The John Lieswyn Diary 2000

4th Annual Great Lakes Cycling Classic Criterium

East Aurora, New York, August 26, 2000

Approximately 1mi/1.6km flat residential course, 35 miles

This race is held the same day as the Fisher Price Toyfest Parade. The proceeds go through the local Rotary to a charity for 3rd world children in need of heart operations. Well organized and with a prize list of $7500 for the Pro/Am men, the race has grown in attendance and spectators each year. My teammate Eric Wohlberg won it the first two years, I won last year, and we were bringing quite the "hit squad" for this edition: sprinters Dave McCook and Graeme Miller, Peter Wedge, Glen Mitchell, and myself.

I'm still a bit discombobulated from my head first piledrive at Chicago, and new damage shows up every couple days. But the legs are still turning, and I was anxious to try and pull off a repeat of last year. I figured that since we had the top team in attendance, that if it came down to it I could count on Graeme to repay an earlier debt from Murrysville PA.

The race started under cloudy skies with sixty riders. Our first stab was by Glen, but his break grew to the unwieldy size of about 8 riders and it wasn't working smoothly. The counterattack once again came from Glen and this time only Graeme went with him. I sat on (followed) about 4 chasers for about 4 laps until they were softening up a bit. I timed my attack for when the strongest of the 4 (7Up's Kevin Monahan) had just completed an effort, and I got away clear (without any other riders in my draft).

With 3 of us together we lapped the field at 16 to go, and set about trying to sweep 4th place as well by reeling in the four men I'd left behind earlier on. They were half a lap up and it wasn't to be, despite Graeme's strong pulls. In the closing laps the skies let loose a faint drizzle and I became quite cautious. I dropped out the back of the peloton and finished safely in 3rd, with Graeme 1st and Glen 2nd. After saying goodbye to our hosts and a quick BBQ at a local house, we hit the road for Binghampton.

Chris Thater Memorial Criterium

Birmingham, NY, August 27, 2000

2.2 km course, 1 shallow hill, 50mi/80km

We have the same five Shaklee men in attendance, while our competition includes Saturn, 7UP, Jelly Belly, and Navigators pro teams. Notably absent is the Mercury machine, except for Tim Johnson and a recovering (from the same crash as I was in last week) John Peters. They're so far ahead in the points that they don't have to be here, so they went to Europe for Olympic preparation.

The program today includes a "teammwork challenge" (sprinter's competition) points awarded 5-3-1 to the first three across the line every four laps. The winner of each sprint gets a $100 and the rider with the most points gets a jersey and a $500 bonus. This is incidental to the team's main goal of winning the race and secondarily trying to pad our lead over Saturn for 2nd team in the US Pro Tour team rankings. I'm just 7 points ahead of Eddie Gragus for 3rd in the USPro Tour rankings, so one of my goals today is to finish ahead of him.

We get rolling and I figure that we'll have an aggro race today, with the fear of Mercury lifted. Instead, it seems that everyone is content to wait until Saturn attacks. Huh? C'mon guys...a few guys get active for early points sprints but no breaks are sticking. I'm following guys near the front during a harder lap when I look back and there's a huge gap to the rest of the peloton, dwindling into the distance. A quick inventory of who I'm with: 2 Saturn's, 2 Navigators, and half a dozen others. I'm seriously outnumbered here so I ride at the back and don't contribute one iota to the effort.

As guys finish their turns at the front they are continually refusing to jump in ahead of me, so I'm forced to rotate through the "echelon" until I'm at or near the front of the break. Then a chorus of protest comes from the others: "hey John, c'mon and pull" or "get out of the way". I'd like nothing better than to sit last in the group.

Eddie Gragus is here and he's pretty worked up about the slow pace of the race, so he takes it out on me with a handsling off my hip during one instance where I'm once again forced to follow the strongest guys in the group and I'm around 3rd wheel. OK Eddie. I ride up to him and threaten him back. He laughs at me initially but half a lap later he calms down and apologizes. My team does the right thing behind us and chases for 3 laps until the peloton is all back together again.

The next break to go contains Mark Walters (Navigators) Mark McCormack (Saturn) Doug Z (7Up), myself and 3 others. This composition is pretty good for me. I figure I've got better than even odds against McCormack and I'm not too worried about Walters, while Doug is struggling a bit. The four of us work hard enough that as our lead grows to 50 seconds the other 3 guys are dropped.

We take turns for the $100 on the sprint laps. At 8 laps to go we are 1:50 up on the field but we are going painfully slow on the hill. I keep thinking I should attack but I'm missing a bit of confidence. I'm worrying about being able to hold off Mark & Mark's combined efforts should I get away solo. At 4 to go I do a quick summary in my head of who has scored what in the sprints and figure that if I take the last sprint I'll take the $500, and my break companions don't even make me work for it.

Here's my error: I shouldn't be waiting for Mark or Mark to attack. My one chance at a solo victory slips through my fingers when Walters goes for it at 2 ½ laps to go on the hill, with McCormack doing the chase. As we come back together I have a few seconds window in which I'm slightly fresher than both of them, and I hesitate just long enough to miss the window of opportunity.

I'm rationalizing that I can beat these guys in a straight up sprint. The legs are feeling pretty spry. In the last two laps we are slowing to a crawl, nobody wants to lead. Coming out of the last turn, last lap, its McCormack and I side by side. 300m to go and McCormack gets his bars ahead of mine and begins a pretty forceful drift to the right. I have to stop pedaling for a moment to avoid hitting him. Meanwhile, an unhindered Walters blasts by on the left about 5kph faster than us to take the $4000 win. I'm third, disappointed but happy that at least we got a man on the podium and we're all safe. Maybe I'm still skittish from Chicago...

Eddy Gragus finishes 8th, so now I have a 24 point lead on him with only Boston remaining. Till next week!

Results of both races