JonRags

Tonight was my first race since 1990. Felt great to be out there again, this time just a lot older and a little wiser. I ran the Cat 4/5 category at the weekly OBRA race at PIR in Portland, Oregon. Here's my report:
Had my race tonight. Was doing really well, much better than I thought I was. On the 2nd lap I was sitting in 4th or 5th. On the 3rd lap I was sitting in about 10th or so and a big wreck in front of me. I have no clue how but one guys bike hit me in the left shoulder and another bike's wheel hit me on the right side of my head (without the bike, I have no f*#king clue how it came off the bike). That killed the race for me as far as keeping with the pack. I finished the race which was my main goal, but after the wreck I couldn't keep up with the main pack. There were 3 people in front of me and I caught one of the guys on the next lap and then the following lap I caught the next two guys and rode the rest of the race with them. I finished about 30 seconds behind the main pack I would guess about 30 seconds. It was a 12 mile race and I finished it in 28 minutes. So not a bad time for somebody as out of race shape as I am.

slim_77

glad it wasn't someone's leg or severed foot that hit you in the head...when those pop off and go flying, then they start asking some serious questions...

Welcome back!

zimbo

Yeah, that's the kind of "breakaway" I'm not particularly interested in being in.

--Steve

tofu

That was my wheel! Somehow while I was going endo in the mess of bikes my derailleur hanger snapped off my frame and since the rear weel clamps the derailleur hanger I guess it shot loose once the hanger broke off. Someone swept in front of me and took out my front wheel causing me to fall sharply left then go endo. I don't know what whoever jumped out of the line on my right was thinking. I ended up carrying the pieces of my bike off the coarse with a few others guys. I am not happy.

Anyone want to join me at the front of the next race for a 20K team time trial effort so we don't have to deal with this anymore...

JonRags

At least you are OK......but still the whole thing was crappy. There was plenty of room for people to move around.

tofu

Did you see how it unfolded? All I know is was that I was leading a line up near the front and a couple guys were trying to squeeze through on my right and that was about the last thing I remember as the next thing I know I was fighting trying not to go down too sharply and ended up going over the handlebars.

JonRags

What I saw was people trying to get into position for the hot lap. I think some bars got hooked, but I could be wrong. Then my brain was focused on not hitting anybody. I might have brush a shoulder with somebody after that, but I think they were standing up by then.

Dabbo

I am glad you guys are doing well, sorry to hear about the crash. I heard it in the back as we were finishing the turn.
When I saw how the group was slowing down for a prime sprint I felt it was safer to be up front so I sprinted in the middle of the lap and got myself in a safe zone.
They normally don't do primes on a 6 laps race of 5's, this is why.
Even the finish sprint was all grouped up and going slow till the end, so I tried my luck at going early.
Hope to see you guys out there again, it gets much easier with the experience and the same is for the rest of the group.
Ciao
Paolo

JonRags

I'll be back out there. If not next week, the week after.

tofu

It seemed like the pace of the race was really slow in general. I bet a good time trial effort would be enough to just ride off the front of most of the pack. Everyone seemed really jumpy when people started sprinting but I bet that most of the field would not want to do 26-28 mph for the whole race.

I have a season pass so I will be out there every tuesday, maybe doing both the 4/5 and the 3/4. I may use my trainer bike though for the 4/5 races from now on though...

merlinextraligh

Have you done many 4/5 races? Almost as certain as death and taxes is that a Cat 5 pack will not let any move get away. The most futile breaks are always instantly covered. So while the race may have been slow, any attack would almost certainly have been countered. Your TT strategy would just end up with you towing the pack.

It's vanishingly rare to see sucessful breaks in a Cat 5 crit. And when it happens its usually because there's one guy who is just a heck of a lot faster and is going to be a Cat 2 by the end of the season.

JonRags

Yeah, I had visions of trying to vie for the hot lap. I think next time I will try and make it to a corner or two before I work my way to the outside.