Washington Crit report.......

Well, I wasn't so sure I was going to do this race. I've needed to take a week off and I had to work last night, as I write this I will be going on my 26th hour of being up. I also did the Ghisallo ride Saturday morning which was supposed to be a very slow easy group ride which I figured wouldn't be too bad. That wasn't the case, I definetly went over the rev limiter and wasn't really feeling like I had anything in my legs yesterday morning. I debated and did the pro con thing and as it turned out I went to the race anyways.

I'm glad I did, it was a good, hard race. A weird race. First, it was supposed to be 40 and five, then they say it's 30 and five. I'd say I strive on the longer crits, but oh well. Next, I'm involved in a wreck that took out about four or five dudes including my teammate Jeff. The worst off was a Big Shark guy that looked like he was in bad shape. It wasn't pretty. It was weird, right on a straight stretch of rode that you would never think a wreck would happen. Anyways, they stop the race for about 15-20 minutes as the ambulance takes care of the guy in the middle of the road. This brings up a question. What is the etiquette in a crash like this? I've been involved in plenty of crashes and witnessed them, but this one was just kind of strange. There were five of us trying to get back in the race and before I saw how bad he was I was up and ready to head to the wheel pit area. Myself and another guy just looked at eachother wondering what help we could be. His teammate was by his side and there were several other people coming to his aid. I'm not a paramedic and don't practice medicine so I figured he was in good hands as the three or four of us rode over to the pit area. It was just a strange feeling seeing him like that. I hope he's okay.

As for the second race, the five laps after the stoppage, the pace was high and I stayed towards the front. I tried to keep my position, but the pace picked up even more and my legs started to feel it. During the sprint I was only able to muster a 15th plsce finish. All things considered, it was a successful race. I feel good taking a week off from racing before the state roadrace in a couple weeks. The Castlewood mt. bike race was on my calendar for next week, but I just don't see myself doing it, but we'll see.