The 4 race was a bit more entertaining/terrifying then last weeks Jefferson Cup and definitely more technical and faster than Vint Hill. Evan and I had pretty good placement at the start. On "go", Jake King from Celerity Cycling sprinted off the front taking a few confused riders with him. The gap that opened didn't last but it was fast enough to split the field and begin the carnage of riders spread over the 3/4 mile course. I saw some of the sketchy riding I have ever seen, one guy from Velo One, would continue to dive the corners. It was getting ridiculous and dangerous. Almost every corner I would see someone swing out and clip a cone or hay-bail. I stayed in my drops the entire race, and toward the front, that made SUCH a difference, I never felt out of control and was able to turn each corner at speed. The main field stayed together for the duration of the race with the exception of those shelled riders that were eventually lapped on the course's only climb. Unfortunately this became quit dangerous. We were averaging just over 25 mph and were turning laps in under 2 minutes. The lapped riders they were taking up the entire width of the course as we came through and seemed to take offense when shouted at, this caused the chase referee to call forward and have the main ref begin pulling dropped riders. But this may have been a little to late... Two or three laps later, with one and a half to go, we once again hit the descent after turn 3 and speeds quickly picked up, my max speed on the descent was 42 mph. During this lap, a Tri-Power rider abruptly crossed the course from right to left, hitting the wheel of Chad Holm (also of Tri-Power), sending him reeling. Unable to recover, Chad went down right in front of me. So at 36 mph (according to my garmin) I grabbed every bit of brake that I had (Art yes I was in the drops) and tried to maneuver around the two bodies skidding on the ground, But straight in front was the bike of Chad, there was nothing that I could do. I hit the bike straight on. Once I realized that I was going down I did my best roll, to protect my titanium enhanced collar bone, after a good landing on my back I slide to the bottom of the hill leaving bits and pieces of me and my Freshbikes kit etched into the pavement. Four other guys hit the deck, three from Celerity Cycling, in which one broke his wrist, one had to be taken away in an ambulance due to a big cut on his head, still do not know his status.
The refs stopped the race while we got bikes and various accessories off the course. While incident reports were filled out, those still standing lined-up for a restart of the final two laps. My zipps were shot and the frame questionable so Evan put his bike and shoes in the pit and I jogged up to the start finish line and hopped on his bike. After a break just long enough for everyone's legs to stiffen up, they restarted us. Myself and three other guys who were allowed to take advantage of the pit had to start last. At this point in time I was bleeding, on a bike two small, clipped into shimanos that I had no idea how to get out of. Two more crashes (one in turn 1 and another in turn 4) and the field finished. I am not sure where I finished yet. With the number of riders pulled, wrecked and passed, I had a field finish. Good times in the Ham Capital of the World.
(some of the verbiage and events were borrowed from http://www.celeritycycling.com/post/Smithfield-HAMmer-Fest-Criterium.aspx)
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