This weekend marked the opening of the 2012 road season for CFCR Racing. I signed up for the 2012 Cal Aggie Crit held at Land Park in Sacramento, CA. The field was rather large at over 60 riders started the Cat 4 race.
The first break was reeled in after about two laps and the UC Davis riders, who were well represented in this race since they sponsored the event, countered. The front group sat up as they let their team get farther up the road. I was not in position to try to jump into this break though, so I watched as they grew smaller in the distance. Then it happened--
I remember the rider coasting in front of me and I took advantage of this and wanted to move up. I moved to the right and accelerated. Then, the rider began drifting to the right without checking his blind spot. I called out, "On your right!" and tried to scrub some speed (we were going about 25 mph of so at this point) and then I saw a Bicycle Plus/ Sierra Nevada rider in the corner of my right eye- I was trapped! Everything then went into super slo-mo. I remember our bars connecting, my front end wobbling uncontrollably, the curb getting closer, then the ground as I landed on my back, hitting my head on the ground. When I was upsidedown, I remember seeing another bike cartwheeling through the air and landing in front of me. I rolled over and saw a rider laying beside me, I asked him if he was okay, he replied no, and I told him that people were coming to help. I quickly checked out my bike and rode up to the start/finish line and got back in the race after the peloton came around again.
I didn't have much left for a sprint finish and was just happy to have been able to avoid a DNF, so I rolled across the line 21st out of 64 riders- still not to bad all things considered. A quick survey of my body after the race turned up a bruised wrist, skinned knee, and a little bit of soreness. I woke up the next morning plenty stiff on my left side and a headache! All is not bad though, as I got a reason to order my new Lazer Genesis helmet from Ikon Cycles that I have been eyeing, which should be here in time for next week's race!
As I began editing the video from my Go Pro, I noticed just how close I came to being tacoed by the sign post, and was glad that I went down where I did.
Let's hope that I am able to keep the shiny side up for next week's crit in Napa though!
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