History 6

Summer 2005

This was a time of learning. I went to Quad Cities, Proctor, Apple Cup, Superweek, Winfield, Downers, Gateway, and Olney (with many other races in between). I felt that I was able to race well in early June and then again in late August. It's possible that I was actually riding well the whole time, but the races during late July and all of August were just plain fast.

One thing that became apparent and later frustrating with the team was the lack of a clear leader. We needed someone who would take charge, on the road, during a race. I think it's possible for a team to have many leaders, but we seemed to lack even one. It didn't have to be the same person every time either. By gateway, we got our act together and designated leaders to avoid the feeling and appearance of disunity. It was nice to finally have direction on the road.

That brings me to another point: I didn't really know how to race my bike as part of a team before that season. I mean, I hadn't had a team for much of the previous summer. I have learned that racing with a team happens on multiple levels.

The first thing that has to happen (or the first level if you will) is learning what it means to race as part of a team. This is on the equivalent of a book-learned level. Kinda like the recitation, "Racing for the team means giving 100% to the team," or "it doesn't matter that I finish, as long as I give my all to the team." That's just 'knowing' what it means.

The next level, one that I only began to understand the summer of 2005, is to understand what it means to ride as a team. I feel that this has much more to do with knowing what it feels like to give 100%. When it comes down to the end of a race and you're hurting like you're gonna die, you need to know that you can go harder, or faster, or hold that pace for just a little bit longer. Understanding what it means involves really not caring about personal finishes (unless of course your finish is the finish the team is counting on.)

Physical ability and confidence are part of it as well, but those are something that come with time on the bike. I definitely learned what it means to ride for a team, and I began to understand as well.