Anyways, to the racing bit. Saturday started with a cloudy day, some wind but not a huge factor. It is a rolling hill course that we did 3 laps on, for a total of 60 miles. The race unfolded very weird. If I had to call it something, it would be probably, "negative." Meaning, of course, not a lot of strong breaks. Everything got brought back over and over. The avg. speed was about 2 mph slower than in previous years. I guess people were holding back for the TT, which was latter in the day. So, it basically came down to the finish with a time bonus being given to the first 3 riders. The plan was for me to give Jacob a lead out around 1k to go and then pull off around 300m to urge other people to sprint early while Jacob rode their wheel to the line. Well, I guess some people think they can sprint from 500m out because a lot tried and none succeeded. So, there ended up being a gob of people going backwards the last 200m while many were trying to accelerate through the idiots. Jacob held his own and finished in a top 10 spot. Normally, there would have been a wreck, but not this time. It was basically an agility drill on the bike with so many people trying to sprint from such a great distance out while others waited until the 200m mark. Oh yeah....the finish is on a hill, so you have to throw that into the mix. I finished somewhere at the very back of the group, like 40th or so.
Okay, now for the last stage. Our plan was to force a break so we could gain some time on the other contenders. First of all, the day was super windy which made for some nasty guttering. The Saturday RR(road race) wasn't reffed very well, meaning a lot of people were crossing the yellow line and not being relegated to the back or disqualified. Sunday's RR was very controlled by the refs, which made the cross wind so much more difficult because you can't get as much of a draft when you are out of the best position (Guttering: purposely riding the yellow line on either side so as to negate the effects of drafting, just in case you didn't know). So, back to the race. We had to do 4 laps which used the course from the day before but a little shorter version. Well, the crosswind eliminated all the weaklings, so the riders that were left were not allowing anything to go up the road. As a matter of fact, a small break formed and we drilled it so hard we caught the CAT 2's that had started 10min ahead of us. Now for the crap.....on the last part of the 3rd lap (we did 4 total laps). Two guys got away, so we watched them go thinking they would be pulled back just like every other break of the day and of the weekend had been. One other guy made the bridge, but that was it. Well, they were sold out (meaning they were giving it everything to stay off...if we would have caught them they probably would have had to quit because they gave it everything) We didn't catch them. Towards the half way point of the last lap a single rider tried to bridge to the 3 off the front, I decided that someone had to cover his bridge and no one wanted to, so I did. We worked for a while together, but that action made the remaining riders speed up and attempt to catch us. As a matter of fact, Jacob attacked the pursuing riders (the ones chasing myself and the other guy) and rejoined myself and about 6 others. We were all very tired and ended up getting caught by the remaining chasing field with about 1K to go.
So, now it gets really interesting. Pay attention. This race was for Jacob, but it didn't go like it was supposed to. The RR on Saturday was slow and very negative, meaning no one wanted to ride hard, which led to some very fast TT(time trial) times that afternoon. Now, back to the end of Sunday. When it was apparent that we couldn't get the time we needed to get Jacob on the podium because we couldn't catch the 3 guys off the front (by-the-way..they only ended up getting 30 total sec on us, which is a lot but we needed a little more than that.); I have kept you on the hook I know....after bridging to the group Jacob was exhausted and he did something I will never forget. He said "look I am shot, so I will lead you out for the sprint." In other words, I will sacrifice my own desires to finish well to help you. So, that is what we did. Jacob led it out to 200m and I sprinted from that and won the field sprint, 4th to be exact.That is what makes DNA Racing different, sacrificing one's own ambitions to meet anothers goal. So, if you want to congratulate anyone for a weekend well done, do so for Jacob White. He is almost half my age but more man than I am and someone we can all learn from whether you ride bikes or not.
sincerely in Christ and safe riding,
Erin Elliott
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