One of Seattles most popular bike races is in the old part of Ballard and celebrated its 20th year running. The course is pretty basic with 2 long straight aways and short corners. The pavement is very similar to what most of us cyclists deal with on a daily basis when riding in the Seattle area. Pot holes, bad pavement along with sections of brick and man hole covers in the middle of corners. There was a ton of spectators so it made the atmosphere that much more exciting. Things started off well and I slowly made my way towards the front. I found that I gained multiple positions when taking the outside of each corner as it allowed me to carry more corner speed and save my legs. My goal was to get a prime and then see if I could be there at the end. Saturday was my first day off of a 10 day antibiotic course for a sinus infection so my goals might have been a bit lofty. I felt pretty good though 15 minutes into it. We came by the start finish and as we came into turn 1 a guy to my left started leaning on another guy. They fixed themselves then going down to turn 2 I could see the same guy that was doing the leaning was still a bit wobbly and sure enough he took the inside of turn 2 and then proceeded to wobble himself to the outside of the turn 2 and in the process take out 3 guys. Then the domino affect took place. I grabbed a handfull of brakes, got sideways, saw a photographer rolling in the dirt with bikes and bodies flying all around me. Thankfully the first few bikes and bodies took out the yellow tape before I came through. I was able to get stopped just before a sign, unclipped pushed my bike back to the course and started chasing. My mistake and my teammates was not going back to take our free lap like the other 9 guys did. I wasn't sure if we could since we didn't hit the deck but we did unclip and were involved in the pile up. So that left my teammate Sam and myself with 2 other guys chasing for the next 15 min. We got to about 250 meters behind the pack and at one point I took a drink of water expecting the next lap we would be back on. Whats the saying? So close but yet so far away. The next lap was a prime lap and they started to build the gap. I pulled the plug a few laps later as I started to dry heave. You know you are going hard when that starts to happen. We averaged 27.6 mph.
First time since racing Ballard (2009) that I was not able to finish. It is known as a crash fest and I would say it didn't dissappoint. I hope all the racers who hit the deck come out ok.
Criterium season is here and I will look to rebound at the Tacoma Twilight 6/29.
