Brentwood Grand Prix

I was looking forward to the Brentwood GP for several reasons; Ethan had his kids race, I was getting a lot faster, and I was excited about racing in Downtown LA. Brentwood is close to UCLA in the nicer area of Los Angeles, near Beverly Hills and the course looked fast.

The week before the race I really didnt get to train like I normally would have. We had a lot of stuff going on, we went to the circus and we were run down most of the week. I rode with the CA Pools team on Saturday and got two days on the trainer during the week. I was still confident that I would be able to perform well at the race.

We stayed at my sister in laws house so avoid leaving out house at 4am in LA. We still had to get up at 530am and leave by 6 but it was better than staying at home. We got to the race and I registered like normal. I decided to walk around the end of the track near the parking lot. The corner did not look tricky, it was a wide looping right, followed by a looping left going up hill back onto the main street.

I warmed up like normal on the trainer like I do every race and then went to take a lap on the course. I went around the corner I had already scoped out but then I was stopped by the official at the start line. They wanted to start staging the race so I didnt get to see the other end of the course. I figured that I would take it easy on the first lap to feel the turn out and then go from there.

The pre race instructions were shorter since its the end of the season and it was a cat 4-5 race instead of just cat 5. The whistle blew and we took off. The first turn was actually a sharp U turn that ended going up hill. That was followed by a quick right, then left going down hill. We then headed down a long straight away to the end of the course that I had walked. The finishing line was also on a long straight so the course was fast in the middle but technical on the ends.

Since the race was a cat 4-5 they can give away prems, and they gave them away often. They started on the first lap and they gave them away almost every other lap. For a spectator that is a good thing because people race for the prizes, as a racer the pace picks up so much its hard to hang on. I was able to stay near the front despite the intense speed that we were carrying. I would notice every lap with a prem that the field would be strung out across the course from people falling back and a thinner and thinner group in the front.

We were about 25 minutes into the race and getting ready to hit the lap cards when I decided to move towards the front. I had slipped back a little because we had slowed down and people were bunching up in the front. On the long back straight I moved up to about third in line from the front. We made the right then the left and I noticed the guy in front bounced off the fencing and shot across the road. I hit the brakes but it was too late.

The guy in front of me went over his handlebars and I ran into the back of his bike but I was still upright. Someone ran into the back of me and fell. The weight of their bike and the rest of the 20 people in the wreck knocked me down. I got up and tried to get back into the race and didnt go anywhere. I looked down and my chain had came off so I had to fix that and the seat was out of line.

I finally got going but I was way behind the field. As I rode away I heard the track officals calling for a medic for the guy that went over his handlebars. I just rode away mad that at good finish was taken away, that my new bike was already in a wreck, and that I was probably going to get pulled from the race. I pushed as hard as I could and heard the announcement that there were 5 laps to go. I caught another guy who was in the race and who sat up when he saw me coming.

As I rode up next to him he looked over and said lets work together to finish the race. So we did, just the two of us taking turns pulling each other around the course. I watched the official every lap to see if his whistle was in his mouth but not once did he reach for it. We made the last 5 laps without being caught by the rest of the field. I crossed the line and hung my head in frustration. I knew I should have been happy I wasnt going to the hospital right then, and that I finished the race but it was hard to be happy right then.

Anne thought that I had just been dropped by the field, which is better than her knowing I crashed. She is very worried about my safety and probably would have made me stop and get checked out. She told me that a lot of people were pulled from the race and that I should be happy that I finished. I actually got 38th out of 70, even though I was on the ground for a minute. So I put my bike away and got ready for Ethans race.

I had Ethan practice some before his race and then we got him lined up. He was wearing a UCLA cycling jersey that Lola had bought for him. I tried to line him up in the front but he was a little nervous since there were a lot of kids and he had only been riding without training wheels for 2 weeks. The race started and Ethan took off, he passed kids all over the road and crossed the finish line without falling. I was super excited for him and he got a really nice medal. He was excited but he wanted to do an entire lap and they only rode down the finishing stretch.

We stayed and watched the races for most of the day. Dave Zabriski from Team Garmin Transitions, and a couple other big name pros raced. Ethan rode his bike around with a new found confidence, even riding with one hand and with no feet on the pedals.

All in all the race was a nice course and with a nice surrounding of businesses and expo tents. I definitely want to race it again next year, and I am looking forward to the same challenges. I did learn that it doesnt matter where you are in the field you can get caught up in a crash. I also confirmed that I will be able to keep up with a cat 4 next season, or this season if I wanted to move up.

One races down, one more cat 5 to go. I could upgrade now but I am going to see how well I do at my last race in San Clemente before heading to Europe for vacation.