Attleboro Crit Report
 

Cat 3 race. 1 km loop with 4 corners and one slightly uphill bit.

basically I decided to race with no aims at a sprint finish. I was in "breakaway or die" mode as I wanted to put the hurt on myself and not sit in for 50 laps waiting for a pack sprint.
So I covered most attacks, looking to consolidate a break from the gun.

10 laps in I was sitting 3rd wheel in one of many failed breakaways and I was taking a righthander at 30mph. I picked a less than optimal line, i hit a divot in the road, my rear wheel lost contact with the pavement, jumped and skidded too the left. I held the skid for a few miliseconds, then the tubular tire rolled off the rim and I went down fast and hard on my right side.
I stood up, turned sideways as the peloton cruised around me and i then ran to the pit.
I stole the only 9 speed rear wheel and after getting 2 free laps and with bloody hip, elbow and calf, I got pushed back into the mix with 35 laps to go. Thanks Merlin and SRAM!

I continued to race with abandon chasing every attack. With 25 or 30 to go, I bridged up to a solo attack and me and Michael Norton assembled and opened up a 25 second gap which took the peloton about 10-12 laps to close down, and boy was it fun!!

Back in the mix, I took a few laps to recover, and proceeded to try and consolidate another break, knowing it was too late to make it work. I was having fun!

So I had little left in the tank and finished in the back of the pack as the sprint finish ensued.

Fun race and really rewarding even though i finished 28?th.

-L

...road rash aint cool for the first week.

oh yah, my gloves are getting a present. I tore through the palm on one of them, but my hand was fine.

All praise gloves!!!

Hey leo, was this the turn after the downhill?

nope, the last turn before the start/finish line. On the inside there was a nice divot where some road work had been done... looks like a patch job of a past pothole.


-Leo

Sounds like a great race other than rolling the tire. Must have been great fun being off the front all that time. I aspire to be one of "those" guys one day.

+1 million

(Merlin is the man)

Ah that patch was weak, the bump entering the road just after that kind of stunk too... The corner before that had a little chunk of road missing maybe the size of a fist that someone hit and hopped their tire during the Cat5 race, but fortunately didn't wipe everyone out. Have good healing!

Matt

some good photos of the event here:

http://www.millersevents.com/Event/V...yQB5Axpqj1A%3d


http://www.millersevents.com/Event/V...3xfk;plus;4%3d

enjoy!