Moody Park Race Report

Raced my bike on Sunday. That was fun.

Headed-up to Moody Park w/Thom, Andy and Jenn. Got there kinda late, but still time to warm-up w/a lap of the course. Felt good on the spin and headed-over to the start a little late and ended-up in the back of the pack. Saw a lot of fast faces in this one. Looking at how much passing was going to be necessary to get into position, decided i'd rock this race by taking it easy on lap 1 and pick through the field at my leisure. Was a loose plan. We start and i immediately fight like hell to move-up. Kinda successful, but mostly not! Sweeping sand and hardpacked dirt had us rippin' right along until the first technical mudhole where the field got stacked. Thom went by w/some smooth pedaling, kept seeing the back of his jersey all race, but just couldn't put all the pieces together to catch him, nor as many people as i'd have liked. But that fact didn't really deter me from having a good time, nor the four stiches in my pinkie finger. Yes, that's right. I hurt my pinkie. kinda funny. almost as funny as making thom and andy wait in the ER while watching NASCAR.

So, the real story i guess is the pinkie. About 1/2-3/4 of the way through the first lap, we cross a wood bridge and exit up onto a bunch of off-camber roots. I decided the line was to go hard and straight up and ovah these guys. my wet rear tire came-down on a good sized off-camber root, slipped hard to the left, the rear tire caught dirt almost perpendicular to my forward momentum and threw me and the bike back the other way, the direction of my forward momentum, hit the dirt on my left shoulder and hip, the bike hits hard, handelbars first, but plenty enough momentum left to have the handlebar dig into the dirt, sending the bike arcing up and around, the tires and gears now heading straight for my face, still sliding on my left side, got my hands up just in time to stop the cranks and big ring from smashing my face apart. the pinkie took the brunt of the big ring, slicing it open down to the bone, pretty gnarly gash. blood was a'flowing good, got back-on the steed quick, decided best thing to do was not look at it. left grip was quickly wet w/blood, decided i'd ride a bit more cautiously until my grip felt dry again - and if it didn't dry-out in 1 lap i'd drop-out and address the situation.

In less than a lap, the blood had pretty much stopped flowing and i'd altered my grip on the handlebars well enough to ride the technical sections. rode with it stickin' straight out, kinda like an old-school aristrocrat drinkin' cocktails. started making-up time on the 2nd and 3rd laps, made some passes, kept seeing thom's jersey up ahead, but after lap 3, even though my tempo remained high, just couldn't reel anyone else in. Was kinda frustrating as my legs felt great, wonder if i was enjoying the ride too much, versus trying to explore my pain cave a bit more. the pinkie went numb, except when it'd slam down onto the handlebars, which is pretty amazing - how the mind can numb something out, then later it hurts like crazy.

enjoying some after-race beverages, the pensive, 1000mile stare. oh yeah, so cool.

rode to work today. pinkie up. stiches come-out a day or two after the upcoming Dalton Root 66 race. still planning on being there.