6/16/07 by Russ Fogle
Here's a little race report from Garrett Wonders and a cat. 4/5 race in Wapakoneta on monday.
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The garrett wonders crit started off pretty good for me. I took part in a juniors cycling camp, and the junior race saturday was included. the day before the race, I talked to another strong rider with no teammates and we agreed to go for a breakaway with ten minutes to go in the twenty minute race. Once the race got going I got bored with the sub-twenty mph pace. I found the other rider (Taylor was his name, I think) and I attacked with him on my wheel at the end of the first lap, about two and a half minutes in. That cut the field down to about seven riders, and still nobody wanted to work. I took an easy pull going into turn 2 and attacked again coming out of the turn. that dropped everyone but Taylor, and we were good to go. we stayed away the rest of the race. Since we were racing with 13-14, 17-21, and women 15-21 there was a good bit of confusion about the finishing lap. Neither of us heard the bell, so we kept working together to the end. Taylor was pulling when we crossed the line so he won.
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I was the only junior who stuck around for the 3/4 race, everyone else said they were too tired. It started out a little harder than I expected, probably because I got a bad start and was riding the whip. It took me about six laps to move up, and I stayed near the front for most of the race. coming into the last lap, I was around tenth place, in pretty good position to get some cash for Matt and myself. Then in turn three, I was on the outside and an independent rider rode me literally into the curb. I flipped over on my left and slid a couple yards down the grass/sidewalk. In the process, I gave the first fifteen or so riders a gap, leaving Matt with no chance of placing. I got a little road rash, but nothing too bad because I landed in the grass except for my head, which landed on the sidewalk cracking my helmet in 4 places.
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The cat. 4/5 race on Monday was going pretty well for me too. After an exciting start (on the third lap, one guy put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me off the wheel he wanted, we dropped him so it's ok) I found my way into a break with three other riders. I didn't even notice, but from what I'm told we were away for three or four laps. With about eight laps to go, going throught turn 1, my rear tire slipped like it's been doing a lot recently, but this time it popped off the ground about a foot. I'm changing the tire tonight. When it came back down, it caught on the pavement. I "high-sided", as my dad says, and slammed down to the outside, right on top of the road rash from Saturday. My glasses were on the inside of my helmet strap so they came up and sliced my head open under my helmet, about 2 cm long (two skin staples worth). I was taken to the hospital, where the scabs from saturday and a few weeks ago thursday confused the doctors a bit. I got all kinds of x-rays, a cat scan, an IV, and two head staples, and they said it was ok to leave. My team kit's looking a little ratty, and my mom will have to sew it up again, but I saved my shorts from being cut off all the way by the paramedics. I'm going to do my best to finish GOBA, even pedal one-legged if I have to, but if my head still hurts tomorrow, I'll be done for a little while. Much thanks to Tom Collier, SFW member, who took care of my and my dad's bikes while we were at the hospital.
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-Russ