echappist

hills. that's the natural place where you don't have to be nearly as explosive as you are on flat ground

mattm

Sequim #2 RR, 72 miles. Raced hard, brought back 3-4 breaks, but had no gas left after so many attacks. Came otb in the last 3k, rolled it in for 49th or so probably.. good training!


Rx, sorry to hear about getting banged up!

Racer Ex 

So, after I hit the deck my friend who was riding the moto for our race stopped to see how I was (other than covered in dirt and mud).

Moto: You OK?

Me: Not sure (Idiocracy fans know this line)

Moto: You need medical?

Me: No. Arrrrrg! Yeah. Naw. Owwwwww. Yeah.

He couldn't get anyone on the radio, support had come by and got my front wheel turning so I said the heck with it and rode the half mile back to my car.

Had a teammate drive me to the hospital after I nearly passed out trying to pee when we got back to my house; spent a good 5 minutes trying not to be found on the bathroom floor and another 10 on my bed trying not to puke.

Xray tech: Did you every have a back injury?

Me: Well, I broke an L4.

Xray tech: Yeah, that one looks really bad. The new one isn't much better.

Me: New one?

Xray tech: Well, ones actually. Wanna see?

Me: Sure.

Fractured my L1, broke the transverse on the L2 and L3. With the old L4 all I needed was an L5 to get a free CT scan.

I'm working on a 5:1 Motrin/Malbec ratio. Even without that I really do appreciate the thoughts and concerns.

Crash716

F, THAT SUCKS… I am sorry man, you've been doing well so far this season, it's been great watching you race.

Heal up man, I know you live north but if there is anything you need I am down in SD so let me know, Please…food, whatever...

jaredcasper

Crockett Road Race (UC Berkeley RR) - Collegiate Mens D - 4th

Course is a 10 mile loop consisting of a small shallow hill, straight fast downhill, some rollers, a 1 mile steep climb (McEwen Rd.), short downhill, and a slight uphill to the finish. The whole race is basically McEwen Rd. Stats vary depending on who you talk to and what device they have, but it's somewhere around a half mile averaging 12-15% with pitches close to 20%, followed by a half mile around 6-10%. Mens D only did two laps for a short 20 mile race.

Started with 30-40 riders and things were pretty mild the first lap with one small scare on the one sweeping right turn on the descent. It had been raining and there was a wide very shallow stream of water. The guy to my inside decided he was going to stop turning and go straight through it, people on the outside (me) be damned. He forced me over the center line and, a little off balance, I hit a Botts' dot and started wobbling (we were going about 32mph). I grabbed the top tube with my knees (learned that one here on BF) and regained control, heart racing.

No more excitement until McEwen where I made the selection of about 8-9 riders, with one off the front. We kept the pace pretty high trying to catch the flyer on the second lap and were within 15 seconds when we hit McEwen again where he rode off to win (the kid couldn't have weighed more than a buck twenty). By the top of McEwen the second time we were down to 5, one guy crossed wheels at the top and went down right in front me, almost went down myself and had to ride over his rear wheel to stay up. And then there were 4.

In the lead up to the finish there was an attack that I didn't have the legs to follow, thankfully I wasn't the last wheel and the fourth pulled around. He got us about half way back and I had to close the remaining 30 meters, but that left me totally spent with only a few hundred meters remaining. I rode wheels to the finish, unable to pull around, and got 3rd in our group, 4th overall. I'm thinking it might be time to upgrade to the Cs.

Strava link

agoodale

@Racer Ex - Thoughts headed your way...

Rough day out there apparently. Just got off facebook and U.M.D. is also in the ICU @ USC with a few broken vertebrae.

danahs

horrible! I hope you heal quickly

Cleave

Good Lord! Racer Ex and u.m.d. (interesting, his preferred spelling is banned)? I was at home listening to and watching the rain pouring down and the wind howling and I thought that maybe they'd delay the start of the races. Really sorry to hear about all of the carnage. I was supposed to be up north this weekend but that got canceled at the last moment. If I didn't have those plans I would have done San Dimas. Now I'm really glad that I didn't enter though given my lack HTFU ability I probably would have had a DNS for today's stage.

gsteinb

crap. ban someone. it'll help with the pain.

crapweasel

First two laps of my race were great training. Third lap was an exercise in frustration. I didn't do the fourth lap. Not interested in sprinting for 0 points when a 10 man break is up the road and the pack is just fine with it.

learnmedia

Racer Ex, that's awful. Wishing you a speedy recovery. bless.

Forza

Was a great race. You should have stuck it out. Yes, we protected the break (4 solid teams represented in the break), but...we didn't pull back the pace that much and didn't block, + we all worked. Two guys in the break popped..and there were points available for the winner of the field sprint...I was almost expecting a second break to form from the remaining Peloton.

It was a rare team tactic race in that cat...It was a fast race, with a safe and fun sprint...everybody stayed upright. It would have been extra "good experience".

Expect more of this the rest of the year, teams are actually running as "teams".

Forza

Racer Ex...

Sorry to hear that...Heal up!

crapweasel

Yeah, I wasn't blaming you guys for not working. It's just frustrating to try to do some work and then having either Audi, Starbucks, or CycleU on my wheel and not pull through. Such is racing, though. The pace *was* pulled back a ton without the few strong teams working - the break got a minute and a half in one lap! Three minutes by the finish. The teams with 1 or 2 riders each just couldn't get things going.

The pack sprint was for 10th, according to the results. No points.

And I wouldn't say it was rare. Eatonville was the same way. It'll be a lot more of the same since the people with points aren't upgrading so they can help their teammates.

rkwaki

Damn Ex feel terrible for you. Take it easy and get fixed up.

Forza

That's just part of the game. What I meant by rare is that the lower cats are generally accused of not being organized.

The one thing is that yesterday, we were ALL talking and had situational awareness...we all knew who was in the break; even the smaller teams in the field yesterday who had a guy up front..like Stanley. I'll own up and say I controlled the pace of the peloton at times and was then countered, but that was only after I rolled right through and the Fisher and Oly guys...These were also the guys who countered and tried to band together. We never/ever blocked, and that OTB guy gets the award for being the guy most relentlessly trying to bridge..nobody would work with him. It's more of a case of the other teams being content with hitching a ride and finishing.

And there were points available...the number 10 spot was the field sprint winner (From S-Bux).

gsteinb

Here's one for R Ex

crapweasel

Right. 10th doesn't give points, though.

kleinboogie

High winds here in San Diego so I imagine San Dimas is the same. Going to be another tough day. GL to them all.

caloso

Raced three times this weekend. 14th and 11th in the M45 and E3 crits, respectively. Somewhere in the teens in the Bariani RR E3. Wasn't great, wasn't terrible, didn't crash or get dropped, so that's improvement on the last few times I've done this race.

waterrockets 

damn. I haven't read all the way up there, but sounds like this might have hurt in many ways. Congrats!

mollusk

RacerEx-

Wow. It sounds like a worst-case scenario. That is messed up. Heal up.

ruskko

did my first crit today took 22nd out of 30 something guys and helped a little kid finish by pulling him up

Homebrew01

REx, really sorry to hear the bad news .... I hope things turn out better than expected.
Bad crash at Bethel today too from what I hear. Be careful guys.

TMonk

+1 to all of the "heal up" comments for RX. late to the news here.