Thursday, August 26, 2010

San Ardo Masters 35+

San Ardo Road Race
Course: 66 Miles, mostly flat, few rolling hills
Team mates: Matt BB (Field), Ted (DNF) 

Originally I had planned on doing more racing this summer but travel, mostly my significant others travel, has prevented this.  The problem is not really the travel but the stress that packing brings on.  The lead up to the actual flight etc is a two day event.  It goes like this... the flight is on Sunday.  This means that nothing can happen on Saturday, the house is in lock down, because it is much more efficient to have all of us close at hand in the event that we need to find a swim suit or pants that have zippers that turn them into shorts.  Then of course Sunday is a loss since I am alone with the random child that everybody refuses to travel with, or if traveling, i am then en route.  On top of that I have a kid starting kindergarten which is a surprisingly stressful endeavor.  You would not believe the shit load of paperwork and crap you have to buy... not to mention the PTO parties, fund raisers etc.  I mean WTF, is that a cultural thing for NorCal?  Help me out here people, its like I'm trying to get this kid elected to office or something.

This happened at least four times between June and this weekend, but it did leave me open to get in a race at San Ardo.  So far my road racing has been a joke this year.  Scotts Valley was a train wreck (mechanical that was my fault) and Burlingame was a great example of how three guys can ride a bad team race.   The track has been fine even though I'm racing in the pansy division (3/4 vs. 1/2/3)  I say I'm doing that mostly because I want to upgrade, which is true, and racing down rather than up is smart.  But... in reality i think its cause i only just started liking the track and racing with Triple 6 and a bunch of fast juniors would kill this current fondness for Hellyer.  Plus its fun to listen to Tom and Eric do a recap when i was not in the race.

So BB and I were able to coordinate San Ardo as part of my much delayed racing plan.  I'm pretty much focused on cross so getting some racing in right now is a good idea to get that speed back. I'm fit, given my current work schedule, but not exactly fast.  So BB shows up at 5 AM for the trek down and its like a first class flight.  Philz coffee, Fiji water, and snacks in case I am hungry.  We stop halfway at McDonalds for another coffee and bathroom break and then get to the race and hour ahead of time. 

My issues started pretty fast.  By the time we had to line up i had made three bathroom breaks and had to change one wheel cause of a goat head flat.  Then at the start I had to go again and BB was cautioning me not to go. This was a bad idea since it was all i could think about for the next three hours.  It started out slow and I was somehow at the front.  I hate being at the front.  I like being at the back, so when they folks ramped it up going up the hill i glommed on mid pack.  The race was fast the first lap with a lot of attacks on the back side of the course.  Second lap was a joke, nobody was doing anything until we got to the backside again.  Up until that point BB and I had been covering most attacks.  Going in towards San Ardo I made the mental decision to watch only two or three people, and figured the break 5-6  that  looked like it was forming wasn't going to last.  I figured making a move on the hill would be the thing to do on the third lap since it would probably get harder.

Well, the break got some good distance, maybe 20-30 seconds, and i did make a move on the hill.  I got about maybe 100 yards away and started to go backwards.  The pack came by single file up the hill and i was sure they were going to catch the break.  When i crested the hill i was maybe 20 yards off the back of the pack.  At this point my bladder was screaming and i think was working on my sub-concious.  I didn't have the punch i needed to get on the back and recover so I spent about 10 minutes trying to get contact and just fell behind little by little as the rollers came through.  While i still felt strong, I could not get it ramped up.  I gave up when the cat 4's passed me.  They would catch me on the down hills then i would pass them on the uphills, till finally i threw in the towel and let them go up the road.  I pretty much spent the rest of the 22 mile lap on my own until that Cat 5 group caught me on the way into San Ardo.  You will be relieved to know I had no problem riding into town with the Cat 5 group.

BB made some good last minute attacks going into the finish but that's his story.  I'm thinking this was a good race to get back into it, though i probably should have just sat in or  covered the last few breaks.  Overall I think a few more of these and I will be really good to go for CX which starts up soon. Bladder control is not so important in a 45 minute race, which I am thinking is a good thing. 

Ted

Monday, August 23, 2010

July Friday Night Track

BY DOCTOR TOM

Scratch Race ( basically a criterium)  10km 30 laps.  As Eric Balfus said we had 27 guys in the field, prior there was rumor that there would be 32 but in the end it was 27.  With Daniel Holloway ( Bissel)  racing and with what he had done on Tuesday night I figured he would be a key guy to pay attention to as well as the unknown Joel Robertson.  I also figured that since there were so many in the race I never wanted to be that far back.  I set tempo for half a lap at the start then shuffled back a bit.  Some breaks went away but Daniel would just roll the pace up and bring them back.  Eric got away around mid point and I slowed the field a bit but without Daniel he was really doomed.  Eric then did some work bringing back some breaks while I sorta hung out and waited for Daniel.  With 6 to go I was near the back with Daniel behind when he hit the afterburners and came over the top in turn three.  I jumped to latch on when some so cal guy kinda got in the way and hesitated, so, I had to move through a couple of people and go like hell to catch Daniel, I latched on by turn one and then pulled through full gas when Daniel pulled off.  I pulled a half lap and then Fariolletti ( or whatever) pulled off right after me.  Daniel hit the front again and I was behind the other dude.  So now it was just Daniel and I working but he was gracious enough to slow a bit so I could hang on, I was pretty gassed at this point and just hoping to make it to the finish and hoping I could beat the other dude.  Then Rob Evans bridged up, damn, he must have been flying.  So we get the bell, Rob and Daniel take off the sprinter dude sits up and I do as little as possible to get third.  The whole time I was out there I had the peace of mind knowing Eric would dork up the chase, so that was cool.

Points Race 35 laps sprints every 5. During the roll out I was talking with Nick Harter and told him to come with me.  The bell rang, I hit the gas for a lap but unfortunately we couldn't roll off for the first sprint.  The nice thing was that for whatever reason the rest of the guys decided to keep the pace high so it was single file.  The bell rang for the first sprint.  Daniel and Rob came shooting by, I jumped hard to catch on and followed them for third in the first sprint.  Daniel pulled to turn three, pulled off and then Rob pulled off in four.  I said "what the hell, Rob!!!"  He said he was gassed and now it was just Daniel and I.  Daniel was motoring for 1 lap plus pulls and I was going full gas for almost 3/4 lap.  This went on for a while with Daniel taking some sprints and me getting one of them ( I asked him if he wanted it, but he was ok with me getting it,  I didn't want to make him mad and have him drop me).  I have to admit when we weren't really catching the pack and I looked across and they were single file, I was just trying to figure out how long I had to stay out here until I would have enough points to be second.  Also, as I was just staring at Daniel's rear hub I was thinking how good it was that I have done so much team pursuit training.  This was like doing the two man team pursuit intervals only longer.  After 10 laps it started looking like we were finally making inroads into catching the field.  Then Daniel comes off and says " I need a full lap Tom".  Damn, well we've gone this far so I go full gas and realize I can catch the field, so I dig in and catch the back of the pack after 1 1/4 lap pull, whew.  I just sat in from here on out.  Again it was good to know Eric would be messing up the chase.  Rob ended up getting third in this race and now we were tied for the omnium.  I do have to admit that I wasn't feeling that terrible riding with Daniel this time.

Miss n Out.  In this race the last rider is pulled each lap until there are only 3 riders left.

Really I just hoped Rob would screw this up trying to play Devil and not make it to the last three.  I was just going to ride tempo at the front and wait for Doug Hall to get to the front.  So, I started riding tempo from the whistle with Eric, just outside.  We did this for a few laps when Doug made his appearance.  I tucked in behind and enjoyed the ride.  After a few laps, I figured I should get back up front so I went over Doug and started riding tempo again.  Somewhere in here Eric pulled for a few laps as well as Daniel.  At one point I looked around and still saw a big group and I asked Eric how many were left, he thought about 12.  Damn, seemed like we had already done 20 laps.  At one point, Rob came to the front to pull but that confused me so I went around him.  I should have just sat on his hip and let him wear himself out, but oh well.  I got back to the front, Eric said he was done, but I just rode strong tempo keeping Joel Robertson to my outside.  I then heard Eric yelling 6 to go from the cool down circle, cool, I upped the tempo a bit;  he then said 5;  I accelerated a bit more; "4"; more acceleration and now there were just 3 but Rob was there and now I was tired.  We all went to the rail, Daniel, Rob, then me a bit behind.  I jumped as hard as I could out of 4 hoping they would look at each other but, no, Rob came by me in turn one with Daniel close behind, so I coasted in for 3rd and 3rd in omnium.

Nice riding all in all, and cool to get the updates in the miss and out, it is so hard to keep track of when in the race.

tom

Monday, August 16, 2010

Timpani Crit

For some reason, I don't hate crits this year. Which is a relief, because when I hated crits there were not that many races that I wanted to even enter.

The beauty of Timpani is that it's so close to home (that and the fact that they drag those drums out every year). I completely negated the close to home value by forgetting my helmet. I had to drive to the race twice! Doh!

Eric twisted my arm and forced me to throw in my $10 for the P12 in addition to the 35+. It was pretty hot out there, so I tried to keep drinking for my first 2 race day in a long time.

35+
I saw Beth and Hernando as I rolled up to the line. Hernando was suited up! Nice to see them out - of course I wasn't sure who Beth would be cheering for so I made a mental note to see where her loyalties are.

The race was fairly uneventful for me until a prime lap about half way through. I didn't actually know it was a prime however. Just before turn three Hernando and I got a gap on the field and Mike drilled it giving us a decent advantage. I came around with hopes that Mike and maybe some others would join and start working together. I was trying to get a break started! Going into the last turn I was alone. I saw a Specialized guy coming up pretty hard, and I saw the line approaching. I realized it must be a prime so I made sure to hold off the Specialized guy for my cliff bars.

Going into turn one then I was still alone. Rand Miller yelled at me - probably something obscene, but not sure what. I think he was proud of me - looking on me as a graduate of the Alto Velo Elite Team School of Hopeless Breakaways (he's the dean of the school). I figured going it alone wouldn't be such a good idea so I just waited to re-integrate.

With 3 to go I had great position. I was feeling pretty good too. I kinda got this feeling that I haven't had in a while - like I could win this thing.

I lost that good position and that feeling with 2 to go. It just got kinda messy and curb to curb. I probably should have spent a match to prevent being swarmed - oh well, next time.

I go to collect my cliff product for winning the prime. The guy opens his trunk where it looks like there are about a 1000 boxes of cliff bars. He asks "what flavor would you like?"

I do not hesitate - "Chocolate Brownie please!".

"Oh sorry, don't think I have that one".

Barely phased I quickly bounce back "Chocolate Chip?"

Rustling through the 1000 boxes of cliff bars he says "Actually... ummm... all I have is banana nut. Sorry man."

Unwilling to let anything diminish my sense of accomplishment. I explain how very happy I am to bring home the banana nut cliff bars. I realize now I should have offered one to Hernando for the huge lead out!

P12
Tired, but not completely spent - I line up for P12. Ten minutes in and I have the familiar sensations associated with the back of the P12 field. Groveling. Guttered. About to give in. Somewhere up there there is a race happening. I catch glimpses of the race now and then. It looks fun. It is also miles away. I decide to go up there and see what it's like.

When I get up there I find it's not easier. Then I make it harder - deciding to try to bridge up to what looks to be a coalescing break. I try to get off the front and get up there, but I don't have much snap. I do get up there but I look back and find a long thin line of the entire field came with me. Oooops. At least Eric wasn't up there. Now I am spent. I drift back to the more familiar nether regions of the field. Russ from Davis sees me and offers me a wheel. I dig deep. I just can't hold it. I pull out. I grab a coke from my car and watch the rest from the curb while eating a banana nut cliff bar.

A group of maybe 8 got away. Briggs won, Rand got 2nd.

- Matt

Albany Crit

I - like many people it seems - hate this race. But for different reasons. People are always telling me how dangerous this race is. I - as many of you know - am waaaaay too cautious to be a good bike racer. I have a low tolerance for dangerous courses. But I really don't see why everyone says this is so dangerous. To my mind, it's dangerous like every other crit in NorCal.

Bill had reminded me how "dangerous" the course was the day before, so I decided to take just one more practice lap before lining up. Predictably, when I came around to the line the field was already 3 deep. Doh!

The rest is pretty straightforward. I started near the back, I stayed near the back and I pulled off from near the back with 3 to go. I was dangling off the back of a long thin line the entire race. Specialized, Morgan Stanley and Safeway were each trying to get away, but never all 3 together, so the pace never eased off.

Laps took about 1min 15 seconds. 4x full out sprints out of every corner roughly every minute just isn't my kind of course.

So I too hate this course, but I still don't see what's so unsafe about it.

Hoping my first 2 race weekend in a long time pays off as solid training!

- Matt

Novato Grand Prix

I really like this race. I did it last year as well. Some would say I like it because it's easy, I say I like it because the racers make the race rather than the course making the race. It's mostly flat (very small riser) and not technical (only one real corner).

I was near the front from the beginning. When breaks went off I tried not to get nervous, but I probably was more concerned them than I should have been and I went to the front a few times to keep the break in check. A couple of times someone would try to bridge up and I pitched in. I traded a couple of pulls but by the time we caught the break, the break had lost it's impetus.

Then I tried to wait for nearer the end. With two to go the group fanned across the road at the start finish line and I took off. In my mind, I made a heroic move. The announcer said (and this is TRUE!) "and there is a STRONG move on the inside!" I buried myself. I made it back around to the start finish line but at this point I was going backwards, not forwards and I still had a lap to go. At this point a guy comes past me on the other side of the road. I wish he had yelled at me so let me know he was coming - maybe I could have summoned a bit more... Then another guy blows by me... I wished they had gone earlier with me and we could have worked together. I pretty much knew that two long laps by myself wasn't in the cards but when I attacked I had hoped someone would come with me... Anyway...

With 3/4 of a lap to go the field comes by and I have nothing left to be able to latch on. The field caught the other two guys who passed me and it was a big field finish. I rolled in a bit after that. Being able to attack at the end is a definite sign that the form is coming around…

- Matt

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge

A few weeks ago were some of my favorite bike races of the year: the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge and the FSA Grand Prix. Because women's track cycling does not have a huge pool of athletes, women don't have many races with large, competitive women's fields. In addition to the Testarosa Veldrome Challenge, these two races are the big track races of the year, and I was excited to participate.

Part 1: Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge

First off, I need to give a big thank you to Brian Peterson for being the ultimate teammate. He was the best mechanic, coach, cheerer, nutrition consultant, and friend for the weekend. Thanks Brian, we love you!

Day 1: The first day is mostly a warm-up day, as it is just time trials. I did a 3k pursuit and a 500m. The alpenrose track is a bit funky, bumpy, and slow. Despite having the worst start known to man on my pursuit (where I lost a couple of seconds), I was really happy with time and consistent pacing. I ended me fourth, and a few seconds off of third, so I was happy with that. My 500m was nothing great. I definitely need to work on my start.

Day 2: This year, I decided to stop match sprinting because I hate it. That meant I got to rest all morning until the scratch race. I got on Cari Higgins' wheel with a few to go and stayed on it until the end, so I got 2nd place! That was super exciting! My goal was to podium over these weekends, and I was so excited to get on the podium in my first mass start race! I also did the team sprint later in the day with La La (Mary Glen) Carrasco. We did an okay job. The competition was still; 3 teams broke the track record that day! (We weren't one of them...) We probably should have switched positions, but i am ready to try that race again with her at elite states.

Day 3: This was a big day for me. I had keirins, miss 'n out, and points race. Racing keirins are fun! But those are races for the real sprinters, which I am not. (I only pretend). In Round 1, only the first place got to advance to the final, and Monique Sullivan was in my heat. (If you don't know her, she is the Canadian national champ). I was happy I stayed on her wheel to the finish, but that didn't get me to the final. My rep round (to get back into the final), I was riding with some good people, including Nissy Cobb. Nissy is a very fast woman, who will be one of the top sprinters in the US in a couple of years. I was last in line and made a big run over the top when the moto pulled off, and was able to squeeze my way right behind Nissy (who was riding first position). I let her lead out the sprint and was able to push through in the turn four to pass her at the line! I couldn't believe it~ it was the best keirin I had ever done! I was so happy! But no time to celebrate, because I had the miss 'n out up next.

Miss 'n Out: I set pace at the front for at least 10 laps, which is a very tiring place to be. Then I moved to the back and started playing the devil, popping around people in the final turn before the finishing straight. This is also a very tiring place to be, as you have to accelerate quite a bit. But, I luckily made it to the final three, which was Cari Higgins, Val Bolstrom, and me. I attacked a few times, but Cari was on me. We had 2 neutral laps, not three. I ended up leading out the sprint with 1 to go, Cari passed me on the final straight away, and I got 2nd again. I was pretty happy with that!

Next was the keirin final- I was near the back of the group, sitting 6th or 7th wheel on the motor. I knew I wouldn't win, but was hoping to squeek in a top 5 amongst all the real sprinters. My plan was to catch any of the sprinters' wheels as they were making a run. Well, this didn't work so well for me, because the person in front of me couldn't overtake the speed at the front of the back, so I came in near the back of that one. Oh well.

I had very little time between the keirin final and my points race. My points race was my worst race of the weekend. I just wasn't mentally in it. We were racing 50 laps I believe (sprints @10), and I was just zoned out and sitting near the back for the first 2 sprints. I felt great physically, I just wasn't mentally racing. I finally got my head in the game, then got in a few breaks that didn't go anywhere, until I got in the winning breakaway. Well, it was the winning breakaway, had I been scoring points in the first two sprints and had scored more points while in the breakaway. I was trying to pull hard to take the lap quickly, but others weren't needing to take it, as they had racked up a lot of points already and were setting up for the sprints. Anyway, I ended up 5th, which I was really disappointed with, but hey can't get 2nd place everytime!

This put me in 4th overall in the omnium and I won the "best Hellyer rider!" award! I was pretty happy with the weekend and ready to race the weekend. Thanks Alpenrose and Charlie Warner for an awesome race~ I love it there!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

a huge turn out of women at the racing!

here is with 2 to go in the scratch race. i'm on a good wheel!

scratch podium. i need to learn to podium pose, apparently.

miss 'n out racing

miss 'n out podium


thanks ROCKTAPE for being an awesome sponsor! my right quad had a huge knot in it on friday and started wearing the tape and it helped me 100%

and thanks to our most awesome team president and track president for all his help for the weekend!

Part 2 coming: Next stop: Seattle for the FSA Grand Prix.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

far west championship

so i heard a rumor from alfred nash that the current world champion of the international omnium and points race, tara whitten, was going to be coming to the far west championship.

i was a bit skeptical.

...errr, intimidated.

i guess she was really jealous that I was the reigning 'far west champion,' and she wanted to add that title her laurels. i mean, who wouldn't? it was definitely the highlight of my 2009!

when michael and i show up, we see peter bohl get out of his van. man, we can't get rid of that guy! him and lala had apparently gotten up at 3am to drive down, and were driving back that night. crazy guy! it was a big hellyer contingent, which was awesome. nash loves us and gave us lots of nice shoutouts on the microphone. thanks nash!

nash was running one helluva race: full national qualifier plus new olympic style omnium. i think this was the first-ever olympic style omnium to be held... apparently the old-olympic omnium wasn't hard enough for the UCI, so they decided to add a 6th event and make all the distances longer. except they split the program into 2 days... but not al nash. we did the whole shabang in one day. it went like this...
  • flying250- i got a personal best..... [cause it was the first time i've ever done one of these!] it got me 2nd place.
  • 80 lap-points race- i was doing really well...well, until i wasn't doing well any longer. i was a dip shit and missed the break that lapped the field, then pretty much did a 3k pursuit in no man's land. i got 4th here... baller.
  • elimination- i did another 3k pursuit here, setting pace at the front for about that long. on the 4th place elimination the person questioned if her or i was out (it was her), so i got distracting telling her i was still in and neglected to position myself well and then the pace picked up and i didn't have enough muster to come over, so i got 3rd....baller.
  • pursuit- i guess this was my third pursuit of the day, but this time i got to use aero bars and borrowed a funny hat. my splits were super even, so that was good, but i got 3rd by a half second or so...baller again.
  • scratch race- my ability to accelerate was waning fast and it would take me 2 laps to catch onto any attack. missed tara whitten lapping, and ended 3rd place again... i won't say it again (but, yeah, baller).
  • 500m- i pulled off a good 500m for me, so that made me glad, but still got me 3rd.
.....bummed i was riding kinda poopy, but so it goes. but on the good news, all these 3rd places landed me 2nd place overall! so that was pretty rad~ it is kinda fun saying you got 2nd to the world champion, but, in reality, we know it was something like this:
the real problem of my racing was that i did not follow my teammate ted burns' advice regarding racing canadians...
1. Throw some donuts down at the start of the race, Canadians can't help themselves.
2. If that doesn't work just grab some beer an do the same thing.
3. They aren't too bright...tell her it's an extra long track, and tell her every thing in Feet or miles...they only know metric.
4. Tell her that the queen just died. That will make her cry
5. Tell her that Neil Young renounced his canadian citizenship years ago.
i knew i sucked. how could i forget such valuable race material on race day?!

anyway, here are some super sweet pictures of me thanks to pat benson. there are even some cool ones of me by the world champion. xmas card material for sure.

me checking out tara whitten's awesome quads

bethbikes! attempting to pursuit

miss 'n out

so that whole extravaganza resulted in approximately a 13 hour day in the chamois! i had found a sweet all-you-can-eat buffet for us to eat at, called hokkaido seafood buffet. yeah, check out that floor plan-- there are sweet pictures and even a you-tube video if you click on the individual parts of the floor plan. dinner was $16.99 and we definitely ate our monies worth. it was awesome. in addition to all-you-can-eat sushi, they also had a chocolate fountain.

apparently gio took a picture of us. i was too busy stuffing my face to notice.

so that was the far west championship. we drove back that night and got into oaktown around 4am. my boyfriend was crazy enough to want to do a criterium the next day. i went to cheer, but instead of cheer, i got distracted and talked to tim montagne. i did see him chit-chatting at the back a few times. when we were leaving we saw the women's race going on, and we heard some chick in the peleton say "is that beth?" as michael was attempting to ride me back to the car on his bicycle.

well, that is about it for the far west championship.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

July Race updates: Colavita Novato GP

Colavita Novato GP - July 18
 
 
Brief summary; so it was a hot one today, too hot for me really. I don't know what it is with age and heat but the older I get the worse I tolerate high temps - has to be the extra weight I'm carrying vs. when I was about 148-150lbs, loved the heat when I was younger.
 
Anyway, I was really surprised to see BB there, and it was cool to have at least one teammate for the masters race. so the race was stacked with safeway and a few other teams had good representation like rocknasium. It was hot and tactical on a somewhat boring non-technical wide open course, but it was an ok course not too bad, not as bad as a corporate 4 corner gig, just not selective. there were some primes and when I won one of the early ones I had to recover longer than normal due to the heat (and knowing it would be a field sprint by the syle of racing). 
 
Fast forward to last five laps and it was a bit aggressive, and with 2 togo going thru S/F BB launched a good move solo as the pack bunched up a bit in a moment of indecision. he got a nice gap for the next half lap which was cool - a bit more mojo and who knows. then it setup and strung out for bell lap and I was in a fairly good position (top 5-6) on backside, then I sprinted once to get into top 4 and once the real sprint started right before and out of last corner it was one of those in the 12 topped out high-speed sprints where whatever position you had stayed that way to the line, not  my kind of power sprint at all, rather a high speed drag race style sprint (perfect for Steve).
 
So I finished 4th though it was close between me and 3rd, but the top 2 were a bike length ahead. Pretty decent prize money - and great to have another Marin race as wellso close to home.
 
-B

July race updates: San Rafael Grand Prix

San Rafael Grand Prix - July 10th:
 
We had a small but lively crew for the Masters event; Mark, Tom and myself lined up to represent our sponsors in this high-profile (for the local Marin crowd) event.
 
I did an early sat ride to get dialed as the race was at 4pm, and during my morning ride I felt a bit flat (which is a good sign for later). warmed up briefly with Tom and enjoyed his trackie style jumps on the road bike (can spot a track rider on a road bike a mile away - just looks like they are trying to make a normal gear roll like a fixie, its funny).
 
The race starts and maybe 5 laps into the short 40min crit there is a small group OTF with a specialized rider and and a few
safeways etc maybe 10secs up the road. as we roll by S/F line they ring it for a prime, so I rather easily bridge up to the group on back stretch and wax them easily for the prime and notice I'm nose breathing in the 12 and with a good break so thinking I can finally win this thing being the hometownn race and all. then lady luck decides to shit on my head; very next corner a safeway in the break rolls a tire (not enough glue!) - he doesn't crash and roll - he rolls and crashes (fred move!) - I'm right on the wheel and barely get around him at the apex of the corner but his bike goes into my leg and I lock it up and go into the barriers and end with a slomo endo but don't hit pavement myself. anyway my bars are twisted a bit, however after getting back into the back of the field I notice my front brake is tweaked over rubbing the rim where I spend the duration of the race  trying to move it over on the fly. I run Campy components and there is no quick-release but a dial and I can't turn it while riding too well. anyway I felt like dropping out as I'm not into riding a race with the brake rubbing, however don't as so many
people come to watch this one.
 
Fast forward to the last few laps it gets strung out and fast and Tom really sets me up nicely on the last lap, I mean perfect. I roll in for 7th with a compromised bike. just goes to show even if you are flying it always takes a little luck as well. have to say if all was normal it was very likely I would have won the way I felt, and if it did end up a field sprint Tom's effort and positioning was great, its just too bad things went south with the mishap, that's racing.