Pigeon Lake Road Race

The day started out great and  was I was feeling pretty good. Despite having a rough week at work, I was trying to forget about it all and try to have fun during the race. It was a super nice day outside and the wind seemed to be pretty calm. For once it wasn't so bad waiting aroudn for the start. When we got called to the start, I moved myself as far to the front as I could. Sometimes it feels like your starting position is one of the most critical things in racing…but sometimes it seems you have to prove yourself to self-seed yourself at the front. After a few instructions we all rolled out on a neutral start. As we rolled out of the parking lot I got cut off by a lot of riders so went pretty far back in the pack just getting out onto the road.

As we rolled down past the Start/Finish we followed the lead motorcycle until he signalled the race was on. The motorcycle didn’t seem to really know the course because he decided to go straight onto a gravel road…and caused a ton of confusion in the pack with some people turning and some people going straight. After finally getting the turn and the pack sorted out….the race was on. I was still pretty far back in the pack and there wasn’t much room for movement as the pack took up the entire lane of the road. Centre rule violation was extremely strict with several riders getting DQ’d during the race so it was pretty dicey to try and gain positions along the left side of the pack and on the right side there was gravel on the shoulder which made that pretty sketch as well.

The pack was pretty sketchy to be honest. There was a lot of slowing down, braking, tempo changes and almost no attacks. On the second major turn we finally had a decent chance to shake up the pack a little. I found on the left side of the pack and moved up to the front of the group. Then 5 of us formed a paceline and tried to accelerate away from the pack. A rider pulled through to do a pull and pretty much stopped pedalling. Right away our paceline was shut down and the pack absorbed us back in. We went through the next turn and I could see a climb in the distance, nothing too selective but probably a good chance to drop a few riders. I was up front and stayed with the lead group as we paced up the hill, all in our big rings. I felt pretty strong going up the hill and stayed to my game plan to not spend too much time at the front if I could prevent it.

Going into second lap, a few riders started passing me and I was getting worried about getting dropped so I looked back to see the size of the pack. It turns out that we dropped about half the riders on the hill so the pack was now a lot smaller…and I was still in the lead pack. Despite the smaller number, it was still almost impossible to get to the front and the pace was still all over the place. I don’t think I’ve braked so much in a road race! Every chance I got I would move up a little further in the pack so I would keep myself in position at the front. We went up the hill again and we all stayed together. I thought I would be able to gain get up to the front as the finish was on an uphill, but riders were all across the road so I had to soft pedal up the hill as there was no room to move. We got to the second last turn of the course where we turned off the loop to proceed towards the finish line. Now the pack was getting faster as we were all fighting for position. I went into my drops and started looking for a way to move up. I backed off a little to let the pack thin out a bit when all of sudden I hear the sound of screeching metal and I see a bike go up in the air. I slammed on my brakes but before I know it a rider is on the ground right in front of my bike. I try to look for an exit but I was going too fast and my wheels had locked up so I ended up running into the rider. I got thrown off my bike and soon as I was sliding/rolling on pavement. As I was lying ont he ground, I looked and watched another rider hit the same rider I just hit and go flying off his bike as well.

I got up off the gorund fairly quickly and did a quick mental check of my body. Everything appeared to be working but I could also sense a little bit a road rash. I looked around to see riders, bikes and waterbottles everywhere. I looked around for my bike which was thrown about 10 meters in front of me and did a quick check to se if it was all one piece. After I looked around and found both my waterbottles. I hopped on the bike and noticed the seat was twisted. I banged it back straight, got on yelled back that I was OK and TT'd for the finish line by myself. At this point I was less concerned about finishing the race then I was to try and get back to the community hall to get first aid. I had road rash down both my arms, knees and my hands had been cut up a little. As I crossed the finish line, I noticed my shorts and my jersey were ripped up pretty badly as well.

After the race, I was glad I was able to at least finish the race but not even sure why I even bothered. I felt bad for the guys that were pretty badly injured but I needed to get back to look after myself as I had blood everywhere and needed to get it treated ASAP. After getting medical attention, I was noticeably angry about the whole incident. We were only a few kms from the finish line and I was in the lead pack. I felt great and thought I had a good chance of placing well which completely changed in a split second. This was a pretty important race for me and it seemed like everything was going so well that it took a while for me to realize there was nothing I could do and it was just unfortunate circumstance.

Looking back, I think I'm actually pretty lucky. With the exception of my computer screen cracking on my computer and my seat ripping, there was virtually no damage to my bike. I had some pretty severe road rash on my arms and sore shoulder, but that's about it as far as injuries go. To my knowledge there were 7 guys involved in the crash. 2 guys had very serious injuries and there were quite a few wrecked bikes.

Here is a very well written race report by a a member of Team Fiera

http://fieraraceteam.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/pigeon-lake-rr-road-rash/

Hopefully Simmon has a speedy recovery and isn't deterred from racing again.

After going to the clinic and diagnosed with first and second degree burns, I decided to take a week off the bike to heal and get my mind back in the right zone again. The crash is by far one of the scariest things I have been involved during my time racing, I've been fortunate to have avoided these up until now...but the saying has always been that it's a "when" not an "if" and road racing especially in the aptly named "Crash 5" category.

Next major road event for me is the Tour de Bowness Stage Race which is just over a month away.

- Kyle