not sure how they do it when there are 24 racers and the races are significantly longer.
The start line up, I am last of 3 riders at the rail, 4 other racers being held on the blue band as the official comes out and gives us the start talk, whistle to start, roll around one lap TOGETHER! What I didn’t remember is we had to do one extra neutral lap, possibly because I was sluggish off the start to get into the field, having significant doubt about this field. We get a start and I am off the back more than I should but close enough. The pace picks up right away, a bit unusual for this age group and a 40-lap race. Maybe the other strong riders want to drop the questionable riders. This is a Points race so every 10 laps the top 4 riders get points; the highest number of points wins overall. You don’t have to be the first one to cross the finish line to win. 9 laps in and I get distanced off the field, no points for me.
As I catch back to the field, realizing I have the wrong gear, I probably should have kept the 52 on. Race strategy these days, have a big gear, get it rolling and keep it rolling at a fast speed to keep others always behind. That’s not how I learned and grew into the sport, and I am learning quickly that I need to change methods.
The first seven laps are ok, somewhat fast and hard but I’m still wavering towards the back of the other 6. Lap 33 to go, I get gapped by 5 racers who then vie for the 30 to go sprint. I cross the start/finish line 5th, 30 meters off the faster 4. No points for Pat.
As usually happens after a sprint, the leaders ease up and gather their breath and relax. My goal is to catch them, and I do a few laps later, still 5th but in the draft of the other 4. Lap 26 to go, I’m near the front mostly because the pace is off and no one wants to lead and give others some draft.
Somehow, not sure how, I pick up 1 point at the second sprint, 20 laps to go. This is about the time Larry gets a lead on everyone and begins his march to try and take a lap which gets him immediately 20 winning points . I wasn’t aware I got the one lonely point, but I’ll take it. There are three slower riders, I pass them and keep looking back to make sure I put distance on them. I am with the top 3 fast guys, doing as much as I can to stay in the draft with about 15 laps to go. I get gapped off for the next sprint, 10 laps to go with no points to me again. Larry my friend is gaining on me and eventually gets in my draft at about 9 laps to go.
The get ready and warm up pen Larry and I are set up in the infield is on the back straight. As I get midway along that straight, I hear someone yell from inside the track “Half lap pulls”. I have no one ahead of me so I am confused. I do another lap and hear it again, and realize Larry is in my draft, about to lap me. He is stronger so I roll up and then get in his draft about Lap 7 to go. I’m still feeling ok and with Larry dragging me back up to the field, if you can call 3-4 riders a field, I get back into the lead group and Larry at about 4 laps to go.
There is one sprint left, points for it are double, 10, 6, 4 and 2 instead of then usual 5, 3, 2 and 1. 3 laps to go, I am 3rd in the lead group. With 2 laps to go we catch and overtake 2 other slower riders and as I move up track to not crash them, the Argentine racer slips between me and the slower riders and pulls away from me. Last lap bell rings and four of us are doing everything we can, well maybe not Larry as he knows he has won the event with his lap gained. Going into turn 3, Larry rolls up track and I roll under him and finish the race 3rd gaining me 4 points for a total of 5. Thanks Larry, I’m not sure you knew that you were gifting me some points, I appreciate it.
After the race Larry tells me that I really helped him gain that lap by allowing him to be in my draft for a few laps. That was nice to hear, although I suspect Larry was on pace to take that lap with or without me. Me getting in his draft certainly improved my finish position so I guess we helped each other.
Am I happy with the result? Is any athlete happy with a result that doesn’t result in a Gold Medal, top step of the Podium? The answer is Yes and No. I put my best out there and took another shot at a Worlds Podium. I missed it by about 200 meters and some extra effort that I couldn’t muster. The top three deserved to be the top three and I will take 4th proudly. As someone has told me repeatedly, it’s all about the process, especially at the Masters level.
I’m back on my trainer for about 10 minutes to work the lactate out. Now, massive pack up time. My plan is to leave Roubaix Friday morning and drive back to CDG airport and a room for a night at the CitizenM Hotel so I will be staged near the airport for my Saturday departure. I have tomorrow as a free day to visit a great town my wife and I toured back in 2024, Ypres, also named Leper. I would love to get all my bike gear out of the velodrome tonight and back to the lodging and get the bike packed into its travel case. I haven’t sold the Zipp 808 spare wheel set so far and plan to leave them at the velodrome until Friday morning in hopes that someone will be interested. Plus, I need to make a Carrefour Express stop for a celebration dinner. A bit sad that there are no Minnesotans as in past years to go out and have a good local feed. Such are things, keep moving forward, many more laps to do.
