Due to the uncharacteristic nature of the Piece of Cake road race, I was really looking forward to it. Had it been forty some degrees with rain, howling winds and massive lung busting hill climbs... I probably would have stayed home last Sunday and decided to go eat pancakes instead. But, once you say the course involves rain, howling winds, and flat and fast roads with quite possibly a narrow sprint finish at the end, well... now you've got my attention. When it was all said and done, I could say that I enjoyed 95% of the race. That other 5%, well... lets just say I've had better days. And so has my bike, my body and my precious very expensive kit.
95%:
Pretty much, I was pleased with myself during the race for catching all of the breakaway attempts, bridging the gaps and trying to stay out of the strength sucking wind while doing my part for the group. My main objective was to stick with the lead pack and be a attempt to be contender when it came to the sprint finish. So, going into the last few miles I was right where I wanted to be... about five or six off the back and in good condition to chase down anyone who tried to break away. At this point, the pack was about 13 deep of fierce competitors left.
that other 5%:
At about two miles or so out from the finish, the pace kinda slowed up with everyone in eager anticipation of a break. Waiting, waiting, waiting... then all of the sudden I hear the clanging of bikes behind me and the next thing I know I'm sprawled out on the ground watching my bike flip down the road in front of me. Whatever had happened, wiped me out from behind... I never saw it coming. I laid on the ground for a few seconds, grasping my head in pain and assessing my body. It appeared as if everything was in working order other than a burning sensation on my shoulders, across my face and on my forearm. I can live with that, I thought. Parts of my kit had sadly designated on the road. Surprisingly enough... unlike motorcyclists clad in leather, the uniforms of bike racers (spandex and lyrcia) have minimal protective qualities when it comes to hitting asphalt even at low to moderate speeds So, I picked myself up... winced, and ran over to my bike to find it pretty much in working order as well, aside from the right handle bar being completely bent in and not shifting. So I quickly put the chain back on... rode a for a minute, attempted to shift, then hopped off the bike to manually move my chain onto the big ring and then time trailed it through the wind all the way to the finish, coming in 8th out of 40 overall.
Apparently, the only people who escaped the entanglement were those front three or four... the rest of us all got ensnared. Overall, the crash took down about 10 of us with the worst injury being a broken pelvis and a broken collar bone. Thankfully, I just have a massive case of road rash across my shoulders, a beautiful strawberry on my shoulder, a sore neck, bruises and lacerations on the left thigh, a sore cheekbone and a nice goose egg on my right shin. I also need to get my bike fixed, mend my kit, and buy some more advil and jack daniels for the soreness that seems to be residing all over my body today.
I guess now that I've reached that elusive mile-stone in everyone's bike racing career called "first race crash" (woo!!! Now where's my where's my cake?!) I'm going to take some time off to get my self repaired as well as everything else. It's hopefully going to be a long season of bike racing lasting all summer long, and hopefully not as eventful as sunday's race.
ps... I hope everybody and their bikes and bodies heal quickly. I look forward to seeing everyone out on the road later this spring.
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