Puttin’ on the Ritz

Super Duper!

Hello handsome. You're a good looking fellow, do you know that? People laugh at you, people hate you, but why do they hate you? Because... they are jealous. Look at that boyish face. Look at that sweet smile. Do you want to talk about physical strength? Do you want to talk about sheer muscle? Do you want to talk about the Olympian ideal? You are a God.

-       Dr. Frederick Frankenstein to his “creation”

I met Lee Bumgarner last night just before the WNFW.  Brady introduced me to him (or him to me) we couldn’t recall quite which it was.  Or whether or not it mattered.  Of course I know of Lee.  He’s been winning just about every race he enters in this area.  Usually with Lucas Marshall coming in second place. 

I was surprised to note that he’s big.  Real big (for a cyclist).  I wasn’t sure what it meant for Lee to be joining our ride.  I was hoping that it wasn’t going to make things even more difficult than normal.  Either way, I didn’t expect to get a chance to witness whatever strength Lee could display because I figured to be gasping off the back somewhere. 

Now it's true that I don't know what happened at the front of the group from say, Boyer Chute to roughly Dodge Park.  I have heard tales of marvelous feats of strength, but I was back a ways on the road at that point, so the kids might just be pulling my leg.

However, I did get a first hand glimpse of Lee's strength.  It was pretty impressive.  To me, anyway.  

Not that I haven't seen great cyclists before, it's just that most of them are so much smaller than me, they're of little help protecting me from the wind.

Heading north on the trace last night, it was a pretty stiff headwind from the Northwest.  I was doing the usual.  Trying to hang on in the crazy paceline.  I think one of the things that makes it so difficult for me is the way the pace increases and decreases sporadically.  I don't mean for the hills.  I get that.  But there are some riders who do not slow down as they reach the front and move into the slower lane.  I understand that's the way it goes, but I believe it wears me out a lot quicker than if we were going at the same or even a higher speed, but more steadily.  Perhaps I'm mistaken.

Anyway, after a few times through, I was done and hoping to hang on at the back.  But I couldn't.  I could see the group slipping away.  Uh oh.  This was a fierce headwind and there were still a few miles left of the trace.  I think the group was all together at this point and as far as I knew, I was the first one dropped.  

I could only hope others would be dropped soon and I could bridge up to them and work together to minimize the "alone time" in the saddle.

As I watched them all slip from my grasp, I felt a little like Leonardo DiCaprio at the end of Titanic.  "Rose," I gasped, deliriously reaching toward the group scurrying away from me.

I dropped my head and took a deep breath, accepting my fate for the evening of mashing it alone for the next 15 minutes or so until the regroup at Ft Calhoun.

"I got ya'" said my new friend Lee.  He had been sitting several feet behind the paceline for some reason.  Of course he wasn't dropped.  He was just hanging out.

"Yeah, right," I thought.  Sure he's got me.  I was thinking that if I couldn't even hang with the group at their speed, no way I could keep up with a guy who was going to catch up to them.

I was wrong.

The first thing Lee did was not increase his speed.  He settled in at my "being dropped" speed for a moment to let me take his wheel.  After a moment, he gently increased the speed, but he is such a big guy, that I was pretty much completely shielded from the headwind.  That's why if Shim or Brady tried to help a brother out in the same way, I'd have trouble getting the appropriate shelter.  So that was cool.

So now we were going a little faster than the group I'd just been dropped from, and I was recovering.  I noticed a couple of interesting things back there.  From my vantage point, drafting behind and just to the right of Lee, the pace of the group looked slower.  Lee's cadence was probably a calm 85 or so, compared to the frantic spinning of those ahead.  This perception calmed me down and my heart rate slowed.  I recovered quicker than I thought I would.  Also - I figured out one mistake I've been making on these rides (I'm a slow learner).  In the mad panic to stay with the group as long as possible, I've been forgetting that I have several gears.  The pace increases and I will get to a cadence of about 120 or even 130 before I realize I need to shift.  

When I ride alone, I usually maintain a cadence between 95-105.  Once I started paying a little more attention to that last night, I think things went a little better.

After about 3 minutes or so, Lee had deposited me back to the group where I calmly sat in for a while and did the occasional pull, pretending I was Lee Bumgarner!  Not really.  I'll note at this point that I had a "Tenacious D" song stuck in my head, but that's all I'll say about that.  

When the attack began , I think it was Lee, Jordan, Shim, and Lucas - but I could be completely wrong.  When they went, I was feeling a little froggy and thought what the hell.  I tried to jump up to them (because that's what frogs do).  I pedaled really hard until I just caught up to them.  About that time, They got organized and rode away from me so quickly, all I could do was applaud.  

Now I was in no-man's-land for a minute until another group of 3 came by.  I don't really know who it was, but I think it was Brady, Paul Webb, and somebody else.  I tried to catch on.  Nope.  

Then Noah, Kyle and Ryan came by.  That's more like it.  We went to Ft Calhoun together, giving up about 30 seconds to the leaders. 

I don't really have a point to this post.  Just a couple of observations and notes on things I learned last night.  I don't really want this post to sound like some sort of worship of a local rider.  I was impressed with his ability as I've mentioned, and from what I saw, he seems like a really good guy.  

One small little thing.  I shouldn't even bring it up.  After all, I am guilty of being in violation of several of the rules, most notably Rule 33 (Shave your guns).  But um, Lee wears a CamelBak.  What the?

I know it's probably a good idea but on the road, it's water bottles only.  Hey, I don't write the rules.

Also, he wears it under his Jersey, which is smart but it kind of makes him look like Igor.  At first I thought he just needed to have his shoulder checked because of what looked like an abnormal (Abby Normal) growth.    Then I saw the obvious CamelBak rubber drinking hose thing sticking out of his Jersey.  Whew!