The weather was perfect for my first race of the season. Lots of sunshine and no rain in the forecast.
Unlike last year I flatted on the warm up so this year I packed my trainer and warmed up in the parking lot. After a good warm-up on the trainer I took down my shinny new bike (Cervelo R2.5) for its first race this year. I did not get a chance to race the bike a lot last year b/c of a frame problem so I was excited to race it.
100 riders showed up at the start line. The only other Quad rider was Rhys Gibson. We had 18 laps for a total of 37 miles of racing. The first few laps were quick, but after 5 laps things settled down and real racing started. McCormack was in our field so he went off the front and was away for most of the race. What surprised me was that the field was all back together with about 4 to go. I felt good and was working my way up the field for the final sprint. 3 to go and I moved up 5 places. 2 to go, another 5 places. On the final lap I was about 20 back (yeah to far for any podium but hell it was my first P/1/2/3 race and I felt pretty good breaking the top 20!).
During the last 4 laps the race officials were really trying to keep the double line rule in effect. To be honest the officials were totally absent for the first 14 laps of the race when racers were all over the place (several riders were over the yellow line).
And you guessed it. On the final lap about 1 mile to go the officials were really pushing the field back over the yellow line (to enforce the rule) and someone got boxed in. A touch of the bars and BANG (tire blow out) and 25 guys were on the pavement. I was right in the middle of it. I went down on my left side crashing into a pile of 6 bodies and bikes. Once on the pavement people were crashing into me. I jettisoned my bike and covered my head. A few more guys plowed into me but I was the lucky one.
Some road rash and a very sore knee. Other guys were taken away by the medics. My bike took most of the impact. My shinny new Cervelo was not shinny any more. My Easton fork snapped off. Yes, snapped! If you are in the shop this week what’s left of my fork is there. Rustem is getting replacement parts and should have it functional in a week. I went back to the car patched myself up and went home. :-(
For those of you keeping track I also crashed at Marblehead last year! At least this year I was in the race until the last lap. Last year I crashed in 1st lap. Its now been three years since I finished Marblehead, but I have my 2006 crash out of the way (knock on wood). Time for some real racing!
Rhys finished the race, keeping Quad on the map for the day. Nice job Rhys. Out of 100 starters only 53 finished the race.
Keep the rubber side down and see you all at the races!
