superweek - stage 1 - beverly crit

 

i crashed.  i haven't crashed during racing all season, but apparently that luck just ran out.  i race on tubular wheels - those are the kind with glue on tires.  well, i rolled my back tire off the rim on like lap 5 of the crit last night.  pretty ridiculous.  the pace was just starting to ease up and i was moving up through the field when blammo, i hit the deck in the corner at the top of the hill.  no one crashed with me - i guess that was lucky.  ripped up my shorts so that my bloody right cheek was hanging out, though.  no damage to the bike or even the back wheel - except that it needs a new tire, of course.  got up off the ground - the crowd cheered - and i ran down to the neutral pit to get a new back wheel.  got that switched out and got back into the race.  felt fine in the race, but then the wheel wasn't shifting right, so i went back to the pit where they adjusted the rear derailleur.  got back in the race again and things were fine, but then i clipped a pedal pretty hard at the turn at the bottom of the hill, and i just called it quits.  that just freaked me out, cause i was so not interested in crashing again.  i prolly could have finished just fine, but it was prolly better to just pull out and go ahead and get the wounds cleaned up.  i mean, seriously, there's 16 more days of this.  so now i've got to tend to wounds for the entire race series.  awesome.  i mean - seeriously - who crashes on day 1?  this guy.

 

the weird part about rolling that tire?  i've raced on that wheel/tire for most of the season now.  it's always been rock solid.  and *now* it decides to roll off?  whatever.