Jim retains his spot on the podium. But a timing mistake (?) keeps him in second place in his age category. Lisa maintains her third places in the medium distance race for women overall and in her age category. They’re given prizes (including one surprise) at a big awards ceremony. See the Italia 2004 photo album.
Stage 6
In the final time trial, I had good legs and hung on to my spot on the podium. In fact, according to the posted results I posted the fastest time in my age category but I’m quite certain this was due to a timing error. Based on my rough calculation of my actual time, I probably should have slipped a spot to third place but not to fourth place as I had feared before the stage.
Lisa had a good ride today too and kept her third place spots in the medium distance race for women overall and for her age category.
Our final standings earned us a spot on the podium at the awards ceremony. We were given prizes for our performances and I somehow even won something for my minor crash on the third stage.
***
Last night, while we were seated at a one of the many long tables in the large brightly lit dining room, a boy with curly dark hair and glasses walked up to me and said, “Vieni con me (come with me).” I squeezed through the narrow aisle separating our table from the one immediately adjacent and followed the boy to a round table in the corner where 10 or so people were seated. It was the Team Nuova Corti table.
Two nights before, I had walked over to that same table and presented a jersey to Fausto Sorbi who was leading my age category. Last night he reciprocated by giving me a Team Nuova Corti jersey and a matching set of shorts. It was a generous gift, which I accepted with much joy. Fausto handed a camera someone at the table. Fausto and his teammates motioned for me to don the jersey. Then his teammates surrounded me for a photo. “Cheeeese,” we all said as the camera’s tiny red light winked followed by a bright flash.
Then, they told me I had to wear the jersey and shorts for the final time trial. It would make me strong they said.
***
Around 3 a.m. I awoke to the drumbeat of heavy rain. It wasn’t the sound I wanted hear. By 7 a.m., the rain had almost stopped but low, threatening clouds still loomed on the craggy low hills on the horizon.
Lisa and I walked into the dining room a little after 7 a.m. and saw our friends Alan and Deirdre sitting by themselves at a table. We joined them. Between bites of granola topped by yogurt, Alan glumly stated, “I’m not going to ride today. My achilles flared up yesterday and I know if I go hard today. I know I’ll destroy myself for several weeks. I don’t want to be a quitter but my real goal is to be top shape in the summer. So, if you want to use my aero bars, you’re more than welcome. I want at least one of us to benefit from them.”
I felt terrible for Alan. He was sitting in sixth place, only 11 seconds back from fifth place, which was occupied by my friend Cesare. Alan and Cesare had been very evenly matched throughout the race. Cesare’s 11 second advantage was due to a very smart attack in the closing kilometers on the cold and miserable second stage. I knew Alan was looking forward to taking back those 11 seconds and more to jump a position. But given Alan has had a chronic achilles problem from his old track and field days, it was a sensible decision not to ride and a generous one to offer me the use of his aero bars.
After breakfast, I went to Alan’s hotel room where we fitted the bars to my bike. Then I returned to our hotel room where Lisa was about leave for her 10:07 a.m. start time. I pinned my race number to my new Nuova Corti jersey. Then I slipped into my bike shorts, put on knee warmers, booties, arm warmers.
I left the room at around 9:20 a.m. My start time was 10:36:40 a.m. The time trial was to start on the outskirts of Irgoli which is about 20km from the hotel. I calculated it would take about 45 minutes to get there. I wanted to allow plenty of time to first find the starting area and then warm-up.
As I rolled out of the courtyard of our hotel, I spotted several of the Nuova Corti boys. They smiled and laughed as their new teammate rode up to them. I told them that I was a “membro onoarario (honorary member” of their team. They laughed some more and patted me on the back.
I followed them as they rode on the wet road from the hotel before they took a left-hand turn on SS 125 to Oresei. We rode two abreast most of the way. I had brief, simple conversations, due to my limited Italian, with my companions. We talked about where they lived (mostly Modena), their jobs, and course, about bikes and racing. When asked about their favorite race, they all said “Nove Colli” which is a huge granfondo in Cesenatico on the Adriatic coast. I talked to one guy about the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. He called the Giro a “piccolo gara (a small race)” compared with the Tour, which surprised me since I thought Italians revered the Giro. I was disappointed I couldn’t engage in richer conversations with the guys but I then reflected that the chit chat on group rides back home usually isn’t anything more profound.
We entered the small town of Irgoli, took a right hand turn and within a kilometer we could see the start of the 20 km time trial course. I warmed-up on several narrow roads near the start and then joined the clump of cyclists situated around two guys with clipboards and electronic timers.
I looked around for Ewald Wolf and Giancarlo Lensi, the two guys who could bump me from my second position in the D age category and off the podium. They were supposed to start ahead of me. I saw Wolf in a dark jersey and shorts. He looked ready to rock and roll. He sat third, two minutes behind me. I was certain he would overtake me.
I didn’t see Lensi around. He was in fourth place, around four minutes behind. He was the one I was most concerned about since he potentially could knock me out of third place. Lensi was supposed to start a rider or two before Wolf.
Wolf was called to the start line. I hadn’t seen Lensi start. Did Lensi miss his start time? “Hettory, Yames” announced one of the starters and I rolled up to him. I asked him, “Dove Lensi (where’s Lensi)?” He looked at his clipboard and said that Lensi had started earlier. I thought to myself, “An early start? What’s with that?”
I became suspicious that Lensi was trying to pull a fast one. I had a flashback to two years ago when he won the D category and I came in third. He was standoffish and arrogant and struck me as the type of guy who took the race much too seriously. Then I had a flashback to the second stage of last year’s race. There was a steep 5km climb on the second stage which created a lead group of about 20 guys. I barely made it the cut but Lensi didn’t. A few minutes I looked back to see Lensi and another guy behind a van getting motorpaced to the group. Finally, I thought about the time trial two years where I learned that many competitors ignore the primary feature of an individual time trial. That is, in that time trial I was passed by several groups riding in rotating pacelines. “Did he arrange to start early, perhaps after a teammate or two who would wait and then ride a paceline with him?” I wondered.
“Vai (go)!” said the starter. I clipped into my pedals and rode across the black timing pad. The road rose gently. I crouched into an aero position. My legs began to burn. I looked at my heart rate monitor, 174, 176, 177, which was a good sign. The road curved next to some rolling hills. I looked ahead and could a rider on a curve in the distance.
A moderate headwind blew across the course increasing its difficulty significantly. Since it was a point to point course, there wouldn’t be a compensating tailwind.
Since I’m not a good time trialist, my goal was to limit my losses. I figured I would lose time to many riders. I thought if only a few guys passed me that would mean I was having decent ride. If droves of riders went by, then I could be in danger of losing a lot of time.
A few kilometers into the course, one guy went by. Then a group of three riders followed. Since both the grangiro and mediogiro riders were riding on the course simultaneously (grangiro on the right side, mediogiro on the left side of the closed road), I wasn’t too concerned. They weren’t riding a paceline though. Maybe the race director’s exhortations that any cheaters would be penalized would be heeded this year unlike two years ago.
After rising gently for about 9km, the course had short .5km climb. I crested the climb not far behind the three rider gruppetto, slammed my shifters into the biggest gears and began the last half of the course which would mostly be a gentle descent. Some guy in an aero helmet and skinsuit on a time trial bike rumbled by.
Then, a few kilometers from the finish, a four rider paceline went steaming by. Obviously, the rules weren’t being completely enforced. I thought about tagging on the back but decided not to. But I did try to use them to pace myself.
An inflatable arch with “Arrivo” inscribed on it came into view. I gave it everything I had as I passed under the arch and then over the black timing pad. I hit the stop button on my cyclometer. It read 33:45. Not a good time. I hit the start button before I actually started. Maybe it was 40 seconds before (when Wolf took off), maybe it was less. I figured my time was probably 33:15 to 33:30.
I saw Cesare and asked about his time. “33:50 or so” he said. Well at least I knew my time wasn’t really horrible since Cesare is a good, strong rider. I asked a couple of other guys and heard times in the 31 to 33 minute range. Maybe I wouldn’t lose out to Lensi after all I thought. But I wouldn’t really know until the times were finally posted.
***
After lunch, I saw a throng of people clustered near the one-story building where the results were usually first posted. I elbowed my way in. I started scanning the area with the 33 minute times and didn’t see my name. I looked below, didn’t see anything and then scanned above to see my name with a time of 30:10!
I looked below to see the names of some of the guys who had passed me with slower times. I knew there was an error. But since the timing is all done through the Winning Time system, which supposedly records your time based when you pass over the timing pad at the start and then at finish of a race, there’s really no way to try to correct a potentially erroneous time. In the U.S. time trial times are calculated based on synchronized stopwatches and officials recording riders’ race numbers. With that system, if there seems to be an error at least you can estimate when a person crossed the line relative to another person. With the Winning Time system, there doesn’t seem to be a real way to try to correct an error.
I thought about talking to an official but figured it would be fruitless. It would also be somewhat inconsequential. Wolf posted a time of 30:49. He probably gained enough time to gain second place since I figured my time was 33:15 to 33:30. However, Lensi posted a 31:57 and clearly didn’t pick up enough time to claim third. Unless you win, there really is not much difference between second and third. They’re both spots on the podium, which is the most important thing. And as for the prizes, as it would turn out, both second and third places got exactly the same thing: three bottles of Sardinian wine.
I saw some of the Nuova Corti guys and explained what I thought happened. They laughed and didn’t seem to think anything of it.
***
The awards ceremony was held in a long, rectangular meeting room next to the pool. The place was packed with 300 or so people in attendance. The event was scheduled to start at 3pm but it wasn’t until about 4pm that race director Tonino Scarpitti, walked up to microphone. Behind him was a stage with a table that was brightly lit and that had an array of silver cups, gift baskets and other items.
He made a few opening remarks, including his tentative plan for the 2005 Giro which would include stages on Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily with the transfers done via huge ferry boats. The crowd applauded his plan.
Then he began the prize presentations. First were the awards to the top three finishers in the time trial. Then came the overall awards for the mediogiro and grangiro. “Donne mediogiro, terzo premio, Lisa Pet-ters,” said Tonino. Lisa went to the front of the room and got up onto the third step of the podium. She was handed a large silver cup and a single red tulip. First and second places were called up. The winner, Maura Camatini, who is a former Italian national champion, was handed a pink jersey which she put on. The three women put their arms around one another with broad smiles on their faces as the flashes of the cameras went off.
A few minutes later, Tonino started the grangiro presentations. He came to the D age category. He said something about an international podium as he first called third place Ewald Wolf from Lichtenstein. The soldily built Wolf wearing a brown short sleeve shirt made his way to the podium. Then Tonino called me to the podium while saying something about my ability to speak Italian, which was an exaggeration since I couldn’t understand everything he said. I walked up to the podium, got two pecks on the cheek from Christina and was handed a cardboard box containing three bottles of wine. Then he called Fausto Sorbi up. Fausto, wearing a black short sleeve sportshirt, walked quickly up the crowded side aisle as his teammates cheered him on. He was handed a yellow Giro di Sardegna jersey, as were all the age category winners in the grangiro. He slipped it on over his shirt. The three of us shook hands, put our arms around each other as pictures were taken.
As I walked back to my seat, Giovanna and her husband Giancarlo, who’ve become friends, shook my hand and said, “Complimenti!”
After the race prizes were handed out came several other awards--youngest and oldest finishers, people who have traveled the farthest (the South Africans), people who have completed the most number of races. Tonino started to announce one of the award categories and I could make out something about people falling or crashing. Our friend Eric Lyman, a journalist from Rome, was called up. His bike slipped on a wet descent and he hit a guardrail. He was okay but got a painful stinger in his left arm. Then Tonino called me to the stage. I had fallen on stage 3. It really wasn’t anything but I figure it made an impression on Tonino since I had asked to find the medical assistance after the race (all I really wanted were some bandages for some road rash, nothing serious). I walked back up to the podium, a bit embarrassed, and was handed a large woven basket filled with cookies!
When those awards were given out, the ceremony still wasn’t done, there were still the door prizes to be handed out. And there were a lot of them. Big gift baskets, Sardinian souvenirs and then the major prizes: free entry into next year’s Giro, 50% discount on some of Tonino’s training/racing packages and a week stay at the Hotel Cala Ginepro.
I was struck that the door prizes were plentiful and quite nice with many far more valuable than the prizes to the podium finishers. But that’s as it should be. The prizes for the podium shouldn’t be important. Everyone who participated in the race should have a chance at a meaningful prize.
The winners of the main prizes jumped up excitedly when their numbers were called. Then Tonino thanked everyone and we streamed out of the hall.
***
Except for the surprisingly funky weather, it’s been a fantastic week. Obviously, I’m overjoyed by my spot on the podium. However, I know it is the result of a timing error (insofar as second place is concerned) and the misfortunes of some of my competitors (Lensi flatted the first day, one of Fausto’s teammates who sat second after stage 1 suffered two flats on stage 2). But their misfortune was my good luck and success in bike racing is sometimes due to serendipity.
But this past week has been about much more than just the race. I’ve made a lot of new friends--Team Nuova Corti, Giovanna and Giancarlo, Piero and Francesca, Ukue from Amsterdam, and many others--and reconnected with some old friends--Cesare and Alessandra and Sandro. It’s made for a very rich personal experience.
I know that some people probably think it’s a bit odd to have come back three years in a row now. Perhaps it is excessive, but no other experience for me has ever really come close in terms of excitement on the bike and becoming immersed into Italian culture. But I’m not thinking about next year just yet. I’m still enjoying all the memories from this year’s event.
To those of you who have followed my ramblings, as Tyler Hamilton says in his journal, “Thanks for reading!”
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