Goals

Top ten, realistic podium shot, pick up any easy primes if I happen to be in position.

Race

Crappy starting position behind a Cal rider who rode like a cracked out chipmunk the whole race, but made an effort and got into the top 10 within half a lap. Bounced back and forth between the top 5 and the top 15. I kept a close eye on my potential rides to the finish line, Maurice, Milroy, and a couple of other strong riders like the more wily 3rd pillar guys who came out in force for this race.

Crash

All was good going into the bell lap, had a decent top 15 position that I improved by taking good lines in the first couple of corners. Going into the soft library turns I was 7th or 8th wheel when I saw something somewhat surreal.

To the side of me I see Milroy take the first corner but continue through the apex shouldering a rider straight through the gutter and over the curb, like a hockey player body checking an opponent. Then he jumped back in without losing a position like nothing happened. This looked deliberate to me, but was so strange that I couldn’t believe it at the moment, and in retrospect it could have been a bar tangle or something like that.

When he jumped back in, it may have been coincidence but all hell seemed to break lose as some chain reaction took out three riders to the side and front of me as riders began attacking for the sprint.

I dodged all three riders, the first on the inside, the second outside, and the third inside as they skated to the curb. I was clear and didn’t seem to have lost any ground and little speed, but dodging the last rider inside sent me straight through a grate in the gutter and I caught my pedal on the curb. From there it was a hop, skip, and a jump headfirst into a “No Parking” sign post.

My Kingdom for a Hay Bail

A $3 hay bail would have saved me a trip to the hospital and probably a $100 helmet and $300 bike computer, but no such luck. As Ben said, “We have a pretty strange hobby, don’t we?”

Going into the last corners I had a fantastic position, and was primed and fresh for the sprint, whereas some of the other riders up front had more recently attacked to get there and seemed to be flagging. Seth, who took 4th, was behind me going into that as far as I could tell at that point. I had a podium spot pegged. No dice though. Pretty bummed, but I guess I should be lucky to have come out of it in one piece. As DP said, it wasn’t by luck I was in the position I was in going into the last corners, so I’ll be there next time.