Can I say that life has been just a wee bit crazy over the last 3 months? Thanks for the understanding and letting me ramble on. I will break this down into several events that have been going on so you can take time to grab a beer, change the oil in your car or shave.
I want to warn you about two topics I am compelled to write about. Both are about Korea and I refuse to wear kid gloves or preface with some weak acknowledgement about my own country’s shortcomings. Korea needs to put on some
bigboy pants on these two issues. I will tell you when they are coming.
Before we get started, here’re a few cooking tips:
· Do not heat lime or it’s juice and don’t add lime to
recipies that are still cooking. It makes the lime very bitter.
· The same can be said for Rosemary. Wait until the end or add it when cool.
Cycling
In February I caved in and accepted an offer to ride with the Seoul Stork team in the Tour of Korea. Obviously I am not in my former shape and even then I could not hang with the real professionals. But, for people like me there is a 9 day stage race that piggybacks the UCI pro race that that covers the peninsula of Korea. It’s shorter but no less exciting for us. The date was usually in early June and provided me with enough time to scrap together some fitness. Our sponsors Korea Harley Davidson and
Storck bicycles furnished our A team and B team with full custom Pearl
Izumi kits, radios, and three team vans. We rolled in style that had the other teams dazzled.
In March we started to hear a rumor about a date change for the race. Not later, but sooner! Not a little but a full 6-7 weeks.
WTF!? Turns out the Korean government wants to put on a “green” face and show how bike friendly they are and pairing up events with the race is just how they planned to do it. Let the bitching begin. Not only did they immediately cut out full time workers who had already applied for vacation, they moved the race into prime Yellow Dust season and they stuff is deadly for some folks. Racing in it is downright dangerous for your health. How did the UCI react to this? Pro teams plan race calendars well in advance and that includes allotment of riders, airfare and other resources. You can’t just tell a pro team and their sponsors what you are gonna do when it impacts them first. UCI refused the date change so the Korean government thought it would still be
ok to have the amateur race date moved up. No problems jacking with the working man. I’ll just say that midweek racing saw half of the riders we saw on the weekend.
Aside for the scheduling
clustertruck, how was the racing and how did I do? I’m glad you asked. The first two days reminded me of the terror of racing the Friday night
crits under the lights in St. Louis. It was truly scary but in clear daylight. Riders and carbon fiber bits everywhere. The start list was about 210 riders. I am confident 30 crashed out that day including a good friend of mine, on his new
Cannondale Cad 8, got hit from the side. He was totally without fault. The bottle cage was ripped from the frame, effectively destroying it. His thumb was sprained in the process. I would put most riders in the race at a skill level of cat 5 but a fitness level of a good category 3. We also lost contact with our team mate Pablo, nixing our goal of riding in unity. Had we taken the time to ready the radios this would not have happened. There was just too much going on.
The next day turned out far worse. Our injured rider worsened and we started without him. On a long decent after a tough climb I had my head down and was battling back. I came upon a crash with my mate Pablo propped against the median and bike bits everywhere. 20 meters of black rubber later I turned around to check him. He was a mess but hanging in. turned out he’d ran into a sudden pileup in front of him. The team van showed along with the ambulance (Note: Paramedics suck here. Ambulances are for transport and not much more). They took him to the body shop with me in the team van following. Pablo was later taken back to Seoul with a 4 point clavicle fracture. It was down to our team leader Dave and myself to finish the Tour.
The next two days were fabulous racing, maybe the best I’
ve ever participated in. The weekend riders who could not get vacation went home. The field was in the low 100’s and pretty seasoned by this time. For the next two days Dave and I rode smart (to the side for escape) and slowly increased our aggressiveness. We remained committed to finishing together and helping each other. I had limited fitness and Dave was tuned for longer rides at lower intensity since he thought we would have 6 more weeks of training left. On the 3rd day several members of our A team stopped for “nature breaks” but that left them off the back. Well, if there’s one thing I am good at, it’s providing a draft for Koreans. It became customary for Dave and I to pull the A team back to the field after breaks and this did not go
unnoticed. It was one of several events that brought us closer and bonded us. It felt good to do it but it felt better to see how much it was appreciated. We repeated it and the bonds strengthened.
Wednesday morning was sunny and calm. I was starting to heat up and so was Dave. We were coming on form and ready to start moving up. While waiting for the morning message and embrocation I got comfortable sitting on the tailgate of the Harley Davidson van. A staff member needed into the van and jumped up on the gate, breaking the chains, sending me directly to the pavement while tearing open a hole in my arm on the way. My ass hurt and I was sure my coccyx was broken but others ogled my bleeding arm. Yup, I had a bloody boo-boo that made Dave the Fire Chief cringe. He said there was no option but the hospital for stitches. It was 1 hour to start time and I get a trip to the body shop. All the riders of both teams stood there side by side as Jeremy drove me away. They felt bad for me and I could feel it. My chin wrinkled, my throat ached, my heart hurt.
Jeremy drove like an insane man getting me to the hospital in no time and checking me in. They irrigated the wound, stitched it and then we got to wait, and wait, and wait for the
meds. Once in hand we bolted back to the race but it was already underway. My arm and ass hurt but my psych was devastated.
For the next 5 days I took on the roll as staff and was happy to help. I initially thought that I would catch the ferry back to
Incheon once we got to
Makpo but I could not leave. The caravan was exciting to drive in, Jeremy and I were becoming friends, Dave was racing his heart out (and doing well) and the team needed me. I was not racing but the satisfaction was there. Watching Dave roll up after the last stage, safely into the arms of his family and friends was fantastic. Having riders enjoy my cooking repaired my broken heart. I was able to see the beauty of Korea and its people. This I will never forget. I am greatful to Pablo, Harley Davidson of Korea, Storck of Korea, Jeremy and Ray, te South Korean government for providing such a great race, and especially Dave for the companionship and guidance.
Insert warning here!Oh, so how did we do? Dave moved up nicely without me. I believe he breached the top 40. Scott
Stillwagon of the A team was 6
th, if I recall. He was the top finishing foreigner (
Waykook) and received a special award for it...just before they erased all foreigners results. Per Wikipedia: "
In 2009, reportedly, KCF will only allow international competitors with the requisite that those competitors will be ineligible for any prizes. This makes the 2009 Tour de Korea the first cycling event in history in which one group of people of a certain race and ethnicity will be eligible to win while, racing alongside that group and affecting the race, another group will not be eligible for those prizes." That's right, you can come play but don't expect that you'll more than marginalized or omitted. This is extra thick weak sauce and does not step outside of
xenophobia. This is the only race that omits people based on race in the modern age. They worked hard and many others did too in supporting them. We knew
waykooks cannot win the race (per the rules) but at least let the results show the effort. Nothing like winning a solo circle jerk.
