Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

Chris Thater Memorial Criterium happened Saturday and Sunday down in Binghamton, NY. This is one of the oldest races on the Calendar and one of the most prestigious. Top pro men and women come out and this year the event was even on TV.

My event was the Category 4/5 race which goes under the classic name of the Senior Men’s Category 4/5 event. The race was run at 8 am on Sunday, a brutally early start to racing in a Criterium. The Crit is followed by a 5K running race and then the Cat 3 men followed by the Pro Men and Women. It is a big weekend of racing. The early start for the Cat 4/5 field stinks since it gives zero time for warming up and makes you get out of bed at extremely early hours. I was up before the newspaper was even delivered. Ouch.

I scrambled to get to Binghamton which is not too far from Syracuse. Once I arrived I could see plenty of cyclist already on course warming up. After signing up and getting my number I was ready to race. There are some little hills around the course and did some sprints to get the blood flowing. The weather was good, it was cloudy annd temps were in the 60s to 70s which was a huge improvement from the previous day of 90 degrees and humid.

At the start I saw two MaxPowerCycling teammates, Brian Blake and Jeff Hoover. They are both Cat 5s and should be ready to upgrade soon. Jeff has been doing well in his races this year. He won the Central New York Cup after placing well in the Owasco Stage Race. The course at Thater is suited to a guy like Jeff who does well in the hills. The small hill on Seminary st. does not look too bad, but it can take its toll and shake off the flat landers after a few laps.

As the race started I was concerned about sticking with the front group. My main goal was to stay in the main group through the first few laps of hell. Once the pace dies down you can usually make it to the end of the Crit. The first laps was not too bad with a pace of about 27 mph. I think most everybody wanted to ease into the race.

The second lap was much faster as the speeds approached 30ph. I could feel the rubber band stretching as I went up the hill, so my main concern was to not get a gap. So on the next lap I was dangling off the back slightly so I need to get some extra speed to stick with the main group. Going into the first turn before the climb I wanted to have enough momentum to launch myself up the hill.

As I rounded the corner I felt like I overcooked it. I hit the haybale and was about to slam into some other traffic furniture as Phil and Paul would say. I let out a scream which hopefully sounded manly enough, but fear it was more of a little girl screaming “yooooow”. I saw a sign post, a fire hydrant and other things so I tried to maneuver to a clear spot to land. I was basically out of control, but had enough “presence of mind” to control where I would fall. I landed on the pavement in a lump. I took a moment and slowly got up. Meanwhile the motorcycle ref stopped and kept repeating to me to walk my bike to the pit where I could get my bike fixed and back in the race. At that moment I wasn’t sure it I wanted to continue, but as I took inventory I saw I was alright except for some cuts on my knuckles and elbows. I walked the bike to the pits where the mechanic quickly jumped into action. Another racer was there too, but probably not for a crash.

My handlebars were cranked to the side, the iBike mount was dangling and my chain was off. Nothing too major, so I could get it all fixed quickly.

As the mechanic worked away I was inspired to get back into the race. Don’t want his work to go for nothing. One thing I noticed was that my front brake cable was pulled out all the way through and the brake calipers were as far apart as they could be. A-ha, I thought, that is why I crashed. My brake gave out as I was going into the turn. I use my front brake more than my rear brake since it gives more stopping power. Braking is done almost subconsciously, so I don’t even remember tapping them as I went through the turn. Dang, why did I not check the brakes before? I’ve never had a failure like this. Good thing it did not happen when I was out on the road heading into a big intersection.

Anyway, after the mechanic handed me my water bottle to take a swig, I felt so Euro pro. My bike was ready and I hopped back on as the pack went through for the next lap. As I launched off to rejoin the race, I was not feeling it anymore. The legs were getting stiff, so the first time back up Seminary Rd. climb was slooow. I had no real hope of latching back onto the pack and my speed was way down compared to before. My brakes were not 100% so flying around the turns did not seem like a great option. After a few laps of trying to get into race pace I was pulled. As I slowed down I could hear that there was something in my back wheel. Turns out my rear spoke broke and my back wheel was wobbling quite a bit. Sometimes, it is just not your day to race.

Eventually, I went to the EMTs, the injuries were not too bad and I got some bandaids after washing out the wounds. I was most worried that my right hand index fnger could be broken. I felt some stiffness and pain. After I crashed It felt numb, but feeling came back quickly. Later on when I was home I discovered some haybale rash on my shoulder. Overall, the crash was probably worse on the bike than me.

Hopefully, this is not my last race of the season. I need to get one or two more under my belt just so I do not end on a crash.

After my race I test rode a Blue bike. Not just the color, but the name. Checkout a quicky review of that along with a long overdue review of the iBike Powermeter.