We had 23 riders plus a few alums who made guest appearances. The rides included the Six-Gap Century, Brasstown Scenic Byway, and other various jaunts. Weather was decent - it was warmer than last year, but it mostly stayed in the 40s and 50s for the entire trip, making for some cold mountain descents.I didn't bring my laptop on the trip, which was a nice way to disconnect from Ann Arbor life.
At the end of the week, we drove directly from Georgia to Kentucky for the first collegiate race of the season hosted by Murray State University. As luck would have it, they had the worst weather of the year over the weekend. Saturday was cold and rainy, and Sunday brought a layer of fresh snow.
Saturday's road race consisted of a 16-mile course, on which we raced four laps. I stayed near the front for most of the race in order to avoid crashes and hopefully get into a breakaway. A few other guys and I got off the front for a bit, but they either didn't want to - or couldn't - work hard, so we ended up back in the pack pretty shortly. I moved farther back near the end of the third lap in order to rest up a bit, but that decision turned out pretty bad. Going into the end of the third lap, a crash occurred in the middle of the pack. I started to slow and move over, but a Lindenwood guy ahead of me decided to hit the deck. I skidded into him, but only had to put a foot down. I remounted, but my chain had come off. By the time I was able to fix my chain, the pack was already out of sight up the road. With only one lap left, and a crit the next day, I decided to abandon and save myself for the next day.
Well, as it turns out, I should have kept racing - and I would have if I knew what the crit course would be like. The course consisted of about a dozen 90 to 180 degree turns in a tight, slippery parking lot (the shiny type of parking lot with a slippery coat to allow car tires to turn easily). Watching the D and C racers crash, I decided that racing would not be a good idea - I crashed way too much last season, and had a strong chance of crashing again if I raced. Instead, one of my teammates and I headed out for a windy ride in the countryside. There will always be more crits.
(To clarify, I'm not trying to bash Murray State here. I just felt the crit course was not suitable for a collegiate criterium course. Several other racers and teams also echoed my sentiment by not racing. I would love to race at Murray State next year on a different criterium course.)
This week will consist of some training and recovery in preparation for the race at Depauw this weekend. Temperatures in Greencastle, Indiana are supposed to be in the 50s and 60s, which will be a nice break (again) from the cold Michigan weather.
