Do not DNF!

From first podium last week, to hanging off the back this week. That is the nature of this sport. Yesterday was the hardest day I've experienced on a bike. We raced 56 torturous miles on relatively flat, wind swept roads near Gettysburg, Oh. I have done well, very well, on this course in the past and was looking for a great result in this race. This would not be my week. In fact, with no hills on this course, I was shocked to be in the small ring during so many moments in this race than any other, more hilly races. It was that bloody hard.

The pace was hot, nearly from the start. My team, Team Abundance, applied the pressure from the gun. Accompanying us in our efforts to make the race hard from the gun was my friend's team Walker/Olympus. Our two teams were drilling it and keeping many in the field in the gutter on the cross wind sections. At about mile four, I had a mate up the road, Mike, with a Walker rider. I was hopeful the pack would relax a bit, but too early for that hope to be realized.

I was riding on the front, working to control the pace and ready for any chase. A Team Dayton rider, who is a great time trial guy, launched from the field. Jamie called to me to get on it, I did. Unfortunately, my Team Dayton wheel did not have the juice to bridge to the two off the front. The early warning signs for me were ringing. In order to follow the Team Dayton wheel, I had to burn a lot of matches and my heart rate was way high. Not a good sign. When the field caught us, I was summarily spit out the back and dropped. Dropped! I was crushed. I was giving it all I had and dropped at mile seven. This was gonna be a hard day.

I connected with a group of four, also dropped, and we worked together. at mile ten, there was about three miles of absolute torturous cross winds of twenty plus mph. You needed the draft to help pull you through this section. I was in the draft, not taking pulls. The the four with me simply rolled away, riding me off their wheel. This race was turning into a disaster. We made the right hander to yield only one mile to the finish of the FIRST lap of four! I was thinking hard about "D-ing" it. DID NOT FINISH (DNF)! I had not DNF'ed in two years. I may have been pulled from a race, but I not quit in more than two years. I connected with a couple of other riders and struggled on, starting lap two.

At this point, my mind set was one lap at a time. Get the next one down, keep rolling. My fear of embarrassment was getting lapped by my own group and was certain the P123 field would lap me. Head down and keep going. As I rolled, I noticed I was picking up guys from the lead group who had been spit out and quit. I kept rolling. I picked up my friend Doug from Walker. He also wanted to mail it in for the day. I pleaded with him to suffer with me. We did. And for the next 2.5 laps, we suffered. We did not lolly gag around. We were racing. We pushed as much pace as we could, hour heart rates were pegged as if we were in the lead, but alas, we were not.

This was a hard, hard race. My friend Dan, from Team Dayton, apparently ate his Wheaties this morning and crushed it. He got away from the field and held the field off on this wind swept course for more than two laps to win the day in a solo break. My team was decimated. We had three mates (Jamie, Nick and Mike) finish in the top ten. Stan was down a bit further, but made it with the leaders. Doug and I brought up the rear, I think we finished 19th and 20th. But, we did not DNF! And, no field lapped us, thank goodness!

Reminds me of the poem my wrestling coach gave us in high school. He had this poem on a small card, laminated. Some of us kept this poem in the head gear, laminated card, so protected from sweat. These words have helped me through some of my toughest challenges (competing as a young wrestler, getting into the AF Academy, graduating from the AF Academy, cycling and racing). The poem, entitled, "Don't Quit" provided below:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown

Time to get back at it. Train, adjust, line it up again next week, and give it all I've got.