Race Report: Quad Cross 2010 Elites: WWRMMD? He'd Pull

Special Thanks to Pedal Power Photography for providing images (excepting Kyle's sad face). Thanks.

First off, I like this race. Its very local (Cary and I prerode the course the night before the race). It is a nice challenging course with lots of tight turns and some good power sections. There are even a few places that require a bit of finesse. Its essentially a grass crit punctuated with a few tricky sections. It is a well organized grassroots event that has built on its popularity every year. I consider this the season opener.

My race is fairly easy to sum up. I got a front row start. Didn't pay attention, and the whistle caught me unawares. I got jostled off my bike as I was clipping in, nearly crashed. I was close to last coming into the hole shot.




I fought back for a few places, battled with Colin Murphy,





a troubled David Wilcox (I think he had some sort of mishap that relegated him to the scrum),






Cort Cramer and a troubled Mike Rowell.

I was feeling pretty good and felt like a lot of the race had passed (felt like more than half). So I decided to look up at the lap cards on the next lap. 8 to go. I was crushed. Colin says that I audibly cracked inside. I am pretty sure that I cursed, maybe gesticulated wildly to indicate disbelief. Either way, I knew I was screwed, but not for the normal reasons.

My lower back has been troubling me all week. Saturday, I put in a few efforts, which did not help matters. The morning of Quad, I was even questioning if I could race. But the prospect of putting the screws to an under trained Cary Fridrich (yeah, I now realize that I underestimated The Mantis),





new dad Colin Murphy (that didn't really go my way either)

and triathlete Cort Cramer (this was going OK, but I realize that this is a temporary state of affairs) was too much to leave on the table. Anyway, my back was spasming slightly for the whole race. The spasms built to a crescendo of agony which left me unable to turn the pedals.

It actually broke down entirely on the back section as I was powering up the little hill after the loose corner through the sand. I was on my way to closing down a small gap I had allowed to open between the Colin/Wilcox group, as was my plan since I seemed to be taking this section faster than Colin (I'd let a gap open before this section and shut it down easily in it).





I was feeling good, having taken the sandy corner well and was on my way to shutting the gap down before the curb.

My back completely locked up. I slow pedaled to the start/finish. I pulled. I had no choice. I was unable to actually keep a bicycle moving even at back of the pack cat 4 speed. In fact, I was unable to pedal up the little hill after the pavement. I walked to the officials stooped over in agony. I asked the officials to DNF me.

I am filled with shame. If I had scored a decent result, Colin Reuter inferred that he would have comped my race fee at The Night Weasels Cometh, aka Usurper of October 6th's Wednesday Night SuperPrestige. $38 out the window. I may be forced to raise the WNSP "donation" in order to recoup this shameful loss.

I was not able to "Reap" anyone, as Kyle Smith has become quite fond of saying. Speaking of which, Da Kylah crashed pretty hard and broke some bones and will be off the bike for a few weeks, send him your regards.



He likes wine. And fine foods. And attractive ladies. Bring these things to him.

Even though I am extremely uncomfortable (I am not allowed to take effective painkillers) and the doctor ordered me off the bike at least I didn't actually break anything, so I shouldn't complain.

As for the fast folks. This dude put the screws to Adam Myerson and pulled off the win:

Big congratulations to Dylan and Pedro's.

This guy:

While I raced with Wissell last year and beat him occasionally, I never saw him during our race. He must have gotten faster.

The Mantis finished in the money. God Damn It! Coach, altitude tent and EPO have all moved to the top of the agenda!