40km and how patience ends in gold
A win is the sum of how you race your race and the decisions that others make...
Early in the Alabama Senior Olympics road race the voice behind me said, “Hey guys: we’re it.” I looked back down the half-mile flat and couldn’t see anyone.
Unintentionally we had built an insurmountable gap. Then the race got really small — me, Kurt (who set a world record by riding 76,076 miles in one year), and Kevin.
On a small rise I drifted back; Kurt noticed and let me catch up. Three against the wind is better than two. In the last mile he was looking back again, this time wondering if I would attack. I didn’t; he did.
I came around and won. We replayed the race. Had he attacked on the last hill he probably would have created a winning gap. But he didn’t. I was the beneficiary of that decision and his earlier help.
You race your race, but decisions others make can decide the finish.