Hard Ride Last Night...

I pretty much never do the Tuesday night Hammerfest ride out of Sunnyside. Mostly because I want to spend the night at home if I can, and I try to do the Nooner for that reason. But the fact of the matter is, this ride is the biggest of the week, and it usually has more pro's come out than on Saturday morning from Hutch's.
I decided to do the ride since I worked yesterday during the day, and the kids were at the grandparents. So, I rolled out for the ride.
Saw Robert there, saw a few others that I see on Saturday. I saw Chrissy Ruiter, she's a pro that rides for Value Act Capital. We worked together for a while, then she left to go do the racing thing. She's a strong rider, knows to ride at the front, and she takes her pulls. I was glad to be able to ride with her one time.... we worked together alot and we talked cycling, but I never rode with her.
So, this ride is the same as all the other Tuesday or Thursday Nooner rides, as we head north and do the Bridges loop, and then come back in on the road to Shevlin. I've done this road a zillion times, and I should know it as well as the back of my hand.
The ride is super hard. Crazy Hard. It is flat out the whole time, at least it was the last time I did this ride. We hit the climb out of Shevlin going flat out... I had a good position, and I went right to the front because I was thinking that if I got dropped, I would drift back about 20 places and catch the tail of this group. But I actually led this climb over the top, and I then tucked into the group and rode tempo, took my pulls, and stayed at the front.
I noticed that guys tried to sneak off the front, and breaks would try to get away. But they got reeled in.
We rolled along, and we hit one hill that was not too hard, a real sprinters hill, that has a climbing turn going up and to the left, and then the right, and then an immediate descent onto a flat and fast road. I sorta got gapped on the climb, and there was a bit of work to be done to get back with the group. I got a small group, and we bridged, that was good.
But just as I got to the group, there was a bad crash. My friend Robert went down really hard. I guess he misfired a shift, his chain skipped, and he went over the front of the bars hard, barrel rolling on his right side and then ending up in a heap on the road. His jersey looked like was put through a shredder, his right elbow like it was through a meat grinder. There was a lot of blood, but no broken bones. He looked dazed as he sat there, but he was lucid and was talking with us the whole time. Someone had a cell phone, and we called his wife to come pick him up.
That could have been a lot worse than it was. As it was, it was bad. I hate crashes, everything about them. It's been a long time since someone went down on a training ride, and this one was bad... bad memories will linger... the smell of skidding tires, the sight of a twisted body flopping to the ground in such a violent manner, the splatter of blood. I wince thinking about it.
For me, it is as close to war as I will every hopefully see.
I'm just glad Robert is gonna be OK. He's a big strong guy who looks like a linebacker when you see him, and I think his body mass helped to keep from any bones breaking. I hope he makes it back out for the race, as I think he is going to do Cascade, and I hope it doesn't stop him.
It took about fifteen minutes to get going again. The group slowly rolled out, and there was a light tempo until the highway, and then when we crossed. Basically, a half dozen plus got gapped off by the traffic, and we waited on the other side for them, which meant that we were going pretty slow for another couple of miles.
Innes Market was slow the whole way, in that we were around 25 and no one was under stress to stay on. We were headed for Bridges, and I was second wheel at the time... and I missed the freaking turn. I was so mad. I was with Omer Kem, a pro who rides for Bissell. He doesn't know the road, so I can't blame him. I know the road, and I should have known better. I basically didn't see the sign since we were going into the setting sun.
Omer and I turned around. At this point, you see the difference between a plunker like myself and a pro... Omer rejoined the group before the descent, and I chased my butt off and didn't get back on for a long, long while.
And I really am no fan of this hill, either. Bridges has a way of kicking my butt. I don't know what it is... I get suckered by this hill everytime. You fly into it, going from a descent, and running right into the hill off a descending corner, and I totally want to big ring that climb. But on the hill, as it turns up an to the right, the steepness kicks in and there is no way to finish that in the big ring, but by then I'm stuck in a bad gear, and I get gapped off so many times.
Today was no different. The group rode away from me, and by the time I got to the top, I was way off. So, I was in chase mode, and I needed to do what I can to get back on.
On the straight and flat section, I was totally in TT mode. I felt like I was going OK, but there was no way to catch the group, they were too fast. On the descent, I made some time, and I saw the group go into Tumalo, and I thought that if they get stuck waiting for traffic, then I can get 'm. They did get stuck, and I had a clear path to them across the highway, and I was able to just get on as they were on the road toward OB Riley.
That was fortuitous. On the Johnson climb, I went right to the front. I felt bad, and I didn't think I could make it over with 'em, but I was gonna fight the whole way. I was gonna get dropped from the front, not yo-yoing off the back.
But I stayed with 'em over the first two climbs, and the hardest part, I just made it. I was feeling pretty happy to do that, and I could feel the rush of being on the front with a good group just pulling me along.
At the last hill before descending into Shevlin, I pretty much felt like I was playing with the house's money, and that anything beyond blowing up like an overwound top would be sweet. I got a few pulls in, and then I took a big one, gave it all I had, and I just popped. I came right off the group, and I was about 200 meters from the top, but the group just rode away from me. There was nothing to do about it, it was my time.
I soft peddled back in with a few others, but I was thinking of Robert. I hope he's OK. I really like riding with him, he's one of my favorite guys in the group riders here in Bend. That was a tough break to go down like that, but I think he'll be fine.
Any crash you walk away from is a good crash... and we've all been there and had bad crashes, it's part of being a cyclist.