Color Country Cycling Club Newsletter

I was up at 4:15 and had my bike in the second row of the Platinum Wave at 5 AM. The overnight temperatures were in the low 50s so no extra clothing was required and there was no shivering at the start. Just before the start I noticed Scott take his place in the VIP section. I went up and exchanged a few words.
The beginning of the race was very slow and left far too many in the front pack. I ended up biffing in the first sand crossing. The group I was in was not very interested in chasing so we rolled along at a pretty pedestrian pace. I was amazed when we caught the front group. I have no idea why the front 40 or so riders did not try harder to keep the large pack I was in from joining them. It seemed like there were 400 in the front group, but it was probably just a little over 200. It was very difficult to stay near the front. About 6 miles from the second crossing there was a crash in front of me and a little to the right. I thought the rider in front of me was going to clear it, but at the last second he decided to go down and put his bike across the road right in front of me. I hit his wheel and went down. When I got back up and started pedaling I was not moving. I jumped back off to put the chain on. The Mavic boys showed up and helped get the chain on and gave me a push, but the race was over.
I got into a group of 6 riders and I figured if we kept rolling through we could catch the back of the front group at the second crossing. Just as we approached the end of the pavement there was the end of the pack. By the time we came out we were into the tail end of the pack. Unfortunately, by the time we crested the climb out of the crossing I was in a group that either was not interested in catching the group in front or was unable to catch the group in front. I ended up in a group of 8, so we all had to do a lot of work. Only a couple riders caught us, but we did pick up some riders that came back to us. With the winds and the small group (it swelled to all of 20 riders) it meant a lot of work.
With about 7 miles to go 2 guys rolled off the front of our group. The others of us that had been working found ourselves in no man’s land. Without a word spoken we all concluded it was better to catch the 2 rather than go back to the group. The group of 5 worked fairly well and there seemed to be no interest in the group behind. However with 2 miles to go they caught us. In the sprint, when I went to stand up, I cramped and was unable to contest it. The 2 riders that finished immediately in front of me were both in my age group.
I bumped into Scott again while checking the results. He had taken the sprint out of a group of about 125 riders. He just nipped John Howard for 20th. I still finished in the top 200—172nd—and I was in the top 10 in my age group—8th. I was disappointed, but there is always next year. I will not talk to John Howard before the ride.
I ended up with both knees banged up and a blood blister on my finger. Maybe mountain bike riding isn’t any more hazardous to my body than road riding. No pictures of the boo-boos.