Rosemount Crit- Week 2

Today started out a bit strangely. For all the chest-beating bravado at the fixed gear forum about "riding drunk," I found out that a guy I work with broke his neck last night when he crashed his bike. To be fair, later information revealed the accident involved no other vehicles, and he had no spinal cord injuries. When a co-worker phoned him in the hospital, he actually answered the phone. It was an ugly start to my day.

I had packed my bike. I hadn't felt great yesterday, and actually painted the door trim on the garage rather than bike. My plan was to see how I felt after work. I actually managed to put the thoughts of the accident out of my head, and I was feeling decent enough to race. I headed down to Rosemount with low expectations. My only hope was that they staked out an "easy" course with no crazy corners in it.

It was in the 80s and windy when I arrived. They set up a very fast course with a long straight to the finish- with the wind. We had a field close to 30. The race started with the usual "I don't want to pull already" first lap. Everybody settled in, and the pace took off. All attacks were quickly shut down, unlike last week. I stayed out of the wind, and explored different positioning. My legs were good, and I wasn't feeling like my eyes were bleeding during any accelerations. I love racing when I feel like I still have some headroom- that I'm not racing at the edge of my abilities. Gradually a few guys were shaken off the back, especially during the prime laps. We had the usual slow final lap until all hell broke lose, and everyone fought for positioning through the final turns into the straightaway finish. I was blocked, and the sprint was already on. Another finish with the pack, but the way this season has been, I can't complain.

I hung around to watch the next races, the open 35+ and the 3,4,5. I timed their laps, which were slower than ours. Theirs appeared to be a more tactical race, and I almost regretted not doing two races. A teammate that raced with me said he began the second race. He said it was slower, but he only lasted three laps. I didn't ask why. Maybe next week I'll subject myself to the abuse.