Running cold water down my legs the night before helped with my acidic legs for UC Berkeley's crit. I was running a little short on sleep but my legs felt pretty good. On my trainer warm-up, I was feeling pretty meh and agreed with Christian when he said "I hope my legs feel better during the race" because sometimes, that does happen especially when the adrenaline kicks in.
When the race started I was probably at 90% of my max effort already. I didn't have a HRM because 1) I was too lazy to put it on and 2) I thought power would be enough for 40 mins. However, during the race, it would've been nice to see the relativity because I was hitting really high numbers on the uphill S/F section on Durant.
For most of the time, I was struggling to maintain 2 or 3 bike lengths from the last person in the actual pack, but there were a few guys tailing off of me as well. The beginning was really hard for me, and for about the first 10 laps I was finding it hard to drink. The best place would be thee corner after the uphill but that really limited how I took the corner, and I had to stay away for safety.
My handling was really sloppy in this race. Last year, I was able to consistently find the best line. For some reason, my lines--especially in the 3rd corner, were inconsistent and inefficient, most likely because I was afraid of hitting the potholes which actually weren't really clear to me.
Toward 3/4 of the race I was feeling better or the pack was getting tired. I was finally able to move up and drink a little more. I moved up high but they still weren't showing lap cards which would come up with 9 laps to go, or about 10 minutes to go. Before I knew it, they were showing it. My lines through corner 3 were getting better, but still not the best! But moving up was getting easier on the uphill.
With 4 to go, I told myself to stay and fight the position I was in until the sprint. I was able to until people started to come up on the outside with 3 to go. I knew that I would have to go harder, and the best place to do it would be on the uphill. I knew I needed to take full advantage of the uphill to secure a leading spot in the pack.
At this point my mental focus was optimal and we entering the 3rd corner, where I took a good line. I exited the corner hard and fast to hold a good position for the uphill, and I was able to hear the Bell lap bell.
But I took the corner way too wide especially since there were people in my inside, so an optimal apex line was out of the question. The line I took would've actually been fine, had it not been for an awkward groove in the road that I didn't see! most likely since it was in a dark shaded area. The groove itself wasn't much, but the problem was that upon exiting, I stood up and dialed in some power, about 582w to be exact, and the groove facilitated in shifting my inertia to the front when my rear wheel lifted due to my jump.
The whole thing happened slowly (visually). I felt an awkward change in the road, but it was a smooth change, not like hitting a pothole. It was like going on a small ramp. Needless to say, when I was already going over my bars, I was already wondering what was going on. Nobody was really to my side and I didn't run over the boundary pole bases.
I was actually slightly able to brace for impact due to having almost full situational awareness. So I ducked into a fetal position, arms in front of my chest and braced for the impact on the ground. When I was on the ground, someone ran over me which was actually the part that hurt more. It turned out to be my teammate Christian, who went over and asked me if I was okay. I had a little sensation of the air being knocked out of me, but my lower back was hurting so I didn't move or say anything.
After the EMT's came, I gave them all solid answers to the questions so they ruled out major injuries. I also checked myself and I had small scrapes and minor road rash. The real pain was my lower back but it was caused from landing on a plastic tube repair box which housed my catholic rosary. It must have caused some trauma from its edges but nonetheless I was okay.
The worst result was walking with a limp but other than that I'm fine. Christian was okay too, and he was able to do the E4/5 race, but I wasn't. The post crash morning was a bummer but I got through it, and I took multiple rides on the school shuttle on my university. However, I think I'll be okay for the most part of my recovery which I'm hoping will be short and sweet.
Today, only the neck whiplash, some trauma areas, and my left pelvic joint area are my injuries preventing me from riding, but I can already feel that I'm recovering quick.
After 4 years of racing that was actually my first crash during a race. I'm glad it was nothing serious, I'm bummed that it caused a small chain reaction. My bike is fine--it has a few cosmetic scars on the shifters but it still functions and my decision in choosing an aluminum frame (CAAD) was rational yet again.
I had no race plans in the next few weeks so that's a relief, and my hours are cutting down (due to harder weeks in training) and I have a cushion for missing hours. Overall I don't think this will set me back significantly.
Anyways, it was a fun race and I was looking forward to doing well, even with bad form. Even so, I'm still greatly happy I was finally able to get some upgrade points the day before and am looking forward to coming back to the races in a few weeks!
--DB
"Wear a helmet."
-- Anonymous
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