Tour of Ephrata Stage 3 Report
The final stage of this weekend’s stage race is the afternoon criterium in downtown Ephrata. The day turned sunny and reasonably warm, at least in the sun. Unfortunately, the wind that plagued the morning time trial continued into the afternoon.
This year’s course while run on the same wide smooth streets went counter clockwise (left turns) rather than the customary right turns of previous years. The change was an attempt to reduce the number of crashes in the off-camber #3 corner common to previous races. It did seem to work since there were no serious crashes. The corner remains fast and a little dangerous but the counter clockwise direction is an improvement.
With the change in direction, the finish is a fast downhill sprint and the fourth leg of the square course becomes a challenging hill.
However, for me, this race was a spectator event. While warming up I noticed creaking noises coming from my stem and handlebars. Checking further my handlebars seemed lose and rocked back and forth. No problem; a quick trip to the mechanics tent to tighten the handlebar clamp. Wrong!
All bolts were tight yet the bars still rocked back and forth at least a half inch. Cracked steering tube, maybe but certainly not rideable in a fast 20 lap criterium with short power hill.
An examination at home disclosed that it was not the steering tube but rather a crack the entire length of the aluminum stem! The crack went straight for 75% of the stem and then curled around about a third of the circumference. Had I ridden the bike, I could have easily broken the stem standing up the hill or accelerating out of a corner. Interestingly, this is the same bike and stem that I rode in stage 1 but didn’t notice any problem.
All in all, the best DNS that I have ever had. Unfortunately, as a stage race, this means no GC result but there’s next year.
Posted: May 1st, 2007 under Bicycle Racing.
Tags: criterium, cycling, racing