Sunday, July 20, 2008

I am tired of riding with idiots!

Today I decided to go out and use the leanin tree crit as a trainer. Originally my plan was to take it easy, practice moving from the rear to the front and win the primes. This race to me was about strategy, when I should attack and really watching everything that was happening. Most of all was to practice lead out, positioning and sprinting. I talked to Jay and Henrik before the race to pick their brains a bit. I then saw David Niss and Gayle at the start and talked to them for a minute. Purposely I lined up at the rear of the group and was ready to start making my way through the peloton. We started out slow and I was just hanging at the back. I will add here. This crit was not technical at all. I could take every corner at speed with no brakes prior to the corner. Notice I said PRIOR!!! As we made it down the back stretch we got this turn just before the hill. That is where at 17 mph some idiot in commuter gear got 8 inches from the curb which scared him I guess so he yells, "oh shit" and locks up his brakes. I locked up my brakes too. I slide right into his back tire. All I remember was the look on his face as he looked back at me and rode off. This time I landed on my butt, hit the back of my head on the pavement. After I hit the pavement with my head, my helmet came off. I saw this white flash then black and the next thing I remember is the volunteer picking up my bike. My 404 was FUBAR and my brake was a little messed up. Honestly I think it knocked me out for a second. I was angry. Even now as I write this I see that scared look on that guys face and to be honest it makes me even more angry. I started walking back to the pit and saw Hoob. (Hoob sorry for the rash of obscenities, I was just mad). I got to the pit and the official asked me if I rolled a tubular and I said no, "some idiot that cant take a corner at 17MPH decided he had to lock up the brake in the corner". The official said, "great so we will probably see more." They pulled off my 404 and put on a new wheel. I tried the brakes and it shifted so I was back in. We did about 4 laps and I heard the prime bell. I took off on the back side and had 2 guys on my wheel. This was my positioning phase that I practice all the time. We hit the hill and I did a hard effort up the hill. At that point I put about a 10 meter gap on the other 2. At the 300 mark I started my sprint. I looked back and there wasn't anyone close so I sat up and took the prime easy. So far I was back in and moving around the peloton on the back side of the course and setting towards the back of the peloton on the finish side. With 5 laps to go I see the idiot who took me out. I stayed clear of him and sure enough he panicked on the turn to the last straight away and took out 5 riders that time, including himself. One guy caused all the carnage and about $1500 to just my bike. With one lap to go I did another attack on the top side of the course. I got out front and made it to the last corner pretty much with 2 guys on my wheel again. I didn't give the effort like I did for the prime and settled in for 10th place. If I am going to get upgrade points it is going to be in a BAR race. Needless to say I am tired of the cat 4 and am looking forward to riding with people who know not to brake in a corner. One guy that will probably not race again this year took out 6 people. That to me that is ridicules. To top it off at the end of the race they confused my number with someone else for the prime. I protested the prime and had 4 people there to back it up. They looked at it for a minute and wrote me a note to give to the promoter for my prime. The guy already claimed the prize. Now what kind of loser who knows for a fact that he didn't win a prime take the prize. Where is the integrity in this world. The promoter ended up giving me a better prime then the $10 le peep cert. I got a month free to a athletic club and $25 to Boulder Beer. This year the quality of riders for the cat 4 group is in the toilet. There are only 5 or 6 TOTAL riders that I trust to ride with in a crit. Mostly to me it is like riding with the USCF 4's. No brain, no skill and no moral integrity! As always; pedal hard,

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