I started racing bicycles in the mid 1970s, a time when the sport was really small and most of the racers were runners with bad knees. I like to brag that I was a category I rider, which I was, except that back then, that was the only category. You simply paid your dues and you were a licensed bike racer.
I was extremely lucky to have lived in the Boston area when John Allis was one of the top riders in the country. He was on our Olympic teams and national champion a few times. And a super nice guy. And an evangelist for the sport.
He trained twice a day on a forty mile loop through the hills West of Boston. Anyone who wanted to ride with him could, so there were usually about 2o of us just tagging on. He’d ride hard up the hills, but then easy on the down sides so people could catch up before the next hill.
One year the state championship was 11o mile race on a 10 mile loop with a big climb on it. After a couple of laps I just thought it was going too slow. So I went off the front.
[The way bike racing works is there is a lot of drafting. The peloton/pack stays together, because it’s easy to ride as a group. Going off the front, you lose that.]
Nobody respected me, by that I mean, no-one came with me to try to make a break away of a small group of riders.
Except after not too long, John Allis did. He broke away from the peloton, caught up to me and as he passed me said “Let’s go.”
What a thrill, me and John Allis off the front. Well that scared a lot of people and some other riders caught up to us and it was a fast and strong break. It lost me after about 70 miles. But still, I finished around 10th and what a thrill to have created the winning break with John Allis.
In New England at the time, there were a number of races that drew the best riders from around the country with their prizes. Somerville NJ, Fitchburg MA, and Allentown PA. Riders today are impressed that I rode those races, which are now just for the elite riders, but, as I said, back then, anyone could play.
The current national champion was a Californian named John Howard. He came to race in Fitchburg and I was there. I marked him, I waited for his move, I wanted to be there when he went.
Boom! He exploded from the peloton and I was right on his wheel. It was me and John Howard off the front. He led out and then moved over to see who was with him and let them take the lead. I charged past ready to work with him.
He looked at me, sat up in his saddle, and with a look of complete distain stopped peddling. He let the pack catch up and waited until he could get someone better to ride with him.
What a blow. He did go off again, and got some other better known riders, and won the race. I finished 10th or so and won a tire. Still, what an asshole.
Then there was the big 170 mile race in Canada. Everyone who was anyone from Boston went up there, along with all the big names from across the country. John Howard was there. John Allis was there.
Now John Howard had the better sprint of the two. And was more arrogant. John Allis was all about riding hard over the distance, but if anyone was with him at the end, he often lost the sprint to the finish.
Anyway, it was, as I said, 170 mile race. 20 miles into the race John Allis went off the front. By himself. Everyone else was pacing themselves, knew that a lone rider couldn’t out pace the peloton for 150 miles.
So they let him go. And the miles passed. And they didn’t see him.
Somewhere around the 120 mile mark, John Howard got worried and decided to go after him. He chased and chased, but never caught him.
John Allis drove home in the Volkswagon Micro Bus which was first prize.
Me? I had stayed home and it was a strange lesson. Everyone better than me had gone to that race, meaning I was the best rider left in Boston. At the weekly race, I went off the front, and one guy went with me.
We lapped the pack. I went off the front again, by myself this time.
I won easily. It was really boring.
Well the sport started to grow. I raced for three years getting stronger and faster each year, finishing further and further back. It was kind of discouraging, so I quit as the sport left me behind. But what fun to have been there for those years.
