ANNOYED!

Disclaimer: I don't rant much but I have to.


So yesterday, I went to a little cross race near my house. I was there early because I was interested in the course and wanted to cheer for random people. I paid my dues, suited up , and hit the course.
I am very careful about getting out of the way of anyone that is racing. I even pull over for other warm up people. You may be able to figure out where this is going.
Okay, I am riding around and I catch up to two women racing and a guy warming up. I stop and let them go head while I check out the mud pit. I catch back up to them on a long straight, and I decide that I can go around them without any problem. I passed the three of them far to their left. I came into a s bend where I pulled over to see what the better line was. I am standing there turned around watching them come around the corner. The three ride up and the first lady slips her front tire and jams the brakes. I am well off the line and I just watch. The lady behind her runs her front tire into the derailleur side of the first lady bike and then hits her brakes and pulls back while the first lady falls over. I watch the whole thing and say to myself out loud, "note to self" talking about the line. The lady gets up ,says nothing not even a look that she's mad, nothing. The three are back together after the very short run up. I roll of to my Jeep to drink some water. I roll the course a bit more and settle down somewhere to cheer people on.
The women's race ends, the 4 go off and then end. I am getting ready to line up and the official walks up to me and asks me, "Do we have something to talk about?" I look at him puzzled, and ask I didn't cross the line or something did I?" He says, "You tell me?" This goes on for a bit and then he tells me that a women told him that I crashed into her.
Appalled, I respond "NO, I saw her fall but I wasn't even close." I give him the run down I tell him there was a Marshall there. I rode over to the Marshall but he didn't remember anything like that.
And so on, and so on...I told the official it's a dichotomy her word versus my word, In my head I'm thinking innocent until proven guilty, but I respect the rules. He decided to let me race because I had a good attitude and took blame for sprinting past them, but there's a catch. He tells me I can race as long as I pull out before the finish. I thought about that long and hard and decided although it wasn't fare, I paid my money for this sadistic course and I really wanted to conquer those hills with my 42*17 combo and should still be allowed to punish myself into the ground. I told a few off the guys that I was racing with, not to mark me because it didn't matter. They all agreed that it sucked but who cares it's fun, right.
The race went something like this. Oliver got the hole shot, which for once I didn't care about. I rode his wheel for the first lap. Chris decided to put in an effort and started to ride away from us. I pulled through and told Oliver and Lew I would pull for them to hold Chris is sight. I went hard and then cracked, they came around. I caught back on after a bit. Did a huge effort to pull Lew and another guy around to close the gap. Oliver had a mech. problem and he was out for a bit and then I sat up. I decided that I should sit up so i drilled it some more and set my sight on passing "3's". The dirt hill was a killer and the last lap up it was a bit slow but still faster then a couple a "3's" I passed. One of my friends, Drew, was right in front of me and I wanted to catch him but i ran out of time and had to "pull" out! Chris took the day, with ? in second, and Lew third. I would have held onto fourth if I'd finished the last lap. Overall, a great race. It was fun trying to help the guys out but my racing motivation wasn't there after the confrontation.
I really hate when someone blames others for something they clearly didn't do! The good news is that I believe in Karma and I know who the lady was, so maybe someone will complain to the officials about a lady getting in the way of the women's open race, or juniors, or just in the way!

P.S. Earlier in the day a rider ran into someone walking the course. I didn't' here if they were pulled but I'm guessing not.