Zurich Report

            Feeling really calm about the start of this race, I took my time, and did my own thing preparing for this race.  I did my own warm-up, and skated the >8km course a few times well before the start time.  Then I went back to our team tent, took my skates off for a while, stretched out, got some fluids, then about 20mins before the race (with Wayne yelling at me anxiously), I got out on skates again, got up to speed a bit, did a few accels, and really felt ready to race.  I filed into the starting area a little bit late but well within control, and found myself at the back of the WIC start.  Only very good skaters were in front of me, and I really felt fine and comfortable with whatever position I was going to get.  I was joking with Mathieu Grandgirard about how I would really appreciate it if he could take me to the front before the first u-turn, about 1km after the start.  It didn’t happen, but it would have been nice.

            The course was such that it was very easy to sit in.  The whole thing was essentially flat, started along a straight away, then the U-turn, followed by another long straight, a narrowing around the finish line, then a long sloping left over a few sets of tram lines, then another long straight, over a mild-sloping bridge, a slight downhill into a fast 90°right turn, into a short downhill and an immediate up-slope as we went under a tunnel, a left u-turn, then back down the hill under the other side of the same tunnel (completely separated), then along another straight into a hard fast 120° left, a short rough straight into a long sloping right 90°, over the mild bridge, another long sloping right 90°, and into the starting area. 

          Ha! That was kind of stupid explanation, but my point is that there were plenty of chances where the pack would bunch up and slow down a bit for the corners, and string out along the straights with a chance to stay in at worst; near the back.  Basically, everyone says that Zurich is the easiest WIC race of the year to stay in. 

          However, it was somewhat dangerous with a pack that size going through corners like that, especially with thoughtless Italian track bandits diving up the inside with little concern for the guys they would inevitable shove out, and over the plentiful obstacles on the course. There were plenty of crashes throughout the race, with some top skaters going down.

            With a car up for grabs the race was fast, but the big teams weren’t taking any risks.  There were attacks, but if they didn’t get any ground they would come back quickly.  With Joey in the field, it could be said that no break without Joey in it was going to stay away.  This isn’t to say that some of the smaller teams weren’t taking some chances, but it just doesn’t have the same effect on the peleton as when the big teams are battling it out.  With about 10km to go, it was clear that the race was coming down to a field sprint, and the top teams were getting together early.  This gave a chance for some of the smaller teams to take some real risks, and World Inlinecenter-Bont, and Spirotiger sent Giovanni Conte and big DJ Nation off the front in the last lap.  This actually settled things down, and the pack had the break well within control, and timed the catch just before the last u-turn with 2km to go. 

           It was really tough to move up through this part more due to the traffic than the speed.  TNT Korea, Matter, Powerslide, Bont/Hyper, Sportvital Rollerblade, and Athleticum made their presence felt at the front of the pack going into the last corner, not to mention the host of lone guys mixing it up.  This was by far the most dangerous part of the race, capped off by team Citius diving up the inside dangerously.  As many expected, this saw a massive crash, with a pile of skaters sliding out at the exit of the last corner claiming their race.  The last 2km was crazy.  [I will speak of my own experience within it later.]  TNT put their leader Davide Romani up near the front, Joey found his way there, Rollerblade had Deigo in the mix of things, and Matter seemed to be everywhere.  The lead out was highlighted by Joey making an early move, gapping Romani, who locked up, slowed down, and jammed things up behind him.  Kalon Dobbin (Powerslide) was first to make it out behind him, but with Joey’s clear line to the finish, and something of a head start out of the pack, the race was his. Kalon settled for second, the first out of the bunch, followed by Cifuentes and Garzon, of Matter, and big Roger Schnieder (Athleticum) rounding out the top five.  The next three seconds saw the next 50 skaters cross the line, and the rest of the carnage shortly behind that.
           
I will give you some of my own experiences through the race…

Damn, the corners were nuts.  We would be going sometimes five lines wide through them, and you would get shoved from everywhere.  Everyone wants to stay on their feet, and it’s not like anyone is being malicious.  It’s actually the safest way for things to go.  But there is a definite code of ethics.  Sometimes the rules are broken, and the guys seem to know who are the most guilty.  The WIC is really trying to stay clean from the pushing, shoving, and hand work, [so this is really frowned upon,] so that it doesn’t get out of hand, which can happen very quickly.  Also, everyone wants to make it out of the corner with lots of speed, and close to wherever the front is, so no one wants to be behind the “Barney’s”.  Those guys find their way to the back very quickly, by design.  No one wants to get jammed up behind them.

Moving up and back in the pack this much in a race is something pretty new to me.  I am beginning to ‘feel’ the flow of the pack, and know what lines to get in when I want to move up.  A few times I could see someone step out with a clear intention to move up.  These are like ‘free rides’ to the front.  I followed Ruben Martinez (CMS) from the back all the way to the front.  Getting a spot up there isn’t easy, and he would take me there, and I would then see him dropping back looking for a spot.  I had Giovanni or Wayne let me in a few times.  What a treat that is when that happens, let me tell you.

I remember at one point being pretty far back in the pack and thinking to myself, ‘Jesus, I wonder how far the front of the pack is from me?’ I stood up to be high enough to gain some perspective, only to see the pack strung out into at most two wide, and couldn’t make the very front clearly at all, but could tell that things up there were some 2-300m in front of me.  At that point I said to myself, ‘Shit I had better start making my way up there.’

Going into start of the last lap, I found myself near the back (again), and thought to myself; “I better move up now, before it gets too fast.”  I made my way to the front, this time taking up the task myself.  I could feel guys hop out and step in behind me. I was trying to stay relaxed and skate with good technique.  Nearing the front just after the finish line, Kalon stepped out, and I was able to get behind him, and continued to move up. 

The narrowest section of the course, and the start of the left turn over the tramlines had three or four lines merge into two, and I got shoved from my right, and the pack I now had behind me shoved me incredibly hard from behind.  I was forced to push Kalon, and I just about got sent right over the top of him from the force behind.  Through the corner and a re-acceleration, I clicked skates with DJ Nation, and I slowed down a bunch over the tramlines.  I found myself in the middle of the bridge by myself looking for a spot in the pack near the front; a near impossible task. 

I thought I had found one as I was still moving back, but it was forced out by Bont/Hyper one after another.  Massi shot me this dismissive look of disrespect that seemed to say: “What, and you think looking at me is going to help you?”  I tried to get in behind their train, but Citius wasn’t about to let that happen.  …and Timmerman behind them,  Matter, etc, etc,  Where is my team?  Wayne?? I thought to myself; ‘Aaron, just how far back do you want to go here?’  and so I started to move up along the left side of the pack I had been trying to get into.  Sure enough I found myself in a pack again, but was now much further back I had hoped, especially after the work getting to the front.  I think the lesson I learned here was simple:  Learn to be more patient.  Don’t panic. 

I was talking to Fintser about this later, and he a very different take upon finding himself in the same circumstance.  He said: “I said to myself; ‘Ok, I’m in a shit position.  But that’s okay.  I can make that up on the second or third last straight-away’…”

I think the mentality; “I better move up now, before it gets too fast.” speaks to a least a degree of a lack of confidence.  I could have moved up later, and saved some of that energy for the last 2km.

Now I was a little tired and with less than a lap to go, the pace was picking up.  Trying to stay calm, and find a decent line to the front, I made my way to the second last straightaway around half way up the pack.  We were quickly approaching the last u-turn.  I was pretty sure that things would be chaos at the back after the turn, so I was doing everything I could to move up.  There was very little room to skate.  I tried to move up the right side, but there just seemed to be nowhere to go.  It seemed like a line would start moving up on the right, and the pack would just shift over and pinch the line against the side of the course.  I found myself going into the last corner on the very outside, with just barely enough room to get my feet around the legs of the steel barricades.  I leaned into the hard left turn being shoved from behind.  I could feel my wheels starting to slide out from under me, and I was just hoping for the best.  That’s when the guys on the inside crashed, and started to slide out in front of me.  I had just enough time to start to straighten out, and jump over a skater wearing black.  I wasn’t about to look back to see who it was. 

I came out of the corner unscathed, and began to look for my teammates, though I wasn’t in an ideal spot, still half way back through the field.  Looking for my team, I was moving up and managed to form a bit of a train with Giovanni and Wayne, but after a crash in the middle of the straight somewhere I lost Wayne’s wheel.  I don’t know who it was, but I could see him sliding on his ass covering his head with his hands.  I was still moving up ok with the speed I had, but couldn’t get a clear draft as there was no longer much of a line.  Guys were moving all different speeds, and it seemed more a matter of getting by each one and holding speed and moving from side to side, than ‘sprinting’.  I felt I could have gone faster without all the traffic.  I wasn’t able to really follow anyone, really only to grab a bit of draft here and there as I passed each one.  With about ~100m to go, the road narrowed even more, and though I was still moving up, the traffic in front of me was such that I really couldn’t get through or around, and got bunched up.  From there to the line I kind of just skated home, not really changing position much. Wayne was right in front of me still, he must have gone through pretty much the same thing a few spots ahead of me.  I was happy enough that I could actually see the front of the sprint (though not well), and just feel like as was at least with them going into it. 

I rolled around for a bit talking with some of the guys, in a mix of languages.  That was actually pretty cool.  One of the Zepto guys apologized for shoving me at one point.  I told him that I got shoved about a thousand times, so it didn’t really matter much.  “No, I mean I sssshhhoooooved you.  Sorry man.”  There were others still on course, so I rolled back to the finish line to get some water and catch the women’s finish that was due in ~10mins give or take.

I went back to our team tent and grabbed the key to the car off of Christoph, got my gear, and got dressed.  I met up with some friends, grabbed a beer, drank it, and made my way to the lake.  I emptied my pockets, took my shoes and socks off, and…
[“Is it cold?”
“A little.” 
“Perfect!”]
Dove in for a swim.  The water was perfect.  I little chilly, but in that perfect sort of way.  I swam around for a bit, tried to sneak up on a swan, thought about swimming up from underneath geese and catching them really off—guard, and made my way back to the dock.  I climbed out and felt great.  There was a guy singing reggae on an electric guitar 50m from me, just starting to play “Feel Alright”. ‘How perfect is that?’ I asked myself…  I took my time and listened as I walked back towards the ‘race village’.  I grabbed a bite to eat.  A big bite actually.  I bought a plate of pasta, and a steak.  It cost 12CHF.  I ate it quickly, and it was really, really good.  it was interesting to overhear some of the conversations about the other (age class) races. 

I made me way over to see what was going on by Dani’s shop tent, and see who was there.  Basically everyone was.  We hung out for a bit, and went to check the results out that were already posted by the main (awards) display.  Did I mention that there was a big screen TV playing love footage of the races from the motorbikes following the peleton?  At this point they were re-playing footage from the Pro Men.  I kept seeing Ruben on the screen at the front doing far more than his ‘fair share’ of leading.  Anyway, I wasn’t in the results!  Shitty.  I asked Bill what I should do, and he said “Not in the results?”  and walked straight to the chief referee [’Pfulgi’, Rapheal Pfulg’s father], told him who I was, told him approximately where I had placed, and told me not to worry about it.  It would be fixed probably by tonight.  Sure enough, it was.  I placed 39^th.  Wayne was 30^th, and I was pretty amazed that 8 guys managed to finish between us since he was within arms length of me across the line. 

So that’s my report.  Rushed, a bit scattered, but its all in there.  I hope you enjoyed.

Aaron Richard.