SCC#2 - Evergreen: The Worst Start

It was a beautiful morning at my house. The sun was popping out, the birds were singing, it was going to be great. Then I left my neighborhood and descended into the fog. I arrived at the Evergreen Sports facility in South Seattle plenty early and helped Joel set up or tent and chairs down on the infield. I took a took two leisurely laps around the course which had a lot more tight off camber turns than last year. I warmed up nicely on Joel's trainer and didn't have to rush over because I knew I'd get called up to the front for the start because of how well I did in the first SCC race.

The gun went off. The crowd went wild. Ok, Nix that part about the crowd, but it was one heck of a start. 64 racers just in my 35-45 group. The total that started in 3 waves separated by 45 seconds each was over 143 racers. I settled into 4th as we flew around the cinder running track. We exited the track, hit a few bumps and went into a hard right, uphill turn on the grass. That's where things went horribly wrong. I think I clipped someones rear wheel and down I went. Bad as that was, when I got back up, I couldn't get my chain unstuck from where it had wedged itself in behind my front chain rings. I pulled and yanked. I ripped my gloves and bloodied my fingers and finally the dang thing popped out. Of course by this time over a minute had passed and not only had my whole 35+ group gone by, but half of the 45+ group as well. I finally got back on my bike, mad as hell and seeing red. The field was packed, and got bogged down at every corner or slight incline. I passed people everywhere I could. I finished 31st out of 64 so I guess I'm guessing I passed well over 50 people. I suppose I should feel good about that, but I'm just mad at myself because If I hadn't gone down I wouldn't have had to deal with the crowds. Ah well. live and learn. Now I have to keep racing to redeem my self!

I woke up this morning trying to figure out why my left hip was so sore. Oh yeah that's what I landed on. Here's a video that includes the Cat 1/2 racers going through the section where I bit it.



Here is a photo of Jim Albright who was winning his Cat 1/2 class until he flatted. He still pulled off 3rd. Pretty impressive.



Thanks to Ann, Jen, Bob, Joel, Jim and even Logan (wearing a funny jersey) for coming out and making it a great day.

Just found a video of the 9:30 race here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=YcJEV3mEBE0


Date: October 14
Mileage: 9
Ride type/Bike: Cross Race/Tricross
Oct. Miles: 41
Year to date mileage: 2234

Date: October 12
Mileage: 23
Ride type/Bike: Road/Allez
Oct. Miles: 32
Year to date mileage: 2225

Date: October 9
Mileage: 9
Ride type/Bike: Road/Allez
Oct. Miles: 9
Year to date mileage: 2202