An old shot from the 'drome compliments of ChloeI really wanted to have all of my season wrecks done at NVGP back in June. I figured biting it three times in the same race was more than enough to last the remainder of the season. Then I went to the track on Thursday night. Racing at the track has been sort of an adjunct to this season so far - I'm really not emotionally invested in track racing at all right now but it's good training and can be a lot of fun. I decided to race with the Cat 3 men as the field was bigger than the women's field and the guys are more aggressive, so there's less attack/sit-up/attack/sit-up in men's racing. They just kind of go harder and faster the entire time with more aggressive moves along the way, unlike the women's field which can sometimes be very pedestrian. I usually get my ass handed to me by the guys but was able to get 4th in the second session's scratch race and a whopping $5.
The last event of the evening for the 3's was a points race and everything was going reasonably well. The speed was getting up in the last lap - I don't have a computer on my track bike but we had to be hitting the upper 20's or even 30mph down the back stretch going into turn 3. I was in the sprinter's lane and hanging on when a rider (who shall remain anonymous as I don't want to start any drama) came down the track and shoved his elbow into my shoulder and knocked me down/Jones'd me - freaking hard.
The guy must outweigh me by at least 80lbs and he did not look before coming down - or he would have surely seen me and stayed high as track racing etiquette dictates. On the way down I think my front wheel was clipped by his back wheel and I went over the bars, hit the ground, was hit by my bike as it flew over me and then I continued forward about 10ft until finally sliding down the track and stopping halfway through turn 3. I didn't move right away because I didn't want to get run over by anyone behind us.
I stayed down for a few seconds and then sat up and noticed that my bike was somewhere in the infield. Yeah it hurt like hell but I was really more pissed than hurt so just sitting there wasn't going do do me any good - I picked up my bike and wanted so much to just throw it out of anger and frustration. Fortunately someone was there to take it from me. It was irresponsible of an experienced racer to come down the track without looking and while it might be wrong to think so, I can't say for sure that the move wasn't deliberate. He never came over to apologize.
So I have a ginormous burn and bruise on my right hip and ass - it looks like a third ass cheek. Gross. Yesterday someone intimated that it looked like an alien's attempted exodus. Thanks. My elbow, knee, ribs and ankle are all bruised and burned. My shoulder and neck are very sore and the top tube on my bike is dented. I'm okay, but it could have been so much worse. Thanks to everyone who ran over to make sure that I was alright - it couldn't have looked good.
Don't worry Mom and Dad - I am and will be FINE.
The last event of the evening for the 3's was a points race and everything was going reasonably well. The speed was getting up in the last lap - I don't have a computer on my track bike but we had to be hitting the upper 20's or even 30mph down the back stretch going into turn 3. I was in the sprinter's lane and hanging on when a rider (who shall remain anonymous as I don't want to start any drama) came down the track and shoved his elbow into my shoulder and knocked me down/Jones'd me - freaking hard.
The guy must outweigh me by at least 80lbs and he did not look before coming down - or he would have surely seen me and stayed high as track racing etiquette dictates. On the way down I think my front wheel was clipped by his back wheel and I went over the bars, hit the ground, was hit by my bike as it flew over me and then I continued forward about 10ft until finally sliding down the track and stopping halfway through turn 3. I didn't move right away because I didn't want to get run over by anyone behind us.
I stayed down for a few seconds and then sat up and noticed that my bike was somewhere in the infield. Yeah it hurt like hell but I was really more pissed than hurt so just sitting there wasn't going do do me any good - I picked up my bike and wanted so much to just throw it out of anger and frustration. Fortunately someone was there to take it from me. It was irresponsible of an experienced racer to come down the track without looking and while it might be wrong to think so, I can't say for sure that the move wasn't deliberate. He never came over to apologize.
So I have a ginormous burn and bruise on my right hip and ass - it looks like a third ass cheek. Gross. Yesterday someone intimated that it looked like an alien's attempted exodus. Thanks. My elbow, knee, ribs and ankle are all bruised and burned. My shoulder and neck are very sore and the top tube on my bike is dented. I'm okay, but it could have been so much worse. Thanks to everyone who ran over to make sure that I was alright - it couldn't have looked good.
Don't worry Mom and Dad - I am and will be FINE.
