2010 Portsmouth Crit

Kristen took this photo at the Crit today, and I love it.

There I am, left of center.  Red & white, black bike, white wheels.  I mean, you probably know what I look like by now.

I love this photo because she was able to capture the expression on my face; I remember having it vividly.  And that expression, if you could translate it into english words, reads “hmmm”.

“Hmmm” was kind of the way today went.  Like at the start of the race, for example, when I couldn’t get my left foot to clip in until approximately turn one.  Above you can see I’m clearly out of the saddle, getting on it, keeping up, but it would have been suuuuuper awesome if I had both feet right there.

Then some number of laps later, another “hmmm” when I was flying through turn 3 and saw one of my teammates sprawled across the pavement; his personal affects strewn about, wondering if he was alright, and then looking up and rendering another “hmmm” as the pack mercilessly launched immediately after having negotiated the scene.  Something I was not particularly prepared for, probably should have been, but wasn’t, so what can I do about it now.

And then a final “hmmm”, but maybe less pensive and more of a “hmmm” of resignation as I realized, some number of laps later, that I was in no way going to rejoin the field after having been spit off.  Lapped and pulled, I’m not sure how many I got in, but not a lot and certainly not enough.  52nd out of 62 as the results would have it.

I’ve still much to learn, this really only being my second crit.  But definitely disappointed that things shook down the way they did.  Then I had a pair of Smuttynose drafts and more or less got over it.