Posted By Orange Crush on 10/21/2020 10:43 AM
Presumably a slight concussion for VDP today. He’s got a hard head so could have been worse. It was last ride of season anyway although he is signed up for a handful of cyclocross races. Tricky wind conditions.
Expensive lesson for VDP. Road edge behind the echelon is a dangerous place to be. It isn't in your power to save yourself in a gust. If the upwind riders are close, it isn't in their power either. Gust hits, everybody moves 2 feet.
My farewell race I referred to in the Vuelta post was point to point, the first 60 miles in the open with the wind 45 degrees to our left, strong and gusty. Very similar to today's race except the state highway was not closed to traffic and we had no echeloning. But the same dynamic. If we sought the shelter of the rider ahead, we would be leaving the road in the next gust. That race was hard. Mid-race acceleration and I got shed. (A place where skinny, long legs and a high BB added up to bad! There was one jersey as high as mine in the field when I was riding a dead flat back that CK would have approved of.)
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