Jamestown2014

Pardon my writing this in 1st person. It comes straight from the heart. While the Jamestown Classic offers a modest purse and plastic milk crates for a podium, it completely embodies the reason I race my bicycle. A scenic circuit around the island of Jamestown, RI, tough competition, great weather and great memories from past races. In short, it is a whole bunch of fun.

At the end of a strong season with many top 5 finishes, loosing often to CCB, Hottubes and others, Jeff Dixon, Ta Herrera and I (Joey Lynch) showed for the Masters 35+ and 45+ race of about 38 miles. One of my fondest bike racing memories is watching Ta win this race last year in front of his wife and two boys. The problem with this is it means we went into this year’s race with a marked man on our team!

We set out to keep our marked man out of the wind and cover attacks so he would not have to. About 10 miles in, I found myself off the front through covering one of those attacks. Well, it means a ton of work, but if I am off the front, Ta and Jeff’s work shifts more toward thinking in the main peloton (another thing they both do quite well). If the peloton is not happy with who is up the road, someone other than Downeast Racing will have to do something about it! And so, my objective became to make the peloton work if they did not want me where I was. One way or the other, my position would be a large factor in our success. But how do you keep pushing on the pedals time and time again harder than everyone else each time? Why did we show today? I rode by the Herrara family cheering section, cause to reflect, how many family dinners did I miss because I was out riding? How many times did I drag myself out on my bicycle after a long day of work? How many Strava KOMs does Ta have in Brunswick and why? How many times have we come up just a little short this season to very strong competition? Lots of folks have made sacrifices so we could be here today at this silly bike race.

Amazingly one pedal stroke at a time got me to the finish line to hear the cheer of Judy Stevens and the bell for the last lap of the 2 lap race. I will surely have nothing left after they catch me to escort Ta to the finish line. But, the other teams will need to work if they want to catch me and either way, they will have to sprint against a relatively fresh Ta… One stroke at a time gets me through the dirt section and back to the determined head wind out to the lighthouse. Where is the Herrera family? Gone to the finish to get a picture of it. At this point it occurred to me that Ta and Jeff were in back doing everything they could to insure the success of my break and it was now my job to ride my heart out. Nothing like a little pressure for motivation! So, what makes the difference here? Each pedal stroke has to be harder than everyone else’s behind me, especially up the hill before the finish. I look behind, no one in sight, I can do this, for me, for my family, for my team! And then, the last thing to think about, there is a strong crosswind so do not put BOTH hands in the air when you cross the finish line!

I am thrilled to end our season like this, blessed to be surrounded by competence.