i really look forward to bikejam each year. it's getting bigger and bigger and each year i see more people who are not necessarily there for cycling, just to enjoy the festivities. the people who put that race together should get a lot of thanks, the event is an excellent ambassador for cycling. all of kids seemed to particularly enjoy the bike trials and the moonbounce. big fun, and the swag was everywhere. good stuff.
the master's race was a bit much. there were a lot of accidents, and regrettably, i hit the deck again. every accident that i saw was avoidable. guys appeared to be overlapping wheels and trying to stay out of the wind on the finish straight. that was one of the places where many people were trying to move up. i was lucky in that i did not have much damage to the body but the collateral damage to the ride was substantial. peep this:
three and a half spokes harvested from what had been a very reliable and bulletproof wheel. this is one of the older 330's. i have not seen many around, except on ebay so i don't even know if i can even find a replacement. the rim is toast. i "extruded" the aluminum spine which seats and holds the spokes up through the carbon rim.
the accident occured incredibly quickly so i still cannot say for sure what happened. i know a guy came back and into me very rapidly and my best guess is that his pedal went into my spokes. in trying to determine the exact nature of the accident, we brought in the racing union science team to do some forensics. two pieces of evidence were available.
item #1 are some small flecks of paint caught on the spokes right behind those that were ripped out. detailed analysis has determined that this is celeste green and the likely source is a bianchi.
item #2: a simply grisly amount of dried blood was found on the (still intact) rear tubular. this does not appear to be mine as I was separated from my bike during the accident an it's on the opposite side of the wheel from where i went down.
evidence is beign compiled a state-sanctioned report will be filed. someone mentioned something to me after the event regarding crash replacement through zipp. i do not have any experience with this so if you know something or someone, please pass it along to me. these were old but sturdy and i really liked them. i hate to see them go out like this.
but as with all things, there is always some good with the bad. i got back from the event to find this in my inbox: rottier has received, from his authentic russian connections, a genuine titantium frame from the people's republic. lest any of you think that we are not serious about our plans for domination, have a gander at the photo below.
he is ready to bring it. as are we all. da, union, da.
- - - posted by scott