substructure

Masters 35+ 1/2/3. 90 miles
One of my teammates got into a break early. I felt good and my other mates had to keep me on a short leash until second lap. Then they let me go. Six of us got away to chase the first break. Unfortunately, my teammate popped and went back to the main field. We kept going hard. But 3 bridged to us. Another teammate was in that break (3 breaks total) We all grouped together at 1km. I was hurting bad. Then the hammer was dropped. I couldn't hold on to them. I got last payout - 15th. Out of 70 guys I think.

Oh ... and I met Bantam and truckin. Bantam hit the ground hard in a sprint. Scraped up. Trucking kicked butt - like normal in the P/1/2 field.

SushiJoe

Well done, sub!

Bantam

Well, here's mine. I got to the course late, pinned up, and rolled to the line. The first 5 minutes were pretty chill so I got warmed up and decided to get myself to the front. I spent the better part of 45 miles there being a player. Breaks went and were pulled back. The pace was high for a 4's race, +24mph. We came to the sprint and things got stacked up. I went down. I'm really not sure where the blame lies or if it really matters. Apparently one of the juniors used my bike as a launch pad and the first thing I saw that I remember is one of the Cyclones (jr team) flying over my head. The damage is that the CDale six13 I've had for 2 months is totalled. It is split totally in half at the top and down tube.
On my body, I have 4 stitches in the knee and cannot ride for 2 weeks. I am pretty much covered in road rash, but nothing is broken.
I am surprisingly not very upset about all of this. I really really liked that bike, but I guess it could be replaced. For now I will be racing on my old Trek 1500. A step down for sure, but I'll be happy to have something to race.

It was good meeting you today Sub!

substructure

Glad to hear you're in good spirits. Good to meet you too.

truckin

It's been a while since I posted a race report here. Bantam, sorry to hear you were one of the guys who went down. Be glad you weren't in the later crash, which was even uglier than yours.

I made the break in the P/1/2. We got clear 5 or 8 miles in... 80+ miles of breakaway work, fun. We built up as much as 12 minutes lead on the field. Break eventually split with four very strong guys going up the road (Mark Hekman and Andy Baker from Time/MountainKhakis, Scottie Weiss, Nathan something?). The remaining five of us rode the breakaway out together, stayed clear of the field, and I managed to not finish last in the group. 7th place (field of 84) for a little money and a couple more points toward the 1 upgrade.

Bantam

That finish did seem to wreak havoc on the lower Cat fields.

Way to race truckin.

McTufferton

Damn boys, sounds like one hell of a race... good work to all.

Bantom, sorry about the gear / road-rash / stiches. Glad it doesn't sound like anything major.

truckin

Thanks!

substructure

Cat 3 sprint Crash. See the black and red tent in the second picture. Me, truckin, and several Carolina Masters were sippin beers and witnessed several sprint crashes after our races.
The sound and smell is something you can never get used to.

And this is why I don't want to race Cat3s too much. There's been a ton of crashes this year in Cat3s.

Bantam

I'm not sure if I want to use this thread or my blog as my road to recovery documentation place. I'll probably do both.

As for me, the road rash is healing nicely, nothing seems out of sorts. My knee has the stitches and is immobilized. I go back for my checkup as soon as I finish typing this. I'm hoping they cut my estimated time on the IR list to 7 days. Paralympic nationals are in 11 weeks, so time off the bike is becoming more costly.

My bike, which I should post pictures of, is trashed. I'm currently looking at my options. Right now the front runners are a CAAD9 (so bf cliche, but I really loved my six13), BMC streetfire, Spec S-Works E5, or a Leader (a buddy of mine knows the importer). As you can see, I'm going to be on Alu. I liked riding a high end bike, but I can see that the difference will be me, not my frame. I can't justify an expensive frame after seeing what happened to my six13. It's a race bike, and race bikes get thrashed, crashed, and trashed.

substructure

Hope all goes well, B.

Keep us posted.

Bantam

The stitches come out in 7 days. I'm going to go to the gym at school and get on a handbike and may try doing one legged rowing on a C2. Just need to keep the heart beating.

I talked to the coach and he wants me to experiment with some trainer work early next week, but if the stitches look strained I'm supposed to abort.

On the bike front I'm going to be on a CAAD9 unless something just super dirt cheep come through today.