Here Are Things That Are Not Cool

Here are things that are not cool:

1: I didn't say this yesterday, but I cracked my race bike. Yes. The frame is toast. Never in my life have I wrecked a frame in a race, and this is one of only two bike frames in my career that I've damaged. I managed to get a bike change and finish the race (on a bike one-size too small no less), and even got my team mates some water bottles once I returned, but I've got to say, I'm still slightly shocked that I broke something so valuable so quickly. I mean one second I was towards the front of the peloton preparing to roll the dice in some breakaway attempts, the next second my bike was at the bottom of a tangled pile of carbon and steel. The moments after the crash were blurry -- I removed my shifter levers from a frantic Borrajo brother's brake caliper, and pulled some other guy's handlebars out of my spokes. I removed my rear wheel, and waited for neutral service to give me a change. Somewhere in there, I heard someone say "ooh -- he's going to need a bike change." I looked down to see that my top tube had been crushed like a Coke can.

Thank goodness for my team, and my bike sponsor -- otherwise, I'd be walking the rest of this season.

Fare-thee-well dear race bike. You were so young so beautiful -- clearly those that burn brightest also burn out quickly.

2: Only two laps into tonight's crit, Andres had a mechanical problem and pulled into the pit. Thanks to some confusion regarding the nature of Andres' problem, the officials told him he wouldn't be granted a free-lap and would have to chase. So off went Andres, now hopelessly behind the charging field. I, being the worst positioned racer on the team at the time, was instructed to sit up and wait for Andres to help him regain contact with the bunch. Little did I know, shortly after I sat up, Andres went back into the pit, and thanks to a change in the ruling, was reinserted in the field as though he'd never left. That left me dangling behind the peloton all by myself. I chased and chased (and got quite close), but never regained contact. I was lapped and pulled before I reached the cut for tomorrow's stage.

My Redlands is over.

That's bike racing folks. Sometimes your team asks you to jump on a grenade for your team leader. Sometimes, when you're asked to do that, you save the day, and bring your leader back from the brink of disaster. Sometimes crazy shit happens, and you end up pulling out of a race for no reason. Bike racing: one wild ride.