Saturday was the Garrett Wonders Memorial Criterium up in Westerville. A great local crit for a great cause. Garrett Wonders was hit and killed on a training ride and this race is held in his name. I believe all proceeds of this race go toward his foundation.
It was another early morning, I had to leave the house at 6:30am to make the 9am start. I thought I was running on time but ended up leaving 10 minutes late. On top of that, I had to fill up my nearly empty tank. I arrived at 8:15 which wasn't great but better than arriving 30 minutes to the race. Turns out they were running behind.
Instead of taking advantage of the extra time, I socialized and was put back into the same situation of not having much time. I suited up and set up my bike. Took a quick spin and lined up to race. It had rained right before our race. It had stopped raining but the pavement was still wet. Wasn't the ideal situation.
The gun went off and we all started racing. The last few crits I have done, I felt great and hoping for a good result this time. I stayed up toward the front and was in good position. That was until the end of lap 4 going into the last corner. At the apex of the corner, my front wheel just slipped out and I was on the ground sliding two lanes on the still wet pavement. I must have hit the painted crosswalk line. Looking back at the data, I was going into the corner at about 30mph. Luckily (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) I did not take anyone out. My bike was fine except for the shifter being bashed inward.
After my free lap, I was back in the group but about 2 laps later a crash happened in front of me in that same corner. I was thinking "Oh shit, I'm going to crash again." Luckily the guy I was going to T-bone had slid just enough to the left that a gap opened up where I could sneak though. But that was enough damage done as the field had sped away. In hind sight, I should have gone down and taken a free lap. I chased and chased and chased until I felt I would not be able to make it back.
Another unfortunate DNF at this race. The 4 times I have done this race, I only finished once. And still, I think I finished off the back on the one race I did finish.
But racing isn't all about just the race, it's also about hanging out with your buds. I hung around and watched the 1/2/3 race and cheered Isaiah on. He didn't get a great result but yesterday (Sunday) he took the win so it all worked out for him.
Afterwards we hit up City Barbecue for a nice post-race meal.
My road racing is pretty much over now. I will probably do a crit on September 5th but after that it is all about cyclocross.
YTD: 5034
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