Manhattan Beach Grand Prix

Today's race was bright and early w/ a 7:45am start time in Manhattan Beach w/ a full field of 120 riders. The 3's race didn't go as I had hoped. Similar to last weekend at San Pedro, my race ended on the last lap, but this time I had to walk my bike back to the car and I didn't get to cross the finish line. On the back straight of the last lap, I was sitting pretty at the front of the pack, when another rider on my right side decided to make a jump to his left. He jumped out of the saddle and made an abrupt move onto my line w/ nowhere for me to go. I was 1/2 of a bike length into him, but apparently he didn't see me. I tried to slow down and give him room, but the next thing I know I hear spokes popping and my front wheel jammed up inside my fork. His skewer took out my front wheel and my skewer took out his rear wheel. Fortunately, no one went down and the only damage was a few broken spokes and the need for a front wheel rebuild. I'm a bit disappointed, but then again, that's racing. When you race crits, you put yourself and your equipment on the line.

Gabriel