Evanston Grand Prix Race Report

I knew it, I just knew it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I was dreading this race for a few weeks. I even advised another teammate who was getting over a crash at Sherman Park to skip this and do a mid-week race. I had several other teammates that showed up not planning to race or deciding on the spot not to race. I even showed up with my backup bike, nervous that I'd crash my Litespeed with the new Carbon wheels. Fortuitous, my actions were.

I was in the third row once the 4's race started, got held up by the guys in front of me not clipping in cleanly, and was 20 riders off the front before the first turn. I had wanted to be up front, so I could avoid crashes. The pace was so fast, due to everyone wanting to be up front, it took me about 5 laps to move up to the top 10 riders. Going into turn 4, I was in place to take the outside line. Uh, not good, I think to myself. As I enter the turn, the riders to my right start to fade left, gradually pushing me into the gutter. No big deal, I'll just ride it out. As I'm in the gutter, my front wheel starts shaking, and then it hits the curb. I endo forward and to the left, going straight into a barrier with no advertisement or netting on it. My body actually goes *inside* the barrier, shoulder first, and I come to a screeching halt and fall on the curb. Not a scratch or tear in my jersey, or shorts. It felt like someone hit me in the shoulder, just above and to the right of my scapula, with a baseball bat.

I shouldn't complain too much, there were no broken bones, but my shoulder promptly swelled up and was basically useless. The medics did a nice job of patching me up, although I felt bad the race was held up so long because of me. Oh well, all part of racing I guess.

Evanston put a lot of work into making this race happen, as did Superweek. It's exciting for the fans, easy to get to with the train nearby, and a boost to the local busnisses. However, it's treachoursly dangerous for the riders. Damn near every race had multiple crashes. I will not be racing this course ever again, and will be adding it to my list of "races I'll never do again" (which contains Waukesha/Carl Zach and now Evanston) due to such dangerous conditions. Funny, both of those are Superweek races...