Race Report, Poolesville Road Race 5/15

Here's what went down:

Before the gun:
- We lined up and the race official told me my number wasn't visible from the side. Pinning on a race number is like a fine art. I like to think I've gotten pretty good at it. It's a tough balance between getting it on there in a way that it's comfortable and keeping the official happy. The way they want it, it's not comfortable. I guess she wasn't happy with the pin job and the guy next to me had to fix it. I'm pretty sure these officials have never bothered pinning a number on themselves.

Lap 1:
- I felt like crap. I was about half way back in the field for most of it. I had no snap. Every corner seemed like a death march to get back on the wheel in front of me. I somehow ended up in a small pocket of guys who didn't want to ride close to anyone else. They were squirrely so I got out of dodge and moved up.

- The dirt section was uneventful with everybody riding really cautiously.

- Some guy crashed on a little down hill and everybody seemed to get around him. When I came by he was sitting on his butt clutching the back of his neck facing the direction of the race screaming at the top of his lungs. I'm not sure if he was hurt or if this was his strategy to draw attention to the fact that he was in the middle of the road. Hopefully it was the later. It didn't seem like an "I'm in pain scream." It certainly made me take notice. Oh, and I guess the fact that everybody was swerving around him also.

Lap 2:
- A group of about 10 missed a right hand turn and kept going straight. Equal blame should be on the guys who went straight and the road guard in that corner who as basically hidden to the outside of the turn and saying "left turn" while pointing to the right. Of course the guys who were numbers 11-20 went right and instead of sitting up to let these guys get back on, they hit the gas. I've never understood this tactic or etiquette in amateur racing. I'm not saying you have to sit up and wait every time there's a crash or someone gets a flat, but when something like this happens, do you really feel good if you won because some guys didn't make the turn? I shouted to wait, but nobody did so I had to go with the pace. What can you do?

- Gravel section: Uneventful except for the two guys behind me who were dropping F-bombs at each other for something. I thought they were joking till I looked back and saw rage in both their eyes. I was sort of hoping they'd fight. That'd have been funny.

- There was one guy off the front and nobody was riding. I took about a 2 mile pull to just see if the body would respond. I wasn't exactly punching the gas during this pull but at least I put my nose in the wind and came through the start/finish where Jill was sitting on the front of the group. That turn was sharper than I remembered and I almost overcooked it. Almost.

Lap 3:
- I moved off the front and flicked my elbow. Nobody came through. I look back and the guy behind me looks dead. So, I move back over to the front and keep driving it.

- Gravel Section: Finally some excitement! Three dudes go down on the inside of the turn. Me and another guy have to go around them changing our lines once we're already in the gravel. I see his rear wheel slide and I feel mine do the same. We both get back on the packed stuff and chase back onto the group. Well, actually that wasn't that exciting at all.

- I get to the inside of the group to get a shield from the wind on this back section. This position means I'm forced into the gutter a bit later as a couple guys are moving to their right for some reason. I can't say for sure, but this is probably where I hit some weird section of pavement or rocks or sticks or some sort of shrapnel.

- About a mile later a guy behind me is saying "NCVC you're flat." But there's like 1,000 NCVC riders per field so I have no idea if he's talking to me or not and since I don't feel like I'm flat I ignore him. He says it again. I look down and it doesn't look like either tire is flat. He rides up beside me to ensure that he's talking to me. I look back down, I'm flat. I throw my hand up in the air so people will go around me and I coast to a stop. I'm pretty sure I curse a lot in the process.

- I wait for the sag wagon. Day over.

It's a shame. I was starting to feel better and where I flatted we only had a bit more and 1 lap to go, probably like 10 miles or so left. Definitely enough to stay in and see what happened. Maybe take a last lap dig. I was trying to figure out what I thought might make the most sense. For all the hype built up around this race about how hard the course was, I found it to be just the opposite. I was feeling like total crap for the first 20 miles and was still able to safely stay in the field. When I pre-rode the thing solo I thought it was hard, but maybe that's because I already had 60 miles in my legs before getting there? Who knows. I have no idea who even won. Once I was flat and got a ride back to the parking lot, I walked back to meet Jill, we got in the car, and left.

An odd thing that stood out:
There was a lot of cursing in this race which I'm generally a fan of. I don't know if it was high nerves because everybody was scared to flat out or what but it seemed like the slightest touches or movement made guys fly off the handle at each other. There's one little steep pitch after the gravel section that nobody was really riding up very fast. On the second lap one guy moved over into another guy on the right and the guy on the right just lit into him, "M-fer, get the f off of me. Ride a straight f-ing line." The guy who receiving this lashing immediately blamed somebody else for moving in on him, which is clearly the right defense, even though as I was right behind them, it was totally his fault. This guy caused a crash a few weeks ago, he sucks at riding his bike in a straight line. But this was just an example where I was right there to see it go down. There were f-bombs been tossed around everywhere. Lots of angry Cat 4s. Must be something in the water?