This was the second of two races for me on the day. After the sprint in the 35+4 race I had just enough time to change out my number and roll to the start line. Well, the back of the full field that is. Looked to be 100 guys ready to go. I gulped down some Clif Bloks and water as the whistle blew. Thankfully, I got clipped in quickly as the race started in a full on sprint for the first corner. It didn’t slow down after that, we were flying. The first couple of laps I was still trying to recover from the end of the previous race. Not an easy thing to do when your scooting along at 30-31 mph. While the 35+4 bunch was happy to be out on a Sunday drive these boys were out for blood. After tailgunning it for a few laps I started to feel better and made my way up to the middle of the bunch. Very nerve racking place to be. Some really sketchy and squirrely guys out there. On my way up I said hi to Rey and Rory. They seemed to be coping with the fast pace well. Spotted Gonzalo sitting in the top 25 or so and he appeared to be comfortable up there. When I was closer to the front the group seemed more relaxed and I started to enjoy myself. For the next 5 or 6 laps everyone around me worked together and raced smart. This didn’t last and soon it was back to the normal Wente sketchfest. Usually a fast race is a safe race but not this time. It only was a matter of time before someone hit the deck. Around 30 minutes in I decided to move up a bit further and try to find a happy place. As we entered turn 3 a big pileup happed just in front and left of me. I was able to avoid it easily and only caught the damage out of the corner of my eye. I spotted some of the ubiquitous red,white and black kits but the only kit easily recognized was a Taleo rider. At this point the field is pretty much split and the guys on the front drill it. We fly through the left right sequence and as we enter the last turn my F-this-o-meter gets pegged and I decide to throw in the towel. It was just to crazy out there to justify the risk. When I glanced at my computer as I rolled to a stop our average speed at that point was 28.5 mph. Pretty quick for a 3/4 race. My fears were realized as in the last 5 laps the race was stopped once, neutralised twice and had 2 more wrecks happen. Just another day at Wente I supppose.
After finishing the race I was rolling over to my truck to leave. I was stopped by someone who recognized our kit. He told me Gonzalo had gone down hard in the first crash. Crap!! I made my way over to the reg/medical area just as they SAG vehichle showed up with Gonzo’s bike. But no Gonzalo. Double Crap!! Found out that he had to be taken by ambulance to Eden Hospital. Want to thank VSRT and USAC for their help in getting me the emergency contact info so I could contact his family. They handled it very professionally. My thought go out to Gonzalo and his family. Hope you heal up fast my friend!