Race season '10 begins with a bang and some roadrash

I've been a bit of a slacker when it comes to blogging (most of my blogging attention recently has been devoted to my other blog) , but with the advent of race season yesterday, i figured i better get on it. We ushered in the 2010 race season with lots of excitement, some serious hunger, and a few bruises and scrapes. First off, Zach came out and did his first race. He did pretty well, hanging in with the group until the last lap when the pace got too fast. But considering he hasn't ridden a day outside since last fall when he almost called his wife to come pick him up after the artist convinced him to ride double the distance he was used to, he did well. And ever the fashionista, he got himself some nice Sidi shoes with flourescent green trim to match his skull candy green kit. Although he may not have won, he did get lots of compliments on his shoes.


In our race i was feeling a little better than i expected considering i'm a bit behind in my training (and a bit heavier) this year. I had put some good efforts in during the first half of the race and had gone mid pack to recover for a little before the end of the race, when a rider beside me went into some gravel on the side of the track, overcorrected, then came right into me. I thought i was going to make it through, just stay "loosey goosey" as T-dub says, and you'll be ok, i told myself, but unfortunately he tensed up and before i knew it he had gone right into my wheels. It's a weird thing to find yourself hitting the ground and then look up to see other people and their bikes flying over the top of you. All in all about 7-8 of us went down. Fortunately my bike didn't get damaged and besides some minimal road rash on my shoulder and ass and tears to my kit, i fared pretty well. There's a saying in bike racing, "it's not if you're going to crash, it's when," and i'll gladly take this as my crash for the year.


T-dub raced well. In the past, crit racing has not been her strength. Ever since she got side swiped last year by a guy in the oval and ended up with a good bit more road rash than i've got, she's been a little gun shy to get in and really hold her position.


She tends to dangle off the back until the yo-yoing has taken it's toll and she gets dropped. But i was happy to see about 15 minutes into the race that she had moved herself up and was doing a great job holding a position in the front of the group. After finding herself at the back again after the first ten minutes she told herself, "no way, i'm not going to do this again," and pushed herself to move up. She's definitely strong enough, it's just a matter of feeling confident enough to move up and keep in position.

On the way home i wanted to get a little more time in, so i talked T into riding a little further south with the artist. We had a little miscommunication about just how much further south we were going to ride, and she became a little upset because she was starving when it got longer than she expected. There's a saying, "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," but i actually think a more accurate saying is, "hell hath no fury like a hungry woman." We made it home after tacking on another 50 minutes to our ride, and T was so hungry she didn't even bother to change or take her helmet off before making some food. She went right ahead and cooked up some tasty pasta with zucchini fully dressed in cycling clothes. I thought maybe she had kept her helmet on so she didn't hit her head on the hanging pans, but that's never been an issue before, so i surmise, in actuality, she was just really, really hungry.


The artist raced well, getting a fifth place. Three guys had pulled away and kept a gap and so the artist came in 2nd in the field sprint. Not bad either for a guy who says he hasn't done any intensity training yet this year.