Volunteer Park crit

I had no idea what to expect for this race since I've only ridden the bike a handful of times the last month or so, but I vowed to get a top 10. I'm a little bummed our women's 4 field wasn't larger than the 14 that turned out but I guess that's to be expected this time of year.

The course at Volunteer Park rocked and I love the hill at the end of each lap. We had a competitive field and the pace was high most of the race. Things stayed mostly together until a few laps from the end when it finally started to string out. My Achilles' heel all season has been positioning, so for once I did a good job of staying near the front the entire race. Many times I was only a few spots back from the leaders and did the extra work to stay there and close to a wheel.

On the last lap I got a little jammed coming up the hill and lost a few spots, which was a real bummer. I still managed to have some juice to get across the line just barely in 10th place. Had I picked a smarter line up the hill I might have finished a little better, but I got my top 10 so I'm happy! Even if it was a field of 14, I don't care. Mission accomplished!

I had just enough time to get changed and watch the Master's C/D race before I had to corner marshall. Z cracks me up! He took a flyer on the second lap and solidly secured himself a prime. Too bad it was a spectator's bell and not an actual prime. We'll have to get him some kind of prize for that effort!

The day was going well until the horrible crash in the Men's 3 field. I was on corner 6 heading down the back side of the course when I heard the riders yelling that some guys were down and someone needed to call the EMTs. I got down there and one of our Zoka riders, Trevor Hall, was down and not looking good. Luckily, Vicki and a few others were on the scene quickly to help him out and paramedics showed up shortly afterwards to take him to Harborview. I heard a junior racer suffered a broken pelvis and wrist and I guess someone else had a broken collarbone. Another of our Zoka riders went down and ended up with some road rash and bruises. Not fun.

The good news is that Trevor is on the mend. He has a concussion, some stitches in his ear, road rash, and bruises but he's certainly very lucky! He started the day with a 2nd place finish in the Master's race and ended it at Harborview. And my mom thinks motorcycles are dangerous....