I vowed not to return to this race after crashing twice the last time I rode it. I’m not exactly sure how many times I’ve done the race, but, for sure, have a over 50 % crash ratio. That isn’t acceptable. I’ve been laying in this very spot more times than I would like to remember. One year, when I rode for Levi’s/Isuzu, I rode directly into a pile of guys and next thing I was doing was trying to stop a spray of blood coming out of a severed calf muscle. Anyway, bad things happen in bike races, we don’t need to exacerbate to them by adding stupidity.

Nothing like this though. Lots of risks here. I hope the rewards were comparable.