Catching up on racing

Well the first race back after getting over MONO didn't go to plan. It was Redmond Derby Days where I finished 8th last year. I wasn't really fond of the course but it was a simple layout of 4 left hand corners and your basic square box. The downfall was all the road turtles that were on the road which made some people more squirly than normal as they tried to avoid them. Palm to face.

With 2 laps to go I decided it was time to move to the front. The plan was to work for Dale and I hung with him for as long as possible and then he told me to go ahead. I got up behind Chad as we started to make I move to the front. I think I was probably 6th wheel or so with Chad in front of me. Two guys were coming off the front on the left and they started to move over on Chad a little faster than I think he suspected. He made a quick move to the right and boom that was it. I was on the pavement. When racing criteriums it is very hard not to half wheel the guy in front of you. Which is what I was doing and when Chad moved over to the right, I had no time to do anything but do a head plant on the pavement. I was at the front of the race where we had a full field of 75. To say it was carnage after I hit the deck would be a little light on words.

I landed on my head and shoulder with my left arm trapped under me. So it took the brunt of the skin removal. We were cruising along at 25 mph so I hit pretty good.

The damage at first was my shoulder as I thought I had broken my collarbone. Then as I moved it around a bit I realized it wasn't broken but then it felt like my scaffoid was cracked. Helmet had a crack about 4 inches long. Then after I got up and moved around a bit I seemed ok besides the missing skin I had. I looked around me and there was bikes and bloody guys all over the place. I immediately felt bad because I was the first guy that went down.
After getting my wounds scrubbed out I went home. Popped some pain pills left over from my sinus surgery and grabbed a beer. Lindsay thought I was crazy when I jumped on my bike the next day! She has been the best nurse you could ask for. Sinus surgery, MONO, then changing bandages. Its been a hard year on me and especially on Lindsay.

Keller Rohrback Road Race:

This was a new race this year and was located down in Eatonville. It was a perfect morning for a bike race. Mt Rainier was in full view and the weather was perfect. This race is apart of the Northwest Summer Cup that includes Boston Harbor Circuit race and the intimidating Ronde Ohop. It listed it as a 11 mile circuit with a few punchy hills. We would do 3 laps. Once on the course I realized they lied to me. There was some pretty significant climbing. Everyone afterwards said the same thing so thankfully it just wasn't me and my non climbing legs. On the 2nd lap I almost got dropped on the hill coming into Eatonville. Thankfully I was able to latch back on and recover. There was a downhill section that was awesome. It was about 2 miles or so from the finish. The downhill was very long and straight for the most part but we took a right turn towards the bottom and then there was another right immediately following. I was in heaven. The 2nd lap I moved to the front and had a clear shot down the hill and coming into those two right handers. I came out of the last turn and checked behind me and I created a small gap. My plan was formed. With about a mile to go there was a medium sized hill and then once ontop of that you got the 1k to go sign with a flat finish. Last lap I move to the front right before the downhill and go for it. I hit the first corner and then the 2nd and almost put it in the ditch as I was going much faster than I had the previous laps. I noticed a guy closing the gap so we worked together for a bit then I tried to go again. I looked back and noticed the field coming with Apex and a couple ex teammates driving it. I sat up right before the climb and called it a day. I think I finished in the 20's or something. Great course and will do it again next year.

Lake Washington Velo #1:
I have done this race the last 3 years and every year something happens to my bike. The first year my shift cable broke during warm-up and I rode my buddies cross bike. The 2nd year my cable broke again on the last lap so I was stuck in my big gear. Then this year I flatted on the first lap and chased the rest of the race. Not sure I will do this race next year.

Boston Harbor Circuit Race:

I have never done this race before so I thought I would give it a go. We would be doing 6 laps of a 6 mile loop. The course was nice with rolling hills and one decent bump heading into the finishing straight. With 1 lap to go 2 guys got away and stayed away. The finish would be for 3rd place. I was in a good position going up the hill and to the surprise of my teammate Gabe I was right next to him. He yelled at me a few times about being surprised I was there which was kinda funny. He was on the yellow line and when we got the 200 meter sign and the whole road he was in perfect position. I was in the middle of the pack and tried to sprint 3 different times but had to sit up do to guys cracking in front of me. Gabe got 5th place and I took home 12th.

LWV #2 Gig Harbor:

This is a 4 mile circuit with 285 ft of climbing every lap. The major hill is right before the 1k to go. It is a 2 part hill which makes it even harder for myself. I really need to work on climbing! As did 2 years ago I went on a little break on the last lap. The plan was to get Sam and or Gabe near the front and then make other teams work to bring me back. I again went on a downhill with a fast right hand turn. Once I was through the turn I checked and had a sizeable gap. I pushed it a little to hard in the beginning of my attempted break and pretty much blew up big style a little bit further down the road. I waited for the pack to catch me and then tried staying at the front which didn't work and I drifted to the back of the pack right before the hill. I came in 4th from last. ha-ha. Not last.

Ronde Ohop:
It gets its own blog!