Derby Days Crit - pride before the fall

I keep saying to myself that someday I'm going to start a blog. Now that I'm off the bike for a few days I guess this is as good as any! Redmond Derby Days was this weekend and I was representing Starbucks/SCCA in the mens Cat 4/5. Things were going well, really well. I had a great start and things were moving along well. I was sitting in the top 5 holding position (I'm on the far right), taking occasional pulls and feeling really strong. I heard one crash behind me out of turn 3 about 10 minutes in. A few of us shook it off and keep hammering.

About 15 minutes in a few more guys shoot up to the front. I see the guy from Hammer Nutrition and knew he was strong from the Capitol Crit so I hoped on his wheel. A few minutes later we were coming out of turn 1 and I'm right on his wheel. The line turns a little harder left than I'm anticipating and I'm half wheeling him and hearing that awful sound of tires and rims rubbing. He's going left, I'm going right. Guess who won...

I hit the ground pretty hard at about 25 miles an hour and felt like I slid for days. Had enough sense to tuck into a ball and watch 65+ riders come screaming by. One poor guy from Cycle U ran into me but manged to get up and keep going.

Once I got my senses back I jumped up and started collecting my things to the sidelines. Some guy is yelling "You get a free lap!". That's OK dude, I think I've had enough.

Net result is no broken bones but a lot of road rash on my right side. The shoulder is proving to be the most uncomfortable. The fun part was getting things scrubbed out at Urgent Care. Let's just say the first aid at the tent was...lacking.

As for equipment, I'm out a pair of Force Shifts, my favorite skinsuite, a set of bars, a helmet, gloves and the retention straps for my shoes (how those broke I have no idea).

This turned out to be a very expensive race for Team Starbucks as a whole. My teammates Scott and Bart got tangled up, costing Scott at least a frame (Orbea Orca - OUCH!). I heard a few more crashes while getting cleaned up. A check on Wheels In Focus caught some shots of the carnage.

On a positive note, Jane and Katy had a strong showing in the womens' (welcome back to racing Katy!) and Clayton took 7th in Cat 3.

Maybe next year...