48 miles and the shared glory of road racing
Six teammates and I settled in, assessing the competition, grousing about the chilly rain that gave little hope it would let up. At 20 miles, two strong teammates and two other riders broke away.
Once they built a solid gap, the race for the rest of us changed. Our sole job became controlling the pace and chasing down anyone who threatened that gap. It took work (but certainly much less than our guys in the break). Dan and I spent close to 20 minutes out front — rolling just fast enough to discourage attacks.
The finish: our teammates took second and third. While none of the rest of us placed higher than 9th and there’s no reward for the team, it still felt to me like a win. Our responsibility was to sacrifice for our teammates — as individuals, not just a team. It can be such a singularly unselfish sport, unlike any other.
