30 miles and learning that the smartest decisions in a race may be made at registration
Published in
2 min readFeb 19, 2017
Bo rolled in well behind the field in the Cat 3/4 race, 29th of 30, laughing. I wondered why he wasn’t in our Cat 4/5 race, where he’d place higher.
We lined up for our race and the mist got heavier; it was hard to avoid the gritty wheel spray and its sour mechanical taste. Like most 4/5 fields it was a mix of experienced racers and beginners. Four 10-mile laps. If it got sketchy I’d bail. Beginning the final lap it did. A rider ahead went down. I saw a spray of sparks but a clear path. Then his wheel slid over; instantly I was on my back. The crash crushed the back of my helmet and tore a small hole in my jersey. Other than that barely a scrape. I guess I somersaulted over the bars — and stuck the landing. Should’ve raced with Bo.
