Family Alive

Brian warming up before the race.

The title about sums it up:)  Brian proved he can race with the Big Dogs (the pros) this weekend at the Athens Twilight Criterium.  I was so proud of him!  I’d try to describe it, but he summarized it pretty well in an email to his teammates.  (His teammates are mostly category 3-4 riders, so they don’t race in the same races he does.)  Here it is, straight from the man himself on Sunday morning:

Well, is it possible to be pleased and disappointed at the same time??? That’s how I am feeling this morning — well, and pretty sore, too.

First, I accomplished two goals I had for the race … pass as many people as possible to make it to the front — although it took almost 50 laps to get there! The other goal is once I got there I was able to attack and lead the field for half a lap. Strategically, there wasn’t much point it other than to be able to stay near the front. It was hecka cool to be off the front in front of thousands and thousands of screaming people.

When the pack got me I stayed near the front and was in the top 30 when a bad, bad crash happened right in front of me. I had nowhere to go, slammed on the brakes, helplessly plowing into the people on the ground in front of me, landing on my butt, and then watching in horror as two guys plowed into me landing on top of me. I couldn’t move as my legs which had been starting to cramp completely seized and I just lay on the ground trying not to move and getting those muscles to relax. It didn’t matter anyway though as I was on top of one guy and his bike and there was a bike on top of me (I have a nice bicycle part imprint scarred into my shoulder blade). I had two volunteers pull me up because I knew I would cramp up again if I tried to get up on my own. My bike wasn’t so lucky. The handlebars were turned at a 45 degree angle. Both brake levers were turned at weird angles, too. And, the worse part, apparently my rear derailleur cable had gotten caught on someone or somebody’s bike and pulled so hard that it started to strip at the part where the cable is bolted onto the rear derailleur. I made it back to the pit and was able to get everything fixed except for the deraileur. [Because so many riders had been involved, they stopped the race to gather everyone up and restart.]  With no cable tension, the gears wouldn’t shift and so I had to ride the course in my big gear. I was able to make it for two more laps with the field that had been neutralized to let the 50 or so riders involved in the crash back into the race. [The rear pace motorcycle official even reached out and pushed Brian up the hill, revving up to 40mph to help him out!]  But there was just no way for me to make it up the hill on the backside of the course in my that gear. I got pulled with about 12 laps to go.

I am very sore this morning and had a massive hematoma on my buttocks.  There were so many people cheering for me by name all throughout the course.

The bike imprint on his shoulder blade.  Any guesses on what part of the bike this was?
We’ll spare you a picture of the butt hematoma:)

It’s so funny… I’m kind of an animated wife spectator. I yell really loud, and I have a way of getting so excited, and sort of draw all the people around me into cheering for him. So the race on Saturday night was a HUGE deal – like 30,000 (or so they say) people in downtown, around 2 city blocks. Athens is where UGA is, so all the bars had set up beer gardens along the street, and there were tons and tons of excited college students cheering the racers, flying around the course. Honestly, I don’t think they would have cared if it was a roller derby or walkers.  The race was 80 laps – like an hour and a half, at 9pm, so it was a crazy party with cyclists racing around in a circle. Not like anything you have ever experienced. I was pretty excited to see Brian doing so well, and when the people around me dispersed, Brian told me he heard people screaming for him all around the course. It was so fun.

We spent a good part of Sunday trying to get Brian’s bike fixed so he could race that evening.  Besides the cable, the carbon fiber handlebars were broken, which he’d not noticed the day before.  A bright side of the day for me, though, was a leisurely stroll through my favorite grocery store in the world, Trader Joe’s.  YUM… pineapple salsa, dark chocolate covered espresso beans, tomato bruchetta.  We need one in Birmingham!