Prospect Criterium

Wow..what a continuous series of errors for what was overall a great race. I had a mechanical and had to go to the pit after the first turn. So flat wheel in, heavy-ass rear, training wheel out. I missed a few laps since I had to walk it back to the pit. I got back in at the back/middle of the pack and had to repair what was a fantastic start off the line. It took at least 5 or 6 laps to get back up to the front. This course had a very technical series of turns (4) then opened up a little for two more turns into the start/finish. Finally I was back in the front 5 to 10 riders and was happy to be there.

The attacks started up and we, Vitamin Cottage, were responsible for a lot of them. Sharkey made a good attempt kind of early. He hesitated a little and I yelled for him to go harder. A few guys started to bridge up with me on their wheel. Unfortunately the pack didn't have a good sense of humor about early attacks and brought us back quickly. Then Kenny attacked enough times to make you dizzy. Then Sharkey kept at it. Rob was also in the front for most of the race and road really well. We were pretty much sticking it to the field every chance we could. I was starting feel like it was my turn to go off the front when a guy 2 or 3 wheels in front of me clipped the barrier on turn one. There was a decent pile as a result and I did the tip over thing, going to the pit for the second time.

After getting back on, I was working pretty hard to get back to the front. The pack had been whittled down to about half those who had started; this course was way too short and technical to keep lapped riders. It was getting close to 5 to go and I needed to move up. I started to pick off a fair amount of riders in front of me. Kenny was in front of me after one of his attacks and looked like he couldn't close a widening gap in front of him. I came around and closed it in two turns bringing him with me. I was feeling really good; maybe because I had had so many free laps.

The pack was pretty strung out and going into turn 1 I clipped my pedal and went down hard. After coming to a stop I stayed down partially out of shock and partially convince I was going to be piled upon. Fortunately we were going around 30 mph so I slid clear of the guys behind me. I got up and after asking for my bike back from the Marshall, started heading for the pit for the 3rd time. I had dislodged the bead from rear tire and it blew up. I was out of pit wheels and that was it for my race. Jaime had never really seen me in a crash and was a little freaked out. It is probably not a good experience to see your spouse destroy the right side of his kit (my left sock and left glove survived), tear open his bike pants and get road rash from shoulder to ankle. I did most of my skidding on my head so no real damage there.

Ryan the medic guy, who I had met a few weeks before at a post-race pizza party, did a great job cleaning the road crud out of the wounds. If you ever have the desire to slide across the pavement and remove skin layers, Ryan is your guy. Jaime and I then took off towards home stopping at 3 different pharmacies for supplies. I drove slower than normal trying to postpone the inevitable post-crash shower which always makes me cry.

I am not sure how Kenny, Rob and Sharkey ended up but there were definitely a bunch of primes that went to them. A really good race for VC. We road well together without having to verbally communicate during the race.