Ouch

 

True that!!

Alright, here's the (long-winded) story:
This was my first race in Cat 3 after just being upgraded. I didn't realise that there is such a huge jump from 4 to 3 in terms of handling skill and confidence. I definitely have the power and the tactics for it, but I'm not used to riding with such a large group of guys who actually know wtf they are doing. I'm used to having to watch out for everybody else and not being able to trust any of the other riders. Well, Cat 3 doesn't work like that. Everybody knows what they're doing and there are rarely crashes. Guys ride neck and neck, inches apart from the guy next to you on either side, in front and behind you. You just have to trust them. I got super clausterphobic and couldn't handle being so close to everyone else at such a high speed on what was a fairly sketchy crit course. We averaged 41km/h in this race, taking corners five wide. It was by far the most intense race I've ever done.

So I opted to go on the outside... Half way through the corner, the guy on my right made a really weird twitchy adjustment to his line, and I overreacted and moved out another couple inches....well I didn't HAVE another couple inches. That guy was really twitchy all weekend, and it really started to grate my nerves. My throught process at this point went from "I'm going to hit the mat" immediately to "Ok I hit the mat and I'm flat on my ***." It happened so fast that I can't really explain what happened between when I realised I was going to hit the wall and then realising I was on my *** on the pavement haha... I checked over everything and it looked okay for the most part, so I got up and re-joined to finish the race. Only injury is a really sore right shoulder and I think I might have cracked my frame at the water cage bolt hole. I managed to completely luck out on that one... my bike and I were both fine, didn't even shred my jersey up. But I don't ever want to try and repeat it with the same results!! There were THREE other crashes on that same corner in this race (not in my category though) and they were all NASTY...lot's of torn skin and the soul-diminishing sound of carbon fiber crashing and skidding against the pavement at 40km/h.

 

damn yea going that fast and being that close to other riders is kinda awkward I always lucked out I mainly did mountain bikes and bmx so dirt is a little more forgiving sometimes . glad ya made it out all good though.

 

 

Next time you go head over heels it should be for a beautiful girl.. at least ya didn't break your face.

 

Dude they even painted it that bright *** yellow so you would see it!!!

 

haha that sounds like a better plan

well when you put it like that....

 

atleast it wasn't a solid concrete barrier, it looks like it had some sort of padding on it.....

 

Head down a@@ up and steady gettin it

 

we the walls like soft?? the look like there mad of foam.. which makes it less painfull thats pretty sweet though hahaha