Mike Friedman

Well That Was Exciting!

// March 4th, 2008 // Sup

First off, I want to thank everyone who sent their LOVE this way, because I totally felt the LOVE all over. Head to Toe people, HEAD to TOE!

Here is a little recap from my perspective if you’re interested:

During the team meeting it was everyone’s job to try and go with moves. It’s hard to give a select few guys that task, because 1) it’s a hard job, 2) chances are better with everyone going for it, and 3) it’s a team, and everyone is capable of it.

I wasn’t feeling great, especially after arriving the day prior. All day Friday I was grumpy with a headache, sore legs, bad back etc. Saturday morning, I felt a bit better, stretched, had some coffee and ate well. Headache was gone, and legs were feeling better. Maggy had told me that I would feel terrible in the beginning, and open half way though.

Last year at the Tour of Belgium the whole team was in the second group right after the neutral because of cross winds, a high speed 50kph neutral, and being stuck behind lame guys who just give up when it hits the gutter. I WAS NOT GOING TO MAKE THIS MISTAKE AGAIN!

I lined up at the start 15 minutes early with everyone else who was there already, and stayed there as we rolled the neutral. Peter Van Petegem was in the lead car, dropped the flag and the race was on. Immediately there were attacks. I went with a few, nothing seemed to be going. I was trapped in the front point of the peloton as we were going down a long straight section of road when I saw four guys jump. Quickly I made my way out, or atleast tried, and at this point the 4 riders probably had 30 seconds when I jumped up the left and dove between a curb/car and the front guys. I took a glance back, nobody on the wheel, and I said to myself, “you’re going”. Looked at the speedo, 66 kph, going flat stick. I told myself to relax as they were getting closer and closer, but knew I had to get there especially before we made a turn into a head wind again. I see the lead car turn left, and I’m about 10 meters off the break, break goes through, I go through, WALL O WIND! OH SH!T, break at 10 m, 13 m, 17 m, 30 m, OH MY GOD, I can’t close the gap! I’m going to get dropped and end up in the field! How embarassing! At this point, I’m thinking, holy crap, my guys are going to be pissed, I’m so lame!

I look back, see two more guys coming, and the field chasing, but at a gap yet, so I sit up, breath, and sprint to latch on to these two guys. The one guys I know from Landboukredit, David Boucher, a strong, rides with balls kind of rider who isn’t afraid of hard work, and the other, Liquigas I don’t know, but find out soon enough he’s wicked strong. I latch on, and we begin swapping pulls, chasing chasing chasing. The break is not really giving us an inch, and we had to fight all the way to these guys. We were pulling at 58 and 59 kph forever before we latched on these guys, and keep in mind it’s 35 mph winds out there. My God It Hurt!

Okay, so I’m in the break, and the time is opening up. Johnny is giving me splits in the radio, and I’m happy to hear it’s gone up to at least a minute. That seems to be the breaking point for a lot of breakaways. Once that minute is breached, it usually is given a bit of slack to go out from there. We all worked really pretty well, I learned something though. The AG2R, FDJeux, and Cofidis guy would pull through, but very easily. Every time the speed would drop, and their watts had to be way lower, while the Landbo, Liquigas, and I pulled through steady and strong. I found out later why these guys were “half assing it” in the break, because it made a world of difference later on down the road.

The crowds were amazing. Every town, every corner, every intersection, and every cobbled section were simply packed with people. The chopper following the race was insane! The pilot I think enjoyed dive bombing near us and the feeling of seeing this while racing, and the crowds was overwhelming. This was for real! This is the stuff I’ve only dreamed of doing, and here I am, doing it. Crazy.

So I had this license plate that my father bought me. I had asked for it awhile ago, because it was suggested to me by a friend that I should put a license plate with my name on it beneath my seat. He was joking at the time, but I took it seriously thinking it was a great idea. Half way through the race, the fans were yelling “Meatball”, “GO MEATBALL”, “SLIPSTREAM!”. It was unreal, the Belgian Fans were AWESOME!

The cobbled sections were amazing, especially when you are semi-fresh, I cruised over them. The last uphill and last 2 or 3 flat sections of Pave killed me though. One, I would get dizzy looking right in front of me, two, once I lost speed, it was nearly impossible to speed back up, three, I didn’t know the sections so the guys who were still in the break knew when and where to hit it hard. I came off on the last climb, and fought back up to the remaining three guys. Was attacked on the next flat section and gapped off. I was 3rd on the road at this point about 25 sec. down. I knew that Gilbert, and his teammate that was in the break were coming from behind, which was a good thing because I could recover and then get on this small train back to the group.

At this point people I was hurting. Hurting bad. It’s not that I wasn’t fit, but it’s a long race, I had been out front all day, and probably did 10% more work than I needed too, but that’s what cards I had to play, so here we are. Gilbert had come across solo until his teammate dropped back for him, so he was strong, and also one of the favorites. Behind him chasing hard, about 2 minutes back was a “Super Group” containing Nuyens, Cancellara, Hoste, amongst others. Gilbert attacked on the next flat pave and was gone, none of us could hang any longer. The Super Group caught up, were organized but just didn’t have the time to bring back Gilbert before the line. The group split with 7 KM remaining, I was stuck in the the 3rd group now on the road. Cancellara, and two of my break companions, plus myself made 4 guys. At 250 meters to go I hit out hoping to get 9th or 10th on the day, but with 50 meters to go, it wasn’t to be. I was passed and ended up 12th. I was upset by that, but I had given it everything, and well, this was my first Semi-Classic, and I was elated with the ride.

So that is what it was like. Unreal!