This morning at Walkersville I felt okay, not great but okay. I did a short warmup ride about thirty minutes. The wind was howling so I knew that I had no desire to be on the roads time trialing. I got out of the saddle three times and felt good about the bike. It was solid.
The race lined up for a neutral roll out. When the race opened some months ago I had signed up for the 4/5 Masters race. In retrospect I should have got in the Cat 4/5 race with Vaughn, Robin and Evan.
The race started out with a fairly slow pace. Within a few minutes of starting there was already a wreck in the back of the field. This was caused by the slinky effect due to the surges in the race. The first lap was littered with yellow line violations and heavy braking. Several NCVC riders were relegated to the rear of the race due to the yellow line violations. It was amazing, did then not listen or just didn’t care. The first lap speed average was around 22.5 mph. It felt as if we were just crawling. Nothing exciting going on except the yellow line and the braking.
The second and third laps were more of the same. Personally I spent a lot of time just coasting and staying tucked in the center of the pack staying away from the wind. My average speed was 22.5 and average power when pedaling 260. For me this was a very easy day.
By the middle of the third lap two guys had got off the front and were up the road about 45 seconds. The pack was neither gaining nor loosing ground. So they were allowed to sit out in the wind and pedal. Three riders from Kelly Beneficial had moved to the front and was setting the pace. NCVC was over playing hopscotch with the yellow line giving the moto-ref something to do.
On the forth lap, I got tired of just sitting in and when the field took the first right after the start / finish line on to Devilbliss Bridge Road, I decided to move up on the wind side and attack. This really got the field excited and stretched out. It felt good and really was not that big of an effort. This lap really began to speed up, which was my intent. After a few minutes (probably less than a minute), I pealed off the front and settled back into 10th or so. On the final stretch we had gotten packed back together and on the straight away, two bikes got tangled up and hit the deck. This was right in front of me, nothing I could do, I attempted to reenact my Smithfield crash. Acting upon the advice of Art, I was able to bunny hop over the first bike only to be hit by the bike behind me. I went down and added to my current road rash artwork on my left thigh. After collecting the yard sale of bikes and people I got back on my bike only to find it would not move. The front tire had come off of the bead but did not puncture the tube. I had to flatten the tire, put it back on the rim and borrow a pump. Once back on the bike I approached the finish line only to be greeted by the official telling me the race, at least for me, was over. I have no idea what place I finished in, those results will be published later.
After inspecting the bike, there were no issues so that is good. Old tegaderm removed from the Smithfield crit and new added for Walkersville. Tomorrow is Tyson’s Corner.
Checkout my power file on training peaks.
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