Fastest 45 Minutes

If you were at the Bay Area Superprestige at Candlestick Point and heard a loud noise about 45 seconds after the SS B race started, it was probably this:

How to race 45 minutes in 45 seconds

Being the first “big” race for Northern California CX, I was excited to start feeling like my fitness was coming around. With the race close enough to bike to and the single speed field divided into A’s and B’s, there was reason to be hopeful about this race.  I got in a good warm up with plenty of course recon (one of those courses with lots of flat and lots of short up-ticks). The “fly-over” was pretty cool and added a touch of Euro-style to the race.

Before the race, I was feeling pretty good and was ready to put in a good effort. The start of SS B’s race seemed slow, probably because they warned everyone not to crash on the first corner into gravel. Somehow I turned a second row start into probably a top-10ish placing into the first couple corners. Immediately before the third corner – POP! Race Over. Check out the race video – I come into frame at about 47 seconds  in:

Proof my start was not too bad (video via Christian Parker’s youtube)

I simply hit a hole I didn’t see, and my weight was too far forward. I didn’t crash. I absorbed the impact – unfortunately the frame did not. I could instantly tell something was off. Initially I thought maybe I flatted (it was way to loud for that), or I destroy the hub or rim catastrophically (unlikely with the beefy front wheel I was using). No dice. The one upside – I have an excuse to invest in a SS-specific cross frame.