July 25th, 2004 by Phil Esempio
The Major Taylor is a classic road race held in Grand Blanc, MI every year, and is usually also the Michigan RR Championships (as it was this year). Thus, there is usually an excellent turnout, and the race is typically very well organized. This year was no exception, especially with the use of timing chips - known as ChampionChips - which are attached to your front QR skewer or fork, and allow for very quick posting of results.
The course itself is a 15-mile loop over generally rolling roads. The start line is just after the last corner, on an uphill grade, which continues at a fairly sedate 2 to 3 percent grade for about 3 miles. This is the toughest part of the course in terms of climbing; the length of the climb is the only real challenge. The rest of the course continues over roads which roll through open farmland. The course is perfectly set up for the roleur; a sustained breakaway could concievably get out of sight and win the race. However, circumstances conspired against this on race day.
First, the weather was unseasonally chilly at the 8 AM start time, with overcast skies and the temperature around 55° F. The sun was threatening to break through, but didn't do so until after all the races were over, around 11 AM or so, although it did warm up to almost 70° before the race ended. Adding to the chill was a steady 20 mph wind, which was blowing directly down the backstretch, and was a nasty cross wind on the out and back legs of the course. As a Category 4 racer, I would be doing 4 laps, totalling 60 miles, so there would be plenty of time to assess the field and any opportunities which might arise. I had done this race once before (back in 1999), and I felt pretty confident about my chances for a top-20 finish.
We set out at a pretty sedate pace initially up the hill, but that changed rapidly. Two riders bolted off the front on the out leg and picked up nearly 3 minutes of lead; but no-one was overly concerned, with it being so early. However, when two teammates of one of the escapees tried to bridge up, the field responded immediately, ratcheting the pace up to almost 30 mph despite the nasty wind situation. By the end of the first lap, the breakaway was absorbed and the field came through the final corner together.
One thing stood out for me from the prior time I'd done this race: the condition of the roads. I remembered them being in pretty good shape; apparently, 5 Michigan winters had taken thier toll. The concrete segments had severely uneven joints and some significant gaps in places; and the asphalt sections were suffering from frost-heaves and potholes galore. The field was dodging these whenever possible, but with over 60 riders in the field, the inevitable happened.
It was about 8 miles into the second lap when a rider about 3 from the back caught one of the concrete seams just right. I had just taken a turn up in front of the peloton doing my share of work, and so had drifted to the rear to catch a breather. We were cruising along at an average speed of over 25 mph, and about half the field was taking turns pulling up front. Suddenly, I heard that awful noise of metal on concrete, and the yells of "RIDER DOWN!" right in front of me. The field split left and right, and as I went right I saw the rider in front of me go down into the pile, blocking the rest of the pavement. I took the only remaining option - I rode onto the gravel shoulder while braking heavily to avoid hitting anyone. I missed everyone, but had come to nearly a complete stop trying to control the bike in the marbles. I took a second to see if everyone was OK - everyone was getting up, and the trail vehicle had come up - so I took off after the field.
Unfortunately, someone in the field had chosen that moment to launch an attack. One of the Maumee Valley riders was waiting for a teammate that had gotten tangled up in the crash; I latched on with the two them at first, but the lead rider set a brutal pace up over a rise in the road which I couldn't hang on to, since I hadn't fully recovered from working at the front into the headwind. Two other riders came up, one from Western Michigan U., the other from Team Revolution, and the three of us got a good pace line going. I saw the two Maumee riders catch the field; I was frustrated that I hadn't been able to hold on with them. But as I started timing the gaps, I realized that we were gaining, and when we picked up two other riders who had been spit out the back, the time gap began to shrink rapidly.
We were down under a minute when the two we'd picked up started to fall apart; the original 3 of us kept up the pace as much as possible. I was starting to hurt, but seeing the field ahead kept me going. Suddenly the WMU rider hit the wall, and was gone. Now it was just two of us, and we worked hard to close up the remaining gap, rotating every 45 seconds or so.
The last two miles of the course was routed into the middle of the road, with traffic passing by on both sides of orange cones. There were plenty of marshals and police about, but some folks just don't listen, or pay attention. About 500 meters after the shift to the middle, a minivan pulled across the cones into the rider's lane, directly in front of me. I missed his rear bumper by less than six inches as I swerved around him to the right. The Team Revolution rider shot up the other side of the van to berate the driver, who apparently was trying to make a left turn onto a side street, and didn't feel like waiting for one of the marshals to wave him through. I think the police caught up with him later, but our momentum was broken, and I'm sure we lost some time in there.
We regrouped quickly, trading some words about the idiot driver; and then the guy informs that he's quitting at the line, saying, "I'm not going to chase these guys for another two laps." I tried to convince him we could close the gap, but his mind was made up, and sure enough, he pulled off right after the timing wires, with the main field less than a minute ahead of us.
I tried to get back on during the uphill stretch, but it was futile with the wind and the grade. I went into TT mode, keeping my head down and trying to lose as little time as possible. At the beginning of my last lap, the Masters 45+ field caught me, and I jumped on the back of this field. They started to drop me on the long grade, but after they turned the corner, I found myself closing on the trail vehicle, and was able to pass it and get back on for the remainder of the lap. One of the riders chided me for mixing fields, but once I told him I wasn't going to mix it up in the sprint, and I would stay in the back, they let me stay. I ended up finishing a little less than 8 minutes back from the Cat 4 field, which ended in a sprint finish. I was the first rider in after the main field, which I suppose is something, considering the circumstances...