sometimes your lucky and sometimes... Edgar Soto
 

Wow, probably the best orgranized race I have ever been to, everything started perfectly on time, free water and food everwhere, plenty of john, course officials were awesome. There is not one thing you could say bad about this race, except I did horribly.

Stage 1 TT: Had a mechanical on my way to the starting line (really loose rear hub) missed my start time by 7 minutes. Had a good TT though, by my watch I ran a 17:01, fast time was a 16:09 or something like that, I would have been sitting around 25th in gc and only a minute down.

State 2 circuit race: Feeling good, course suited me, got caught behind the second crash which took out more than half the field. I had one of those split moments where I see one guy laying in the road I look left and right no way to get out so I grab two big handfuls of brake and hold my bars. I think something like 25 guys hit the ground in the wreck. There were like 4 guys in a ditch, plenty with un-ridable wheels and a guy with a broken bike. I get up and my stem is facing the wrong way I pull out my tool and straighten it, I might be able to get back. I start to ride and realize ive got two flats, someone hates me. Sram did neutral support and had zipp 404s for us to ride, ehhh so it wasnt all bad. I do as much work with a few guys trying to get back but end up finishing something like 4 minutes behing the field.

Stage 3 Downtown crit: Legs feel ****ty but a long warm-up cures it, too long. I get to the start with 15 minutes to spare. but every single other cat 4 is already on the line, yeup I'm starting dead f#@king last. I decided to start about 20m back and get a running start through the field, It works well I pass about 30 guys before the first corner. I see some guy taking a drink of of his water bottle hit the curb hard and sprawl over the pavement, I think to my self I wonder if he hit that fire hydrant. I spend the next 15 minutes way above my limit trying to get up to the front. just passing guys on the climb and paying for it on the down hill. around 15 minutes in a gap keeps opening between the guys whos wheel im on and the guy in front of him. I close it but blow up doing so, and get gapped myself, then recover and close it, and blow up and recover and close it. After about 5 times of doing this I think to myself I dont really want to ride my bike anymore and conceed to sit on a chase group that got pulled.

Stage 4 Road race: This stage ended in a 3 mile 6% climb, I was pretty excited about it, it was my kind of race and the weather was nice. The roads and scenery were awesome. I decided well before I got to the race to sit-in until the climb. So I sat in ate and drank water. we get to the descent, and at the first corner a guy over cooks it and rides right into the side of a mountain st 25mph, dust and rock go flying everywhere, I dont think hes going to be racing the rest of the season. I descent is amazing, flowy corners, no traffic, not a spot of gravel pavement is perfect, everyone seemed comfortable doing 45+ close together. I brake a spoke with 10miles to go, ****, I think about a wheel change but decided agaisnt it since my spare wheels are alu and I had carbon pads and the braking sucks, so I open my caliper up and tough it out. We get to the climb and the selection starts. ~30 guys make it to the 5k mark together. 15 of us at 3k. by this point I'm already way past my limit, no attacks for me. at 1k I'm at a sprinting hr keeping in touch with everyone else. I see other people blowup and go backwards. at 500m we look around at each other a the guy wearing yellow starts to give it some more gas. I see myself start to go backwards and stand up to regain some ground, blow up and wave bye bye to the final 7 guys to go up ahead. I cross the line 9th and feel like ****.

I think I ended up in something like 60th on gc, but if I didnt have such bad luck I think I definatly had the form to be in top 10. But honestly there were guys there way too strong to race in the 4 field. anyways great race I encourage anyone here to go race it next year.

You weigh like -5kg, can TT at 27ish mph and still got jacked up on the climb. Damn. :eek:

I predicted it would be hard. I'd love to do this event next year--but I had a blast at the Dragon's Challenge this weekend so it's a toss-up at this point. If DC is an omnium next year I'll likely stay local; otherwise I'm headed to Tennessee. I need to lose about 10 pounds first, though.

--Steve

Yeah, I had climbed with one of the other racers earlier in the year and he dropped me going up a mountain. He also won the TT I knew my chances in the climb were slim.

It was definatly a strong field.

that is some crazy bad luck. At least you arent hurt, had a reasonably good time, and have an event to be hungry for next year.

Is any of your gear damaged bad?

Climbing wheels have seen much better days after the crash, some granly paint and scraps traded on the frame. My left leg is entirely bruised from my heel to my hip, and I cant bend my left arm correctly(I fell straight on my left side onto another guys bike).

But I mean crashing happens and I did have a good time, yeah hopefully I will race the 3s next season. I think a couple of the guys who raced raced the 4s last season and did well then too.

As Snuff can attest, bad things happen (especially to carbon, eh?). Sounds like you could have had a great result were it not for all that. I really wanted to do Soto this year, but ended up staying here and doing Dragon's Challenge too. Congrats on getting out there and enjoying it for us- your writeup has pretty well made up my mind to do Soto next year.

If you don't mind me asking, can you ballpark how much it would cost to go out there and do the race? I don't know anyone in TN, so I would have to do a hotel, which was another factor in deciding not to go out there.

The trip was definatly expensive, I stayed cheap, stayed in a hostel (bunk rooms) two nights and my car once. between gas, eating (I ate some expensive meals and [as a steak dinner and a beer cheers me up from a bad race]), I probably spent $120 plus gas and registration. I know some people stayed in a hotel for 3 nights for just $100.

I think I wouldnt mind doing the camping thing next season.

That's not that bad! Camping, assuming halfway decent weather, would actually be a lot of fun. Thanks. Also, I meant to PM you with the Ace Speedway information. I got the flyer from Chips yesterday, and it has a URL on it that I posted in the following thread:
Here
However, the flyer itself hasn't been posted to that website yet. It should be up soon.

Thanks man, ill see you out at ace.

Yeah I'm probably going to camp out for french broad.

Nice. I have friends in Asheville, so I'll hopefully stay with them.

But but but.... I was looking for you on the podium... with the CAT 4s around here being slow and all.


(gotta admit you were asking for this post)

Ouch. I was reminded of that as I read through the other Soto post... there's always next year, right, recneps?

Yeah, oh well.

Hey didn't you finish in absolute last place in GC? I mean last like everyone beat you.

Yep.... DFL.... But I never stated that you would see me on the podium (or anywhere else for that matter) :D . I made it through the weekend and didnt quit like 30+ other CAT 4s so I really didnt come in last at all. Seeing that last year at this time I was 40 pounds heavier and 10+ years removed from bike racing (or doing any activity besides being lazy) its ok. This year is just for me to get back into shape. With only 5 months of bike training ill have a lot of DFL placements this year no doubt.

So far this year I raced Brookhaven as a 3..... DFL and pulled, Nashville crit as a 4 and was in the middle of the pack with 1 1/2 to go (till the wreck)... finished in the middle, and now finished the Soto albeit in last place I didnt quit and used it as training.

Several local guys here raced and placed much higher than me. I train with these guys and feel that my ability is equal to them.... it didnt show this week and thats ok.

Think I should just throw in the towel in quit? I mean since I came in dead last thats embarassing and all. Maybe I should go back to sitting on the couch.

Sounds like recneps was racing next to me all weekend. :)

I hope everyone that made it out this year will be able to come back next year. We will try to improve from year to year. Last year (the first year of the Soto) we had 300 racers, this year there were 540, and next year we hope to have our number up even more.

What impressed me the most about the event:
1. The results were posted every day about 10 minutes after the finish. The guy who does the timing for Fitchburg was in charge of timing and I think he was absolutely top notch.
2. The crit in downtown Nashville was a really cool scene. Great for racers, spectators, and just about everyone who went enjoyed the event being downtown.
3. The race volunteers and everyone working the event did a great job. Food and water for all the racers after the events and everyone seemed to go out of their way to make sure the cyclists were extremely comfortable and enjoyed their time at the event.
4. Meeting cyclists from all over the country and everyone seemed to really enjoy the event. I always enjoy meeting people from all over and hearing what the cycling scene is like in their city and state.

These are just a few of the things I thought were great about the Edgar Soto. I hope to see you all there next year.