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As usual, I am very slow in writing anything. Last weekend's Spring Fling Crit at Tilles Park was on tap. In the day's leading up to the race I could not decide whether to do both Masters and Cat 3/4 or just one of the races. Eventually, I decided to do the two races and looked at it as good training and it was.
The first race, Masters 40+, was uneventful for me. I floated around the pack without ever really doing very much. The big moment was a large pileup involving 8-10 riders. The race was neutralized for 30 minutes while an ambulance attended to several injured riders. It was a rather ugly crash that I watched happen in front of me. It was one of the wrecks where you see bikes doing flips in mid-air and and guys heading face first toward pavement. Never a pretty scene.
Even more disturbing may have been the sheerness of local legend, Shawn O'Neal's, white shorts. They did not appear to be threadbare or deteriorating, as shorts sometimes do. They simply were not very opaque and made for a much too visible butt crack. There really needs to be an end to the manufacture of white, yellow or any lightly colored shorts.
Fortunately, Shawn got into a break so that I was not witness to the eyesore for too long. When the race was neutralized, he promptly dropped out of the race and changed into his regular clothes because he was entered in two other races later in the day. Rather amazing that a person would drop out of a race and not take part in the restart when they are, at the time, in a lead group 15 seconds ahead of the pack.
Once the race got going again, the pack did get caught so maybe it didn't matter. But, if they had had four riders instead of three would things have been different?
I couldn't get clipped into my right pedal on the restart and was gapped almost immediately. With the pack chasing madly to catch the leaders I was fighting mightily to catch back onto the back of the pack. It was a fruitless chase and I quit after a few laps to save my legs for the second race.
The Cat 3/4 race was more riding in circles trying to move up through the pack. I usually have problems moving up through the pack on this course. The road is a little bit narrow and has just enough bends in the road that you have to pick your spots to gain a few positions and then hold it, which I am not particularly good at doing.
I did manage to weedle my up toward the front late in the race and was just about to make a big move with a little over a lap to go when I got cut off by the two leaders in one of the aforementioned bends in the road. Timing is everything. All my momentun was slowed, I got swarmed and was in no spot to be a threat in the finish. I gave a decent effort though and hit 43mph in the finish. I have never paid much attention to my speeds before. Mostly because, for years, I did not even have a bike computer. But, I was impressed by 43mph. Maybe that is nothing special. I don't know.
The first race, Masters 40+, was uneventful for me. I floated around the pack without ever really doing very much. The big moment was a large pileup involving 8-10 riders. The race was neutralized for 30 minutes while an ambulance attended to several injured riders. It was a rather ugly crash that I watched happen in front of me. It was one of the wrecks where you see bikes doing flips in mid-air and and guys heading face first toward pavement. Never a pretty scene.
Even more disturbing may have been the sheerness of local legend, Shawn O'Neal's, white shorts. They did not appear to be threadbare or deteriorating, as shorts sometimes do. They simply were not very opaque and made for a much too visible butt crack. There really needs to be an end to the manufacture of white, yellow or any lightly colored shorts.
Fortunately, Shawn got into a break so that I was not witness to the eyesore for too long. When the race was neutralized, he promptly dropped out of the race and changed into his regular clothes because he was entered in two other races later in the day. Rather amazing that a person would drop out of a race and not take part in the restart when they are, at the time, in a lead group 15 seconds ahead of the pack.
Once the race got going again, the pack did get caught so maybe it didn't matter. But, if they had had four riders instead of three would things have been different?
I couldn't get clipped into my right pedal on the restart and was gapped almost immediately. With the pack chasing madly to catch the leaders I was fighting mightily to catch back onto the back of the pack. It was a fruitless chase and I quit after a few laps to save my legs for the second race.
The Cat 3/4 race was more riding in circles trying to move up through the pack. I usually have problems moving up through the pack on this course. The road is a little bit narrow and has just enough bends in the road that you have to pick your spots to gain a few positions and then hold it, which I am not particularly good at doing.
I did manage to weedle my up toward the front late in the race and was just about to make a big move with a little over a lap to go when I got cut off by the two leaders in one of the aforementioned bends in the road. Timing is everything. All my momentun was slowed, I got swarmed and was in no spot to be a threat in the finish. I gave a decent effort though and hit 43mph in the finish. I have never paid much attention to my speeds before. Mostly because, for years, I did not even have a bike computer. But, I was impressed by 43mph. Maybe that is nothing special. I don't know.
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