Zugersee Report
Name of Race: Zugersee Inline Marathon
Date of Race: July 15, 2007
Location: Zugersee, Switzerland
Distance: 42km
Series: World Inline Cup
Results (link): http://services.datasport.com/2007/sic/sic07/RANG011.HTM
Report: Zugersee is a huge race. 5000 skaters start the beautiful racing circuit around the lake surrounded by mountains. It really is spectacular. The race started easy as the first 2km was a controlled start, which frankly I believe to be MORE dangerous. By slowing the pace of the start, it allows the Barneys to stay in, and cause raucous. It is kind of ridiculous. There were heaps of crashes. I saw one old dude with a big pot belly scrap Sagg in the first km of the race. It was almost funny, but indicative of the nature of a start like this. These guys just don’t know the etiquette. They are all fighting for the front like we are in sight of the finish line. What they don’t know is that not only are they annoying the real skaters, but wearing themselves out at the same time. You just can’t race like that for even 10k let alone 42, especially when your fitness and technique is lacking. Just relax. Trust me, this way everyone wins.
So Sagg smacked him back good, and on we went. I was just staying relaxed following the flow of the lines holding my speed when things would roll over. It was actually good practice. I was all over the place. I ended up to the far right of the course for most of the early part of the race. There were Barneys everywhere, and the pace was super easy. It was just the excitability of the traffic that was dangerous. I was starting to follow lines and move closer to the front while trying to make an easy time of it. I remember at a few points I was up on the sidewalk beside the road following the Athleticum train.
This was cool: to get up onto the sidewalk/trail, you had to jump up over the curb at the edge of the road. As the peleton would shift to the right, forcing our line into the curb, one by one the helmets in front of me would pop up and over to the right. It was kind of like this lemmings/domino effect. It was really cool, and made me laugh the few times I saw it happen in front of me. It kind of made a “boop boop boop boop” sound in my head. It made me think of that old Sega Genesis game “Lemmings” where you could make these little green dudes do whatever you wanted, like dive off cliffs one by one, or build a bridge. I can still hear the “Digital Quality Sound” of the game when I think about it now. That’s the sound I mean…
Finally, it seemed that it was ok to go fast, and so we did. There was no official warning or line or anything, it was kind of just a vague ambiguous yet somehow unanimous decision that the race was no longer flagged. A small attack went off the front surely intended to thin the herd. The lines rolled over, and the teams went to the front to give a unified chase, and the race was now on.
With the pace a little higher and the barneys out of the way, things felt safer, and I felt more comfortable. What I mean is that I was now attending my attention to actually racing instead of minding my feet and not crashing. Along side the blue pristine lake, I was towards the left of the peleton behind Nicolas Iten [Sportvital/Rollerblade] who was winding up for an attack. I followed, and found myself on a small attack with Iten, Luca Presti [Bont/Hyper], Dario, and a few others. Iten pulled out, I led for a bit, Presti took over, then took a look back, saw the chase and let up. I took back over and led easy. I figured, ”Hey, I’m at the front, this is easy, I might as well stay here”. The whole peleton filed in behind me, and I just held onto the lead, looking back to see what was coming from behind. Nothing was coming, and I realized I wasn’t exactly going slow. It was a really cool feeling. I moved about the road left and right and had a little fun with the moment. It was something of a mental picture for me. I wonder if that will make the DVD! Haha. Yes DJ, I am a loser.
Finally an attack came up the right side. I didn’t really catch who it was. I was more concerned about getting into the chase without having to work too hard. I let a bit of the chase by me as I began to accelerate calmly. Merging into the pack mid-chase, and thinking my way through it was something a bit new, and went smoothly. I eventually reached the speed of the chase, and grabbed a spot in one of the lines as the field separated a bit, and was in the draft without having to panic. Things came back together, and soon we began to climb the toughest hill of the race.
The hill is a long gradual climb that winds along the lake to our right. It is beautifully picturesque, and on really good pavement. The pitch isn’t too bad, and the hill isn’t really that long, the guys just go really hard up it. I somehow remember this whole section as one big climb, which supposedly it isn’t. The section includes a series of steep winding climbs separated by plateaus and mild descents, which may in fact make the section tougher. The gaps stretch out on the flats and downs, and it is easy for a small gap to become ‘you being dopped’.
I found this section really tough. I think that I panicked. I held onto my speed as best I could, which was tough in the traffic as it sprawled out across the road on the climb. I was all over the place. I was pinched at one point between some guys and the wall of an overpass. I continued on hard, and I went up to the front. This was a problem. I saw the gaps and some smaller groups forming as I came by, and I went just about full to be in the front group, thinking that the smaller groups behind might not come back. I think that relative to my fitness, I went harder than anyone up the climb. I thought that if I didn’t make the front group, I’d be dropped. I panicked. I went way too hard, while the other groups went a little easier, and stayed relaxed. I was actually in an attacking group with some of the best climbers in skating. We crested the top, and began to descend the massive downhill on the other side. The front group was large, but as the smaller groups got together behind, they became even larger. As we flew down the decent (and yes, it was insanely fast), the group behind remained relaxed, came back together, and let the smaller front group go, only to come back a few hundred meters after the decent. I think that I accidentally went on one of the toughest attacks of the race. Opps. And it went nowhere.
After that, I thought my head was going to explode, and blood was going to shoot out of my ears. It was hot. Damn hot. I unzipped my suit (which by the way is long sleeved). I couldn’t seem to relax, and was cursing the next few attacks as I tried to recover. I sat in wherever I found myself, and tried to use every bit of speed I had wisely. I think again it was good practice. I found myself coasting and moving up in sections, while falling back during some of the tougher accels. After around 2km, I felt okay, and the timing was good, because the race was on.
It seemed that from about 18km to go the race had the anxiety of 5km to go. It was intense. From this pointy to the finish there were relentless attacks, chasing, mind games, solo efforts, fighting, scrapping, yelling, and the speed was all over the place. At one point I saw two dudes stop in a tugging/screaming/punching match. I’m not even sure either of them finished. At around this point I saw Ed Dimmick [CMS] (the guy I attacked with in Einsiedeln), coming back from the front looking for a spot in the line. I was going to just let him float on back as I normally might, but just as he was about to go by me, I suddenly felt complete empathy for him, grabbed him, and pulled him in front of me, leaving the guys behind him to fall to the back as I gave a “just you” of acknowledgement to him and the cause/attempt. Instant karma. I wonder if he remembers that. I wonder who was behind me and what he thought of that…
By the way, Ed is living at our place for a while, remembers me pulling him in, and even what I said at the time. He even said thanks. How’s that for karma?
At one point I was making my way up solo to the left of the peleton while “Perko” Shaun Perkison [CMS] was doing the same at about the same rate up the right side. It was timed so that we would both hit the front at the same time. As I came to around 5th or 6th or so, I saw a gap developing and jumped in. Perko kept up and attacked solo, grabbing some quick distance on the pack as it slowed down. From a few spots behind, Pascal Briand [Powerslide] started a chase, and as I still had some speed from moving up, I jumped out and behind him, but brought a bunch of guys with me. Pascal stayed on at the front and just chased easy, and I pulled through a few times. As we caught Perko, attacks of singles went over the top. None of these gained much ground until the famed DJ Nation attacked in his usual way.
When within 6km from the line, DJ is the man to watch for. You can pretty much count on him to attack, or at least attempt one. He doesn’t even hesitate.
Anyway, his went the furthest of any of the singles, and came back slowly as the chase for him was more serious, and therefore more uniform in speed. A group of about six went over the top of the catch, and included Wayne, and Matthieu Boher [RPM Poli] (who won Dijon), and a few others. This was easily the most serious attack of the race as it was extremely close to the finish, was the most consistent effort, and the chase was indecisive at the beginning. Having Wayne off the front with a steady chase allowed me to relax for a bit in the pack, and I hooked up with Dario not too far from the front of the now smaller peleton. The attack group split up with those willing to invest everything, and those wanting to come back for the field sprint, and perhaps guarantee themselves a decent placement. Wayne came back early and looked alright as we got him back into the line safely. Matthieu, known for not sprinting well, gave everything for the attack and came back last. He was really going for it, and sat up after being caught some ~1.2km from the line. Hyper/Bont went to the front to give chase early after the initial attack, but it was the enormous Alessi train [Alessi Powerslide World + Alessi Powerslide Italy] that went to the front, bringing the attack back, and controlling the lead out into the sprint. They seemed to just have heaps of guys. To me it seems there is no question they are working together.
The peleton was stretched out completely, as the speed going into the sprint was really fast for the last 6km. with about 2km to go, I was sitting behind Dario, and in front of Fabian Rabeau [Spirotiger], and as two of the Alessi guys were coming back from the front, we hit a median/divider where the side to the right was closed. With the peleton to the left, and the Alessi guys falling back on the right, at the last second the swung hard into the pack to avoid the median, and stepped right in front of me. As they were going way slower than the train, I shoved them forward losing a tonne of speed. Once on the other side of the traffic divider, I threw those clowns out of the way and covered the gap in front of me. This close to the line, it was a big effort, and I was already feeling cooked for the sprint.
We hit the last 1km approach that I recognized, and was staying in the train, with really nothing left. The line I was in was still moving up by the guys falling off.
Athleticum punched the sprint early, and started setting up their leadout for the sprint, and the pace really opened up. From here to the finish it was full. The sprint started from a long way out, and the field really stretched out.
We went under the bridge with about 500m to go, and I really wanted to step out and around the line in front of me. When I did, I hit the wind, and started moving backwards, so I got back behind and just coasted home, taking half strides, and even missing strides (on purpose) to stay in. In the last 100m or so, the line went every which way, and then the finish narrowed, and I more or less hobbled in as best I could, with the form of probably a beginner through the traffic.
Placing 24th in arguably the toughest race of the year was something I was satisfied with. It was a huge improvement from the early races of the season, and I actually did some work; chasing and attacking in this one, as well as help my teammates when I could.
Most (if not all) of this report was written off memory of more than a week after the race. I’m not sure how it reads, hopefully it wasn’t a disappointment for those waiting for it.
Peace out,
Double A.