I Cup Update...

So I haven't done an update for my racing in a while. Sorry everyone, but I was getting worn out. I had been doing two races a week and riding hard in between while also taking care of my family and planning for two high school race teams. I needed a break from something and blogging took a hit.
Well, it's been a crazy and emotional couple of weeks. Our next race after the State Championships was at Sherwood Hills near Logan. This race gets a smaller turnout since it is a bit further away, but the fact that the race is mostly in a nice shady forest should be enough to get everyone in my opinion. Eh...whatever.
The race was split into three start times. I arrived quite a bit early so I decided to take in some cheering for teammates in the shade.

I even passed out a bottle to Adam as he came by. But before too long I needed to get ready for my own race. I was feeling pretty good so I decided to do a couple laps on the shake out loop. There were only a couple climbs on this course, but they all pretty minor compared to what we had already done at previous races this season. But I knew I had to get my muscles warm for the sprinters. These guys don't handle he big grunts well, but on a relatively flat course like the one we had today, they would be mashing hard! On lap two of my warm up the legs were feeling REALLY good so I opened it up a bit more than normal and cranked hard over a few minor hills. I was feeling VERY good today. I even started to entertain a possible podium visit. I knew most of the other races by now and while there were two that I knew I had no shot at, the others were reachable for sure.
At the gun, I blasted out a little harder than usual. But I had not felt this solid since 5-mile. The legs were there and mentally I felt great. I was right behind the leaders in a solid 4th position. The pace was hard but I was keeping up well.
At the end of the shake out loop, I was still on the wheel of the third place rider with 2nd in sight. I hung there during the fast climb and as we hit the fast flowy single track that followed, I called up to the guy ahead of me; "Let's get going!"

Then, as we were flying at full speed through a DH; and starting to reel in the 2nd place guy, we came around a blind turn. Turns out that the shoulder actually sloped down and away from us. And I happened to be on the lower side...BLAM!!! The wash out happened fast but slow enough for me to think, "Ah nuts..."
I had so much speed that I actually skidded along the trail for about 10 feet after making contact with the ground. I realized quickly that I was more or less physically ok so I hopped up and tried to get back on. But I saw that my handle bar had spun around backwards. I tried to force it back, but no go. I went for my multi-tool in the saddle bag, but the zipper tag came off in my hand! BAH! I saw the other rider in my group fly past one by one. I worked the zipper open as fast as I could and got the handle bar back the way it was supposed to be. Again, I tried to get on but the chain was off...sigh...at least it was a fast fix.
I quickly factored the options of going hard to catch up right away or trying to slowly reel the group in. I had no idea how big the gap was by now, so I just made the racer choice...GO HARD! The next mile was mostly flat, so I made good time. We came into an open meadow and I could see some of my group working up a climb on the far side. This spurred me on to really work hard here. But something had changed. The heat of the day was in full force now. Sweat flowed quickly down my face into my eyes and mouth. I ignored it and pushed onward. I was able to catch an pass the riders I had seen. I re-entered the forest again and tried to recover a little on the next flat. But the heat and my extra effort to catch up had sapped me. I tried to spin hard but I soon realized that my effort had pretty much ended my catch up attempt. All I could do now was try to hold my position. I had two and a half more laps to go.

The trees offered very little relief from the heat now pounding me. No more mashing for me today. Just pedal consistently to the finish. Lap 2 was pretty much what I expected it would be. A hot suffer-fest. But there was one big difference...

As I came back out into the big meadow there was a group of riders at the bottom of a slight down hill. One rider was waving at us to slow down and proceed around the side. I could hear them yelling at a rider laying on the group to "STAY WITH US!!!" Whoa! Scary! I had no idea what had happened, but they indicated that they didn't need any assistance from me and to continue.
Lap 3 was more of the same heat and suffering, but the thought of what might had happened to the rider on the ground didn't leave my mind. It seemed like everyone had slowed down a little bit. Just before I reached the big meadow again, I could hear a chopper approaching. Oh no!
I approached the group again and this time I was stopped and told to head across the meadow and back to the finish line. This cut off a good chunk of the lap but, it was hard to care anymore.

I came across the finish line and there was a big group of racers mulling around with somber looks on their faces all talking about the accident. Turns out that a pretty well know racer named Patrick had come down into the meadow at a very high speed and had done an endo when his tire hit a hidden rock. He hit the ground face first after flying through the air a long way (30 feet as described by my team mate who was right behind him). Luckily, our team captain (who came upon the scene a minute or so after the accident) is an ER doctor. Patrick remained conscience long enough to mention something about all his teeth being knocked out. But then he also stopped breathing. They performed CPR for about ten minutes before be began to breath again on his own (though in a very labored way). The life-flight took him to a nearby trauma hospital that discovered he had broken his C-2 and C-3 vertebrae. And his spinal cord had a lot of swelling. The doctors performed surgery to stabilize his neck, but couldn't make any promise of a recovery let alone even his waking up. By the end of the next week, it was determined that he wasn't coming back. He was taken off life support and passed away that Friday. I don't know what to say about what happened other than it reminded all of us that our passion is dangerous. And even though we push the limits of our abilities in each race, sometimes we still need to slow down a little and be careful. Everyone have fun, but be safe out there.