2013 Cote de Tolosa

From a personal point of view this post could also have been called "Crash Test Dummy". I should have thought about the concept of tempting the fates when I pulled on the bright orange crash test dummy socks in the morning, but they matched the new orange black and teal kit so well I couldn't resist. We got a lot of last week sign ups for this year's race, and over 70 riders took to the course at almost exactly 7:30. Normally a big pack of mixed skills riders like this gives me pause, but I was at or near the front for the cruise through town so I didn't give it much thought. Things strung out a little bit as we entered the 101 freeway shoulder and I was cruising comfortably in the first 20 or so riders not working very hard. About a mile or so before the first climb the rider immediately in front of me had a fluke accident and went down sprawling across the shoulder and leaving nowhere for me to go but over him. Luckily neither one of us was seriously hurt, but this is a far from ideal way to begin a long arduous race. I picked myself up quickly remounted the chain and got going. I was bleeding a lot from my right elbow and could tell that my right knee under the warmer was badly banged up. The adrenaline got me up the first climb without any problems, but the wounds started bothering me on the next 10-12 miles of flats. My knee was tender as the next section of climbing began, but calmed down on the steadier shallower upper parts. The long steep descent was no fun as the jarring had it's impact on my bruised and tweaked body. I managed to slam my already tender knee into the bar to add insult to injury on a creek crossing near the bottom. The final 10 miles or so of flats were particularly bad as my right hip to knee along the hamstring started really complaining. I felt pretty studly about finishing and at 4:45 came pretty close to my goal of 4:30 for the course. I think without the accident I could have hit the 4:30 or less which was my goal for the day. This would have moved me up from 40th to 30th place overall so only losing ten places due to bad luck was no big deal. Blake Anton won for the 3rd time of the four editions in a time of 3:24 for an average of over 18mph. Everyone liked the new course and it was all in all a good day. The weather cooperated being neither too hot nor too cold. The winds got a bit rowdy for the later finishers. Only one person got seriously off course and even he found his way back eventually after an extra 20 miles or so of descending down into Pozo and having to climb back out.