Chief
07-03-2005, 07:55 PM
Having finished second in the 65-69 age group of the USCF's Texas State Road Race at the end of April, the Chief, feeling a little cocky after his first race ever, decided to see how he would stack up against those in the US National Road Race in Park City this past week. In order to get acclimated to the 7200 ft elevation of the race site, the Chief went to his son's home in Colorado Springs and rode 170 miles of hills over a four day period. He repeated the same loop for the first three days and found his average speed increasing with each day's work out which he took as a good sign that he was in fact acclimating to the altitude.
The Chief then drove over to Parks City to do his road race on Thursday past. The course included a one-mile out and back to a 2.5 mile circuit in an upper-end neighborhood on the side of a mountain in Deer Valley where we were to do 8 laps. The circuit was brutal and consisted of two serious climbs each with its own twisting descent that had several 90 degree turns and one 120 degree turn. There was not a flat spot on the circuit; i.e., no opportunity to recover from the climb. Each climb was preceded by a 90 degree turn which essential killed any momentum that he might have. It was more like a crit than a road race. The Chief rode his Ottrott and was really impressed how he could stick it into a corner. In fact it was hillarious to see the race marshalls directing traffic at the corners wonder which way to take evasive action--somewhat like a deer in the headlights--as the Chief approached the corner and stuck the bike into it. Turns out this was the only fun thing about the race for the Chief. At the start line the starter asked if it would be OK to reduce the number of laps from 7 to 8 since the course was very difficult. The Chief could have kissed her because this meant that we would only be doing 2500 ft of climbing over 17.5 miles.
The Chief was in the mix for the first couple of laps, but as the race went on he fell further and further behind as each climb took it toll. Near the end of his sixth lap he was lapped by the leader. Since the leader had finished his seven laps everyone had to follow him in, including the Chief. The Chief is about 100 yds behind the leader at this point (actually one lap plus 100 yds racewise). Nevertheless, the Chief experienced a brief moment of glory as he approached the finishline. The race announcer broadcasts, "Here comes our silver medalist, Carl Popelar from San Antonio, Texas, riding for Joe's Pro Bikes Racing." The Chief thinks, "Yea in your dreams." About 10 seconds later he says, "Correction, he is last." That was not true either because officially the Chief finished 14th out of group of 17 with only 15 completing the race. The first and second place finishers were from Lakewood, Co. Interestingly, there was only one crash. A guy had a new set of Zipp wheels and his brakes failed on one of the descents.
Anyway the Chief found out how he stacked up. :crap: He has been reduced to a humble brave with only a single feather after having his head dress handed to him. It has been my experience during my 67 years that if you look hard enough, you can always find someone that can beat you and sometimes you hardly have to look.
The Chief then drove over to Parks City to do his road race on Thursday past. The course included a one-mile out and back to a 2.5 mile circuit in an upper-end neighborhood on the side of a mountain in Deer Valley where we were to do 8 laps. The circuit was brutal and consisted of two serious climbs each with its own twisting descent that had several 90 degree turns and one 120 degree turn. There was not a flat spot on the circuit; i.e., no opportunity to recover from the climb. Each climb was preceded by a 90 degree turn which essential killed any momentum that he might have. It was more like a crit than a road race. The Chief rode his Ottrott and was really impressed how he could stick it into a corner. In fact it was hillarious to see the race marshalls directing traffic at the corners wonder which way to take evasive action--somewhat like a deer in the headlights--as the Chief approached the corner and stuck the bike into it. Turns out this was the only fun thing about the race for the Chief. At the start line the starter asked if it would be OK to reduce the number of laps from 7 to 8 since the course was very difficult. The Chief could have kissed her because this meant that we would only be doing 2500 ft of climbing over 17.5 miles.
The Chief was in the mix for the first couple of laps, but as the race went on he fell further and further behind as each climb took it toll. Near the end of his sixth lap he was lapped by the leader. Since the leader had finished his seven laps everyone had to follow him in, including the Chief. The Chief is about 100 yds behind the leader at this point (actually one lap plus 100 yds racewise). Nevertheless, the Chief experienced a brief moment of glory as he approached the finishline. The race announcer broadcasts, "Here comes our silver medalist, Carl Popelar from San Antonio, Texas, riding for Joe's Pro Bikes Racing." The Chief thinks, "Yea in your dreams." About 10 seconds later he says, "Correction, he is last." That was not true either because officially the Chief finished 14th out of group of 17 with only 15 completing the race. The first and second place finishers were from Lakewood, Co. Interestingly, there was only one crash. A guy had a new set of Zipp wheels and his brakes failed on one of the descents.
Anyway the Chief found out how he stacked up. :crap: He has been reduced to a humble brave with only a single feather after having his head dress handed to him. It has been my experience during my 67 years that if you look hard enough, you can always find someone that can beat you and sometimes you hardly have to look.