Racing is never easy. It's always tons of fun but some days are better than others. Today was one of the hardest races I've done. Only 17ºC/65ºF (cold for here) with soaked roads showing Flemish mirrors (rain stopped no more than an hour before the start and started again about 2/3 of the way into the race), I had to dress as close to my Flemish finest as I could for the race, and it ended with some lovely Flemish tan lines from riding in a group all morning. All in all it was like being right back in Northern Europe. (Quick history lesson, New York City was first settled as "New Amsterdam," thus the title, by the Dutch, the linguistic forefathers of the Flemish.) The cold was compounded by a very consistently high pace caused by constant breakaway attempts and constant reel ins. I was lucky enough to be on the front to work in both for most of the time. I was drained after the first couple laps and had to sit back and get pulled along for a little bit. By the time I started hitting the front again, the carnage began. Close to the end, a rider went down on the first curve of the descent (The "S" curve on the top right of the map). He was fine teammates were helping him out and marshals were slowing us for the sector to get us through safely. On the final lap we pass by the same rider, still down, only now being attended by the ambulance; we're funneled down into barely half a lane, I'm pushed towards the middle of the pack in the funnel. As soon as the first seven pass the ambulance, they attack hard (really jerky move in my opinion, it's not like we were racing for the rainbow jersey) one guy almost hits the ambulance as he goes down since he can't cope with the increased pace on the descent. At the bottom, halfway through the final turn two guys go down hard. The nastiest crash I have ever seen by light years; they're supposed to be ok (according to the club, but they definitely needed to go to the hospital just from what I saw). I hit the brakes and just made it around but I lost my rhythm for chasing the break and another guy who I had been collaborating with on and off for the race--there's a picture of us alone--just sat up and didn't bother chasing, they were too far up. We talked to the finish line, not caring about our placing, just thankful we managed to keep the rubber side down and the hairy side up. The most mentally taxing and stressful race I've been in, I now have a window into why the PROs say the early season races are the hardest on the mind: everyone is trying to be on the front in lousy conditions--at least we have enough road to deal with this. I've only posted photos from my group, there are more posted to the following facebook page. All Photos courtesy of SKN Photography (save for the one of my Flemish tan). https://www.facebook.com/SKNPhoto
Finish Line Video:
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