Call up

I got the call up this weekend.

Now, I’ve gotten it before, and at bigger events. But never when there was a bike involved. I loved it when I was a swimmer. I was the anchor leg on the relay. I loved it when I could shut down a 2 or 3 body length lead and out touch ‘em at the wall.

This was the first time I was ever told that the team would be riding for me.

“Shut down all the breaks, we set up the sprinter.” It’s funny, though, because I’ve never considered myself a sprinter. Not a pure one, at least. My results in field sprints are mostly due to learning the tricks of the trade, which wheels to follow, who to mark, how to take the last corner. But I’m no specialist.

Did they shut down all the breaks? Yeah, they did. And it was awesome. I was hanging out in the back, just watching the Mean Green Team eat everything up. A couple of very dangerous moves started to develop and then the boys would bring them back in. The flyer at 3 to go, gobble, gobble, gobble.

There’s a certain type of pressure you feel when people make these kind of sacrifices for you. The little voice says, “Don’t screw this up, Scott. Don’t miss the move. For chrissakes, don’t crash.” It was starting to get a little loud in my head. Then with about 3 to go, the voice stops and the computer turns on. It becomes analytical, scientific, calculated. The pushing starts, people are bunching up, I’m not giving up this wheel. And when the drive for the line starts, I’m on it. It’s single file from the bell. 5th position through turn 1. 4th position through turn 2. The other team’s leadout is still up there, but he’s bogging up through turn 3. Down the third straight, everyone starts to jump. I’m moving through to the front when They start coming, The Specialists. These guys are pure sprinters. It’s McEwen and Petacchi coming over Backstedt. Just not enough pure speed to hold them off. A bump and a push but keep on going. And the race was decided at the last corner. Third through the corner, third at the line.

It wasn’t the storybook ending we hoped for. But it was a great start.

The video:http://www.vimeo.com/1102432