The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Mike Githens on Jeff Cup

by David Kirkpatrick, Features Editor

Of the many things that more experienced and successful racers have to teach, pre-race mental preparation and post-race analysis are two of the less appreciated aspects.  As an experiment, GamJams will periodically solicit a pre- and post-race analysis from members of the peloton who we wish we had more chances to learn from.  The pre-race portion is written and sealed prior to racing.  After the race, the subject will debrief the race and compare the events and outcomes to his or her predictions and prognostications.  For the debut edition, Mike Githens of Your Ad Here p/b Bicycle Pro Shop offers his before and after look at The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of Jeff Cup 2010.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Jeff Cup
by Mike Githens

Pre-Race Forecast:
Teammate 1, sounding profoundly profound, “Its Jeff Cup. THE Jefferson Cup Road Race. The Clash of the Titans. The Holy Grail. You win and that’s it—you’ve made it. Have you seen that cup?”

TM 2, slightly sheepish, voice cracking, “Or just an early season race to tune up the legs? Right? I can just use it as a tune-up? A tune-up?”

TM 3, an octave higher, bouncing, akin to a golden retriever, “But no, no, dude—it’s JEFF CUP. JEFF CUP! Man, ya know JEFF CUP?!!”

We’ve all been there, the team meeting before the first “big” race of the season. And for us in MABRA-land, it’s that time again: Jeff Cup. So what do you do with a race like this- an early season icon, made more difficult by the unpredictable weather and constant barrage of attack-counterattacking than the course itself?  Do you treat it as an early season race to train through or seek eternal glory?  To the Jeff Cup haters, as much as you want to deny it, Jeff Cup is a big race. It fills up in 3 seconds flat.  And you know you will be there, so stop your hating. There are those with good early season form looking to absolutely and unequivocally rip the legs off of their once-upon-a-winter friends. And then there are those whose fate is to end up on yougotdropped.blogspot.com.  Damn those photographers.

Love it or hate it, you will be there.  A race is a race, right? The point is to win. How will you do it?

Here’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Your Ad Here p/b The Bicycle Pro Shop.

Our team is new. And we are the opposite of deep. These attributes make winning a race like Jeff Cup difficult. But not impossible.  There are 8 of us and we are fit. That’s what we are telling ourselves at least.  For starters, the race is predictable, and by predictable I mean predictably chaotic… absolute mayhem. Some years a break goes on lap 2, other years on the last lap, maybe not at all this year. The point is pre-race strategy only goes so far. But it is worthwhile none-the-less.

Our singular goal is to win this race, which will be done in one of two ways- from the break (Mike G) or from the field sprint (Pete, thick legs). The simpler and more controllable of the two is the field sprint. If the race is together coming into the last stretch, our collective goal is to get Pete to the line first. To execute well, we have to organize on the last lap and communicate well, long before turning onto the finishing stretch. The sprint at the end of Jeff Cup can be chaotic; organization defeats chaos. The finishing stretch is a long false flat making for a deceivingly difficult drag race with early fliers destined to fail. The key will be keeping our small leadout poised but protected by more anxious and less savvy racers until 500 m to go.  From there our train of 5-6 should open up the sprint each taking 100 m like its their own finish and leave Pete with the last 100m. Easier said than done, but if executed, Pete’s got the legs to finish first.

Making the break is less controllable. Everyone and their mom will be attacking from the gun, mostly because that’s just what you do at Jeff Cup. For our small team to get a member in the break, we must choose our who, when and where’s very wisely. This is where knowing your competition goes a long way. The race will be controlled by the 3 Armadas- Harley, Haymarket and KBS (in alphabetical order only). Given this, the good moves will be ones with each of these teams represented. If one team is caught out, the move will surely come back. Given our lack of depth marking individuals from each of these teams is unrealistic and we cannot go after every move, thus we are left to go on instinct. Sure there are guys to mark but the list quickly becomes insurmountably long. We will keep a special eye on a few though- Particularly Joe D. of Haymarket.  I’ve been riding with this guy a little bit this season- you all think he’s fast and destined to be the next great bike racer. All of you are wrong. The solution to the energy crisis, that’s what Joe is. When the US government hooks him up to a generator while riding he will power the US, China and India and make our country rich. Seriously.  And maybe he’ll drag me to the finish line this weekend.

Instinct plays even more of a role with the when and where parts. As for when, if I am hurting, I bet you are more- I’m going to attack you and blow a blood vessel in my eye doing it. Often times the successful move comes when the race is hardest. And the where? Don’t attack on the hill early in the race. There will be 10 other people to do it for you and they’ll get caught on the descent. Late in the race is when attacks work here because people are tired by then.  We will have Michael W. and Ryan patrolling early moves, only going after the race making moves while Taylor, Jonathan and Will sit in for Pete’s potential sprint. If nothing goes by lap 4, it will be up to me to cover or make the move that goes late.

Strategy in the move is this: Once in the break, your brain becomes your best friend- use it! Look at whom else is there and immediately seek to break them down slowly and subtly by capitalizing on their weaknesses. And if you are in the break with the likes of Chuck or Joe D, just smile, kindly participate and know that you have no chance of beating them. 


Post-Race Recap:
I’m not going to pull any punches here. I imploded, catastrophically. Somewhere along the road I stopped, stumbled off my bike and began to curl up into a ball to keep warm. Thankfully a dim little light shone through and reminded me that this sort of behavior in this situation leads to poor outcomes and I got back up.  That’s how my Jeff Cup ended.

The team fared little better. Before the race even started we had one casualty- a valuable teammate pulled the plug the night before citing chronic hamstring issues. Maybe he knew something we didn’t. While he was sitting sipping his latte in a cozy little coffee shop perusing the Sunday Times we were busy shivering, hallucinating and generally succumbing to the elements.

Pre-race rituals went off swimmingly. We strategized, warmed up, joked, talked smack. Then came the neutral rollout. Yikes. There are two times to be at the front of the race 1) when its all hot and things are breaking up, and 2) the neutral roll-out. There was skidding and bumping and even the sounds of cracking carbon in the back half of that thing. I’m not certain, but I think somebody ended up on the pavement back there.

Our next casualty came along rather quickly. One teammate had complained of vague stomach trouble pre-race. Some of us laughed. Isn’t gastroenteritis the cyclist’s perennial excuse for a bad day? The old, “Oh, I was having major stomach problems man. That’s why I didn’t (insert whatever).”  Well our unfortunate teammate did toe the start line, but his malady took him out of the race early; it took him out of the post-race banter, took him out of post-race Mexican food, and took him out of every conversation in between.  Surely though, he took out the toilet.

Back in the race other of my mates were riding well covering moves. I jumped into the action when potentially promising moves looked to be forming with no luck. The racing began to get interesting in laps 3 and 4 with breaks forming, hovering and disintegrating. Many moves came and went and when a solid group finally got away, it unfortunately did so with none of us (the 3 that remained) in it.

And then came the rain. And the cold. I knew I needed to ride hard to keep warm so I did. After a few ill-planned attacks I began to shiver. Cue Ramon- easing up beside me in a short sleeve jersey with shorts pulled up 4 inches above his tan line, looking more like he was drenched in sweat rather than rain. “WTF?” I thought.  “I can’t keep my handlebars straight and this guy is tanning?” I was sure for a moment I was hallucinating. Logically I decided another attack was warranted, to shake the hallucination if for nothing else.  Myself and two other riders made it in view of the breakaway but never had a chance of making it across, partly due to my inability to ride in a straight line. The field pulled us in yet again. Things got quite bad for me but I rationalized pushing on until I completely shut down from the cold. Partly because the rain had eased up but mostly because I didn’t want to have to write an embarrassing tale of me cracking… mission failed.

At the end of the day Pete was the lone survivor from our humbled little squad. Strong work (and will) on his part to finish with the main field. The rest of us were a sorry sight. Thanks to the guys who took pity on me and lent me those towels. And to the school, YAHcycling collectively apologizes for any destroyed toilets.

Lessons learned, you ask? Wear more clothes? Don’t eat undercooked chicken? When one high-IQ teammate bails, everyone bail? We had very little control over what happened yesterday. One of us got really sick. A few got really cold.  One of us managed to finish, and one us was smart and stayed home. Perhaps you wonder if it was even worth it. Absolutely. Sometimes bike racing can be exuberating- ask Joe Dombrowski. Most of the time it is humbling- ask us. 

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David Kirkpatrick is a Features Editor with GamJams. He is enjoying growing fame through his blog Flamenco Chuckwagon, and as promoter of the lauded Lost River Classic.

Comments

[Andrew]

that's a good write up. i enjoyed reading that. well written.

[bas]

great read!

[Chuck Hutch]

Good stuff. Next time can you write out your pre-race plan and post it on GamJams before the race? In fact, I think Joe D and Evan Fader should do the same.

[Mike G]

Ha, my race plan for next week is irrelevant-- I'll be racing in a down jacket and snow pants.

[Dave Kirkpatrick]

Chuck -
Until Mike thaws out, here is Joe's general strategy for the next few races: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8skXT5NQzCg
Dave