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Papillon: The Joe Papp Diary 2005
Joe Papp is a UCI Elite rider with the UPMC cycling team. He was a double stage winner at the 2003 Vuelta a Cuba (UCI 2.5) and has finished in the top-10 three times at the UCI Pan American Continental Championships (2005, 2004, 1996). Joe's writing is good enough to make boring races intriguing and intriguing races captivating.
A Cuban Odyssey
Part 5 - We finally make it on the road - and much more pain...
For that matter, I hope that I make it back to ride the tour again! This year, after the finish of stage three I certainly had no desire to return to Cuba, and despite finishing in the field, I mentally hit rock bottom because of the back pain and told photographer Chris to take a picture of me while Salazar was giving me an ice massage because I'd made the decision to quit the Vuelta and cycling. A bit dramatic, no doubt, but after losing eight minutes in the final 30km of the first stage because I couldn't pedal with the pain, I was floundering with little hope.
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I suffered equally during the first of two stages the following morning, and started to whine about how much my back hurt and what a waste of time cycling was and how I would quit cycling and go home to become an orthopaedic surgical equipment sales rep. Ironically, it was our driver Pepito, not usually known for his perspicacity or acute mental insight, who convinced me to change the chip and start making the best of a difficult situation.
The question he posed to me while I was receiving acupuncture before the start of the afternoon stage in Holguín translated loosely as, "Do you want to ride into Havana at the end of this race on your bike, a hero to your wife, who seems to be the only person or thing that's of interest to you right now, or do you want to ride into Havana in the back of a bus like a washed-up has-been after quitting the race?"
Put in those stark terms, I saw what I had to do, flipped a mental switch and decided that I was going to ride the next 11 stages as if they were separate one-day classics as opposed to components of a very long, very painful stage race. Amazingly, it worked. I never looked beyond the current stage in my race bible, and tried to forget about the combined distance I would have to ride in favor of literally taking things day-by-day. Broken down into bite-size units, finishing the Vuelta with a bad back and without enough miles in the legs became a doable task, because in my mind, I never had to ride beyond that day's stage finish.
That night I finished in the top-10 for the first time, taking 8th in an uphill sprint (despite having to soft-pedal twice while negotiating some slower riders) to Las Tunas. The next day, Aaron and I both survived the ferocious cross-winds to make the day's major selection, and Aaron went a step further by attacking with about 40km to go. Aaron finished 7th and picked-up more than five minutes on GC.
Stage six (113km) was the first that I actually dreamed of winning, since it finished in Ciego de Avila, my wife's home province. My mother-in-law, who I still hadn't met in person, would be waiting for me at the finish line and Aaron offered his complete support in hopes of helping me onto the podium in front of the family. Despite the misery of the past few days, I couldn't help but start this stage with the mentality of a winner. I have a good record here, finishing 4th in 2002 and 3rd in 2003, and my teammate Kyle Wamsley won in CdA last year. I know the course (flat), I know how to ride the stage (at the front, because of the wind) and I know the sprint (long).
Thus, when six of seven riders from Cuba "A" attacked en masse as we climbed a highway overpass, I was well-positioned to follow the move. After a few kilometers of all-out hammering in the left-side gutter, the survivors were: Martinez, Perez, Alcolea and Romero from Cuba "A," Biasci from the Italian team, Mitja Mahoric from the Slovenian professional team Perutnina Ptuj and me. Alas, with the Venezuelans having missed the move (they held the race leader's jersey), we were doomed to be caught by a small chase group. Nevertheless, that meant I had Aaron back at my side to help in the sprint.
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Coming into town, as we passed the last roundabout, a Slovenian attacked with Alcolea and a Spaniard in tow. A bit of hesitation by Aaron and me meant they were gone. Exiting the final right hand turn, which comes at least 400m from the line, no one was starting to lead-out the sprint, so with 350m left I jumped, thinking that I might pick-off the fading Spaniard and just nab the last podium position. I surprised myself with my acceleration, because I actually did catch him while at the same time holding off Miguel Chacon on my right. I was flabbergasted, however, when I saw Damian Martinez pass me on the left hand side of the road with 50m to the line. Argh. Damian knew that Yuliet's mom was waiting for me 100m past the line; he knew that I wanted to climb the podium and he still completely flicked me (and this from a guy to whom I used to give my equipment after the races). Totally dejected, I opened the door on the right and let Chacon by, since I didn't want him to return the favor the next time we were going for a sprint, and settled for a very, very disappointing fifth.
When I saw Pepito after the stage, he looked as bad as I felt so I told him not to worry, that there would be another chance for us to get on the podium and who needed the likes of Damian anyway. I thought I was being mature and wise, but Pepito didn't cheer up. Then it dawned on us (Aaron was standing next to me) to ask what was wrong, because it obviously didn't have anything to do with the stage results. Apparently, Andrea had suffered a terrible crash only a few minutes after the team attack by Cuba "A" split the field. While hugging the gutter and racing single-file to avoid the crosswind, he smashed face-first into a semi-trailer that was pulled partially off of the left side of the road. Andrea fractured his skull, his cheekbone, temporarily lost the use of his left eye and suffered major lacerations across his face, and was unconscious and twitching in the middle of the road when Pepito came upon him. Christ. He would spend two days in hospital in Ciego before being transferred to Havana and onward to Italy for reconstructive surgery.
While writing this diary, I got the following email from Andrea:
"Ciao Joe !
What's up, my friend ? I hope all ok, over there. In here it could be better, but also much much much worse (do you know what I mean...) My face is almost (almost...) ok - I do not have any more sutures in it, and also my neck and my head are almost ok.
MD told me that I'll never ride again a bike cause I've got two vertebras impaired, but I prefer to live without a bike than do not live at all. When I came back to Italy and I found my wife and my sons it had been a really intense, almost violent, severe sensation. THEY are my life, bike is only a part of mine, or better was a part of mine. I'm not anymore alone; I've got my two little angels, I can't play with my life also because they could suffer cause of what I do, and I do not think it is right. I'm trying to convince myself, it's hard but now I'm determined.
Well, I'll follow my guys in a car, in my ammiraglia !!!
Excuse me for this outlet but you know I often joke with you, but it doesn't mean that I do not have a great opinion of you, I'd like to hear from you, I consider you a friend a very close person. Sorry for my sadness, but that crash changed my life.
Hope to see you soon,
Andrea"
Aaron rebounded the next day to finish second in Sancti Spíritus behind Gregor Gasvoda of Slovenia after breaking away with him, Lizardo "Costa Rica" Benitez of Cuba A and Yunier Alonso of Cienfuegos. Nonetheless, I couldn't stop thinking about Andrea and was definitely shaken by his crash. Bad things always happen to good people, and cycling is often proven a very, very dangerous sport. To my colleagues who don't have health insurance - find the extra150/month that an ok PPO costs, and also get a 200/year travel insurance policy so that you aren't bankrupted if you peel your face open in a crash.
Next Entry - What doesn't kill you...
Email Joe at joe@cyclingnews.com
