Carefast | Storck Race Results: Santa Barbara County Road Race Jan. 28
Santa Barbara County Road Race
Santa Barbara County Road Race aka Poor College Kids is the first official road race of our 2017 season and we had several riders in multiple categories to test the legs in this season opener. The course had a new start finish that was moved to a road just off the main “lap” and the final run in after the last lap had the sprint crossing a bridge. We all had the same thought going in that this had potential to be a very dangerous final sprint as we were dealing with a center line rule and a barrier (for the bridge) that reduced the lane dramatically. So if it came down to a sprint and the bunch was large it could get ugly. Our intuition was correct and unfortunately our team rider and manager, Mike Allec, was involved in a spectacular crash in the final sprint.
As evidenced by the video and pictures below, we are extremely grateful that this wasn’t worse. Mike was making a move on the right side as it was open to do so, he got pinched by another rider and pinned against the barrier. His bike and his body went over the wall, thankfully Mike was able to grab the edge and hang on while his bike went to the bottom of the ravine some 30ft. below! Local personnel were able to quickly help him off the bridge and back to safety with only road rash and a badly damaged kit. The bike however didn’t fare too well and had severe damage to the frame, etc.
We are very thankful for the outpouring support from many who were there and more importantly those that helped him off of the bridge. Words cannot express the gratitude for him being able to walk away from this with road rash, this could have ended much much worse.
Thank you Peter Aquino for the video and to all of the personnel on site including local emergency crews.
Be safe out there!
Video by Peter Aquino
Thank you to the nice woman who provided the photos, sorry we did not get your name!
