Old Cap Crit Crashin - 2010

     I'm sad to report that things couldn't have gone much worse for me on Sunday's Old Capitol Criterium event. I had been successfully executing a racing tactic that was much different than anything I have ever tried before.  Everything was going according to plan with 8 laps to go.  The Cat 3 field was still basically intact, but beginning to show signs of fatigue... I hadn't wasted much energy yet and was poised to unleash a track-style pursuit maneuver that I had co-authored with a guy named Finn, just prior to the start.

This course has a steep downhill portion that dumps down into a 90 degree right hand turn.  I always make sure to show up early each year to this race, mainly to rehearse the line that is needed to make it through this corner cleanly and without braking.  Plenty of hay bails are lined along the base of this turn... a sure sign that the section needs to be respected as having a potential for danger.

Anyway...  a rider to my right named Steve Robinson started to curse on the top of the hill just before the descent.  He was trying to get clipped out... I couldn't figure out why, turned out to be flat tires... as we got half way down the hill Dominic Moranec (yes, bad luck for him as he is still recovering from a horrific crash in St. Louis last year) slammed into him and Steve dumped his bike right in front of mine.  I ran over his tires and then things seemed to slow down....

As I approached the base of the turn, I had a chance to contemplate some things:

----Why do I enter these races considering what is about to happen to me is about to happen to me?

----I wonder if the people who purposely chose to watch the race from this corner in hopes of seeing a crash are going to like the way they feel after they actually witness one?
----Should I dump the bike or go over the handle bars?
----I wonder if my strategy would have worked?  I bet I would have looked something like this...

Hmm, I dumped it last year at the QC crit and that ended up costing me lots of money (scuffed shoes, components, ripped shorts, lots of band-aids etc.).  If I go over the handle-bars I will risk a broken collar bone, however I have been ingesting extra calcium pills for just this sort of thing, so I think I will give that a shot...

----Ok, the decision had been made... the yellow caution tape creeped closer and closer.

BAM!  I hit the curb...

Ok, now things really slowed down.  I was reminding myself to 'tuck and roll'.  I was also wondering if anyone was recording this... what a cool youtube video, or maybe I could even get on one of those reality video shows on TrueTV like "It only hurts when I laugh", or "World's Dumbest". 

I flipped over the handlebars and was airborn... sweet... unfortunately I noticed that I was now going to have to brace myself to hit the cement wall... that sucks... tucking and rolling isn't going to do me much good against a vertical obstacle.  With no other option I tried to see if I could get my life to flash before my eyes just in case... nope, not enough time... I should have started that earlier, I just wasn't expecting that damn wall... maybe I should have slid out instead?

I had completely flipped around  (head-over-heels) one revolution by the time my head hit the wall... CRACK!  Thankfully, that was the sound of the helmet not my head... I jumped up and walked around a bit and then proceded through the stages of grief.  1) shock, 2) denial, 3)sadness 4)anger.   Yes, I threw my water bottle up against a road sign in anger.  That is an odd reaction, but anyone who has crashed in a crit can attest that it is frustrating. 

I raced up to the pit to get a free lap. The ref was wise in waiting for me to calm down before re-entering... my adrenaline was flowing and my head was fuzzy...  We started back in and I noticed my handlebars were severely skewed... Crap! That was the end of my race.  My helmet is cracked but otherwise my body and bike were basically unharmed. 

My step-dad captured some video footage.  Teammate Greg Harper is on the front of this short video as he made the Master's 40+ podium.  The scenes of my race sorrowfully fade to black...