Only registered for the E4 race this time. Should have done the 35+4’s instead. Don’t know why the regular 4’s can’t keep the rubber down lately. I was only able to get a 10 minute warmup in as I was running a bit late. As I was heading over to the staging area an ambulance rolled by. Well, that’s not a good sign. Our race was delayed a few minutes. Somewhere around 90 guys lined up for the 4’s. Course looked good: great pavement, clean corners. The only things that stood out as potential problems were: the course narrowed between turns 1 and 2 and it was pretty windy.
Whistle blows and we are off. On the first lap 2 guys get tangled up. I didn’t see what exactly happened as I was threading my way towards the front. But it was cleared up the second time by. Lap 2 a bad crash happened on the back stretch between turns 2 and 3. I only heard that one so won’t speculate on what caused it. i do know it was bad enough to warrant an ambulance and fire engine. 2 laps, 2 wrecks. Not looking good. Made my way up to the front. After a prime lap I took the lead to try and keep the speed up. Decided that was way to much work so I drifted back and slotted in around 5th wheel. One guy rolled off the front and got a small gap. Dudes were getting all antsy. I was saying sit tight he’s not going anywhere (we were on the tailwind section). As we came to the S/F line the officials neutralized us. So we roll around for a bit till they finally stop us. We sit for awhile . They let us go then stop us after a lap. After doing laps on the front stretch to keep loose we line up and the whistle blows. The officials gave the dude who was off the front a 5 second lead. He was gobbled up right quick and we are racing again. Problem is now we have a 5 lap race and there are 90 dudes who think they can win. 4 to go is a 5 deep prime lap. A group goes OTF for the swag. Of course after they cross the finish line and turn into the wind they come back to the pack real fast. 3 or 4 (don’t exactly remember) to go and we are heading up the back stretch again. 2 guys go down about 3 wheels in front of me. Looks like I should be able to skirt by on the right. Nope! Bodies and bikes are tumbling like bowling pins. I hit someone on the ground and started to head over the bars. Just as my brain registered this Whammo I get hit in the back hard. As I’m going down I see a BBC jersey and some blingin white Sidis. Hey I know that dude! I guess Oscar was right on my wheel and had nowhere to go. The wreck took out at least 10 or 12 of us. I helped Oscar get his bike untangled and gave him a push to get him going. Threw my leg over my bike but it wouldn’t roll. Front wheel was all tweaked. My day’s over . Nuts! I was able to loosen the brake enough to ride back to the parking lot. My wife and boys were waiting for me figuring I got caught up in the “Big Crash” they heard about from the announcer. Took stock of myself and my bike. Bike needs a new front rim and a new saddle. Not to bad. I looked pretty well off at first glance too. Ended up with some minor road rash and bruising. Most important though my kit wasn’t damaged at all. Sweet!
All in all this was a fun event. Yeah I could have done without the crashes. Great course, easy access and good for spectators. I think Tri Valley Velo did a pretty good job. My boys loved the kids event. I saw Chris out the in the 45+ 5’s hanging tough and Roy raced in the morning with the E5’s. Unfortunately Erik got held up by the late crash in our race and wasn’t able to put his sprinting skills to use.
Mike Baxter