It was bound to happen...

Hi All. Well as the title states, it was bound to happen, crashing that is. Woke up early Saturday morning, 5am, and was on the road to Murrieta by 6. Our race time was 8:50am, and we had a great turn out for the two-day stage race, about nine or ten of us in both events. The plan was for another teammate and I to try and get some attacks in and just see what happens since we didn't have our sprinters with us. The whistle was blown, and off we went. I was curious to see how the legs were going to handle the first crit of the season. As expected the first ten minutes hurt a lot.

I never start out strong right out of the gate. The pace seemed extremely high and never let up. About fifteen minutes in to the race me legs began to finally settle in and at that point I knew finishing wasn't going to be a problem, but the high pace never ceased which never allowed me to get up front, let alone, attack. As usual there was a crash entering turn two, which ended up being the sketchiest turn on the course. The crash took place in front of me, but I was able to get around. Disaster adverted. At least for a few minutes.

After exiting turn four (the final turn before the start/finish line), the road went from two lanes to four, but then was reduced to three lanes because of the race announcer's booth and the cones in front of it. A couple of times I used this opportunity to stay wide on the outside and pick up a few spots, but then found myself battling to get back in the pack before I reached the cones. After doing this two times, I decided this wasn't smart and stayed in the pack through the coned section.

A couple of laps later, there I was, sitting in the middle of the pack as we entered that section. The next thing I knew I see a cone flying through the air, followed by that terrible metallic crunching and people screaming. I saw the crash taking place to the right of me, and watched it domino its way to the right towards me. I cut hard right bumping the rider next to me hard, but was unable to get around the rider who went down in front of me. Lock em up, and over I go! At that point, all I could think about was trying to save my new frame. I held fast to the bars, tucked left and hit the pavement. I ended up laying on my back, with my bike above me. From there my next thought was more bikes heading my way! I curled up and waited. Nothing. I looked up and saw the race had gotten around us. Here come the people to grab our bikes and us off the road.

Ended up with some minor scrapes on my hip, shoulder, and leg, but a pretty deep cut which bled profusely on my pinky finger. Courtesy of someone's sprocket! Needless to say, nothing broken, and was even able to get out today on the bike for 90 minutes pain free (yes, I skipped the final stage of the Tour of Murrieta)! What did I take away from this incident you ask? NO MORE CRITS!!! I said I wasn't racing them anymore, but didn't follow through on that, and look where it got me. The risk/reward just isn't great enough. I really don't enjoy them, hell even if I won, it would pale in comparison to winning a road race, time trial, or hill climb. Those are my passion, and honestly the only types of racing I have a chance of winning. Be safe out there you all:) Until next time...