Hooray! The 2010 road race season finally arrived and I was eager to get back into the peloton. And, with eight SCCA/Starbucks teammates joining me in the Cat 4 field, it was also exciting to think about how I could help contribute to team success.
I raced Mason Lake twice last year as a Cat 5 and had modest results considering they were my debut races. The Cat 4 field takes an additional loop around the mostly-flat and sometimes narrow 12 mile circuit. So, we'd be racing for around 48 miles. The weather prognosticators called for rain only coming later in the day, and the prediction held up. We had dry roads and high 40's to play in, which is soooo much better than Mason Lake #2 last year (my first ever road race) which was rainy and mid 30's.
Despite the TT yesterday, I arrived with good legs and energy reserves. I didn't really put any of it on display during the first three laps. Instead, I worked on a new skill for me, which was to move with teammates within the pack. While racing last year, I floated around within the pack looking out for myself. Now, I wanted to be able to keep with teammates and eventually help them move through the pack. This turned out to be good practice for me, but it also kept me firmly sheltered in the front third to front half of the pack. With this conservative strategy, I found myself feeling pretty refreshed as we began the fourth and final lap. I hadn't done anything to help the team cause yet, and maybe I could now.
Trying to keep on Bill's wheel
http://kirafoto.zenfolio.com/p591090477/h3ab699f2#h3ab699f2
For me, this 4th turn through the circuit will be far more memorable than the combined first three laps were forgettable. As the weather system approached, the pack was hit with strong wind as we headed south. This section began with a small rise that is easily summitted. For some reason, one rider drifted to the right and the reaction from adjacent riders forced myself and another rider off the asphalt and onto an adjacent wide section of hard packed gravel. Everyone stayed up. I had sufficient speed going at the time and was able to stay upright through the gravel and work back into the fold, but lost a few positions. It was a little spooky, but I took it in stride...er...pedal revolution.
With the strong headwind, the pack compacted a bit. I had a growing and sinking feeling that my gravel encounter caused a rear tire puncture as the wheel felt a bit squirmy and squishy. After a mile or so of racing didn't reveal an obvious flat, I decided I was going to ride it out as long as it wasn't affecting my ability to stay in the pack. Perhaps it was hypochondriasis, but more likely the wind gusts may have contributed to the sensation. Regardless, as each mile ensued with the tire remaining intact I rolled on with the bunch and put that worry in the back of my thoughts.
We now made the right hand turn to descend towards the west side of the lake with about 5 miles to go in the race. I felt like my chance was coming up on some rollers where I could perhaps gain some spots and in the best case make something happen. "Frisky" was what I replied to a teammate when asking about my feelings at the time. Before we could get very far, the lead car slowed us and shouts all around confirmed that our race was being neutralized. The cause was soon apparent as an aid car and another vehicle overtook our slowed peloton on the left. It's one of those thoughts that you try not to worry about: someone else's day ended horribly on the road ahead.
When the vehicles passed, we didn't resume to full racing. We were kept neutral until we passed the accident scene itself. I avoided the rubberneck urge, but felt bad for the guy. Remaining "neutral" is ostensibly a gentleman's agreement as there is nobody to enforce the relative position of riders until racing resumes. Regardless, the lengthy neutral period gave a recovery opportunity for more riders to feel "frisky". So, the rollers that came up were not going to be a differentiator for me, as most others felt the same way.
The next moment I will never be able to reconstruct completely or accurately. In some respects that it unfortunate, as it was my maiden voyage to tarmac during a bike race. In the midst of the "frisky" charge toward the finish, with about 1.5 miles to go, my recollection is that two riders immediately in front of me began leaning into each other. At least one went down. My front wheel was now aimed at a bike whose wheels straddled my exit path and was skidding forward along the road. It was clear that I was going to go down. Unlike what I would have expected, time didn't stand still and I don't remember panicking. Flash forward a few milliseconds and I am now on top of this sliding bike obstacle, but I don't remember if I was clipped into my own bike or not. I can best describe the next second or two as "surfing" on top of this bike, fortuitously avoiding lots of potential road rash. All around me was the grizzly sound of other bike carnage.
I came to a stop in the road, completely oozing with adrenaline. The other crash victims were in a similar state, some choosing to release their adrenaline overload with profanity. My outlet was a very unsportsmanlike desire to extricate my bike from the heap and solider on. I wish I could say I was courteous enough to make sure everyone was alright, but "frisky" definitely took over. My very superficial body and bike checkout passed (not that it wouldn't even if things turned out worse) and I jumped on board. Both wheels had a very slight wobble and I opened up the brake calipers en route to keep racing. The rear wheel spoke magnet was turned from the crash and it kept hitting the pick-up sensor with each revolution. That adjustment would have to wait. I surged forward with a time trial effort and picked up a couple places from people who were involved or slowed by the crash. My click-click-click announced my arrival to each racer, but their cooler heads basically said "what the heck are you doing, dude?" and they let me go on with my futile effort.
I drove hard all the way to the line for a solo, anonymous finish. To the spectators at the finish line, unaware of the crash, I felt like I wanted to share why I was working hard for no apparent reason. My heart rate and effort was certainly not commensurate for the 34th place I scored on the day.
As the adrenaline slowly subsided after the race, I shared in the glory of teammates who got 3rd and 4th even though I didn't contribute at all to their success. Later I took a little more inventory of my crash aftermath. Both wheels were indeed out of true, but not unrecoverably so. That that was the biggest problem was indeed fortunate. I had ultimately landed on my knees, but didn't get any road rash. I had a couple of very superficial leg scrapes from impacting unidentified bike parts. Same was true for the left chainstay of my bike. Nothing insurmountable at all. If I had to crash, this was the way to do it.
Results:
http://gcracingllc.com/Documents/2010-MASON-LAKE-1.pdf
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment