My last bike race - 1985

[bhikkhu]

I was a CAT4 with 6 races behind me...enough to have made and learned from plenty of mistakes, figured out the ins and outs of riding with a peloton and breakaways, eating on the bike, dealing with team tactics, and generally surviving a 125 mile race. I was 21 and in great shape after 3 years of consistent work, training and riding as an "independent".

I was pretty well prepared for the Pescadero Road Race, in the mountains south of San Francisco. It was my home territory and I loved climbing more than anything else. The race started and I spent the first 50 miles or so rotating in the front group, pushing the pace when I was pulling, and generally enjoying being a "mover", with plenty of reserve capacity. A couple of the first hills were steep enough to weed things out and divide up the pack, and there was one where I pulled the lead pack on a hill and I could see the guys behind me suffer. Of course I was suffering too, but I had practiced the trick of breathing heavily through my nose, and relaxing the muscles of my face deliberately so you couldn't tell.

That was the good part...the big climb came at 60 miles or so. At the base of it I was just rolling with the peloton and relaxing, and as it got steeper and I had to shift down, my chain came off. I lost five minutes or so getting it unwedged and back in place, by which time I was by myself and chasing everyone up the biggest hill. I rode like a fiend and passed stragglers one by one, and had the main group back in sight at the top. Descending was not my favorite thing, but I took off down the hill faster than I had ever ridden before, determined to get back on the front. At 21 I had little idea of physical limits or practicality, I was all out to win.

Coming down the mountain I took a bad line on an inside curve and headed off the road, doing 50 mph or so. Some brush caught my bike out from under me and I recall watching the rocky cliff-face approach me quite fast as I flew through the air head first...at least it wasn't a drop-off. So I crashed, but I got back up and found my bike, jumped back on and took off, figuring I would assess damage as I went. I recall asking a course official a minute later "is my face ok?" but I was going by too fast and didn't hear an answer.

After another minute I was by myself, and it was like a reset button got pushed. I was still riding, but I didn't know where or why. I thought I might be on a training ride, but there was a number tied to my bike, and another pinned to my back. "Ok", I thought, intrigued by the weirdness, "starting from the beginning, what's my name?". It took a few minutes to get it. I recalled what year it was, then who was the president. Then I went back through to remembering getting up that morning, what I had for breakfast, retracing my steps through the day, all the while riding.

About an hour and I was all back, but I sure wasn't in any shape to race - my muscles were only moving by habit. I had to finish the course anyway to get back to my car, so I did, slowly. At home I ate and went to bed, and slept for many hours. I had to work the next day and felt under the weather like a cold coming on. One of my things was never getting sick, and I figured I could "burn it off". So the day after I went on a nice 100 mile ride. Afterwards I felt even more sick, and went to slept early. When I woke up in the morning I could hardly move, and it took 2 weeks of recuperation and 12 lbs. lost before I was back on the bike again...needless to say the season was shot, and though I did my winter weight training I never got the next riding season off the ground, and never raced again seriously.

Stuff I've been thinking about, as I am back on the bike now as a commuter and recreational rider and building a new road bike to participate in some club rides and at least one century next year. I am sure I don't have anything like the strength or endurance I used to, but I think I am enjoying it just as much (40 miles out in the hills today).

[Kolesar]

1. Do you think you had a concussion?

That's quite a story. I was doing some deathwish stuff back in my 20s, but it had nothing to do with bicycles.

[bhikkhu]

4. Probably a mild concussion

I guess the brain swells a bit, depending on how badly it is bounced around, and then the swelling creates pressure that constricts blood supply to affected areas. All the "hardware" remains, just more or less shut down during recovery.

I don't think I was ever the thrill-seeking type, and I never liked the close-quarters knees and elbows and spinning wheels of the peloton that much (much less sprint finishes!) - the first 5 races were also either crashed out or stressed out, written off as a part of the learning process. Its hard to imagine how hard those guys really go even at the Cat4 level...

[regularguy]

2. Must have sucked when you remembered that Reagan

was President, lol. Intense story, nice writing! I'm about the same age as you and I'm enjoying riding as much as I ever did.

[bhikkhu]

3. Yeah, particularly since I was a big Carter fan

It was not a happy-politics time, and it still gets me when I hear people talk about the guy like he was the last great American hero and those were the good days.

I took 20 years off riding, which was way too long. But fortunately I have a pretty physical job and weigh about the same as then; it really is a great feeling still pushing decent gears and keeping up a 90+ cadence on long rides now...

[Gregorian]

5. Amazing story. I wonder if I know you

Old La Honda road. Page Mill. Kings Mountain road. I never did go over the other side of the hill like Tom Ritchey and Jobst Brandt did. I spent many years in those hills. From about 1967 (I started at 11 years old. There were no cars back then.) to the mid 80's. Then no more roads. Just singletrack.

I never crashed in all of those years. I still don't believe it. Before helmets. Passing cars going down La Honda road. Haha. Speaking of which, I've got a video to post. Lance on a day off.

Glad you survived.

[bhikkhu]

6. I don't think I ever rode La Honda or the others...

At the time of that race I lived in Santa Cruz. My two favorite rides were either climbing up to Big Basin National Park then blasting back down the mountain, or grinding North up PCH as far as I could go against the standard headwind (Half Moon Bay was a good ride), then turning around and motoring back home. Before that I lived in Sacramento and spent most of my time in the hills East of town. Everything was uphill that way, as far as you wanted to go, and I found that there was much to be said for a workout that let you just toast yourself completely, and then turn around and let gravity ride you home.
I did do some riding in the Bay area, including a two-day trip from Sacramento to Point Reyes, then a tour of Frisco and a bad crash into the expansion grates of the Bay Bridge trying to get out of town...screwed up my wheel and thats the only trip I took where I packed it in and took a Greyhound home.

[Gregorian]

7. I've been very lucky.

I could have grown up in Oklahoma. But instead I got those tiny winding roads through the redwoods. It would take a small novel to describe. But there were loops that went from my house up into the hills, and down fast ridges and winding back down home. And Palo Alto was probably the first city to ever install bike lanes. So getting out of the city was easy.

I never drive to my rides. And the last twenty years has been a journey from place to place, each one with it's own riding.

Right now I'm situated adjacent to some of the best singletrack I've ever ridden. Out the back door is my secret trail.

Biking. I'm sitting here looking at all the goodies at Interbike. I think bikes are still the future.

Here's what Gary Fisher is wearing. OK, enough of my blabbing.