The Element of Surprise

Sun Tzu said:

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.

Saturday was the last race of the 2007 NORBA series which was held at Spanish Lake. Based on how I felt following the race, perhaps the venue should be renamed, Painish Lake, as it certainly put me into the red zone for the entire race. The radar showed possible storms heading into the area, but short of the temperatures dropping a little and some brief periods of sprinkles, the conditions were ideal. I rolled to the course a little later than normal, which generally makes me uneasy. I'm usually quite anxious and always want to get to the venue as early as possible to help ward off thoughts of being late or feelings that I've forgotten something.

As I parked, I stayed around the car and chatted it up with several folks talking about everything from the new paint job on the Gunnar, good beers, how the earlier races went, and who was showing up for our race. After several discussions, I registered while chatting with Dave Ploch. I thanked him for his support and work throughout this year and headed back to the car to begin prepping for the race. I got dressed, readied the bike, and rolled out for a little warm-up. Rich Pierce told me he had changed the course slightly, so I decided to roll a lap to see what Rich had in his bag of tricks. Earlier in the week I had suggested to Rich a Burmese Tiger Pit and knowing Rich, he may have put one on the course. As I headed onto the course, I practiced a couple of entries into the first section of singletrack, paying particular attention to where the braking sections should be and where to carry the momentum. I felt very confident throughout the singletrack, but was a little worried by the abundance of fireroads and wide open areas which meant power would dominate the race over bike handling.

During my warm-up laps, I put a few hard efforts in and recall not feeling much snap in my legs. For the first time since my first race, I got nervous and thought the day could be very long, painful, and result in a bad finish. I tried to shake off the thoughts by rolling along and focusing more on where to attack and where to ride tempo. When I got back to the car, I diverted my attention by loading up my camelback and putting on a sportdrink bottle to drink before the start. After a quick stop at the rest room, I pedalled towards the starting line to find everyone on the line and ready to rock'n'roll. That's so out of character for me. I don't really know what I was thinking. Why would I let everyone roll to the line and damn near leave without being focused and ready myself? (I actually must have been pretty loose, because I saw Furby standing at the line finishing a bag of Doritos and asked if he had any left. He didn't.) I then turned my attention to scoping out the competition and offering well wishes to Dan Mogus and Loran Cavano and gave a little good luck to Aggro. Seconds later the under 35 Beginners rolled off the line and we were that much closer to our start.

As we got on the line, I remember someone saying they should have started in the earlier group and they took off as a solo rider pursuing the youngster pack. At that point, I thought get your head on straight or you're going to be just like that dude! I looked down at my Garmin GPS computer and discovered I hadn't turned it on yet. I flicked the button and knew it wouldn't acquire the satellites before the start of the race, so I will need to remember to start it when I come across at the start of my second lap. The starter counted us down from 10 seconds, I snapped into focus, and started exactly as I wanted. Steady, not overly fast, but right at the front. Dan Mogus led the group out, while Bill Cahill rolled behind him and Aggro and I cruised in 3rd and 4th place. As we neared the entry point to the singletrack, I hesitated jumping onto Mogus' wheel, a mistake I cursed seconds later, and began the first singletrack section riding Bill Cahill's wheel very hard. I was feeling very aggressive in the singletrack (sorry Bill) and I think that was because I knew every turn, rise, root, and rut like the back of my hand. Watching the riders ahead of me, I literarlly hatched my race strategy as we exited the first section of singletrack.

My strategy became simple. I've struggled when others set the pace and since I was already going against everything I'd normally do at a race, I decided to go on the attack. Yep. My mind firmly grabbed the idea and I held in it clear view. Attack, attack, attack! Attack at the top of the gravel hill and go as fast as I could until the second section of singletrack, nail the singletrack, and jam it until the top of the next climb. As we exited onto the gravel hill, I shifted into the big ring, stood up and attacked. Dan Mogus told me to "go get'em Boz" and I was off without looking back. I knew the downhill section of the gravel was a little slick, but I was laying it on the line. My strategy felt perfect until we neared the second section of singletrack and all I could see was a line of the under 35 beginners stringing out on the entry to the singletrack. I forgot about them being ahead of us and decided I cannot get held up by anyone on the log crossing. I picked my way through the singletrack and climbed to the gravel road. At the gravel road, I gave Kris Williams a couple of jabs in the arm and he attempted to push me off my bike (Fingerbangin' funkilla stuff....I actually took time to joust during an attack...damn, I am too stupid for my own good, but I told you I would have fun on this ride!)

On the gravel road, I again pedalled hard, but found myself getting passed by Gary Dyer on a cross bike and Bill Cahill riding solidly on his wheel. Damm, how'd those guys get back on my so quickly? We paced together to the top of the climb, but Gary was not having anyone ride on his wheel, so he pushed the pace even harder. I was gapped by a few bike lengths and then it was Bill's turn to get dropped. I got back on Bill's wheel and followed him into the next section of singletrack. Since I had put in such a hard effort to get off the front, I was redlining badly and I think Bill sensed my pain. He kept the pressing the pace and popped me as we neared the top of the two-way trail climb and that was the last I saw of him.

My race then became to keep my podium spot. During the wooded part of the course, I could never see Aggro and had no idea where he was behind me. I kept my pace focused on tempo and listened to folks I knew along the way giving me a sense of still being in the thick of things. As I rolled across the start finish line, I looked for my wife and kids and saw them off to the side. They didn't recognize me at first and then shouted some encouragement to keep me going. I did remember to start my computer and then focused on the readouts to help me pace and control my efforts. As we neared the climb on the backside of the course, I caught a glimpse of Cahill ahead of me by roughly 30-40 seconds. I thought wait until you get to the same place on the hill and see where Aggro is in. It turns out he was approximately the same distance behind me, roughly 30-40 seconds. At that point, I knew Jo was going to try to run me down, so I wasn't going to do anything but maintain my pace. Essentially, I decided to make him do all the work. (I may have regret that decision later on.)

My final lap was uneventful until we made the long gravel climb, I looked back at the top and thought Jo looked closer than on the previous lap, but he didn't appear to be attacking. Perhaps he made a little time because he had a clearer trail. I decided the rest of the lap would be hard on me so I tried to sharpen my focus, and grunt my way through it. As I climbed the two-way trail for the last time, Greg Suter called out something to me like "45 seconds." I didn't know if he was saying that was my gap to 2nd, or my gap ahead of Jo. I kept the pace rolling hard and as I made my way down to the final section of singletrack, I again saw Greg. However, this time his face was much, more anxious. He said something to my but I wasn't sure what he said. I thought he was saying I could close the gap and I tried to yell back whether I should try to bridge or not. I rolled down the final section thinking ride it hard, but don't make a mistake. I rode it clean and popped onto the trail for the final climb and the final podium spot.

That is, until I heard Jo pop onto the trail right behind me. Turns out, Greg was trying to tell me Jo was attacking me from down the trail and closing the gap. He wasn't saying anything about catching 2nd place, but that I had better get my butt in gear or I was about to throw the entire race out the window! Sorry Greg, but thanks for the help! I owe you one!

I pointed the bike uphill, screamed at myself for getting caught, and decided it's a done deal. Aggro has caught you and now he's going to ride your wheel right off the podium. I grabbed harder gear than normal and thought if he's going to get the podium, he's going to suffer (just a little bit more) for it. I put my head down and cranked to the top of the hill. At the top, I turned to my left expecting to see Jo attacking me to the finish but he wasn't there. I gasped and thought, you idiot, he's jumped around you on the right! I turned to find him not there. What the hell, did he already pass me and I missed it? I looked all over the trail and finally decided he must have used everything he had to catch me, but came up a little short to close the deal. I was right and 12 seconds was all the difference in the world.

I was extremely pleased to have survived Aggro's attack. It was definitely the hardest time I've ever spent on a bike. Funny thing, 2 of the hardest efforts I can recall on the bike were in Jo's presence. He's good for that, pushing me outside of my prior limits and introducing pain into the equation. My hat is off to Aggro. That was one of the hardest efforts I've seen to catch me. My Garmin shows I rode the final two laps in identical fashion. That means Aggro rode his final lap almost 1 minute faster than the second. My hat's off to him. He put in a tremendous effort!

I finished 2 minutes outside of first place, 1 minute outside of 2nd, and 12 seconds ahead of 4th. In the series standings, I finished 3rd overall and am pleased to say I am no longer a beginner. Next year it's Sport class and a whole new level of pain and suffering. Who cares right now, next year is next year. Right now, I'm going to race a little 'cross and then take it easy. And then I'll get prepared to feel the wratch of Aggro's winterlong aggression buildup. I can't wait!