Race Report #12

Number of crashes in my race………………………......……. A lot
Number of seconds before the first crash………………… 15-20
Number of flat tires last week……………………………......... 4
Number of broken spokes last week…………….....………… 1
Number of buckled rims…………………….……….........…….. 1
Number of new holes in my flesh………………….......……… 5
Number of times laws of physics were broken…..……….. 1

It was a bit of a crumby week as far as cycling was concerned. As noted above I had four flat tires a broken spoke and a buckled rim. Normally that many flats would indicate that I had done a few bad patch jobs, or hadn’t found the splinter of glass that was causing the punctures. This time the four flats and the broken spoke occurred on four different wheels. I am starting to suspect that my bikes have unionized and are going on strike.

Whatever

There was one race this weekend and one day of nice weather. The two did not coincide. Saturday it rained most of the day over most of Seattle, but when I arrived in Ballard at the site of the race (shortly after getting flat tire number 3 for the week) the course was mostly dry and while the sky was overcast nothing was coming down. Following the advice of nearly everyone I spoke to, I waited until the last minute to register for the race. I’ve been told that there are only two races in the area that shouldn’t be done in the rain, Ballard is one of them. The reason being that while it isn’t a terribly technical course, just a standard four corner crit two blocks long by one block wide, there are a few sections of brick that are super slick when wet. The deadline for registering was fifteen minutes before the race.

Five minutes before the race it began to rain and I could swear the clouds were laughing at us. The race started and sure enough, first corner first lap two riders in front of me there was a crash. My team captain was one rider in front of me and he went down, cursing the whole way. I managed to avoid that crash and caught back onto the retreating pack. Next time I wasn’t so lucky. We were maybe twenty minutes into the race and an attack went off the front. I followed but he went into the corner a little too hot and down he went. It was either hit him and then crash or just crash and skip hitting him, I went with the latter, grabbed the bike and headed for the wheel pit. Overall not too bad a wreck; road rash on my left hand, shoulder, hip, thigh and ankle. Unfortunately for those of us in the crash they placed us back in the pack rather than with the breakaway which is where we had been. The remainder of the race is largely a blur. I was nervous about going through the corners with any real speed so I got gapped coming out of every corner and had to chase back on over the flats. Nearing the end of the race I noticed that I was the only guy on my team left in the race (six others started) and that the rest of the field had suffered a similar attrition. Finally we were down to five laps to go meaning that the wheel pit was closed and the free lap rule was no longer in effect. With three and three quarters laps to go I was going around turn two when suddenly my rear tire was sliding out from underneath me and I heard metal grinding on concrete. I don’t know how a flatted in the first place, but even more mysterious I can’t possibly comprehend how I didn’t fall. I think that the race gods showed mercy on me suspended the laws of physics and allowed me to walk my bike to the finish line to watch the sprint. The guy behind me wasn’t so lucky. He saw me start to slide, locked up his breaks, and went down with a thunk sliding off the road and over some train tracks.

Despite the fact that I wasn’t able to finish for obvious reasons, I don’t feel too bad about the race. I was far from comfortable with the race but I felt a little more so than I did at the last rainy crit I was in.

On a side note I heard a funny story from one of my teammates at a BBQ last night. He was talking with a couple of the top riders from two of the other local teams and they wanted to know where I came from. The cycling world is pretty small when it comes down to it and they were wondering how I could just appear like they seem to think that I have, so they Googled me. All that turned up was some collegiate C and B race results and some rowing results. Neither of which really is an explanation for being just nine points shy of becoming a cat one racer after so short a time. The point of the story is that I am apparently gaining a bit of notoriety in the local cycling circle. It does the ego good to know that I’m getting noticed, even if it is for being a freak-show.