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06-18-07, 10:23 AM
So I finished up my 5 weeks of work at a law firm in D.C. on Saturday, and planned on renting a car and driving my stuff back to NYC on Sunday. I figured, what could be a better pit stop than a quick, 20 mile race in Lancaster, PA? Quick indeed. My girlfriend and biggest fan took the train from NYC to watch, so I picked her up at the train station, we made a quick Costco run (gotta love the bulk buying with a rental car) and then headed over to the race site. They were running behind, so I had quite a bit of time to warm up, my legs felt great. I had to take 2 days off the bike because work was crazy, so I was nice and rested.
The course was a mile long, closed-off loop in an office park. Good pavement, wide lanes, and a decent but not huge hill leading up to the start-finish, preceded by one of the two 90 degree left-hand turns on the course. They called the 4,5 men to the line and we were told that there were 49 of us starting. As in warm-up, my legs felt really good, despite my heart rate skyrocketing like it usually does in a race (I was at 185, about 90% of my MHR, but felt like I was on a Sunday stroll). I took advantage of the hill on the first two laps to slowly work my way towards the front. At the end of lap 2 I found myself around 10th wheel, and was feeling so good I started to plan an attack on either the next lap or the lap after. The next time around we went around the left turn to start the hill, I decided I would just maintain position and wait for someone to make a move and then maybe bridge (I didn't have a team, so couldn't count on people blocking if I went solo). About halfway up the hill I get blindsided from my right, guy hits me HARD. I plow into the rider on my left, we both go down. I remember falling to the ground and then seeing the guy behind my go over my bike. I came away relatively unscathed, a bit of road rash on my left elbow, but I had broken a spoke on my front wheel and it was too warped to spin without seriously rubbing against the front brake. The other riders seemed okay and both took their free lap and got back into the race. Unfortunately, I didn't have my spare wheels with me, so I had to abandon. The funniest part was that my girlfriend kept trying to figure out who crashed me, I think she would have definitely fought him.
I later discovered a patch of road rash on my left shoulder, but no other injuries. All things considered it could have gone much worse, but of course this happens on a day when I thought I had the legs. I didn't much feel like watching the remainder of the race, so we just drove home.
I should say thank you to all the D.C. BF'ers I met either on the group ride or at the Greenbelt races, you helped me really enjoy my riding experience in D.C., which will be key when I'm deciding whether to move there next year.
The course was a mile long, closed-off loop in an office park. Good pavement, wide lanes, and a decent but not huge hill leading up to the start-finish, preceded by one of the two 90 degree left-hand turns on the course. They called the 4,5 men to the line and we were told that there were 49 of us starting. As in warm-up, my legs felt really good, despite my heart rate skyrocketing like it usually does in a race (I was at 185, about 90% of my MHR, but felt like I was on a Sunday stroll). I took advantage of the hill on the first two laps to slowly work my way towards the front. At the end of lap 2 I found myself around 10th wheel, and was feeling so good I started to plan an attack on either the next lap or the lap after. The next time around we went around the left turn to start the hill, I decided I would just maintain position and wait for someone to make a move and then maybe bridge (I didn't have a team, so couldn't count on people blocking if I went solo). About halfway up the hill I get blindsided from my right, guy hits me HARD. I plow into the rider on my left, we both go down. I remember falling to the ground and then seeing the guy behind my go over my bike. I came away relatively unscathed, a bit of road rash on my left elbow, but I had broken a spoke on my front wheel and it was too warped to spin without seriously rubbing against the front brake. The other riders seemed okay and both took their free lap and got back into the race. Unfortunately, I didn't have my spare wheels with me, so I had to abandon. The funniest part was that my girlfriend kept trying to figure out who crashed me, I think she would have definitely fought him.
I later discovered a patch of road rash on my left shoulder, but no other injuries. All things considered it could have gone much worse, but of course this happens on a day when I thought I had the legs. I didn't much feel like watching the remainder of the race, so we just drove home.
I should say thank you to all the D.C. BF'ers I met either on the group ride or at the Greenbelt races, you helped me really enjoy my riding experience in D.C., which will be key when I'm deciding whether to move there next year.