Saturday

Some of Velocity Nations’s readers may be familiar with a Neti Pot. It’s a Ayurvedic procedure in which one floods the nasal passages with fluid in the hopes that clean sinuses will prevent illness. I pass this along as Saturday morning’s CRCA B race was a Neti Pot on wheels…with potholes and puddles thrown in for free. The rain had pretty much stopped until about 1 minute before the race when Todd BRILLIANT! and I noticed that a steady drizzle had just begun. Great…and off we went. The rooster tails off the bikes combined with the falling rain created a faux spa experience. I imagined walking into one of those ritzy midtown spas where the workers wear a lot of black and have unidentifiable but distinctive European accents, “Ah, Velcome to Veels, Velmets and Vun Bicycle Spa. Are you here for ze Vooster Tail Neti Pot vacial treatment?’ I was still sneezing gravel on Saturday afternoon.

Back to the race – I have terrible recollection of races (unlike some of my friends who remember every single event and know every other rider’s bike by heart) but if my recollection is correct we rode quickly and safely for five laps. It was great to see the guys from the other teams – Kimani from SA.net, Dave from Sid’s,Todd BRILLIANT! from Setanta, the list goes on and on. Knowing these and other riders makes one so much more comfortable in the pack. It’s nice to report that for our five laps, which weren’t particularly speedy (see cold and wet) were crash free. (Countdown begins to snarky comment about how could B’s crash when they ride so slow….)

I would love to report the top 5 riders but being that I was keeping an eye on the back of the field (rather unintentionally mind you) all I know is the Money Earnin’ Jimernin from Organic took 5th.

Sunday

Haven’t tempted fate enough in the rain on Saturday, I decided to give the Spring Series a go on Sunday. The torrential rains on Saturday plus the windstorm that followed didn’t bode too well for the conditions. It was actually a glorious combination of adversity – post rainstorm black ice, debris lining the road (it was like riding through an asteroid belt), post Daylight Savings Time darkness and a shortened course created a wonderful opportunity to personally participate in our national debate on health care. Interestingly enough the 3/4 race was relatively crash free with two riders taking each other down during the final sprint up Cat’s Paw. In his book Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzales writes about how people in dangerous/risky jobs tend to make errors when the task repeats itself over and over again, but the moment in which the pattern or expectation changes the ‘antennae’, so to speak, go up and there’s less injury/disaster. I think the course being altered is an example of that. We were all highly focused on the new expectations and as a result less inclined to make errors leading to crashes.

The 3/4 race itself went out rather quickly as I think some of the teams wanted to use the altered course to force a shake out of the field. The majority of the riders were able to hang in and eventually the race fell into a reasonable pace. There were no major attempts at breaks and the race came down to positioning for the final sprint. Note – for that specific information I would suggest that you check in with someone who was actually near the front at that time. After doing my best to get our faster guys up front I was pretty much cooked going into Cat’s Paw. What I do know is that Dr. Jeff took 6th and with his $31.00 in prize money lavished his teammates with brunch.

All in all a great weekend of March racing. Like many of us with major family/life commitments outside of the sport, I’ll take it where I can get it. I look forward to Grant’s Tomb next week and hopefully we’re done getting our share of rain, ice, wind, and flying branches.

Have a good week everyone!