Team: John's report on the 35+ B group at Snelling was great, but he left out a few important details:
1) On the third lap as we turned right after the start/finish onto the long windy straight-away, I began to fall off the back (I fell off the back at the same place on the previous lap, but I was always able to stay within a few hundred yards of the group, so I put my head down, bit my bottom lip, and TT'd back to the group. Add in a lucky neutralization of our group, and I was back in business.). Anyway, as I was fading, John looked back at me and heroically drifted back to me and led me back to the group. I speculate that he wanted to bring me back because there were only three DBC guys left (John, Jim and myself) and other teams still had numbers (Synergy, most notably...more on them in a minute). I would have left me for dead, but not only did he lead me back, but he sheltered me from the cross wind. Even then, I was having trouble hanging on and he kept telling me to stay on the wheel ahead of me. Thankfully we soon turned into the section where the winds were friendlier and I was able to catch my breath. Suffice it to say, without John, I would have been toast.
2) As we headed into the last lap, John and Jim still looked strong, so I tried my best to protect them from the wind through the vineyards. John and Jim looked incredibly strong as we went up the last power hill and then soon after Jim got a flat. As Jim was moving backwards, John was fishing everything he could out of his pack to help him...a pump, a tube, and even his car keys. Luckily Jim found them. We later saw Jim waving at us as he passed by in the VP van. He looked pretty happy.
3) On the final stretch of the bumpy road of the last lap, John was protecting me well, and when we were less than two miles from the finish, John asks me "Do you want me to lead you out?" It took me about two minutes to respond. I didn't want to be totally honest and say "No way, I don't have it in me," but how do you reject a selfless act? Whenever I have raced before, whenever someone asked you if you wanted them to lead you out, it was really an admission on their part that they didn't have anything left and that they would work to support you. So I sucked it up and said sure. Sure enough, John put me in perfect position and I stuck on his wheel until about 100 yard before the final turn. However, one of the big Synergy guys put the hammer down, and when I reacted, my legs officially went on strike (as they had been threatening to do for the past lap and a half). The whole time, John kept checking to make sure I was in position, but once he saw I wasn't going to make it, he finally cut bait and took off.
4) That first Synergy attempt at the sprint didn't materialize and their big guy pulled off just before the final turn, but they still had three guys in the final sprint. Freed from pulling my dead weight around, John then did something that was absolutely amazing: he smoothly pulled to the right (to pass a Synergy rider), then deked to the left (passing another) and then took off passing the third-- all moves perfectly fluid. When I told Derek and Will about this, Derek replied it was like John was riding in a video game and it pretty much was. He was pretty much playing Frogger in in the middle of a bike race. My head was down, so I didn't know how he finished but I figured top 5. As I pulled through the finish, Fred said he won. A totally appropriate finish. I was very happy for him and when I was wondering out loud why he was asking me if I wanted to be lead out but still went ahead and won the race himself, Fred replied with a simple "That's just John." If Jim hadn't flatted, DBC very likely would have gone 1-2.
My lessons learned:
1) Newbies: If you get the chance, race with John. Before, during, and after the race, he was dropping pearls of wisdom. The whole time he tried to protect us as much as possible and he was doing more than his fair share of dirty work. I'm looking forward to riding with a lot of the riders that were in the A group because they also put on a clinic, but I learned more in yesterday's race than I did in 10 races last year. And yes, I'm in the John Steggall fan club. I hope to pay him back some day, but it's not like he's going to need me to lead him out in a future race. I guess I'll have to bake him some cookies or something.
2) Even though we decided after the first lap to not to be in the front of the pack, that doesn't mean to go to the back of the pack. Being in the back on a windy day is a recipe for getting guttered.
3) If you fall off the back but can still see the group and you're not totally wasted, keep plugging away. In a race like yesterday's, the groups kept slowing enough and there were enough neutralizations that you could, in some cases, catch back up.
4) Never, EVER, eat a hot link after a race, no matter how good it smells. You have been warned.
I'm glad I joined this team.
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