Sunday, June 05, 2011

NASCAR or MTB Racing?

Lately I've been questioning my bad luck at races and trying hard to think of what other form of racing it reminds me of. It has to be NASCAR with the broken bike parts and crashes. At Cohutta I was cruising comfortably along with aid station 1 in sight when track debris took out my transmission(rear derailleur) and my day was done. Yesterday at the Mohican I was where I needed to be after the mile long start climb and at the front of the chase group getting into the woods when I was part of the first crash (yellow caution) that would end my day of racing. Coming down the first steep and washed out hill, an impatient racer (trying to win it with 95mi to go) recklessly passed me on the left and lost control immediately! With no place to go and without a NASCAR spotter keeping me out of trouble, I plowed into the bike and rider hoping my big wheels would turn this into just a speed bump on the course. This idea seemed good until I was half way across the downed racer and I realized that I was going down and it wasn't going to be pretty. I barely recall the initial impact than it was a blur for a handful of seconds as I tried to get up off the ground and untangle my body from forest debris and bikes. Right away I knew something wasn't right from the pain in my left side upper back and neck. I slowly pedalled and walked the next 3 miles until my crash adrenaline wore off where I decided it was probably best to call it a day and get looked at. A big disappointment as I've finished this race two out of the last three years and felt that I had a good result coming from knowing the course well and feeling good both mentally and physically.

Along with a very sore neck I am glad not to have had a possible concussion that a few people were concerned about because of my soil sample that I took upon impact. The bruises and dirt rash will heal quickly, but the neck will take some time starting tomorrow with a few appointments.

Crashes and broken parts are a big part of racing which I hope I've gotten out of my system for rest of the season! I want to race mountain bikes, not be carnage like in a NASCAR race because of impatient racers...

Congrats to the rest of my Adventure 212/Specialized teammates(Chris & Mark w/ sidekick Lee) and especially Michelle for winning the 65 mile race in record time!!!

Thanks again to all of my sponsors! Adventure 212, Specialized, Hostel Shoppe, NoTubes, Crankbrothers, Optic Nerve, Scrub, Hidden Bay Sports, Ergon and Twin 6!

Pedal on...

1 comment:

svenofthenorth said...

Nice post Scott, and a very apt comparison. Hope the rest of the year gets better. Not sure about you, but it's getting tougher to recover the older I get!