Reston is a technical crit, but it's full of 90 degree turns. It's pretty simple.
Go straight.
Turn left.
Go straight.
Turn left.
Go straight.
Turn right.
Go straight.
Turn left.
Go straight.
Turn Left
Go straight.
Turn Left
Go straight.
Turn right...
Immediate left to the start/finish.
Add some water, and it gets iffy. The Reston crit lived up to it's reputation as a race of attrition, but for the wrong reasons. This race was a crashfest like I've never seen. Just tons of dumb riding.
Plenty of people talk about going all-out from the beginning of plenty of races, and it's usually all for nothing. Well, being low in priority on my list of races, I thought this was one race where "go from the gun" was an adequate race strategy. But it's not that good of a strategy when everyone's trying to do that.
Unlike most guys, I started the race in the little ring to weave through traffic, then shifted up. I found myself in the top 5 racers around the first turn. Not bad.
Dave K lead the first lap or two, and when a few guys attacked, I chased them. Then when I saw we had a gap I went to the front and drilled it. Hard.
I went nuts. I went ballistic early on. It was awesome and safe up front solo because I could take my line at higher speeds. Dare I say this, it was fun.
In the first few laps, I basically rode alone or with 2-3 others off the front, but none of them would work hard enough to help create a gap. At one point, only one guy in some light-blue kit was with me. Out of breath before the downhill, I looked back and said "help?" He said, "55 minutes left, no thanks."
What a frikken' L7 weenie. I hope he never makes it out of Cat 4.
If you want to enter a bike race to sit in, Reston is not one of them. In such a technical race, why the hell would you even bridge up to a guy going all-out early on other than to help the effort?
Race, or go home.
A pair of laps later, I'm still off the front with two others and the field's catching back up slowly. Someone yells to me to slow down. I didn't understand this request, so I kept hammering.
Eventually, nobody helps me, and we get caught by a strung-out group. My teammate Drew counters down hill and creates a gap. I follow two guys that chase him (the one in front of me was a Coppi guy).
With NOBODY in front of them - just these two guys alone - they both hit their brakes in notorious turn #5 for no apparent reason except for fear.
The idiots skid out.
As the Coppi rider is skidding forward, I slow down as much as possible and crash near him but luckily not barrelling over him. Race over.
I was okay for the most part but stood up quickly because the field was coming around. The Coppi rider looked beat to hell, so I picked up my bike and put it horizontal between me and the incoming riders, just in case, to block the guy on the ground.
I could have gotten a free lap but I had a bloody knee, bruised hand, bent shifters, and was too pissed off. This course is fun as hell but some folks are just inept bike riders, making it a crashfest (especially when it rains).
On the bright-and-shiny side of life, Drew was able to make a breakaway stick. Three other racers joined him, but at the end Drew still took fourth. The team did an incredible job, though, of setting a "false tempo" to keep anyone in the field from bridging up.
...but it always sucks watch your race finish from the sidelines.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
i slid out of the 3/4 race on the bottom corner with a lap to go...i was sitting about 10th wheel.
Sorry to hear about your wreck. It is utterly amazing to think you guys were off the front and still had to deal with a wreck. Usually, that is the safest place to be. Glad I had my son's baptism today and didn't sign up for this one, because I would have bailed if it was raining. Hope you heal quickly.
Thanks for reading this blog even though less than 10 minutes of my race became a long story, haha.
Fabs - I gotta say, though, if you're on the stronger side of the field, this course is FUN!
Luckily most of the guys in our race walked away from the accidents quite okay. Kinda sad to say, the water caused wrecks but they weren't nearly as bad as the one that happened in the morning on dry pavement.
Btw, that "L7 weenie" you mentioned crashed, got up, and took second. Just an FYI.
Don't get me wrong. I love the course when it is dry. I tried everything I could to have my son's baptism on a different day, but this weekend was the only open window that worked for everybody (e.g., in-laws, Godparents, etc.) except me. I wanted to race it pretty bad. With that said, I do not race in the rain. I've been in enough wrecks in the rain, and in a Cat 4 field, no thank you.
Touche'.
Which means he waited about one more lap until that break formed...?
Too many folks (L7 weenies) are also posting anonymously on my blog to hide behind a curtain. We see each other every weekend at races, but if you can't give and take a bit, you're not welcome here.
I think I am now going to see if I can change that setting...
Sad to see you go down...you put some fire into the race.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1099267085773
There's a link to a facebook video of my crash (including slow-motion), and then another one that is a MUST WATCH for a dude almost recovering from his own spill. Key word, almost.
I wish there was video of every wreck, and all the cuts, bruises, broken bones, and broken equipment so that people can understand what half wheeling and shooting up on corners can lead to. Of course, from what I could see, these were self made wrecks where people were just leaning too hard in the corners on a wet course. If it were dry, probably neither wreck would have happened. I say probably because I saw 2 wrecks last year on dry pavement caused by people over cooking the corners.
Great video by the way.
Post a Comment