Wish You Were Here, Don't Ya!: THe day of the killer B-s!

Today is the first day of actual racing at the National Championships. Out at the TT course riders were racing to set the start order in their races while the B races went off ot the main venue. To those of you who don't know the B races are separated by age groups, 10-29, 30-39, 40+, and open to any category. The reality is that the B races serve a number of purposes. 1 it allows the promoter to find any problems before the Championship events. 2, it allows people who don't want to do the Championship races a chance to race the course, and 3, to allows riders to get out on the course and try it at race speed.

So today I did the 40+ B race, for me it's good to get out and try out the course and open up the legs. Unlike last year both Troy and I got called up on the front row. Last year we were in the back row of over 100 guys. Bill told me that there was a really fast guy in the race who was lined up halfway back in the field. We were off at the sound of the gun and I got a good start and was leading coming out of the first turn. About half way through the first lap the fast guy caught me and started pulling away. With the slick, icy conditions I was trying to be careful and not get injured before next Saturdays race. So as the race progressed the leader and myself maintained our gaps and I felt that I could maintain 2nd to the finish. With a few laps to go I thought I could start to pull back the leader and started to pick up the pace. Didn't take long for me to hit a corner that was ice covered and very slick. The wheels slid out and down I went. I picked up my bike and got going with twisted bars, a torn up knee, and a very sore forearm. For the last 2 laps I was still going OK with a arm that really hurt. Unable to pull on the bars, or really grip them 3 place ended up catching me with 1 lap to go. That's how it ended up, 3rd place is no to bad considering I really wasn't planning on racing due to the Icy conditions