The Page Valley Road Race and How I Was Sacrificed for the Latest Surf

Well it's finally happening. The tropics are boiling up storms and hurricanes. Our first official Fall swell came through last Monday. Me? I was in the mountains of Virginia at the Page Valley Road (bicycle)Race near Luray. This was my first Cat 4 road race---in the mountains. Climbs at race speed, some 12 to 20 per cent I guess. My surfing buddies loved me when I returned my having fulfilled the role of sacrifice for legitimate waves head high and larger, clean faces and time for multiple cutbacks, so they told me. Telling me about it was one of their favorite parts second only to the surf itself that day.

It was all about Hatteras Island as the sandbars here in the towns seem non-productive right now. What we need, I suppose, is a real ass-kicker to blow in here and re-shuffle the sand for what I know is coming. How quickly and often things change here, the bottom, the weather, everything, are the reasons the Outer Banks keep your attention, keep your interest. The context is never boring.

Ah yes, the great myth of whom will be sacrificed for the next session. There always seems to be someone to thank for their absence. This never changes.

The bike race had been planned for quite a while. This is something you just don't do here in the Fall swell window. So I'll be avoiding traveling off the beaches as much as possible from here on. The policy now is sit on it till it hatches. I'll probably avoid all travels until after Thanksgiving.

The Page Valley Race was still however, very worth it. It featured as much suffering as any road racing cyclist could possibly want. Climbs which put you on your largest cog, your smallest chainring, standing over your pedals at 9 mph close to spitting up a lung---a situation many road cyclists only dream about.

Around 87 riders were registered in the Cat 4 race. Fifteen mysteriously never started, 12 abandoned the race, and 60 "finished". The range of strength and talent in the field seemed wide. The race was set to include 5 laps around a 10-mile circuit. The promoter reduced the race to 4 laps due to the excessive heat. Of the 60 finishing the race, 27 finished all 4 laps. Some were pulled out at the finish line after completing only 2 laps as they were falling so far behind. Some were pulled out after 3 laps (me) for the same reason.

The finish line was at the top of one of the steepest climbs. I was sure I could've completed all the laps. But let's just say---as I "summited" and the official walked toward my passing bike (yes I was riding slow enough for him to walk)informing me I was done but that he would still "place" me in the standings---I didn't have my happy face on. I didn't hesitate to retire though. For a moment, I even relished the thought of curling up into a fetal position, sucking my thumb, and trying to imagine who else I could blame for my being here this day. Only a momentary thought though. I quickly regained my tough-guy pose along with the other thirty or so guys lining the road at the finish, all either deep in oxygen debt or recovered enough to stand and nervously laugh about our predicament.

After about 15 to 20 minutes of waiting, here came the 4-lap finishers---the real warriors, including Robert, one of the other two riders from our team whom I traveled with up there. Apparently he was fourth wheel going into the last turn at the foot of the final climb and beginning an attack, when suddenly the tubular tire on his rear wheel came off the rim sending him abruptly into a ditch, still upright on the bike. He got the tire back on and still managed to finish 25th of the last 27 riders.

What's more, out of a major display of respect, Jacob Tremblay, the presumed BAR winner for Cat 4 in Virginia and among the lead riders at the time, turned around off the front and returned to check that Robert was okay. They finished together at the rear of the finishing field of riders. I'm happy to say sportsmanship is still alive in cycling at the amateur level.

We expect waves in the next day or two. I'll keep you updated.