Tulsa Tough

A blur. That's how the morning of Friday, June 4th was for me. It seems like maybe I have the habit of putting things off from time to time. The 3 a.m. race day trips aren't a problem and everything is always packed and ready to go but the leaving at 9 a.m. trips always seem to get me. Amie, the girls, and I all rushed around the house trying to get everything loaded and in the car and out the door. Amie pretty much took care of everything but me and still managed to be ready before I was. In my defense though, I did have at least five bottles to ice down, air pressure to check, had to run through my gears one final time, shave my legs...you know all the important things a cyclist has to do before they can hit the road. We somehow managed to leave close to on time and headed to the inlaws house to drop off the girls. Girls dropped off and we are finally on our way...not really. We had forgotten our hotel reservations at the house and had to run back to the house to pick them up. All of that rushing so we could forget one of the most important things. Once we were both over the whole, "you forgot, no you forgot, no you forgot" thing everything was great. We made it to Tulsa, grabbed some lunch and checked into our room at the Crown Plaza. Great rooms with a pretty nice view. We unloaded the car and then just kind of chilled waiting for race time.

Friday night at Tulsa Tough is amazing. It's a huge treat for the CAT 3 racer as I don't know of another race that let's you feel as "Pro" as racing Friday night. Field sizes near 100, jumbo trons, tons of spectators, helicopters, camera's, reporters...it's amazing. It's 45 minutes of getting to feel like the people who actually have the opportunity to do this for a living. Friday night is also a night littered with crashes as everyone gets their race jitters out of the way. I will say however that this year the crashes didn't seem as bad as last year. I wasn't really sure how I was going to approach this race though. The goal I had set for myself going into the weekend was "GO FOR IT". I wanted to just lay it all out there one day and see how the dice fell. I kept flirting with the idea Friday night. On the front, off the front, back on the front but I didn't do it. I didn't pull the trigger Friday night and go for broke. I did my share of work up front, got on the jumbo trons, got my name on the screen and finished in the money. Not a bad night but still not what I had came to do.
Day #2 of Tulsa Tough started off with some sort of stomach bug or something. I wasn't feeling to great to say the least. After a day like that, I think it would be a good idea for Crown Plaza to add vents in their bathrooms. I'm pretty sure Amie was wishing for another roommate and all I could think about was to keep hydrating. Once on the bike, Zach and I started with a really great warm up. As he and I are cruising through the not so nice part of Tulsa engaged in friendly conversation, from no where comes this pit bull charging straight towards us. It had one of those cables attached to it's collar and both of us saw it and I think it kind of gave both of us a false sense of comfort. We were both waiting on that cable to snap and jerk the dog back. Running through the yard, now crossing the sidewalk, now hitting the road, still no snap. I'm in my small ring and probably about my 15 and I try to drill it and lean at the same time and squeeze a little prayer in there also. I could feel his breath on my calf and thought, oh man, here goes my Tulsa Tough. How about some rabies. I'm not sure how we managed to out run him but we did. That was the effort that completed our warm up. I was a little nervous about today and how I would be feeling after "making race weight". I had decided to kind of just play it low key for the first part of the race and see what happened. I stayed within the first 20 riders and just went with the flow. After the first 30 minutes the clock switched over to laps and the countdown began. By now, I knew that I was feeling okay and was hoping for something to send me up the road. With about 5 laps to go I noticed another team starting to move up and had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen and so I tried to position myself as best as possible to go should an opportunity present itself. With four laps to go there was the opportunity. A friend of mine from the Tuesday Night Worlds, Mr. Jason Pratt, shot out of the field and I went with him. Here it was, the one thing I'd wanted, the chance to go for broke. To put it out there and see what happens. Jason and I took turns pulling and our gap seemed pretty well established. With about three laps to go another rider bridged up, I couldn't tell who it was as he was getting closer but there were a few riders I was hoping for...he was none of them. I think he took one pull and then decided to sit in hoping for a free ride I guess. As we cross the line with two laps to go Jason jumps and I go with him. We shell rider #3 and now it's just Jason and I. Right now I'm starting to think..."what if". What if we actually pull this off. We cross the line with one lap to go and as we make the first left I look back to see where the field is and they are closing. We make the second left and I don't look back this time. We drill it on the straight but then make the right, I do look back here as we start up the hill and they are about 50 meters behind us. I knew our shot was over but I was also a little excited because sitting third wheel is one of my teammates, Erin. The hope was back, maybe this wasn't all for nothing. If Erin counters we could still possibly take this. Jason and I get overtaken by the field and I kind of just sit up not really concerned with my placement now. We make the next left, then the downhill, then the last left. The field is strung out and crossing the line. I'm cruising just thinking about 1/2 a lap to go and then this guy comes from behind and looks over at me as he's about to pass. My race wasn't over...not yet. Now I'm racing for 55th or 56th place. I look back at that now and laugh about duking it out for a mid field placement but I also think, damn, half a lap away from a win at Tulsa Tough. Jason and I might not of pulled off the win but we gave a good fight and when I got off my bike I was proud of myself for going for it. I know almost doesn't count in bicycle racing and if anyone is hard on themselves it's me but that taught me a few things and also brought the fun back into racing.
Day #3 Tulsa Tough - Cry Baby Hill. This race gets more fun as it goes along. Lap after lap you climb this hill and lap after lap you hurts a little bit worse. The hard part once you reach the top is trying not to lose your concentration. The party on the hill gets better each lap and there is no telling what you will see once you get to the top. I do know laughing does not help and only makes breathing a little more difficult. With the temperature being in the mid 90's I feel like I am going for a prime every lap up that hill because if you can position yourself right and beat the guy next to you, you can make your way to the right hand side of the road where they are waiting with a water hose to cool you down. We NEED MORE water hoses at the top. That's like a little bit of heaven. Sometime mid race I was decending the hill and just as I'm making the hair pin right turn my rear wheel locks up. Totally seized up and I go sliding across the turn. It felt like all the videos I've seen of cars drifting. As I'm drifting across the turn my rear wheel starts to go slide further around making it closer to the curb than my front. It seemed like I drifted from the apex of the turn all the way to about a foot of the curb. Somehow, I ride it out and I don't take anyone else out with me. At the time I wasn't sure what had happened. I just grabbed my top tube and took off running to the wheel pit hoping for a quick wheel change. Once the bike was on the stand we saw the problem. My rear tubie had rolled off the rim and jammed itself between the wheel and the frame. This didn't make the officials too happy and as the SRAM guy was putting a new wheel on I was getting the first part of my lecture from the officials along with a "see us after the race." My wheels on and they send me to the official that tells you when to rejoin the field. Here comes the field, there goes the field, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, GO! Now that there is about a 200 meter gap and I'm starting from a stand still I'm drilling it and catch the field just as the last guy starts his way up the climb. I manage to pass a few guys there and get back in the main field but I was burnt and hoping to chill a couple of laps and get my lungs back. That's when it happend, the Break. Any other break I wouldn't of sweated and would of thought it would come back, but this break had OKC Velo rider Paul Bonds in it. I knew it was gone and I knew I couldn't go with it. If you were in that race and you know Paul, you also knew you missed the move. I believe the break ended up consisting of 7 riders, 5 originally and two who bridged up. I ended up finishing 15th, 8th in the field sprint. I played it safe on the final downhill as it's mostly single file. I did think about trying to take the inside but after rolling my tire earlier I didn't figure it was worth something like that happening again. I was hoping for a top ten on this course as it seems like it somehow suits me. I was five places out of that but I'm not sure I've ever felt more lucky to just have finished the race. I've seen quite a few guys wipe out in that corner and I'm happy to not have been one of them.

Tulsa was first class and gets better each year. I had a great time and it was great to have Amie there with me. She's an excellent cheerleader and I don't think I have ever seen anyone ring a cowbell quite as good as she did. This was also her first race to shoot race pics and she did an excellent job. I had a wonderful time on and off the bike with my teammates and am already looking forward to it again next year.

Now I've got to get to work, I've got one year to be able to hold it for four laps.