Lichtenstein Criterium
Posted on May 1, 2007
Ok, so today I was in Lichtenstein, which is a tiny country (population 35,000) to the east of Switzerland, between the Swiss and Austrian border. I drove there with frankly some of the best of the best skaters in the world. It took us not much more than an hour, and to my surprise there were no border crossings. We got there a little over an hour before race start, and the race was to be a 40km points race on a 1km circuit. There were points laps every 5 laps. There were several WIC teams represented, with Athleticum sporting their full five man roster. With most other teams having 2-3 men (max), they had an advantage to say the least. The race started off quick, with the pacelines moving about with some amount of chaos. This was frankly quite new to me. There was never a chance to relax. There was movement all over the pace, with guys wanting to get to the front before every corner. Lines would be moving up your right and left, and choosing the line to skate in was tough on its own, not to mention the pace wouldsurge from mid 30’s to mid 40’s regularly between lines. It was tricky to switch lines without pissing anyone off, so lots of that was happening, which means pushing shoving, grabbing and yelling. Some of the corners were also a little hairy… cobbles and catch-basins at ~45km/hr is scary.
It was a tough race, and I crashed at around the halfway mark. I hurt my hand. There was a section where the road narrows approaching the most dangerous corner (and therefore fastest, because no one wants to go into it near the back). Anyway, three pacelines came together and I was in the middle, and just got collapsed on. My feet were taken from under me, and I was down, tearing up a BRAND new WIC suit, my hand, and my shin rather miserably. I got up and chased for about 4km until it was clear that I wasn’t going to catch, and the pack was moving away from me. I dropped out, and took some great photos of the rest of the race that Scott Arlidge won on a break with 3rd place DJ Nation. It was a cool race, and deserves a better write-up that this, but I will post this as I am likely to get backed up further if I don’t post something now. I think this is the best strategy for me. I will throw some pictures up in a ‘photobook’ type thing, all at once since it is probably the easiest for me also. Besides, my hand hurts.
-Aaron.
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Leave a Comment
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
You must be logged in to post a comment.