Well the race season has begun in BC. And what a nasty start it was, for me anyway. Lets just say many of the riders had some early season jitters, and these jitters might of lead to some early season lack of bike handling skills, which invariably leads to some early season crashing.
The day started off nice, I rode with my dad who is visiting, over to the race course for a warm up. The weather was nice, dry, plenty warm enough, and no real wind to speak of. But unfortunately it doesn’t take obsticales to go down, just a nervous rub of wheels. And today there were many of these. Beginning lap three, (just 13 km in to the race) there was a nasty pile up taking down nearly 20 guys, and I was one of ‘em. Besides a trashed wheel, I landed on my knee, and am sitting here now with an ice pack. I don’t think I did any serious damage, but certainly wasn’t riding any longer today. Instead it’s time for some pain and ice. Ahh what a start.
The disappointing part is missing out on a workout. I am super keen about the upcoming trip to California at the end of the month. I’ll be racing the San Dimas stage race, followed by the Redlands Classic, and I can’t wait.
As for the rest of today’s racing? Well there were plenty more crashes. All categories suffered, and I felt a little squeamish when I saw my girlfriend Shani go down while setting up for the final sprint less than one KM out. Two out of three from my house hit the deck. Not bad for my dad who just barely avoided going down in yet another pile up in the last KM of his race.
All the crashing in other categories left people all over the course, and in the end the A grade race (my race) was called 4 laps early. So no finish! I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like today.
I really hope no one suffered any big-time injuries. I guess the only positive out of all this, is that maybe by next weekend some of the early season jitters will have subsided. As for me, I think this is only minor, and I am still as motivated as ever for my upcoming season. |