Fawn Grove Roubaix - April 5, 2009

Paris - Roubaix is one of the most famous bicycle races in the world, one of what are known as the Spring classics. The race is a war of attrition that tackles a number of cobbled sections that wear riders down physically and mechanically (lots of flat tires and worse). Fawn Grove Roubaix was designed to emulate this famous race as much as is possible in this area. It is full of short, but steep climbs and a number of sections of gravel road. I knew that the key would be to stay in the front group during the first half of the race until the contenders were separated from the pretenders (I have absolutely no interest in being a pretender!). Another key was to keep an eye on Wes Schempf - a mountain biker who had won races at national championship races in 2008.

The race was harder than I imagined. Within the first half of the first 13.5 mile lap our field was already split into any number of small groups, there was at least one crash in the gravel, and as I figured, Wes Schrempf was off the front. But, I had busted my hump and managed to stay in the lead chase group. At that point there were six of us and we worked together to try to reel Wes back. Somewhere near the end of the first lap, we caught him, and he joined our group.

The first third of each lap contained the toughest sections and so as we crossed the finish line for the first time, I waved to my wife and kids, smiled and then began to dread what was to come. On the first turn (a sharp right from an asphalt downhill to the first section of gravel, one of our seven went down. So, there were six of us. During the first difficult climb, Wes just started to pull away. This time he wasn't trying to breakaway, he was just stronger than the rest of us. Myself and four others were happy to let him go. But one guy chased him (mistake!). By about the half way mark of the 2nd lap, the one chaser had been dropped by Wes, we caught him, and he fell off our back. So now it was Wes out front and a five man chase group.

Everything was going exactly according to plan. The five of us worked well together, knowing that no one else in the field would catch us, and at the end of the race, we would sprint it out for second place. And then it happened. About a mile from the end of the second lap, I flatted. The support vehicle had no extra tires (all 40 had been given out in the first lap!). I didn't see another cat 4 rider for at least 5-7 minutes. I changed my tire and made it back to the finish. I decided to stop there. It was a terrible disappointment - the first race I haven't finished. The disappointment grew worse when we watched the cat 4's finish the race. The four guys I was with had caught Wes, and the five of them sprinted for the victory - Wes came in fifth. I spent random moments for the next few days thinking about what might have been.