Losing is the Next Best Thing to Winning
by Mark Scheetz

Hey kids, here something entertaining to do when you bored …. do anything extremely strenuous for about and hour and take a huge gulp of ice cold water. It tends to come right back up. Want to have a little more fun … try drinking the last few drops of warm backwash from stranger’s water bottles. I got to do all this in the middle of last weekend’s Cal State Series final.

This year’s series boiled down to a close points race between Ed Dinger, Coley King and me. I already had third no matter what the outcome of the final. If I beat Coley I would have earned second in state. Ed only had to finish the race to win State Champion. If he DNF and I won the race, I would have got State Champ.

Before the start I did all my usual stuff: suck a gel shot, hydrate, pee, and warm up. Ok … so I was as ready for a fight as ever, that is until we started up the first hill. I guess I forgot one thing, my legs, must have left them at home. My lack of energy deflated my usual optimism at the race start. Ever have one of those dreams where you’re trying to run and you can’t move? It felt kind of like that (I know… that’s a little weird). By the time we reached the top Ed and Coley had about 20 seconds on me. I kept thinking, “hey guys wait for me”. That isn’t much of a gap, but we’re usually together this early in the race. I thought I should be able to gain that back on the technical descents as long as I didn’t let them gain any more time.

The course gets really flat for a couple of miles where us single speeders just spin like mad. Here is where the fast Expert geared guys usually catch us. As we began our descent on Plantation Trail I was engulfed in a herd of gearies. Ed and Coley were ahead of the pack. The pace was fairly fast, but not quit as fast as I needed to close the gap. So I was stuck in the pack as the gap grew larger.

I felt good on the next few climbs. I found my legs and so I began to get very focused on everything … my pedal stroke, trail position, cornering techniques. All I needed was to keep gaining a second here, a half second there, and eventually I could catch Ed and Coley. Right before the technical descent on Cabin 89 Trail I drank all I had left knowing my feed station was at the bottom.

When I setup a feed station I tend to be very diligent about the details. I’ll take those supporting the team over to the spot, make sure they know where we’ll be coming from, how fast we’ll be moving, what side of the trail to stand on, when we’ll be coming through, instruct on how to hand off a bottle, and so on and so on .... I’m usually very anal about it. When I race with a planned feed station I will carry only enough fluid to get me to the feed station. The best handoffs are the ones I don’t remember. I figure that if I don’t remember the handoff, it must have been a good one.

Unfortunately, at this weekend’s race, I gave very lousy instructions about the location of the feed station. Instead of scoping it out ahead of time, I just sort of described where the trail might be found. It was a somewhat remote spot. It turns out Jon couldn’t find it before I passed the location. That was entirely my responsibility, not his fault at all (I just thought I should make that clear).

Now I was faced with the tough climb up Pine Knot Trail to Grand View Point with no fluid. At least it saved a little weight. The Team Big Bear feed station was at Grand View Point, but that was still a long way off. Following Grand View would be several short climbs call The Five Bitches.

I was worried now that my race might turn into one those dreaded survival ordeals so I changed my game plan. Back off on the attack until Grand View Point. Drink whatever I could and see how things go on The Five Bitches. That was the plan anyway; it’s not quite what I did.

Pine Knott is a fairly consistent climb with several short walls. If I don’t attack the walls with all I have, I’m walking. So attack after attack gets you moving pretty fast on a single speed. By the time I reached the top I was only about 10 seconds from Ed. That was cool, but I was also totally spent and worried about hydration. Here is where I get a little gross.

Spotting a discarded water bottle, I actually stopped to pick it up. It had a couple of ounces left in it, so … yeah I drank it. I didn’t even remove the top. One of the Sho-Air team members saw me scavenging for water and offered me the few ounces that remained of one of his, and … yeah I drank that too. Yuk! At Grand View I guzzled down as much as I could and immediately felt like I was going to hurl. A little stomach protest going on there.

By this time Ed and Coley were now out of sight. My stomach recovered quickly so I kept up a good pace over The Five Bitches and on to the finish. I ended up about a minute behind Coley and two minutes behind Ed. I doubt the water ordeal had much affect on the outcome. It would have been a closer race but I don’t think it wasted more then 30 seconds of my time. They beat me. It was close but I lost. Damn!

Later, at the award ceremony (award marathon), Jasmine said something to the affect “I know your disappointed”. And yeah, she’s right, there is a little bit of that. Contrary to what some would believe about me, I do race to win. Win or lose, I also have a really good time doing it. For me winning is awesome, but it’s not all about winning. It can’t be because I don’t win that often.

The truth is, losing is the next best thing to winning because it means I’m in the race. Unlike most people who never get off their butts and take a risk at anything, my teammates and I choose to be in the “arena”. Like all my teammates, no matter what class you’re in, or the outcome of a race, at least we’re here doing something and experiencing stuff that most will never know. I can’t be too disappointed about a season where in 13 races (thus far) I’ve had 13 podium finishes, no mechanicals, no injuries, and managed a new team that earned second in state. Did I ever dream that at 46 years old I would take on such endeavors? Hell, yeah! Of course I did. I’m living the dream.

Now … Get Some!