Poolesville HS Road Race

May 6, 2006

Five 10.5 mile laps (53 miles total), on one of my favorite courses. I have never done well, but the course is a blast- rolling, mostly. There's a 1.4 mile section of dirt/gravel road that I like riding, mostly because I don't mind the bumps or the lost traction, and I'm confident in my ability to stay upright and find a good line. The only problem with the gravel is that every year the DOT puts new gravel down, which primarily collects at the end of the road, where you make a turn onto pavement again. This is often where guys attack, and those who can't follow the pace get dropped.

Rolled out of Poolesville HS at 12:10pm - 75 riders, most of which were from Coppi or NCVC. A disproportionate amount of light blue and red/white jerseys, actually. Probably half the field was made up of those two teams.

The first two miles were neutral, so the race effectively started at Turn 2. The pace started off pretty quickly, with the Coppi and NCVC teams pushing the pace pretty hard. They had enough guys in this race to make it hard from start to finish and still have guys left in the dwindling field. There were some nerves and near-crashes in the first bit of the race- I was in the latter half of the field, but starting to move up a few riders at a time.

The dirt road came at about the third mile. There are plenty of signs and people telling you it's coming, and telling everyone to slow down. It's a 90 degree right hand turn, which shouldn't be a problem for most Cat 3 riders.

I, however, was beside some jackass who crashed in the gravel. He slid to his left, and I rolled over his front wheel- I dismounted and landed on my feet, avoiding actually going down in the gravel. My bike was behind me, though, and on the ground. The rear wheel was run over by someone who was behind me. It was tweaked enough to not be able to go through the brake pads. I didn't think fast enough- I could have opened up the brakes with the adjuster, and probably ridden back on the back of the main field after putting my chain back on. Of course, I didn't think about that- I just panicked that I couldn't roll my wheel. By the time I'd realised what I could have done, I was already in an Audi A4 Quattro, bike on top, screaming down that same dirt road at 50mph, rally-car style. That, unfortunately, was the best part of my day.

3 freakin' miles. At least I can repair the wheel, and my frame/derailleur is fine. 3 hour drive up, 20 minute race, 3 hour drive back... $30 entry fee, $35 in gas... Arrrrgghhh.... As I've said before- maybe next year.

Side note- I was entered in the Wintergreen Ascent but decided to do Poolesville instead. Somehow, having not shown up and not ridden the 7 mile uphill TT, the results show I rode a horrible 1:07:06, which still put me in 10th... I probably got some BAR points out of it... Think I should tell the promoter? ;)