The Tour de Frankenuth is a basically a flat road race, with each lap being just over 25km. My group, the Masters 45+ group was racing 3 laps or about 76km. I was looking forward to this race as it works well for my size and strength because the race is almost all flat.Things were finally looking good....
Woke up really early at 4:30am to get ready and go quickly because the drive is considerable. I was feeling pretty groggy and needed a few cups of coffee to really get going. Made myself some race-day hot cereal and went to double check the weather forecast because I'm getting paranoid over all the crappy riding weather. Everybody was reporting nice but cool, although foggy for the race.
Didn't have my race wheels ready for the race: I still had the Schwalbe Aquas on the Zipp 404s I had used for the Ciociaro race on Thursday night. But, I figured I would have time to change them after picking up my number at the race so just threw the Ultremos into the trunk with everything else. After all, I was leaving early, although I did take just over a hour to pack up everything and get going. Which way to go, bridge or tunnel? Well, I figured the tunnel would be the quickest way as there usually isn't any real traffic at 6:00 on a Saturday morning. I was right, no traffic and I was able to pull right up to a customs booth and things looked really good.
At least, that's what I thought.
The officer asked where I was going and what I had to declare. So I told her that I was going to Frankenmuth for the race, and what I had in my car. She told me that I had been 'randomly selected' for inspection, which I know to be a lie from asking other officers, and had me go to the secondary inspection area. I also heard her radio in 2 more inspections while I was waiting inside for my car to be cleared in the first 5 minutes. After about 10 minutes, I started to get worried about the time. After a half an hour, I couldn't believe I was still sitting in the waiting room for my car--particularly as I have a visa and security documents. Well, an officer called my name finally and I went up to the counter. She was really quick, and after asking me when the race was, let me go immediately.
Now I had lost all the extra time I would need to change my tires and warm up. At this point, I was actually thinking of just turning back and heading home. It was a hundred mile drive and it was 6:30. Race starts at 8:00. Ummmm, the math didn't seem to work.....
I managed to park at the race site at 7:45...don't ask, especially as I had 2 coffees and another large mug in the car and made 2 pit stops on the way. I couldn't believe it, at least 3 people arrived even later than me and parked nearby.
I put together my bike with the backup wheelset, got changed except for my jersey, and cycled over to the number pick up. Good thing when you come so late that there's never any lineup for numbers. Bad thing is that everyone else has warmed up and waiting at the start area while I was sitting on the grass pinning my 2 number plates onto my jersey. And I had to make another pit stop and, could you believe it, there was a line up and a whole bunch of pokey people inside....
I actually managed to make it to the start area, with my bike and everything else ready for a race. I started asking guys which race they were in....the Master's 35-44 group went before us and a couple of guys told me that they were in this group. So, I positioned myself where I figured the M45+ group was. I asked a guy standing beside me and he said he was in the Master 55+ group. So I moved up a lot.
The warning came over the speaker and I was ready. Off we went! Well, the roll-out was happening and 3 guys were standing on their bikes in front of me talking. I said, 'are you going' and they apologized and said no....already a bad start but I quickly got onto a wheel. But the group was here to race!!!! Too bad for those who weren't ready to race, no warm up during the race.
It took me a whopping 4km to get dropped off the back. I was out of breath and hurting already and there was 71km to go. All I could think of was crap, I don't want to have a lonely ride for the next 2+ hours but there was no way I could catch the group now. They just kept moving away. So, I just hammered and figured that I would ride the whole ride for training rather than quitting, which I wanted to do 5 minutes after being dropped. But soon, I passed 2
other riders from my group! The second one veered off a side road and had quit the race. I was hammering with a cross-tail wind and moving at 40-42 kph solo. I thought this was great, I could still see the wheel truck (remember it's flat) and figured a hard time-trial effort would get me a respectable time. I could have used one of these:I couldn't believe it but I saw what looked like a solo Maple Leaf rider coming up behind me. I figured it was a breakaway from the cat 4 riders that started after my group. I slowed up a little hoping that it was someone who I could ride with, although I was already impressed that they caught me at the 14.5km mark, obviously starting late (which he later confirmed). The rider pulled up as we headed into a turn and I asked what group he was in. He responded M45 and I realized that it was a familiar face. It was Ziggy (Zbigniew Lukasik) from Windsor whom I've ridden with on various weekends and at other races. So he says, 'do you want to work together?' Great, now I can actually have someone else with me for the torment. Of course....let's share the pain....
So we just pace lined and went fairly well. It was faster than solo. But not that fast, as, about 22km into the race, the cat 4 group caught up to us while we were catching up to another 3 riders from the M45 group. We were doing well but we got sucked into the cat 4 group going through the finish area. We stayed with the group for about another 5km and then the M45s broke off the back (except for Ziggy who stayed with the cat 4 riders). We lost 1 rider and then there were 2 others with me.
Well, for the next 44km or so, the three of us rode together. I managed to pull the group about 50% and we had a good speed although we couldn't catch the cat 3 group. But, we did catch a group of 7 riders whom had dropped off the cat 3 group at around the 65km mark. We worked with them a bit, they tried to pull away from us and then we just pulled away from them when they got too slow. I learned later that I was riding with Dave and Steve and the 3 of us rode nicely together whether we were with other riders or not. So, as we were at the 70km mark or so, I pulled beside both
and said that we 3 should work together until the last turn, and then it's everyone for themselves. I certainly didn't want to be dropped and didn't want to drop them.After the race, I managed to talk with Dave and Steve a bit. They both rode well. I was said to be strong and powerful, which made my ego swell quite a bit. But, I responded that I couldn't have done what we did without both of them, they did a lot by working hard themselves.
It is hard to believe that it rained for almost the entire race but only a light mist. It got sunny about an hour after I finished but the rain just had to be there for the race, it's a 2011 thing. I finished 26rd in my group, not too bad but not what I wanted when I woke up at 4:30. My time was respectable, particularly after being dropped 4 km into the race, finishing only 12:11 behind the peleton with an overall time of 2:13:51.
Full results at: Tour de Frankenmuth