Gaby's back in her element, on a bicycle, and she has a few moves to show the pros!

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Viewing Note: This story should be viewed with the Edwardian Script ITC font installed on your Windows platform in the c:/Windows/Fonts directory. Microsoft Word installs this font automatically.

Photo Credit: Used with her permission....“Let Me In”  © by simpledrama .
 

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Chapter 18
 

Derek had already taken Don, Hooch and Patty out to the 40mi. mark at Powder Springs Creek to join the other support crews in setting up the ‘feed’ as the rest of the Grottoes Express made their way from the Georgia Institute of Technology to Piedmont Park where they gathered for the mass start with the other participants. Gaby followed Frank and the other members of the ‘Express’ as they threaded their way through the mass of cyclists, finally working their way up to a place in the front half of the growing peloton.

“Nice kit, Erin!”

“Wha? RONNIE!” Erin shouted as she snapped around to see who was talking to her. The two briefly hugged then Ronnie noticed the other members of the Grottoes Express team. After warmly greeting each one, Ronnie caught sight of Gaby.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us, Erin?”

“Oh, sorry … Ronnie … this young ‘un is Gaby Bond. She’s a British exchange student at yer ol’ school and has also been riding with us while she’s been here. Gaby … this here’s Ronnie Wilcox. She used to ride with us until she pulled up stakes to attend USC. You can see she’s now the competition. This must be yer second or third year with the Lady Anteaters, huh?”

“Second,” Ronnie replied. “So, Gaby … you compete?”

“I’ve ridden a few races back ‘ome,” Gaby slyly offered

Rob and Diane were standing behind Ronnie and doing their best to keep a straight face. Before anything else could be said, a race official gave the gathered peloton a five-minute warning before they started off.

“Excuse me … Gaby … guys … I should get back to the others … catch you later? Nice meeting you Gaby!” Ronnie enthused as she made her way over to the rest of the Lady Anteaters.

Once back with her team, she repeatedly looked back over to her old friends while she talked to one or more of the other girls on her team.

There was a bang somewhere and riders in front started to move down Monroe Drive. Initially, the peloton eased forward but within a city block, the speed according to Gaby’s computer had increased to a relaxing 35kph. Erin had already told Gaby about the ‘neutral zone’. This was the initial three miles of the course in which the peloton was to organize itself into some semblance of order before the official start. A helicopter was soon shadowing the cyclists as they turned off North Ave. and re-entered the grounds of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“Erin? I think it’d be a good idea to try to move up closer to the front ... but ... stay just behind that lead group of pros,” Gaby suggested as Erin moved up beside her. “That way we’d be in a better position to react to any move.”

“Makes sense!” Erin agreed as she dropped back to let Frank know the plan. While moving back up into her former position, she discreetly motioned the others to follow Gaby’s lead.

Gaby took a quick glance behind her to look at her teammates. When Frank nodded his agreement to her plan, she gave him a subtle flick of her elbow. As soon as he saw the sign, Frank moved up with Aidan on his wheel and casually eased a path through the cyclists in front of them so that the remaining team members could move up. Since the rest of the peloton was still jockeying for position, the sight of a whole team moving forward was nothing to cause concern amongst the other riders. While they slowly entrenched themselves into the back half of the lead group of pros, Gaby noticed the familiar kit of Gerolsteiner, CSC, T-Mobile, Rabobank and US Postal. Still riding along at about 35kph, Gaby took the opportunity to glance around her and take stock of their new surroundings. She figured they were comfortably sitting in the front third of the newly-formed peloton in a group of about sixty pros and some pretty serious looking amateurs.

As they swung onto the sweeping half-circle of Ferst Drive, the general demeanour of the field took on a serious feel. When the lead riders of the peloton reached the Institute’s Aquatic Centre, the Race Commissar pulled the ‘pace’ flag into his car, officially starting the race and the speed dramatically jumped, unleashing the 175 cyclists on Atlanta and the surrounding area.

After a quick right-hand turn, a short dash across Tech Parkway, followed by a sharp left-hand turn onto the multi-lane Marietta Street and they were at last released onto city roads. As Gaby had predicted, the pros made their move as they negotiated the sharp right-hand turn off Jones Drive onto Route 29. Taking advantage of the road’s four lanes, they took it as wide as possible and were immediately faced with a very noticeable climb!

“Gaby! You do what you have to … ride your race!” Frank mentioned as he pulled up beside her. He felt her competitive need to rise to her potential.

“It’s a team race … I should stay with you guys,” Gaby protested.

“Listen girl ... five of us have to cross that line … nuttin’ sez we all have to cross together!”

“Erin’s right Gaby … if you have to … you go ahead … we’ll follow,” Frank stated

No sooner had Frank spoke than the pros at the front upped the stakes, effectively splitting the peloton. As a single entity, each of the Grottoes Express rose to the challenge as they managed to cling to the back of the lead group of forty-five pros and amateurs after opening up a small but increasing gap.

As they reached the summit of the first climb, the pace slowed slightly as the breakaway group enjoyed a short flat stretch of road before tackling their second climb of the day. Gaby was riding between Frank and Erin with Diane, Rob and Aidan close behind.

“You can bet the pros will try to lose us again … probably on that climb, ahead.”

“Think so?” Erin wondered.

“Thas wot I’d do,” Gaby replied.

“Suggestions?” Frank knowingly asked.

“If it was me … I’d wait until most of us were committed to the climb … then use my power to accelerate and break from the rest of the group.” Gaby paused briefly as if assessing the situation.

“It’s too easy to be dropped back here. I’d say we’d stand a better chance if we individually worked our way further into the pack … before we get to that next climb … no point in telling the rest of these guys what we’re doing.” Frank and Erin both agreed with Gaby’s tactics. After they decided on the impromptu plan, Frank gave a subtle nod to Aidan and Rob and the team individually worked their way through the congestion in front to positions closer behind the leaders.

Once more, the sound of a helicopter could be heard above them. As they moved away from the more built-up areas of the city, the helicopter dropped to a lower altitude and stayed off to one side of the lead group. Gaby noticed it was outfitted to supply TV coverage.

“Hey guys … we’re on the telly!” Gaby jokingly enthused.

Again, Gaby’s intuitive knowledge of tactics paid off. Once the group was into the second climb of the day, she noticed the familiar tell-tale signs of an impending move by some of the pros and she quickly caught the attention of her teammates.

As if on cue, several of the pros made separate attacks on the reduced peloton and charged for the distant summit. This garnered a response from a number of the split peleton as they raised the pace to try to close the gap between them and the small break-away group of about nine riders. Since Gaby foretold such a move, the ‘Express’ was more or less expecting it and managed to stay with the leaders, but a few others further back in the peloton missed what was happening and got left behind. The faster pace of the climbers carried them over the summit and during the short, but steep descent, Gaby saw her computer nearing 100kph as she kept pedalling down the wide stretch of open road, in an attempt to maintain contact with the leaders.

A few serious and half-hearted attempts to break away from the leaders occurred, but they were quickly overtaken and spit out of the back, only to be reeled in by the larger body of the chase group. Cyclists from teams like CSC and T-Mobile were taking long pulls at the front and keeping the pace at around 50kph, in an obvious attempt to wear down the weaker riders.

The two quick climbs right from the start and the fast steady pace on this intermediate flat stretch was starting to have the desired effect on several riders in the lead group, both pro and amateur. Frank noted with some concern, that the Grottoes Express was starting to spread out a bit within this lead group. Both Aidan and Diane were looking a bit tired and fell back a few places. Even Frank fell back to ride on Gaby’s wheel, but the good news was that the team was more or less, still together.

When one of the official motorbike escorts passed the lead group, the passenger held up a white board stating that as a result of the last climb, the current leaders had split the original breakaway group and had opened up a thirty-two second gap. It was another four minute gap back from the chase group to the main peloton. Gaby took a quick backward glance and saw they had a growing stretch of clear road between them and the remenants of the lead group with a couple of individuals trying to bridge the gap.

“We gonna keep this pace fer the rest of the race?" Aidan gasped.

“Cheer up … it’s going to get a lot faster. This here’s the slow part,” Rob joked.

“Relax, Aidan … they’ll slow down … sometime … even the pro's would rather ride at a slower pace," Gaby interjected as she dropped back to ride beside him.

"I sure hope yer right!" he gasped again.

"This is a first fer us, Gaby!" Diane put in. “We’ve always been stuck somewhere back there ... in the main peloton.”

"It might not be for long … you can bet those guys setting the pace at the front will keep trying to lose us," Gaby shot back.

“I know...” Diane offered as she kept position on Gaby’s right. “...Any ideas?”

“Work our way back up there an’ mix with ‘em. That’s the only way we’re gonna stand a chance of staying on their wheels if they try to break again,” Gaby replied.

"Gabs … remember what Frank told you … if it comes down to the crunch and you have a chance … take it! We’ll follow along," Diane prompted.

"If we can hold on here for the remainder of the race … we’ve got a real good chance of finishing higher than we’ve ever done before …and having one of us cross before the rest of us won't hurt us none.”

Seeing Gaby still looked unconvinced, Diane added, “Look … I know these roads, Gabs. The next fifteen miles or so is all downhill … except for two small climbs … so that’ll help.”

“You sure?” Gaby wondered.

“Diane has family in these here parts! She knows...” Rob stated. “We’ll be ok!”

As Erin glanced back, she joked, “Ok … enough resting you guys. Get back up here!”

As they rejoined Erin, Gaby decided to glance around and see who exactly, the leader's were. Besides seeing a couple of riders from the pro-continental teams sponsored by Jeep and Trek, there were a few individuals in ‘club’ strips. She also noted that Ronnie and a couple of her teammates from USC’s Lady Anteaters were still shadowing the Express. As she scanned the remaining pros, Gaby was quick to notice that all of the pro-teams remaining with the leader's had seemed to have lost some teammates. She also noticed that two individuals close to the front of their little group wore a strangely familiar strip.

“Hey Gabs … you realize we’re riding with Lance Armstrong?” a recovered Aidan mentioned as he moved up beside her.

“Where?”

“Up ahead … see the USP strips? Second one back. I think the first one is Hincapie,” Aidan offered.

“Oh, wow! Mum’ll never believe this when I tell her!” Gaby beamed.

Now on a long steep descent, Gaby was thankful the wide-open road was mainly straight with few sweeping turns. While many of the group free-wheeled down the slope, others had to keep pedalling just to keep up with the leaders. She soon found herself and her friends easily topping 120kph on the steepest part of the descent, only slowing their momentum as they took a sweeping right-hand turn onto a long descending ramp that ended by merging with another multi-lane road.

As Gaby now rode along west along Route 6, she imagined it was much like her mum encountered in the Italian Alps, a mix of ascents and descents with hardly a flat stretch between them. During this stretch, the average speed dropped to a more manageable 44-45kph, which in turn allowed the weaker riders to catch their breath. The initial fast pace of the lead group also meant that several riders had been dropped and they were now reduced to a total of twenty-seven riders. Through sheer determination, six of those were from the Grottoes Express.

With a seven minute gap to the closest chase group, Gaby turned her attention to the approaching ‘feed’ at the forty mile mark and the possible problems that go with it. After more than an hour’s riding, she knew its value, but she’d also seen enough ‘World Cup’ races to realize that the leaders could easily take advantage of any reduction in speed at the ‘feed’ for those following. Gaby took the opportunity for a quick glance around at her teammates and knew she had to think of something.

"Erin? You still got your pen?” Gaby asked."

"Uh?"

"You had one when we were waiting to push off,” Gaby pressed.

"Whatcha want it fer?"

"You'll see … have you still got it?" Gaby asked with increased urgency.

"S’pose you want paper too?" she mumbled while fishing about in her pocket.

"Nope … neat!” Gaby grinned as Erin passed her the pen. The pair quickly realized that they had fallen back behind the rest of the team while the exchange took place.

"Tell the others to stay alert at the feed."

"Think they’ll make a move?" Erin wondered.

"I’ve seen enough races to think they might, but I’ve got an idea that might mess up their plans … if it works,” Gaby replied.

"Ok … you go do your thing. I’ll make sure the others know,” Erin assured.

At the feed, Don and Derek were at the side of the road, amongst the other support crews, waiting for their teammates to snatch the musettes from them. Hooch and Patty were stationed further down the road, ready to collect the discarded bags. Erin moved off up the right curb and headed for Derek while Gaby concentrated on the leaders of their little group and went for the more direct middle line.

She soon rode up alongside of the familiar pale lime green/dark green strip of the two Team Apollinaris riders, she spotted earlier.

“I hope I say this right.”

"Gooten tag," Gaby cheerfully offered.

"Tag." Tina looked over to her side and did a perfect cartoon double-take.

"GABI! Your Mu-vatter said you were riding today … but how you get up here?”

"My bike. Hi, Maria!" Gaby playfully replied. "How come you’re here?"

“Der team vas invited,” Tina revealed.

“Where are they?” Gaby excitedly inquired.

“I think we lost them on the early climbs,” Maria admitted and then added as she nodded to the remnants of the other pro teams still at the front, "You are in gut company here."

"That reminds me … catch you later!" Gaby mentioned as she started to break off and make her way over to the UPS boys.

"Tschüss!” both Maria and Tina chorused.

Gaby eased away from them and took a swig from her bottle. Deciding to chance it, she emptied its contents then lobbed it ‘Tdf style’ onto the side of the road.

“Always wanted to do that.” Gaby giggled to herself.

"Umm … excuse me … Mr. Armstrong?" Gaby timidly ventured as she approached one of her cycling heroes.

"Huh?" Lance uttered as he turned in surprise and watched as Gaby pulled up to him, matching his cadence.

"Dang! It's a girl, Lance!" George exclaimed.

"Mum'll never believe this!" Gaby gushed.

"Where'd you come from?" Lance asked.

“Back there … with the rest of my team,” Gaby coyly answered.

"And what team is that? … And for that matter … who's your ma?" Lance wondered.

"...Grottoes Express … an’ my mum’s Jenny Bond,” Gaby admitted then added with a small squeal, “Oh, this is just so kewel!"

An amused Lance seemed to focus most of his attention onto his young fan now. As the feed station came closer, she couldn’t help but think she might be able to pull it off.

"Hey, Lance … cradle snatching now?" jokingly voiced another of Lance’s teammates.

"Just checking things out for you," he grinned back at his teammate.

Umm … could I get your autograph?" Gaby sweetly asked.

"You mean now?" Lance queried.

"I have a pen," Gaby stated almost apologetically as she offered Lance the pen.

"Well … okay, I guess … seeing as you rode all this way to get it,” Lance cheerfully agreed. “What’s your name?”

"Gaby."

"Okay, Gaby … where do I sign?" a bemused Lance inquired.

"Lance … didn’t Jenny Bond win the ‘Fem last year? I think she’s also the women’s road champ. Rides for some German team … Apollinaris … I think," George ventured.

"Sounds about right … that your ma Gaby?" Lance asked.

"Uh huh … here … on my number,” Gaby replied while slightly moving ahead to offer up her participant number that was pinned to her lower back.

As he signed, Gaby noticed they went right through the feed. Her distraction of keeping Lance occupied, was working. She also knew that it was only a temporary respite for the Express.

"Thanks Mr. Armstrong!" Gaby enthused.

"Give your ma my regards," Lance stated

"I will ... thanks again!" As she dropped back, Levi took her place and offered a mussette to Lance.

“You realize you missed the feed?” Levi commented to his team captain.

Catching up to Gaby, a grinning Erin handed a mussette to her.

“Mind tellin’ me what that was all about … besides having the gall to ask Lance Armstrong for an autograph in the middle of a race?” Erin questioned as Gaby sat up and began stowing the contents of her mussette in her jersey’s pockets.

“We’re still here aren’t we?” Gaby answered while trying to tear the wrapper off an energy bar.

“What?”

“I figured Lance an’ the others might decide to take off once they got through the feed … leaving us behind as we slowed to get our stuff,” Gaby explained.

“Sooo … you caused him to miss his golden opportunity? Now, I doubt your mom taught you that,” Erin replied with a fake pout.

“It worked didn’t it?” Gaby tried to plead her case after she made quick work of her snack.

“Ohhh … that it did!” Erin cheerfully agreed. “Almost half way there … and because of you … we’ve already done better in this here race than we’ve ever done in the six years we’ve been coming here!”

“Like you said … it’s not over yet!” Gaby shot back.

Gaby knew that there would come a point where the pros would make another attempt to rid themselves of the ‘locals’ and it came at the halfway marker when they came out of a short descent into a shallow valley. Using the momentum from the descent, some of the surviving pros let loose upon hitting the flats. At the time, Gaby and Erin were comfortably drafting behind Tina and Maria, but when the pace kicked up a few notches in a sudden and dramatic fashion, Gaby acted upon pure reflex by dropping a couple of gears and once again rising out of her saddle, headed for anyone’s wheel. After a while, the pace slowed and Erin was able to re-join her. At the same time, Gaby was able to literally catch her breath and slow her breathing to something approaching ‘normal’.

As the pair looked at each other and smiled, their mental self-congratulations were interrupted by Lance’s voice.

"Heyyyy … well-done Gaby!"

"Oh wow! … Uhhh … thanks … uhhh," breathed Gaby, still somewhat in awe that she actually was able to remain with the leaders.

"Just like her mama," Maria proudly stated as she drifted over and put a hand on Gaby’s back.

"Thu … thu … thanks…" Gaby managed to gasp as she turned and smiled at her mum’s teammate.

Glancing around, she saw things had really changed. Erin and her were now the only amateurs in with a handful of the world’s elite. Besides themselves, their little group now consisted of the likes of Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Erik Zabel, Jens Voigt, Tina Porsche and Maria Pinger.

“Please God … don’t let me ‘hit the wall’ now … not in front of these guys…”

"Here … take this Gabi!" Maria offered one of her two bidons. "I told your mama Tina und I would look out for you. She has enough to worry about. We'll get you to the finish … ja?"

"Thanks Maria." Gaby gratefully acknowledged Maria’s offer. Her breathing had returned to her normal rate.

“Ahhhhh … much better!”

To Gaby, the top half of the course seemed to be all uphill even though she knew there must’ve been a few descents thrown in and somehow, both she and Erin managed to stay up with their fellow cyclists. As a result of the last acceleration, the leaders group was now split with a smaller group achieving a twenty-two second gap from the few who were dropped and now comprised the first chase group.

Diane and Aidan were struggling a bit but Rob and Frank were doing their best helping to dole out a fast pace to the dozen or so riders that comprised the second chase group, in an effort to bridge the gap over to the first chase group. The 'catch' was made a short time later and the two groups became one. The chase for the leaders was renewed.

Since the winning team was determined by the first team that had five members cross the finish line, it was now more important to keep everyone together than it had it had ever been. Feeling the pain as she was, Erin had expected the trailing service vehicles to pick up an exhausted Gaby somewhere on the course, but as they passed the 70 mile marker, she shook her head in amazement. Watching Erin as she was clearly thinking about the Wunderkind, Maria pulled up along side of her.

“She ist amazing … ist she not?”

"When we first asked her to join us … I knew she’d say ‘yes’. She’s got that competitive edge … but I never really imagined she'd make it this far … not on this course … and certainly not up here in the company of world-class cyclists, like yourself,” Erin thoughtfully admitted. “By the way …I’m Erin…”

“Maria … und ... that’s Tina,” Maria offered while nodding in Tina’s direction. “Gabis Mutter ist one of our teammates.”

As they passed through North Decatur, Erin and Gaby were relieved to see the ten-mile marker. While they had almost made it, two more climbs remained. The first one was only about fifty vertical feet, followed by a welcomed hundred foot descent and the final one was only eighty-feet in vertical elevation at Druid Hills, but at a steep fifteen percent gradient. After that, Gaby knew it was a comparatively short run home.

At the bottom of the final descent of the race, Tina dropped back a bike length, meeting Erin and Gaby as they re-joined the small band along with Levi.

“Gabi … bitte … your mama asks … if we are finish together … to stay from the sprint … it ist very dangerous."

"I don’t think I'd have the energy, anyway...” Gaby puffed.

"Gut!" Tina replied with a sense of relief. She then rode back up to rejoin Maria.

By now, the small group that comprised the race leaders was content on working together, riding piano and maintaining their lead over the chase group. As they rode along East Rock Springs Road, the tall office towers of Atlanta came into sight, looming larger the closer they got. Once they turned onto Piedmont Avenue and headed towards 14th Street, a renewed sense of urgency and accomplishment ran through the group. Despite the race being held on city and urban streets, the topography of the course proved challenging, even to the pros. As they made the turn onto Piedmont Avenue, Erin looked across to where they had been and saw the chase group and a little further back, the main peloton.

“Gaby? Looky yonder!” Erin urged while quickly showing her where to look.

As the leaders made their way onto 14th Street, it soon became apparent that with the way the chase group was riding that there was a good possibility they may catch them in the last few metres before the finish line. Only a single left-hand turn remained before the nine cyclists would be on a straight two-mile stretch to the finish. Less than one hundred metres left and with the chase group bearing down on the race leaders, Gaby found she couldn’t resist the urge to attempt an attack and sprint for the line despite what she told Tina. It wasn’t in her nature to just sit back and watch them cross first.

She carefully watched them and then chose her moment before she dropped two gears. Rising from her saddle, she danced on the pedals as she made a break towards the opposite side of the road with about five-hundred feet to go. Unfortunately her plan to catch Lance and the others off balance didn’t figure on their quick responses. She made it to the other side of the road but barely managed to draw level with Lance and the others before she was spotted and a full-fledged sprint resulted.

Lance and George were the first to cross, followed by Erik Zabel and Jens Voigt. As they crossed the finish line, Maria and Tina coasted to a stop. When Maria glanced back at her teammate, she noticed Tina had stopped well back of her and was straddling the cross-bar of her bike, catching her breath. She also noticed Gaby had just crossed the line, virtually tied with Levi, while Erin had missed the sprint and still had about thirty feet to go.

“Tina! …Hinter Ihnen! … Ergreifen Sie ihr Fahrrad!” Maria frantically shouted, as Gaby’s bike erratically coasted up beside Tina. As soon as she snapped her head around to look, Tina saw that Gaby appeared disoriented and was starting to slump forward on her bike.

When the bike was within her reach, Tina snatched the cross-bar and prevented the Wunderkind’s bike from side-swiping her own. The sudden stop made Gaby lose whatever balance she still had and she collapsed against Tina.

“Gabi! … GABI! … ,b>Maria!” Tina now had a hold of the bike, plus a precarious hold on Gaby and could safely release neither. However, before Maria could react to her teammate’s cries, a race official had seen the problem and ran over to lift the unconscious girl off of Tina.

 
 
Comments are gratefully appreciated

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To Be Continued...