Final Stage Joe Martin Stage Race

The final stage of the Joe Martin Stage race was a very, very tough criterium. It is the toughest most technical criterium I have ever seen. I has 12 turns, a false flat, followed by a 300 meter climb, then more false flat after the climb, and off camber turns with slippery-looking intersections, one coming after a 45 mph descent. The lap took about three minutes to complete and the men pro,1 race was supposed to be 90' in duration. I started the race in the middle of the group and it was flat out from the gun. On the first two laps there were 5-10 rider pile-ups in the second to last turn. That gapped me and the riders I was with off on both occasions and we had to chase hard on the hill. On the second or third lap on three occasions my handlebars were bumped hard three times by someone's butt fighting for around 100 or 120th place. By this point I was very anaerobic from the pace and my head was no longer in the game because of the crashes I saw and the getting bumped harder than a field sprint at the back of the field. I decided then to pull out, so I would not make the 18 hour drive home with either broken bones or road rash. My Ion- United Healthcare teammate Spencer Gaddy made it about 50-55 minutes into the race before his group was pulled but was not included in the final results. The rule was that you had to make it to the halfway point in the race in order to be included in the overall standings, so he should have been included. Now I am done with a long stint of racing and am healthy and safe. Hopefully with a week or two of rest my form will come along from the flogging I have taken from the last 3 weeks of racing with the big boys.