andrace

I found out later that I missed out on a crash in the front of the pack. In fact, it seemed like there was a crash in every race..

You do 5B? I came down sick the last two days with fever and sinus issues but the power was there and still managed to make the roughly 15 person group on the climb. We were moving fast on the run in after the climb, I was 53-11 when someone crossed wheels ahead and I went over the handlebars with them just shy of 30mph. I heard there was another crash behind us and another with that same front group on the run into the finish. That road is really narrow and makes for dangerous racing.

Handelfan

Yeah I was in 5B. It seemed a lot of the crashes were on the run-in to the finish. Maybe being off the back was good! Ha!

Any injuries or bike damage andrace?

tribulbous

Yes, that did help!

andrace

Nothing broken thankfully, or at least I think. I flipped and landed left upper glute ,and moving around is painful. First pain I noticed was right hamstring, and to lesser extent quad. My whole back is missing skin, and all the other usual bits that made contact. Helmet is destroyed, and I'm more worried about my wrist, still sensitive from the right hook a car gave me. Bike needed new bartape and cables as they wore through.

Sometimes being off the back is the safest place to be. with how narrow and tight todays racing was, it wasn't a bad place to be.

bostongarden

Handelfan -- being licensed has its privileges. Congrats on first race. That side of the road start sounds strange unless it was a staging area while another race was on the course.

kensuf

deland cat3 crit. team captain asked me to start stringing it out with 3 to go, so I did. I rolled in 20th.

jmechy

umd asked me to post this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQuHjbvzvFU
Fortunately, we both somehow survived this wreck.

danahs

pck cat4 = I did a 25mile solo breakaway. Attacked 2 miles in, got over a minute gap at the turn around and was caught just before the climb back. Tried to attack again but only lasted about 20seconds this time. Finished 26th due to narrow road even though I felt that I had a bit left at the end.

worst course EVER.

echappist

Damn, that looked sketchy as hell. Good to hear the two of you are unscathed
Well done. Looking at the video footage, that course seem to ask for disaster at the end with just one lane open. Note to self: never enter races like that unless i break away

Cleave

Hi,

Fortunately(?) I was in no condition to hang with the monsters who are at the top of the Masters 45+ race. I was OTB like a boulder at the short, steep ramp near the top of the first climb. It was very lonely out there as I passed a couple of Cat 4 "dropees."

Heading back towards the start/finish, the Cat 5C pack passed me on the false flat approaching the backside of the climb. I hung off the back for a bit and it was somewhat concerning watching some of their bike handling skills. They rolled away from me on the descent and when I was approaching the line all I could see was people and cars!

Two guys were laying on the ground and neither were looking too well.

I did the turnaround and headed back out for my second lap. I am pretty sure that I was DFL so a couple miles before the turnaround when I saw my teammate who had also been dropped, I turned to head back with him. Since he is also a certified USAC official, he wouldn't draft off of me but he did appreciate the company.

My low back kind of exploded near the top of the climb and I was not in any frame of mind to deal with that pain by trying to get in the drops on the descent so I rolled in and told the officials that I had cut the lap short so they wouldn't score me.

Heard a few more crash stories in the finish area.

Personally, a downhill finish on a narrow, single traffic lane is kind of begging for trouble. Hope that those who hit the deck recover well. Especially sorry to hear about Colin Berry going down as he is a great kid.

mattm

Did it pay off?

mollusk

Today's race was supposed to start at 7:30. At 7:30 it was about 43 F (I can deal with that) in pea soup thick fog (no way I'd race in that). This race is on a unclosed road course (7.1 miles per lap), so it was a "no go" until the fog burned off enough to see a bit. We finally got off an hour later. I had stone cold legs and the pace was blistering from the gun. I got behind some riders popping right away and had to bridge about 100m to get to the back of the lead group that was just hammering. It was all strung out so there was no moving up and gaps were forming all over the back of the group. Eventually I ran out of matches doing minisprints to latch back on. Settled for playing in the chase group, if you could call it that. No chance of catching up today. Just played around, covered any breaks going up the road for practise, got to the front and upped the pace a few times, one time actually got a few of us to rotate for a awhile, was on the front for a couple of miles on the last lap going slower and slower and slower (too many Cavendish wannabes, I guess), and eventually rolled across the finish line at the back of the group. No sense in taking risks with no reward.

save10

Central Coast Circuit #1
Monterrey, CA
Cat 4
Result = crash

Raining. 1st lap. Moving up on outside before the quick descent. Some genius ran out of gas on the right hand corner and blocked half the road with his beat up RV. No warning. Had enough time to slam on the breaks, lock the wheels and have the bike slide out from under me. Either that or T-bone the RV. Damage - two broken spokes, bar tape, broken buckle on my shoes, typical road rash and a pulled hammy. Disappointed because I had really really good form. Maybe as good as the end of last season. I was refunded the entry fees for the other races of the day.

echappist

Damn, that's the worst type of crash... Get well soon

Were there no marshals there to make sure the road is clear?

johnybutts

Sounds pretty ******. Keep it up!

mollusk

It is better to have raced and lost, than to never have raced at all.

Well done.

kensuf

the guy leading out the sprinter tripped and fell about 400 yards from the line, taking out a few people with him. sprinter still managed 5th, but overall I'd say probably not.

kensuf

Deland RR, 35+. I missed the winning break, created the chase group that could never get organized enough to actually chase, and with 3 laps to go broke away from the chase group with two other guys, coming in a dismal 11th overall and 1st from the chase group.

kleinboogie

Did my first club race today (SDBC). I had a lot of fun and learned several things, my main goal, and popped 1/2 way through. Specs are I'm 45yo, 6'2", 208lbs, not much training lately, did a fairly hard (but short) ride yesterday. Lessons have been described here many times but here's mine.

1. Don't overdue it the day before. It was only 35 miles but it was my first club ride so I didn't know the route and it contained a few unexpected hill sprints, which I went all out on, and my calfs weren't 100% the next day.

2. Don't chow down on Mexican food the day before. Moderation.

3. Don't get out of the pack unless I'm moving up. I'd end up on the outside and the wind was a killer. Saps much energy. The exception to this was after the only descent and it started a gentle rise, the pack would slow a lot. Me being in the pack it forced me to lay up when my momentum could have carried me forward several places and had I actually pedaled hard I could have moved me up more spots. Then after the main pitch-up the group accelerated which is exactly what I didn't want to do. Essentially I did the opposite which neutralized my strength (power and bigness) and amplified my weakness (climbing).

4. Don't expect to do well in a free-for-all. Good group but the whole club and others were invited. I got the feeling that they were mostly racers already. A cursory look around showed a couple guys older than me. The rest were younger and a lot fitter. There's a reason they have age groups at races.

5. Don't need 2 bottles for a 1 hour + 5 lap in cool weather.

6. Lose weight, get in the gym (garage) and get back to intervals.

7. X number of riders situational awareness sucks. Several riders cut over with no warning and would have clipped my wheel if I didn't back off. I saw quite a few others. Luckily no crashes. I'm sure this will get better with experience, being in the right place in the first place and marking the riders who are undecided about what line they want.

8. It's a long season.

9. Try, try again.

10. Remember to hit start on the 705.

Corrections appreciated. Cheers.

p.s. Here's a pic.

Handelfan

Besides the narrow and fast finish, were there other things you didn't like about it? I can't say I was terribly fond of climbing right at the beginning of the race, or starting out of the dirt.

So if I read some of the other comments right, the "bad" crash was in the 5C's?

johnybutts

Sounds like a good experience! Keep it up!

danahs

i didn't even notice that there was a first climb so that was a non issue for me.

-after I was integrated back into the pack, a car tried to pass us and didn't realize there was on coming traffic and ended up going into the ditch instead of taking everyone out

-lots of holes in the road

-would be nice if the climb back was twice as long or had more rollers to get rid of more riders earlier

-nearly impossible to get out of sight of the pack as there is a lot of open road.

I think the race would be a lot more interesting with 2+ laps just to thin out everyone and make it more safe at the end.

Jancouver

Hey, I was there too

1. Dont overdo it the day before .... Did close to 5h and 340SST
2. Food ... under control
3. Dont get out of the pack ... did to move up and the last turn
4. No expectations ... had none after 5h on Sat and 3h on Fri
5. Bottles ... brought one and took no sips during the race ... Maybe I should
6. Lose weight ... 3lb to my target
7. Positioning .. Started on right but after few laps moved to the outside left
8. Long season ... yes
9. Try again ... yes
10. Compuer ... Didnt bring powertap wheel

I believe I was in a small breakaway after the 30min rule but took no pulls. Got no legs for that today

Good ride

kleinboogie

I saw a couple solo breaks. I split before any breaks got organized. Were you one of those? Nice ride!

Thanks. I will. If I felt good after this race I was going to do Red Trolley but I've got work to do. I'm doing the fiesta island TT instead (sucks they're on the same day) to see where I'm at and as a pre-cursor for Murrieta. If I get an early start I'll run over to RT and get some pictures. Cheers.

kensuf

Hmm. I ate a bunch of tortilla chips, salsa, and a taco salad for dinner last night, washed it all down with a Tecate and Sol too. And had pretty good legs today.