The First Race after "The Crash"

So after getting my bike repair by my former team shop "Strictly Bicycles" Ft. Lee, NJ, I decided NO time like the present to race again.

The race...Floyd Bennett Field Tuesday Night series. A CAT3/4 race on a flat, windy and rough course but should be a good test to get over the "jitters". To say I was tentative is an understatement. As the race started I immediately found myself at the back but quickly shot to the front refusing to be "nervous" but by the end of lap number 2 I was seriously looking for a way out. I felt terrible, my legs felt crappy, my road rash was burning and I was out of sorts. But then I thought....No WAY! I AM NOT QUITTING!

Then lap 5 the same thoughts crept back but I again pushed them away and stayed with the race and followed the moves. Since this is a series with a Jersey leader, it was easy to know where I wanted to be and I stayed glued as best I could to the series leader, a big rider from Deno's Wonder Wheel team that had 7 guys in the race. Again, as I have said before, the team racing in NYC is really good. They really work well, work the race and try and control.

With a seriously nasty wind, there would be no breaks because it was one of those winds that makes everyone hide. I too stayed hidden as best I could while scoping out where I wanted to be in the last lap. As we hit the last lap, doubt and nervousness reared its ugly head again and I said "Fuck you" and punched it in the face and then joined the surge. We went screaming down the back of the course and turned into the wind. That's when the teams took over trying to set up their sprinters. This is where the race gets dicey and I made sure to stay wide of the turn with 1000 meters to go. As I grabbed the wheel of the series leader, I got blocked by one of this teammates and just like that...BOOM! into the swamp weeds! F*&K!!!!!

I stayed calm and pedalled and made my way out of the swamp weeds but by then, the front of the race had started the sprint and I was dealing with a derailer that was making out with a tree branch. As I clicked up and down, the crap got dislodged and I managed a 12th place, stayed upright and finished. Just doing that felt like a victory.

As the saying goes "its like riding a bike"....yeah well who ever said that is a douche who never crashed at 30+mph in a race.