Winning the Derby*

*Whoever said, "two dudes on bikes = a race" hit the nail on the head. Even yesterday, while out filming Matt for an upcoming video, I couldn't help but sneak past him on a few occasions, effectively cutting him out of the frame but also showing that I could go faster. Pretty dumb, right?

The originator of that statement would love The Derby, the twice-weekly group ride that rolls out from the Velodrome on Wednesday evenings (until daylight gets too short) and Sunday mornings. The route is always the same but the ride never is, as the last 10 miles are effectively an unsanctioned race back to the start.

On a warm Sunday morning in June or July, you might get more than 100 people on the Derby, often including some of our local pros, retired pros, former world and national champions and other assorted fast folks. On a bad day, such as tonight's Derby -- dark and rainy -- you still get a crowd that puts even the best-attended Blue Sky Bicycles Tuesday Night Worlds to shame, and you still get lots of fast people in the mix. In fact, it seems that the non-pro fast guys are the most hardy, and the most likely to show up in any weather.

All that's a roundabout way of saying that to win the Derby can mean something, even if it's just a bunch of folks out for a ride. Last Sunday, before leaving for Interbike, I rode the Derby and came into the final sprint on the wheel of United Health Care's Scott Zwizanski. He won (I finished third), a result that probably didn't mean all that much to him, given his impressive palmares, but being able to ride with such a successful racer -- and many of his colleagues -- means a lot to me, and, I imagine, to all the other riders in this area like me -- enthusiasts who will never be pros, no matter how many intervals we do, or what ludicrous training plans we may subscribe to.

Pride and satisfaction aside, winning or placing at the Derby doesn't net you upgrade points, there's no results sheet and no photographs to post on facebook, but it's still an achievement.

Someday, I aspire to win a big derby with all the guys who are a lot faster than me. For now, I'll take the win tonight, in the rain and dark, and absent many of (but not all of) the local fast guys. In a way, it's an analogy of my entire racing career -- sometimes I can do well at smaller races, but generally I'm outgunned. So it goes.

The Derby tonight was a little hesitant, due to the wet roads, but when Torch and Jess opened a gap going into the last turn, the race was on, so I attacked, forgetting as I always do, that it's still a long way to the finish from there. Fortunately for me, the chase was either too slow coming out of the turn, or not motivated, and I goaded my burning legs into just enough revolutions to make it to the finish line, first by several lengths. Woo Hoo!

Of course, had it come down to a sprint, I surely would have been beat. It's a good thing I know my strengths.

Bring on the hate, haters!