wow what a week so far. its dead week, the week before finals, and it seems the professors are really laying it on thick. I've only had time for one ride thusfar due to a ton of work that needs to get done before tomorrow. Seeing as finals are next week, I really need to start studying. Which might be difficult seeing as i have spent the past 8 hours out here on campus. My group and I have been working all week to get our engine started from our overhaul class. We got it to kick over earlier today but somehow flooded it with about a gallon of fuel. that was interesting seeing it pour out of the intake manifold. So we let that dry out and I finally got it to run, it was rough though. I'll be out there again in about a half hour to try my luck again. so in order for that to happen, I must cut this one short.

first season finished

Today was the last race of the collegiate season and therefore the end of my first collegiate season racing. And what a blast its been. The race was hosted by Ohio State and wow, what a beautiful campus. Saturday was a very tough race through a very hilly course outside of Athens, Ohio. Being a D racer, which is the equivalent of a Cat. 5, we only did 20 miles. It may not seem like much, but when you throw in the elevation changes that we experienced, it was ridiculous. Its times like these that I am happy I only had to do that course once. The race was going along swimmingly up until the last 200 meters or so. During the race, I had managed to piece together a pretty decent ride, maintaining no more than seven wheels back from the lead. I had conserved my energy and drank lots of water in anticipation of a fast sprint. As the line got closer, our speed increased and I moved up to fourth wheel. That's when the carnage unfolded.... As I remember it (which isn't picture perfect) we were setting up for the sprint. I moved up to about fourth wheel which I felt would allow me to get a good jump on everyone who was in contention for the sprint. We increased the speed to about 30 mph which is a fairly decent lead-out speed and then all hell broke loose. The lead guy got his front wheel caught in who-knows-what and bit the dust taking about 7 other riders who were on his wheel with them...including me. All I remember is seeing a bike suspended in time and space heading right for me. I must have slammed on the brakes or swerved or something which caused me to run smack into someone on the ground (i think). I did a rather nice flip over the front of the bars and landed on my left shoulder. Thank God I was wearing a helmet because now I need a new one seeing as this one has a nice crack in it. I was able to walk..er..crawl to the side of the road after a few minutes of "what the hell just happened" and laid at the side of the road trying to get my bearings and feel if anything was broken. I am still thanking my lucky stars that all I got was some road rash on my left shoulder and a little on my back and left hamstring (don't ask me how it got there, I don't know). That was Saturday, now on to Sunday. Sunday went well as for the fact that I was able to stay in the main group for the 25 minute criterium. I jumped WWAAAYY too early though as I was trying to move up for better positioning on the last lap. Basically I led around the pack for the last lap and ended up getting 8th. lesson learned! Well, that's enough for tonight and the first post. thanks for reading!