063: going out with a bang

Fairhill/Tacchino was my first race back after illness. A stake in the ground. Solid rides, but I faded a lot at the end, and frankly was not at my best. I made the decision to skip the USGP's in favor of a hard 10 day block of training to send me into the final month of the season flying.

Mayhew and I talked it over. Mayhew is a great coach, and frankly knew my penchant for riding myself into the ground, and he does a great job of keeping me out of that. In planning my mini training camp, Mayhew cautioned,"we need to make sure you recover well, and don't over cook yourself..."

I trained hard, and focused. I did not recover as well as I had expected. I could probably give you a list as long as my arm as to why, but not really so important right now.
Coming into the Howard County Double Cross, I expected to be flying. But clearly I didn't recover enough, Schooley Mill was awful, I contemplated call it a year.

Auer, my wife, my teammates, and my Mayhew talked me down. Rockburn went better, but I still wasn't right. States I was awful. Still not recovered, I kept saying to myself, how could I have done all this work, and feel this horrible? To say I was frustrated would be an understatement.
The Rockbridge classic was shaping up to be a smaller event, as the finals of the PA Cross Series. The Master's class was 20ish riders. Looking at the list, there wasn't anyone in the class that I had not beaten this year. That was encouraging. I also knew that since mid October there were 5 guys that I haven't beaten: teammate and fellow sideburn affcionado Joe Lilibridge, respected rivals/friends Kelly Cline, Joe Piccalo, Sean Mealy and Joel Moats. I also knew Don Kessel was riding well, and doing very well in the PA Series, although I don't think we raced this year.
However this shook out, it was going to be a close race. I just hoped I could stay with those guys.

We gathered at the start and the scrumming began. I snuck my way on the front row. It was my first front row start this year!
Hebe and Kuhn were the race announcers, and were talking about the strength of our field, and how evenly matched our race would be. Then Hebe said this, "If I was betting, I'd put my money on Fatmarc Vanderbacon." Everyone looked at me. My stomach sank. I offered up this, "come on guys, have you seen me race recently?"

A minute later the whistle blew and we were off. The start was open, and then went into a technical, slick off camber section. I wanted to be in the front group through this section. I didn't count on getting the hole shot.

As we came by the pit, I looked back and noticed I had about a 15 yard gap. I stood up and pressed the issue. "maybe I can win the first lap?"

Three Saturdays ago I was ready to call it a year. Through the support, and guidance of my wife, my friends, my team, Auer, Lauri and Tom and my coach, I adopted the mantra " I've done the work, I just need to rest, keep the faith, and believe. It will all come around. "
I told myself this each time I warmed up, each time I packed my bag, each time I practiced starts with Jeff and Lauri, and each time I started to feel my season was going to end on a disappointing note.

I secretly wished for conditions that would conspire and give me one last solid ride.
Saturday at Marysville, one of my all time favorite courses, amongst the snow and rain and slickened technical conditionals, fortune smiled on me, and Saturday I finished my race, finished my season with my arms raised in victory.

fuck yeah.

thanks for reading
respect.
fatmarc

thanks to Joe Mallis for the fine shots.