Dateline: Merced, CA, Saturday, pre-dawn darkness
El Gigante, Staz, and TK roll out of the hotel under the glare of streetlights to spin a little blood into their legs on the way to the battlefield...
The usual cast of characters shows for the junior shenanigans and we figure that we've gotta best Bryan Larson if we have a shot at the overall. So, game plan... Staz and El Gigante are free to roam during the first half of the race to soften up the field while TK sits all muzzled up and restin'. If we're lucky El Gigante gets up the road and nobody chases because he's just a youngen' in the 15/16 age group. If we're not lucky and the boys are all over any thing we throw down, then we cut TK loose around the halfway point in a 1-2, left, right flurry dealt in the form of TK and Staz while El Gigante sits on just in case of a field sprint. That's the plan anyway...
Things start out just right... El Gigante is all over the sharp end, Staz gets a prime or two, but nothing is getting up the road for more than a lap or so...Fast forward to the halfway point... time to change tactics... TK takes the muzzle off and away he goes. The first few attacks are just probes... can he draw BL out and make him chase? BL is having none of it, and the Swift and Lombardi kids are playing right into the sprinter's hand. Everything TK threw down was chased immediately by Swift's Tyler Brandt and Ryan Eastman, Lombardi's Evan Huffman, or Rock's Danny Finneran while BL sat all nice and protected like in the group. Guess the boys haven't been to bike racing's school of hard knocks yet. Lesson number one: Never... Never... Never... drag a sprinter to the line with you. He will beat you every time.
Two laps to go and El Gigante deviates from the plan... He counters one of TK's efforts hoping that nobody will chase, but the field can smell the sprint now and they are having none of it. El Gigante slides back into the group... only problem is he is a little too gassed to fight for BL's wheel.
Last lap and TK launches one final do-or-die dig. He gets the gap and is free, but when he looks back Finneran is in full chase mode with BL sitting on his wheel... I don't know if TK is exaggerating or not, but he swears he saw a smile on BL's face. TK would need to have at least five seconds to hold off a charging Larson, so he lets the catch happen, but stays on the front, keeping the pace high in the hopes that El Gigante has grabbed Larson's wheel and can sneak around him in the finale... (oops, see previous paragraph for add libbing w/out communication... makes teamwork harder).
Anyways, TK led out the sprint and got his doors blown off, but he did exactly what he was supposed to do...El Gigante had enough gas to squeeze between Swift's Eastman and the barriers to take the 15/16 race by a bike throw.
I love Merco/McLane weekend... it is some of the best bike racing of the year, but it irks me to no end. For the past three years I've had the best team in the junior race and have come up short of the overall. 2006: DBCJRT executes the perfect leadout... Juge, followed by Davitamon, followed, by Thor with Steel Joe as the sprinter and AWfoSho as the sweep. Gawd it was beautiful, except Joe's legs lacked the usual pop and Tyler Gough was able to come around him. 2007: TK, Staz, Davitamon, and AWfoSho give us numerous options in the 17/18 race, but I blew it tactically... used TK up too early and had to count on AWfoSho beating Rock Racing's neo-pro Justin William's in the sprint... tall order. 2008: We lacked the 1-2 of TK and AWfoSho. Imagine how things might have shook out differently if TK was able to go long knowing that AWfoSho was glued to BL's wheel should he be caught. BL is fast, but he isn't gonna beat an on-form AWfoSho in a 150 meter drag race.
Say La Vie... or however they spell it...
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3 comments:
C'est la vie. Did I hear a whine in the story, storyteller?
It is ironic that the pic that you have is BL chasing down TK
It is kind of ironic... but, if you look real close you will notice that Lombardi's Evan Huffman is not in the pic... that is because he's in front of BL chasing down TK!!!
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