Le Tour de Terra Cotta by Mark Botelho

Aug 3, 2009

Le Tour de Terra Cotta
What a day, well it started off the night before or should I say, the morning of, getting to bed at 1:00am, butterflies excitement, yes, I felt like a child who was about to go on his first plane ride. Well I woke up at 6:30 as I had to be at Terra Cotta for 7:00am to volunteer. Finally got there to only find out that everything was done, but I got a request from Ian to help be a lead rider for one of the kids races, I thought ok, good way to get a warm up, he asked me to see Amy Moore she mentioned that I could do one of 2 leads, the 9 to 12 yrs old 1 lap, or 12 to 17 year olds, 3 laps. Well I didn't want to get tired so I thought I would lead out the group of 9 to 12 year olds, what a huge mistake on my part, there I was about 200 meters ahead of the finish line thinking this is enough space between us, this should be ok.

All of a sudden the horn goes off, these little people riding these little road bikes come flying at me, what the hell is going on this isn't a time trial that happens on Mondays, oh it is Monday, still what the hell is going on, so they take the right hand turn onto Heritage Rd, I'm thinking ok I'll stay to the left of the lead rider and just coast up Heritage, alright this little Punk, yes you heard me right, Punk, dropped me like a sack of potatoes on that hill, when I finally crested the hill, the kid was about 200 meters ahead of me, oh shit, I have to bridge this gap, I was huffing and puffing and thinking this Punk is not going to be able to maintain this pace, I'll be patient and I will catch him. Up ahead he turns on old school which we all knew had a head wind, and this punk was maintaining his lead I finally caught this Punk around Winston Churchill, and I was thinking sucker I've got 100 lbs on you, and a down hill was coming my favorite part, weighting 200lbs pays off baby. So I finally caught this Punk, we made the right had turn onto King and as we did, he kept looking back as if I was racing him, I felt like saying buddy you've got it all under control no need to go all out, no one is near you, but I let him do what he knew best, and that was tare up the road. I let him take the last 200 meters on his own, he earned it, great job!
Punks Name: Brady Lee (St. Catharines Cycling Club - RMU13) I thought it was fitting to at least give you the Definition of Punk: "an aggressive and violent young criminal". Think about it, he fit this definition best; he was aggressive as he went up the hill, violent assault on the flats, made me work, he's young and he was a criminal because he stole the show from everyone else. I was proud to know that I might have ridden with one of our future stars, great job Brady.

We'll enough about the Punk, my turn 27km race, there were several Falcons out there, Bill, Jim, Brent, Dan (Lance) Don, James, Michelle, and my cousin Alex who rides with BCC.
The race started at 10:00, not 9:30, as they originally planned, this was good news for Jim who just got there because he forgot his shoes at home and had to go back for them, and did I mention that he got a flat tire that morning, enough about Jim, it was a great environment at the start line, we had some small talk, I made sure to stay close to Alex Bill and Jim, I figured if I could stay with these guys I might be able to work with them.

Lap 1
The horn went off and clipped in only to find myself on the breaks with my rear tire up in the air, oh shit is what I thought, but it worked out not sure what happen I'm just grateful that I didn't go down. There was a funny feeling to the race, it just seamed like something was brewing but I couldn't figure what was happening. The pace started to get fast quickly, I held on looking on both sides wondering where everyone was, we turned right on to Heritage Rd, and I thought to myself stay calm and work with those around you when you get to the top, so there I was climbing Heritage and boy it was hard, I really worked hard to stay up with the lead group only to find myself about 200 to 300 meters behind thinking that's it, there gone, let me work with the others around me.
I got a look at Bill and I thought ok I can work with Bill and we can try to bridge the gap, if I can remember correctly he was in front of me at first and then I went to the front to try and work to get us closer I kept looking back to make sure he was with me, Bill then says "go Mark" I was thinking there was no way I was going to work by myself, so I was going no where without him, so we rode on with 2 or 3 other guys (which one of them went on to win it) to bridge the gap at the front. Wow we made it, we caught the group at the front, at this point if I wanted any luck of staying with this group, I had to let them do all the work, drafting is the name of the game when it comes to Cycling.

In the group we had Jim Bill James Alex and myself, ok we have a race now. As we approached Old school I knew enough from Alex to get off the saddle and give it, because of the headwinds. At this point it kind of reminded me of the tour this year when Contador got caught behind with the second group when they hit the headwinds on the right hand turn, as we hit that corner I went for it with the group ahead only to find that Bill didn't make it, he got caught, and was dropped, ok Jim Alex and James are still here, James who I just met this morning was now at the front pulling hard and I was thinking is he crazy, but he did set a strong pace, so for the most part I would say we were about 10 riders, there were some guys who tried to attack to only find the gap was easily brought back, so going down Winston Churchill was fun I know at this point if I really wanted I could have easily gotten in front down the hill, but I thought to myself just relax do not take the lead, so now we turn onto King and our own Falcon Jimmy was up front taking the lead, I thought to myself once again what the hell is he doing no need to take the lead just relax, but no Jimmy wanted to cross the line first, good for him, and all of us Falcons.

Lap 2
As soon as we crossed the line I caught up to Jim, I don't think he knew I was with the group until that point; I told him not to take the lead and to relax, I figured if I've got Jim and Alex with me the easier it would be for all of us, so on to Heritage Rd climb it was for the second time. Alex was just ahead of me, I knew that this was going to be really important for me to be in touch with the group at the top of this hill, lucky for me these boys were also hurting, so there I was huffing and puffing, at this point Alex just realized I was with him I reach out to shake his hand and let him know good job, so I turned around to see where everyone was again, Jim wasn't in the group he got dropped, what the hell just happened, so I tired to lengthen the group by going to the back, but he was not close enough, I thought for a second if I drop I could work with him, but at this point it was a tuff decision but the right one to stay with group. If I get dropped I knew that I would have Jim with me, so on I went.
So my game plan again was no different from Lap 1, draft and find the sweet spot out there on Old School. This time around it was harder as I got caught on the outside. We approached and turned on to Winston Churchill to find a friend of mine who worked with me at the gap Jeff Vermas was in the group. At this point Jeff decided to lead, if you know Jeff he is a big man with powerful legs, he actually put in a good gap between the group only to find it shrink back to nothing, no one was going to let anyone get away, so down the hill and I found myself in front, no problem I will let the moment take me down, but I will let them all catch up, so as we made the turn I let off the pedals to find them all beside me, so I rode alongside the lead rider and crossed the line on the 2nd lap

Lap 3
So I slowed back down looked around to see who was with me, I thought oh shit here comes hell, I knew this had to be for all the marbles, I worked hard very hard to stay as close as I could up the hill, got to the top only to find that the group decided not to take off, thank god that made my day, I figured we all had a chance now, 3 guys got dropped, now we were a group of 7 and let me tell you the mood change very quickly, we slowed down and guys at the front made a comment: "no one want to take the lead", no one moved up so we rode at a comfortable tempo, approaching Old School turn, and the tempo just got faster around the corner for about 500 meters but no one got dropped so it went back down to a comfortable level, so as we approached Winston Churchill you new something was going to happen, you could smell it in the air. There goes one rider, then another, the group follows the riders get caught another attack and another chase, wow this is exciting, I was hanging on, I might have a chance wow, the group is back together another guy takes off and now no one is chasing, so I come from behind and bridge the gap it was the 2 of us for about 40 meters the group finally caught us, then another rider takes off I call it out, the group follows, another rider takes off with about 250 meter before the down hill I chase him he looks back he say's "let's work together it's only the 2 of us", so we went, I look back and there the group was once again, the guy takes off once again and now it's this guy Alex and I, he turns to us and says let work together so there I was down the hill with 2 other riders, we turn the corner onto King and we are pushing as hard as we could with about 300 meters from the finish line to only have the group come together to have a 7 man race for the finish line, what a felling, I was spent at this point, I had no kick, but I was going to work as hard as I could to stay close, and that I did, a respectable 6th place. It was awesome finishing with my Cousin Alex that made it even better.
I learned a lot form this race, when you hurt, they hurt, let others do the work as much as possible, be patient, don't lead, and work with those around you.

Would I recommend this race, are you kidding, this was a lot of fun, different from triathlon for sure, but a lot of fun, I wish I had the training in me to do 108km race it looked like a lot of fun to have over 200 cyclist in the race. This was a great day and event.

Mark Botelho