Santa Rosa Downtown Criterium Race - May 1, 2005
by Dylan Seguin

The P/1/2 race in Santa Rosa was a kick. It was a good, fun hour & a half of racing on a course that’s a personal favorite of mine. We raced an active race. In the breaks, chasing things down, getting the team some recognition over the PA. All that was left was to put together a strong finish to take home some of the payout that went all the way down to 15th place. Seemed like we’d definitely be leaving Santa Rosa with some cash in hand. But, as any bike racer knows, sometimes bike racing doesn’t go as expected.

In the last couple laps of the race my legs felt great. I made sure I stayed up near the front and I had a hunch that my blue camo clad teammates were right up near the front too as we’d all been going quite strongly. At the bell, with one to go I was pretty much where I wanted to be and feeling good about my chances of making a little dough.

Last week at Wente I had lost position in the last turn of the last lap when things got squirrelly. I got shoved out wide, lost a lot of positions, and ended up in 33rd or something like that – when the guy who’d nearly crashed me finished in 13th. Kinda frustrating, but I had nobody to blame but myself as I’d given ground and not fought for my position, basically taking myself out of the running.

At Santa Rosa, I was determined not to give ground. We’d raced for too long to give away a finishing spot. So when the race got sloppy on the backside, instead of slowing to avoid the collision I accelerated into the little gap to protect my front wheel and make sure that after the inevitable collision I was still going to be where I wanted to be (as long as I was still upright). Two or three of us came together pretty hard – I was sorta sandwiched between the guy trying not to be pushed into the curb and the guys coming wide out of the turn. It all came together pretty quick and hard and someone’s bike made a really bizarre sound (like a spoke getting ripped out), but after the contact we we’re all still in the mix. Or so I thought we were.

Trying to figure out what the funky sound was I checked my wheels as best I could and they still looked round and straight so I was stoked – until I realized my rear tire didn’t feel right as we exited the second to last corner. Along the straight, heading toward the final turn I realized my tire was losing air - and just then Forrest comes by and says something along the lines of ‘Let’s go’ offering up a lead-out I wanted soooo badly. I actually did jump to grab his wheel, but approaching the last turn I didn’t like my odds of making it around the bend on a soft tire at the speed we were going. So I eased off Forrest’s perfect pull and kissed my lead-out (and any realistic chance of a top-ten finish) goodbye. I made it around the final turn at a slightly reduced speed and once the bike was straight I figured there was still enough air in the tube to give the sprint a try. I’d watched a number of guys go by me in the final turn, so it was pretty slick to actually catch a few guys in the long sprint with less than ideal psi in the rear – I actually thought I still had a shot at a payout position in the top 15, but in the end I could only manage 17th.

That really hurt. Pretty damn disappointing. I had wanted to put together a good finish for my teammates who’d raced so hard and aggressively and for the folks who’d come out to cheer the squad on. On a positive note, as I enter a period where I’m supposed to be going well it seems the legs are where they should be. And unlike at Wente, I didn’t lie down and take myself out of this race. The ‘fight’ is back in place and we definitely need that type of attitude if we expect to collect solid finishes in the P/1/2 races.

So Santa Rosa slipped through the fingers. But there are a lot of good races to come and it looks like the 2’s squad is riding well.

Even disappointing bike races are fun.