Hotter 'N Hell 100
P/1/2 Road Race
Wichita, TX
8/25/2007

Joseph LaFico

What a day on the Bike! I will have to say that this past weekend’s race of the Hotter N Hell 100 was probably the sweetest I’ve ever had. As most know I really like Crit racing and am not too fond of road races. So lining up for a 6:50am start in my first P/1/2 Road race had little appeal as I was sure I would Not have a stellar day. That, coupled with the fact that I was hit by a car a week prior did not help the situation as I was apparently dealing with mechanical issues from the wreck as was evident by my early withdraw from the previous nights P/1/2 crit. I dropped my chain because my cranks had come loose.

So the race started and Matt Seagrave and Bryan Fawely went on a break from mile 2. Our pace for the next hour was leasurly at best; the moto kept coming up to us stating that the Cat 3’s were about to catch us. “Who cares” everyone was saying and thinking. We cruised on our coffee shop pace for some time. Finally a couple guys from the Successful Living Pro Team lit it up and the race seemed to start. I believe Troy went with a couple of these guys and was gone for quite some time. Then in the distance I saw my American color clad friend coming back to us as the pack started to chase.

There was an early crash that took out several riders. It was caused by the blazing speed that we were setting and the combination of passing VERY SLOW recreational riders. The quick bottleneck on the road took its toll. It was pretty dangerous situation with all the rec riders sprawled on the roads for the first 2 hours in my opinion.

Finally the attacks seemed to roll one after another, with James, Troy and I seemingly content to catch a free ride. That said I remember our boys going off once or twice and I got a little confused as to who was out there, who had just gone, and who just came back. At one point I even asked James if that was him or Troy who had just came back to the pack from a break. So maybe at about 45 miles into it I decided to give a little dig with a couple of folks and a Mercy rider. It was short lived as we came back within about 3-5 minutes. It definitely stung.

The craziness on the course continued when the course took a right hand turn and our full rolling enclosed road went from 2 lanes to 1. It was done by the tapering of bright orange construction barrels; we were cooking into this intersection and I was lucky to have been in the front part of the group and saw the severe angle as the road was tapered off. James was not so lucky. He hit the barrel, snapped his carbon bars and incredibly stayed upright!! I was glad to hear from Troy that our teammate was okay.

Then the race started to get tough. I remember saying out loud as we turned into the sun and crosswind on some really rough chip-seal road, “let the death march begin”. The pack stretched out and guttered riders to the left side of the road. We cruised in this fashion for quite some time and the water began to dry up in the bottles and I was getting a little nervous. Then it happened! The big guns lit it up again and went on a break to catch the guys who had been out front all day long. There was separation in the field. I did not even contemplate making a move.

Once again we headed into the head wind at about mile 65 and a few guys left the field (couple San Jose riders, Josh Carter-2nd place at this year’s Crit Nationals), and some MSU riders. This was about the time I began to panic. I had less than a full bottle of water, but thankfully Stefan Rothe let me know there was a neutral feed at mile 70.

I saw the sign for the feed zone and I went straight to the front of the pack, but not at attacking speeds. I made sure I was the first person to the feed zone so I had first shot at all the bottles. I got three bottles and was quickly urged on by two San Jose Riders to keep the pace up. Apparently the pack slowed so much that I had gapped them as I’m sure everyone else was out of water and wanted to make sure they got their fair share.

So the three of us saw the 5 or so riders in front who had a substantial gap and the San Jose Riders wanted to catch them…and we did. It was very uncomfortable feeling for me both physically and mentally, but I knew for some reason I needed to try this move.

After several minutes (probably 6-8 mins) at 31 mph pulls we reached our goal. We now had about 8 riders in this second break…and we could see the lead breakaway in the distance. We all contributed after the three of us got a little draft and rested from our bridge effort. After about 20 minutes of rotating again, at about 30-31 mph pulls, we made the bridge to the lead break. It consisted of one A&F pro, Josh Carter, Matt Seagraves, all three Healthcoach riders, two Mercy, two Matrix, two MSU, five San Jose Riders, one unknown guy, and then me! (Remember, Matt Seagraves had been out there since mile 2…and we were at about mile 80 when we caught them).

So to say the least I was a bit out gunned and intimidated with most everyone having a teammate or two and the fact that this was my first time ever being in what was proving to be a successful breakaway. Oh yeah and I’ll mention again, my first P/1/2 road race.

For the next 10 miles there were a few attacks but nothing that put me into major hurt. I tried to follow when only a hand full of guys would go up the road, and not respond with attacks of one or two riders. I knew I was out gunned with the amount of teammates that were represented by other teams, and I did not have much left in the tank. That said with one attack we dropped two San Jose guys, and one Healthcoach. From then on it was an attack-fest and I even got dropped with Wheeler, Seagraves, and a Marix guy on a very long false flat that hurt so badly I almost pulled the plug and quit. But we again got together and responded and crawled our way back to the group that was up the road.

By the last 6 miles most everyone was out of water and suffering badly. Ian Dillie (healthcoach) followed an attack and that was the end of our little group. The A&F pro went, as well as a couple others but with the head wind, I could not. About four guys in total went up the road at that time and then from there one or two riders would attack as we rolled into downtown for the finish (including Wenger who rolled off the front caught everyone and won the race!). But very few of us could respond even though we could see the attackers within earshot of us.

So I rolled into downtown with two San Jose riders, Josh Carter, and Alex from Mercy. With about three hundred yards we lit it up for one last time and I think all of us were simply happy to finish the attack-fest. As I rolled through the finish I raised my hands high with a huge smile in celebration of not only completing the race, but actually being a player in the overall in the closing miles. I finished 13th out of 70’ish starters. This result is the proudest one of my cycling career. I dug deep, rolled the dice in a break and succeeded, separated from the peleton, catching the lead break and actually being part of a bike race to the end instead sitting in and hoping for a pack sprint. One San Jose rider (who got dropped in the latter attacks) came up to me after the race and gave me props, as well as a Ex-pro who rides for HealthCoach (no, not Wenger). He stated “that was real bike racing, and considering being solo in the group you did a great job managing the race” It felt really nice to be commended on a great ride by my fellow competitors and know deep down I gave it everything I had to get the final result.