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What Jorge saw:
Category: 5
Result: Did not finish
Friday came with the weather report saying that it was gonna be
raining and windy for Saturdays crit. Didn't hear from German so I
decided to send him an email if he was still interested on going. At
this point I didn't really feel like going with the weather
conditions, I hate being cold and miserable. What do you know German
finally called saying he was gonna be there and asked if I was going
per our agreement, well I hate to chicken out of an agreement so I
told him I was going and proceeded to pack my gear for the race.
Woke up at 5:30 to gloomy sky's, jump in the shower to wake myself up
packed the truck and I was on my way at 6. Got to the race venue
around 8:15 found parking around the neighborhood and tried to
register only to be told that I had to be on the waiting list, the
dude told me to comeback with money ten minutes before my start to see
if I made it in. Found Ruben and chatted with him a little bit and
asked him if he saw German, he said no which was not really a surprise
to me since we all know of his time problem.
Went back to the truck suited up and contemplated warming up on the
rollers or riding around, I chose the latter fearing the wind might
blow me off the thing and causing and seen on the sidewalk. Rode
around the neighborhood for about 20 minutes which was all the warm-up
I got before I had to check with registration if I made it in or not.
Got to registration just in time for the dude to close signups and
start calling people on the waiting list, I got called first yeah!
handed my check grabbed my number and looked for Ruben to help
attached my number. Finally Cinderella comes rolling in late as hell,
yelled at him to get his ass in registration cause they just closed it
and was calling people on the waiting list. Miraculously German makes
it and gets his number, he said they were just about to give it away.
Waited to the race before us to finish and took a free lap with the
rest of the Cat 5 group to scout the course out before race.
The course was pretty neat, it was inside this park with wide roads
and circled around a golf course. The course had a flowing shape to it
with a nice left 180 degree or more turn followed with a double apex
right hander, this was the part of the course that required allot of
breaking and accelerating and pretty much split the pack during the
race.
The conditions at the start of the race was horrible, the rain
was coming down and to make matters worst a strong headwind that you
had to ride into half the course all the way to the start finish line.
As we lined up the race referee informed us that the race was running
late and that she might cut 10 minutes out of the 40 that we where
supposed to do and that she was kicking out anybody who was dropped
during the race that was close to getting lapped.
The race finally
gets going with yours truly hanging around the mid to back with Ruben
and German making his way to the front of the pack. This is when the
suffering starts, cold legs combined with a nasty headwind and a quick
pace I was barely hanging on to dear life in the bunch. Three laps
into the race German blows his front tire going into the 180 degree
left hander, eats pavement and take three other guys with him. I was a
little ways back in the group so I had time to go around the crash,
scream at German to get his ass up and back in the race.
The crash
caused a split in the peloton, I had to fight my way back which caused
even more suffering in my part and almost popped. A lap latter German
was still on the same corner getting his road rash attended to and we
exchanged a few encouraging words, this is when my race went straight
to the turds. That little slalom section caused a split in the field
which I got caught on the wrong end. The split happened right was we
begun to face that nasty wind right down the start finish straight.
Tried my hardest to get back in only to start popping, saw a few guys
coming behind me that also got dropped, jumped on there wheel hopping
they would take me back to the bunch but they were popping too. Lots
of guys got dropped then and we where still 10 minutes into the race,
great I though now I'm gonna be in a world of hurt with this wind from
hell. Found a few guys to latch into, at this point people were all
over the place, small groups started to form with people that got
dropped. Me and two other Wolfpack guys started to work with each
other to try bridge to one of the small groups ahead of us.
We never
did really make it, the stronger of the three of us took off which
left me with the other guy that was just as tired as I was. We started
encouraging and working with each other with the hopes to catch that
small group of 10 that was a hundred yards up the road. The gap
stayed the same for two more laps still we bought started loosing
contact, by then we were 20 minutes into the race and as we approached
the start finish line, the race referee was standing in the middle of
the road and kicked bought of us out. I could not believe it! I was
not even close to getting lapped, the lead group was probably half a
lap ahead of me.
I was pissed out of my mind, I was tired but I still
had allot of energy left and wanted to at least ride till I got
lapped, I could not believe they started kicking me and everybody else
out before we even got closed to getting lapped. That small group that
I was trying so hard to bridged too got kicked out also about a lap
or two latter. About half the field got kicked out, talked to some of
the guys that kicked out and they where pretty pissed too. Is this
normal to get thrown out of a crit before being even close to getting
lapped?
Watched the 35+ 1,2,3 and nobody was told to quit even when
the winner lapped all the way up to 7th. To sum up this weekend was a
disaster, German wrecked and lost some skin, I got dropped and thrown
out of the race, Ruben got dropped about 2 laps into the race. Hanged
around with Ruben for a couple of hours and watched some of the other
races cause I had nothing better else to do.
Watched the juniors race
where in they threw everyone from the 10 year olds all the way to the
18 year olds in one mass start. Felt pity for the poor 10 to 12 year
olds that got thrown out of the race after 2 laps! cause the faster
kids where coming up. Got to see our Local Tuesday night hero Larry
Nolan win his race on a breakaway with 2 other guys. This makes two
crappy races in a row for me, hopefully I'll have better luck next time.
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What German saw:
Category: 5
Result: Crash!
Not too much to say, since Jorge's report basically explains very much everything. I never flatted in a race and never crashed in a race. Today, my luck was over, I got to flat and crash and scratch most of the left side of my body!! , basically, I got to taste the ugly part of racing!
I was very competitive since the beginning; I was in the first 5 most of the time from lap one to lap 3. By 3/4 of lap 3, I was in 3 place when I was riding at about 28 mph and a 90-degree turn to the left came. I slowed down as much as I could, but at that moment, felt that my front tire blew while I was still turning at a high pace in 3rd place. Of course, the front wheel slid right away to the right and couldn't control it. It was pouring rain at that moment. I slid and tasted the flavor of the pavement for the very first time!! Damn! It hurts!!
I knew that this was going to happen some day, so I was prepared for it. My left leg is all scratched, my left shoulder is scratched, my left elbow got scratched, my left hand fingers got scratched too, and finally, my righ t shoulder hurts a lot, but, especially after the race, I think is because a bike hitted me while I was on the ground. Fortunately, I didn't hit my head but my body, team clothing and my new saddle and my left pedal, really suffered the consequences. The race assistants were very kind and helped me out to get out of the pavement and took care of my injuries after walking me to the nurses who cleaned everything for me. Basically, the race was over for me at that point, but I am glad that I was able to walk normally, since it could it have been worse.
At the moment of the crash I remember taking at least 3 riders with me, but it wasn't my fault and they knew it, they made it back into the race right away, but I couldn't since I was very injured and my bike was flat.
I was feeling very strong, but I have to understand that it is just part of racing and another chance will come for me. This season, I am feeling very well, but in my last two races, I just haven't have luck to perform accordingly.
My girlfriend, who went to see me racing for the first time, was crying when she saw me bleeding all the way. Anyway, the weather was nasty as Jorge described it. It poured rain like crazy and the wind was nasty too. Riding behind any rider was a pain since all the water from the rear wheels were coming directly to my eyes, my sun glasses were all foggy due to the water and mud thrown by the bike ahead of me.
The pace was really fast from the beginning, but it slowed a bit after the crash, which splitted the pack right away.
I will not race with rain again; it is just not worth it!! You don't get to race with peace of mind, can't perform to your maximum just to avoid a crash, and it is very uncomfortable, period!! I will only be in dry races from now on. Hopefully, luck will become my friend in the future races.
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