Fast, Chaos and Carnage

Today was the first CIBA ride of the year. The St. Patty's Day ride over off of 161st and Spring Mill in Westfield. The temperature today was not to bad, much better than yesterday. At 1pm it was about 42 degrees with 5 mph wind coming out of the WNW. There were probably 80 people at the ride, and of all different riding levels. So we left out in a large group, asking the faster people to leave first and the sociables to leave after. The group started out with about 40-45 riders in the front group, and it didn't take long for the pace to pick up. We cruised at about 20 mph out of the gate for the first 3 miles or so. Then once we started heading back north the pace got a little faster and a couple people fell off the back. I was sitting in the middle of the pack about 20 people back off the front, just trying to find that drafting pocket.

I found it hard to move from wheel to wheel too often, but found a couple of guys I bounced back and forth between for a while. Once we crossed over SR 32 headed north the pace moved above 25mph, and the group was about 20-25 now. It didn't take long to shed a few more riders as after about 1-2 miles of 25mph+ we were now down to about 15. Rotating through from the back to the front, I found myself briefly up front pulling for about 5 seconds before the next person rotated through, at this point we were doing 27-28, and I was really starting to feel it. I moved to the back of the rotation and went into hanging on mode. Through one more stop sign, which helped me lower my HR and catch my breath a bit and we were right back on it. I noticed that sitting in the back of the pack was like a slinky effect. A gap would open up between somebody and everyone behind would quickly try to close, then close to fast, touch the breaks and have to jump back on it again. So it was up and down, and I knew the back was not the place to be, but we were moving so fast, I couldn't move up. I held on for as long as I could, but ended up getting dropped around mile 21 of 38. So I got dropped and there were about 15 people still in the first group, being dominated by two teams, one with Roark all over their jerseys, and the second was the Indiana Hand Center. Shortly after I got dropped, 5 guys picked me up from behind and we began moving a little faster ,but not like the front group. Clipping along at 23-24 I was feeling a lot better. It amazed me how when in the fast group a 4-5 beat drop in my HR made me feel so much better. And that's where it all went bad. Moving along with these 5 other guys I was up front going into a right hand turn, I moved out to the left to take the corner and try to avoid some of the gravel in the turn. Right as I dove into the turn someone cut me off from the inside and I clipped his back tire and went down sliding across the road. What really pissed me off is that they didn't even stop. So I tore my right leg warmer, f'd up my bike and the hoods, and was bleeding from me knee. I picked myself up and dusted myself off, the bike seemed to be OK other than some cosmetic things and I rode home. I was about 6 miles from my house so I rode the marked route to a mile from home and rode in. Not too happy with what happened, but oh well live and learn I guess. Busted my computer off my bike, found it and stuck it in my back pocket. These are the ride stats to that point of the crash.

25.6 miles
Avg Spd 22.9
Avg HR 176
Max HR 194
No cadence
Morning HR 53
Kcal 1107