First Race Weekend as an A!
I thought I would share a few of my thoughts on my first race in the Men’s A field. I was a bit nervous leading into the weekend because I had never raced at this level before. I had seen how fast they were but still didn’t know how it would feel from within the race. I was also really excited because my parents and my brother were going to be there!
The Road race started off very quickly up the first little climb. I was surprised by how hard they went right off the gun. Apparently some gaps opened up within the first half mile, with one person almost getting dropped! I was comfortable sitting in the pack as we neared the main climb on the course. It’s around 4 miles long, and is fairly steep in a couple of places. Sure enough, about halfway up the climb I began to loose contact with the split. I had seen people getting shelled earlier, so I knew that there were people behind me. I kept as high of a tempo as I could and tore down the descent with the group occasionally in sight up ahead. Part way down the descent my chain fell off of my cassette and got a bit jammed between the cassette and the frame. I managed to get it out but was hesitant to use my biggest gear for the rest of the race.
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| Flying down the descent. Right before my chain jumped off. |
I never caught the lead group, but I ended up joining a few other guys and we kept on going. We started off as four, but by the end there were seven of us. The last time up the climb a few of the guys in the group were stronger than me and got away. I came to the finishing climb with two other guys. My legs were close to cramping completely so I decided to try and ride the other guys off my wheel rather than attack hard. Luckily they were pretty tired because I was able to distance them without too much difficulty, and the cramps only hit right before I crossed the line.
The TTT sucked. That’s all. Kevin (a very strong freshman) had only raced 16 miles in the D’s that morning. I had raced almost 60. Kevin practically ripped my legs of in the TTT.
I was very excited for the crit. I am a fairly good bike handler so I can normally hold my own in crits. I hear that the A’s usually attack hard from the gun so I was ready for a fast start. And it was fast! However, I felt good. I was moving around well, and none of the surges put me on the back foot. Around ten minutes in there was a lull in the pace. In front of me some people overlapped wheel and the guy directly in front of me went down. I didn’t have time to react, crashed into him and went over the bars.
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| Before I crashed in the crit |
That was my first ever crash on my road bike. I have crashed many times on mountain bikes and cross bikes, but that was my first road crash. Initially my breath was knocked out of me, but I got that back rather quickly. I thought I was fine besides a little road rash. During the car ride home, I was feeling very sore. Especially on my right side (where I had landed).
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| Walking back to the cars with my brother after my crash. |
My friends convinced me to go to the health center once we were back at Whitman. The nurse I saw thought I was fine. A few days later I began vomiting, and the pain in my side was worse because of the vomiting. I returned to the health center, and the doctor sent me to get x-rays. Turns out I had cracked a rib and that the broken rib caused the vomiting!
So, my spring break plans had to be cancelled. I had been planning on doing the training camps and racing all break, but that was no longer a possibility. So I bought a plane ticket home.
Yesterday I went for my first real ride a week and a half after the crash. The weather was amazing. It was hovering around 80F the entire time! My ribs hurt while standing and pedaling, breathing deeply, or whenever I hit a bump, but it was manageable. I think I will be able to ride gently the next couple of weeks! And I hope to be racing again shortly!
Thanks for reading!
Alberto
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