So third race of the season went down Sunday for me down in Winston Salem Sunday afternoon – second USCF race of the day, the field was pretty small. It started off fast – faster than I would expect. A guy from Wake Forest who had already raced in the collegiate race took off the front from the start whistle. I stayed on his wheel and the rest of the pack chased us for the first two .8 mile laps of the Winston Salem Downtown Criterium. It was a great course, with six turns, with turn number five being the only real technical one.
Unfortunately, the race was really short for me. Technical turn number five in the third or fourth lap was my demise indirectly. On another guy’s wheel, he went squirrly *before* the turn, kind of recovered diving in the turn, but end up wiping out, going over the curb. I swerved to avoid running him over, but in the process ended up going up and over the curb as well. Luckily, CycleSafe had soft barriers up on that corner, including padding on that curb. So, instead of going over the handlebars, I stayed on the bike, over the curb and down a bit of an incline, clicked out of my pedals, carried the bike up the hill and back on the course.
A guy was nice enough to let me on his wheel, passing and we headed up the incline toward the final turn six. My front wheel was noisy, but I assumed it was a brake pad rubbing. Pedalling hard, into turn six, I got a sinking feeling as the bike didn’t feel right. Looking down, diving through the turn, I saw I was running on the rim with a flatted front tire. “Going over the that curb at high speed must have given me a pinch flat,” I thought as the bike lurched out from under me, and I collapsed in the turn, giving me some quick road rash and bad pain in my right hip.
I popped right back up, but the bike’s front tire was done. With it being so early in the race, I could have gotten a free lap, switching out the front for a wheel in the pit. But it’s wheel in/wheel out meaning I had to have provided a set of wheels in the pit top exchange out.
My teammate, Andy ended up taking the race and was really proud and happy for him. I just wish I was in the finishing pack as well.
My freaking mechanical issue following my offroad endevour convinced both me, and I think Amanda too that I need to have a spare set of wheels in the pit for such situations. The hope is one of our friends up in D.C. can hook us up with a discounted Mavic wheelset. I’m hoping my current wheels will become my training set and spare set in the pit for future races.
End result and lessons learned Sunday afternoon: still need to work on patience. As a Cat 5 racer, no one is good enough to consistantly take the technical turns with enough skill and speed to not be caught up with. I should have backed off some. As my weight drops and my fitness increases, I can afford to have more patience and ride a bit more conservatively.
A Cat 4 teammate flatted last race he did in Greenville, NC. Now my race ended with a flatted front tire. It’s obvious a spare set of tires/wheels is the way to finish consistantly – even in the face of mechanical failures.
My injuries could have been a hell of a lot worse. I walked away with just road rash on my right side (ankle, knee, thigh and elbow) and a brusied hip area. I could have easily hit my head, broke bones, etc, but both my bike and me ended up coming out with minor injuries.
This coming weekend, I’ve got my team’s time trial and then a few weeks later, a crit in Fayetteville. Hopefully I can finish the race and finish with the pack there. Till then, it’s back to healing, training and improving.
Related Posts:
Entries (RSS)