Elite National Road Race

Owwwwwww

There is nothing worse than having your legs hurt like hell, and then
hitting the ground hard to round out the pain to your whole body.

Super hot day with temps starting in the mid 90s and climbing as the
race went on. My plan was to just survive the day, near the front of
the race, which in turn would equal a good overall placing. The race
started with a couple of moves from people which got broke back fairly
quickly. A small group did finally get away and held their lead for
most of the race. I was sitting well in trying to conserve as much as
possible while watching the peloton lose a bunch of people each lap on
a very hard rolling section directly after 2 hard uphills.

Halfway into the 4th lap (6 total) I was approaching the feed-zone
near the front. I grabbed my musette and immediately after avoided
hitting bottle in the road. The next thing I know my bike is taken
clear out from under me and I land straight on my ass and right side.
There was no way I was getting up since everything hurt to even move.
I miraculously did not get run over by any riders, but my day was
done. I was driven back to the med tent to have some wounds cleaned up
and wait for the race to finish.

I think the emotion of knowing that my race was over as I hit the deck
hurt just as bad as the fall itself. It was like this wave of anger
and just utter helplessness at the same time. After watching the
finish of the race I saw that the breakaway got caught and about 20
riders came to the line together. Who knows how it would have ended
for me, but it's one of those things that you can't look at and wonder
too much.

I'm thankful that I at least did not break anything since those low
speed crashes ( I was only going 17mph ) tend to do more damage to
people than a crash with some sliding afterward, even I it is on
pavement.

I made the long trip across the country later that night to DC to
Andrews wedding in DC and I did not sleep much. I would dose off for a
bit and then awaken by a really bad pain in my tailbone and have go
adjust on my seat. It was rough, but the wedding was amazing and it
was awesome seeing all my old teammates and roommates from school.

I don't have too many more big races left in the season, but the plan
is to do local crits and whatever other bigger races I can get into
before the second week in September when I go back to work. I guess I
never did explain that, but I did in fact ask my work for the summer
season off without pay to race my bike. They agreed, and now my time
us almost to an end. One month to go!