My original plan was to spend the week prior to the wedding (by coincidence only) doing the following races:
- Tues, June 1 - GVCC Team Time Trial (TTT)
- Thurs, June 3 - JP Morgan Chase Corp. Challenge (3.5 mile running race)
- June 4-6 - Full Moon Vista Grand Prix - three race series consisting of a friday night crit, saturday road race and sunday crit.
As you might have guessed by the wording "my original plan", things did not go as planned.
My "5 races in 6 days" idea started out great with the TTT - I teamed up with Rick, Jason and Chad for the first ever GVCC team time trial. It was the first time I'd competed in this format and I have to say, it was one of the funnest races I've done that wasn't on skis. It was tough, and full gas for over 40 minutes. I'm sure it added to the fun that Jason, Chad and I have spent so many hours training together in various activities and Rick is quickly becoming a great riding partner and teammate. We ended up winning our category and beat some of the A teams, and were close to a few others, so we definitely came away happy, but also motivated to beat the benchmark we set, one month from now when we give the TTT another go.
The Corporate Challenge went ok, I haven't been running a ton, so I wasn't delusional about what my time might be, but I wanted to give the team a good chance to do well. It turns out the other guys one the Harris team all had great races, and I was pretty average, but the Fleet Feet team had 3 guys in the top 10 and another in the top 20, so it would have taken something really special to beat them. I think we may have ended up 2nd, which would be the best finish ever for Harris. So it was a good day, despite the fact that we were really hoping to come away with the "W".
Friday was when things started to go sideways (literally). Let me start by saying that the Full Moon Vista squad puts on some amazing events and this was no exception, extremely well run and very organized. Once you read the following paragraph, you may think I had a negative impression of the race, which couldn't be farther from the truth.
The first race of the Full Moon Vista grand prix was a criterium in Genessee Valley Park. As stated previously, crits aren't my favorite thing, but I'd like to improve, so I went into it feeling positive that I could have a good day. The race started out ok, things were fast but comfortable, then 3 or 4 laps in there was a crash, which took Chad out (he was ok), Jason and I braked to avoid it and were gapped by about 10 riders. I knew there were some strong riders (including Rick) in that group and immediately went into TT mode to try and catch on as did Jason (who was ahead of me when the crash happened). Chase, chase, chase, and 5 or 6 laps later I made the bridge, Jason had already bridged the gap along with a couple others, but for everyone else, it was game over at that point. Once I made it to the break, I immediately thought 'ok, chill out, sit on the wheels and recover, you're still in this'. I did that for another 5 or 6 laps. At this point there was 14 or 15 guys in the front group and we were riding hard, but nothing crazy, I was feeling pretty good. Now we're starting to get towards the end, and I started to think about how to move up - we had Rick, Jason and I in the front group, so we had good numbers for the team, we should be able to come up with something, right? Not so much, with 8 laps to go, I took one of the corners a little too aggressively and crashed pretty hard (or at least that's what everyone told me who either saw it or heard it). My back and helmet took most of the force of the fall (Uvex helmet is no-joke, not even a scratch!). I was a little dazed, but thankfully, a pair of volunteers (who happen to be xc skiers I know) were right on top of the crash to get me and my bike off the race course. Once I took inventory, I felt ok, pretty banged up, but nothing seemed serious, bike was also ok. The volunteers had just finished picking me up, when Jason went down in the same corner, literally into some hay-bails (note to race organizers - If you think it's a good idea to put hay-bails in a corner, it's probably a better idea to not put that corner in the race course in the first place, I digress). He was also ok. Then Rick got stuck in a tough spot, because the front group lapped the rest of the field with one lap to go, which cause some extreme confusion by everyone, so he never really had a chance in the final sprint, so the team went from being in a great position to being totally out of it in the matter of 6-7 minutes...that's bike racing I guess. I will say, it definitely meant a lot that there were so many riders who came up to me after the race and again this morning to make sure I was ok. The GVCC crew definitely has some good folk in it, no doubt about that.
Anyways, I got home last night still hoping to race today, but when I got up this morning I was really hurting. I tried warming up to give it a go, but couldn't get out of the saddle to climb without my tailbone really causing some pain, so I decided to pull the plug. Total bummer, I had been looking forward to this particular race because it was a tough, hilly course as opposed to the sprint finishes and criteriums that seem to have dominated my season so far. So, I ended up watching the race in street clothes, which is never ideal. It was however, a fun race to watch and my teammates were really strong, with 4 guys making the final group of 15, and 2 more in the second group on the road, on a very selective course. After the race, I got some x-rays done on my tailbone and everything came back negative, just a "contusion" which I think is doctor terminology for a "really bad bruise".
This morning I was definitely a little negative about my bike season thus far, which seems like a never-ending string of "what-ifs" but now I'm feeling more positive about things, I've gained a lot of experience, and I still have a lot of racing later in the summer. I am feeling fit and also having a great time riding with the guys on the team.
Now, it's time to focus on more important things like the wedding and then healing my "Coccyx Contusion" (I think that means tailbone bruise) by spending a week on the beach with my beautiful bride-to-be in Aruba!!
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