Bummed: MBGP

First: I shouldn't even be writing this. I'm supposed to be up at AYF camp, away from the bike, away from this computer, hanging out with kids, eating crap food, officiating dodgeball, etc etc. I got a call late saturday night informing me that they're "overstaffed". That's all I've got on that. I wasn't angry, just saddened. Anyhow...the whole no-camp thing bummed me out and skewed my motivation for the big race Sunday.

My brother is out of town for the weekend and left me his car, but I still took the train. It's honestly easier, and the parking scene in Manhattan Beach is always a chore. The metro station is about 1 mile from the course -about how far you'd usually park. So I get there, bike was good. Just glued on a new (used) front tubular, degreased the chain, re-lubed, etc. The bike felt good. Why talk about the bike so much? Hm. So rolling around pre-race was fun. You see all these people from Superweek that you don't really know, but you do...'cause you've raced with them way out in the midwest. Surprisingly, I was recognized despite being clean-shaven.

We roll out. The usual NRC superstars are present, largely from the Health Net and Toyota teams. Menzies, JJ, Dominguez, Henderson. Those were the favorites, no doubt. The race started off surprisingly fast, because any time Toyota didn't like what was up the road, they'd shut it down reallllllll quick. Good thing, too. It's always better when a team takes control like that. I felt fine. Again, not too amped up because of the whole exclusion from camp, but hey. A few laps in near turn 2, I heard "Ca-mon Aram!", said in a tone exclusive to my old boss, Marcelo. I [happily] worked at his restaurant a few years back, and we were teammates before then at my first cycling club, Encino Cyclery. You never can forget the people you start the sport with, so it was definitely motivating to have one of them out there cheering.

Right! So I'm riding along gingerly, about 30 wheels back, when I saw a "3" near the start finish area. Kept riding along, and 100 meters later it occurred to me that "wait...3? 3 laps to go? already?" Crazy. The legs were great, lets go! A small hopeless break was allowed to hover 10 seconds in front of the group until the last lap. Before then, the pace slowed quite a bit, and I threw myself into every little hole that opened up. That's what you gotta do. It's amazing how much less hectic these situations are when you look at them systematically. The basic agenda: the closer you get to the finish, the more aggressive (some would say "risky", but hardly) your moves to the front need to be. Sure enough, I got there. With 2 laps to go, the Peleton slowed, got really wide, and I put myself right near JJ (it really helps that they've got their names on their jerseys...you know just who to mark), knowing he'd come out of the swarm in front, and that's exactly what happened. 1 lap to go. Regular, expected chaos. I followed some wheels, kept moving up. Approaching the final "U" turn, I thought "Right on! I'm in the money [top-20] for sure!" Round the turn smoothly, and with great exit speed, and passed a couple people and was on my way to a certain top-10 when 15 meters from the line....hmm. What word or keyboard character do I use to describe what followed? Oh...this will suffice: my frame broke...but I stayed upright, and was able to coast in. I was overtaking the guy that finished 12th place, when, amidst really unnerving and loud noises, I could no longer apply force to the pedals. I began losing speed quickly. A bunch of guys passed me in half a second, followed by a strange lapse in rider-traffic, all while I'm just lunging the bike toward the line...took forever. Money was 20 deep ($200 for 20th, $0 for 21st), and you can imagine how upset and distraught I would have been had I missed out. Results were posted...I nervously walked up, glanced....17th!!! Couldn't believe it. I was happy, but still disappointed....that could have been my NRC top-10. Bummer. But hey, got my biggest single-day check ever, $266. Now it's rough...I have no bike (except the track bike, which, coincidentally, was given to me by Marcelo). Cannondale is awesome when it comes to warranty issues, but who will "warranty" the destroyed rear-derailluer, rear tubular, rear wheel (just the spokes), and skewer? I loved that bike, and i'm sad to see it go. It's won a national championship (TTT Collegiate), the SDSR Road Race/Green Jeresey, lots of bowl sprints, and honestly, it probably has at least 70,000 miles on it. It was really really light, stiffer than all your stupid big-$$$ carbon frames, rode nice, and was easily the best looking bike in the world...Sad to see you go in this way, friend.

Yep, That's my Dad in the Back with a 768lb Marlin he caught in '95.


That's what happened. The dropout just broke off mid-sprint. Then the derailleur got jammed, the pulley bracked broke under the tension, the chain flew...total madness...and I didn't crash! Any bike-forensics experts want to chime in on this?