Rockumentary: Team END
I rounded up the radios prior to TOFU so Team End could be wired. We had a radio in the team car and most of us were wired for the entire week. I’m not sure what it is, but I dig the radio in races. Part of the digging is hearing lots of race info. The team car had race radio getting updates on road conditions, time gaps and other information. In addition, the team car would give us status on teammates and best of all, offer motivation. Every day required the motivation calls. Post-race the team car guys would ask if they talked too much. No way! It was good to get the “keep going” or “you’re moving up” or “looking good”. On the climbs I knew they were lying, but it helped anyway.
Speaking of Team End, well it was a good group of guys who stuck with motivating each other. I have many examples. Let me relate a few. Once we made it through the dust storm of the first 20 miles or so of Stage 1 it was never very hard to find Zulle and Hagemonster. Those two are the best at staying close to the front. I would move up and ride behind either of these guys and would be guaranteed to stay close to the front and out of trouble. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, take a look at the Boise Twilight Crit results and find Hagemonster’s finishing position…13th! You have to either be a big time sprinter or just know how to position yourself to pull that off. Zulle rocked it on Stage 1 on the first few finishing circuits which really gave me a good advantage of staying closer to the front and out of trouble.
Skinny-B is another positioning expert. Many times you’ll see him tailgunning the group. It’s usually not because he’s getting worked. Usually he is saving huge amounts of energy moving up only when necessary. Somehow he has the knack of knowing when it’s going to hit the fan. So whenever I would see him moving up I knew it was time for me to get serious. Stage 4 to Nebo was a great example. Going through Payson was a battle to be at the front going into Payson Canyon. Skinny-B was right there duking it out with the big guns. Stage 5 downtown was another example. Every stinking lap Skinny-B was top 20 on 200 North as I was falling off the back lap after lap, only to chase back on through the descent and on 400 West. Sidebar: why is it that I could fly on the descent and motor 400 West and be off the back before the top of State Street? Anyway, Skinny-B doesn’t mess around.
I referenced Party Jack’s throwdown on the Stage 1 finish in the previous post, but only in highlight form. So we have like 3 circuits in Provo and when I think we have 1 lap to go the announcer says 2 laps to go so I relax a bit and lose a bunch of positions. The team car is yelling in the radio that it is last lap and so I start trying to drill it but I’m not moving up fast enough because we are single file. Hagemonster is lighting it up but I still don’t feel like I’m up far enough. Then I hear Party Jack yell “Hardwood” and it sounds like he is coming up quick! We’re probably half a K to the finish line and approaching 70 kph so I jump on his wheel and got a good punch out of it. I moved up probably 15 spots at least.
The Body is another Team Ender that knows how to light things up and keep teammates motivated. I was seriously dropped on Stage 6 but could see the group The Body was in going over Suncrest just as I was on the flat section just before the final pitch. I finally caught up to them in Sandy. Once we got to the Snowbird climb the two of us just started rolling and soon the group we were with dropped off the pace. It was nice to have a teammate to trade off pacing each other and suffering together. It was funny because we kept saying this is it and finally at about a K to go it was it for me. The Body made it up to the group just ahead.
Back to some other stuff besides TOFU: I found some other fun bands to while-away the time to. The Secret Machines are pretty cool. Cato Salsa Experience keeps on rocking and makes me feel like jumping around. Gram Rabbit is really tripped out. Archer Prewitt’s solo stuff is mellow and you can get lost in it. His band The Sea and Cake are a good listen as well.
Motto for the week: Keep on truckin’!
You’ve seen the bumper sticker before…now live it!