40 people at the starting line. We were grouped with the A's and they indicated that they would pull riders for the first 20 minutes but would leave you in after that because of the 2 separate groups. We started so hard, I never saw Dave after the start. I went out trying to keep up with the lead group. I didn't quite make it but was bridging my way up and was within 20 seconds of them at the 15 minute mark. I just passed the last straggler from the first group and somehow made a wrong turn (stupid, stupid, stupid). I quickly saw my error and turned around just as the 2nd group passed. I got on the back of the group and by that point on the next lap, I was back at the front of the group. After another lap, I was controlling the pace and in good shape. There was only 1 Cat 5B in the lead group and felt 2nd was solid. On the 8 lap they ran the bell for us and offered up a prime (intermediate prize) for the first in our group to finish the next lap). I was in the lead, but didn't really want to fight for a prime. The primes were just booze and I wanted to save my strength for the finish. I was in the lead, so I backed down on the pace, hoping that the guys who wanted the prime would go for it and I would just duck in behind saving energy. At first no one would pass me, finally about half way, I just sat up. Finally 4 guys took past me. I ducked in about 10 feet behind and followed them through the final turn. I was coming around the corner and one guy was passing another on the turn and clipped his wheel, the guy getting passed went down and the guy behind him slid into my line. I hit the breaks but had to go into the curb to avoid running over the guy. I was breaking and unclipping and I hit the curb and flipped head over to the opposite side that I had clipped out. Luckily I was able to slow before hitting the curb. I quickly jumped up and looked around, my brake hood on the right was bent back against the handle bar. I actually thought I broke the bar. I jumped back on the bike as I wanted to finish without being lapped by the lead group. I dropped to the small chain and caught my breath. The guy who was just in front of me in the overall results was by my side. He had fell too and we were together with 2 laps to go. We pulled each other but were passed on the last lap by about 5 of the lead group. He asked if I wanted to cross together and I said, "lets take the last turn easy and then sprint it out to the finish. He outsprinted me fair and square.

Not lose focus. I was so excited about how good I felt, I made a huge mental error with the wrong turn. I am not sure that I would have caught the first group, but I am confident I would not have been back in the 2nd pack if I would have stayed on course. I also wouldn't have been in the position to be in the crash I was in (I could have been in a different crash :)). The crash moved me down from 2nd or 3rd to 10th in the Crit.

The wreck was not my fault and the only way I could have stayed up was to jump the gutter up to the curb and even if I would have thought of it, I would not have tried it. It happened so fast.

I just stopped, nothing else


mental error, I got overconfident and lost concentration.


My friend Dave got pulled at 16 minutes. He had a bad start, got blocked and couldn't get back.

No serious injuries, had a little brush burn on my face, my leg, and my shoulder. Nothing serious, no road rash and the break hood on the bike appears to be an easy fix. One guy offered to fix it but I wouldn't let him as I wanted to show my wife and the guy at my bike shop. I tried to get Dave to punch me, to make the brush burn on my face bruise but he wouldn't go for it.

The race was terrific. Organization was a little lacking compared to triathlons. Nothing started on time and the awards for all 3 races were done on Sunday. They didn't do the 5 B's until after the Cat 123's finished so we sat around and waited for 2 more hours. I got a ceramic medal for 2nd in the time trial. Its the first individual award I have ever won in a race. I was very glad my friend Dave was there to share the moment with me. I ended up 4th in the overall for my category. I would have got another medal if I had beat the guy who finished with me, but if its and buts were brains and fitness we would all have a yellow jersey. Thank you for reading this :)