Back on the East coast again for the last two UCI races I’m doing before Nationals in two weeks. I had a ticket to fly out to Portland for the last Gran Prix races, but saw the weather/mud report and thought it would be better to come back East.

Anyway. I changed my ticket to fly out here a day early to race Thursday nite in Emmaus, home of Bicycling Magazine. Bill and Beth Strickland have Thursday nite races in their yard for two and a half months every winter. I’ve been here a ton, but never raced. So, I flew in to suprise them and get a taste of the local scene.

The course is nearly a mile long. Mostly narrow and all muddy. Plus, it doesn’t start iuntil well after dar,. There were 38 people racing. I decided to take the short cut by drinking a PBR at the start and getting a 30 second lead. But, I didn’t have the course down, so my lead didn’t hold up. I slid the next 20 minutes. Stopped twice to ungum my fork from the mud/grass/leave mixture. It was especially bad rounding the fainting goat coral. And. of course, had a great time. Everyone was washing their bikes and I thought I could do it later. Little did I know that they were going to race a 2nd race in 15 minutes. There was too much “running” the first race, so I decided my time could be better spent riding to the carwash and power spraying my bike. I started at the back of the field and kept going straight out the driveway when the course turned.

Riding the mile to the carwash was pretty enjoyable. i had a little beer buzz going on and thought I was pretty lucky not to be bleeding from hitting a tree or falling. I stil had the headlight on I’d borrowed for the race. It was the first time I’ve riddent with a headlamp. Riding through a parking lot by the carwash, I ran straight into a pot hole that I didn’t see and flipped over the bars. I hit both my knees on the bars and jacked up my neck. Now I can barely walk up and down stairs. My, how things can go south in a matter of moments. And, headlights are way over rated in my opinion.

I’ve been hanging down at the South Mountain Cycle and coffee bar tonight. If you make your way through Emmaus, you should stop by. It is everything that a bike shop should be.

Supposed to get crummy Sunday and maybe snow some. I think I could use some of that. I’ll cross my fingers.

Things went badly yesterday, luckwise. Catherine had a super race though and finished 2nd, around 30 seconds back on Maureen Bruno Roy who won. It was a good course for both of us, with power climbs off your seat and snakey fast sections.

I got a mediocre start, but got into the lead before the first technical section. I lead for most of the first lap, but screwed up a descent and got passed, which was good for me. Anyway, at the end of the first lap, my gears started shifting badly. I looked back and my rear skewer was pointing backwards and I tightened it forward. I knew I had to stop and fix it. Before the race, I pulled my rear wheel out going up a hill and thought that maybe I didn’t tighten by quick release, but thought that was wrong. I should of changed it before the race. Anyway, I stopped at a U-turn and tightened the skewer. I was back in the 20’s by the time I got going, but felt pretty OK and rode back up to the front group on the 2nd lap. But, the group was splitting and David Frattinni and Tyler Wren, teammates, had split off the front 5 seconds or so.

I got to the front of the remaining riders, which were just 3 others and myself. I knew I wasn’t going to have any problems getting up to the Colivita guys. But, disaster struck and I broke my chain on the next hill. I’ve only broken three chains in my life. Twice now in races and once training. Not sure what the cause was this time. I wasn’t shifting or doing anything strange. It doesn’t really matter. It was a race I could of won. I needed the UCI points. Both Frattinni and Wren both flatted the next lap. Along with Matt White and a few others. They were catching their wheels on a uphill asphalt lip. All at the same place.

It’s a couple hours before the UCI race today near Washington DC. I’m alittle apprehensive. I feel like I did the full race yesterday and not just 3 laps. I guess you do the majority of the damage warming up and the first couple laps, so maybe I shouldn’t worry about it. But, the systems check that I always do the mornings of a race is something you can’t consciencely control. Supposed to start raining soon, so maybe my Fifth Street Cross riding practice will come into use.