March 3, 2012 Race Report by Russ Bogin

CRCA, First Race of 2012 Season! "Keep your eyes on the road and not the road on your eyes!"

Went to sleep Friday night having seen a weather forecast for rain and possible thunderstorms early Saturday morning in New York. I had vowed not to race if it was rainy and cold as last year I had raced in similar conditions and was miserable from start to finish. Nevertheless, with guarded optimism, I went through the pre-race rituals the evening before in case the weather was better than anticipated Upon waking it was not raining. What the heck - while I knew the roads would be wet, I knew I wouldn't get entirely soaked through while racing and it was a balmy 47 degrees.

We start racing - my first race of the year and all that this portends. As we go along it seems as though the weather is deteriorating. My glasses were useless so I took them off. Did nothing particularly interesting in the race - merely tried to survive the conditions.

Anyway, I got home, went through the pre-race routine for the next morning, another race in Central park. Got to sleep at a reasonable hour. About 12:30 a.m., I woke up and thought "wow, my eye really hurts." I hadn't really paid much attention to it that day figuring that it was just the sting of being out in the spray during the race. But now every time I closed my eyes it hurt. Hard to sleep with your eyes open. The next morning I decide, after sage advice from my racer wife, that racing on almost no sleep and one eye half-open was not a good recipe for a crash-free race season. No race for me.

Instead, I email one of our team sponsors, Harry Koster, the prinicpal of NY Vision Group (http://www.nyvisiongroup.com/), asking if he has office hours on Monday and telling him my symptoms. At 6 a.m.(!) I get a return email from Dr. Koster (the man must never sleep) saying that he was out of town with his son but that they would be returning to NYC mid-morning and offering to come into his office (on a Sunday!) to take a look at my eye.

I head down to Dr. Koster's offices on Downing Street in the Village. He had commuted there on his City bike, which was sitting in the hallway. Gotta love a doctor who is also a cycling enthusiast. He examines my eye and diagnoses that I have a scratched cornea. He takes a closer look and finds a very visible speck of Central Park is embedded in my eye. He removes it, patches me up and sends me on my way. Instant relief!

Major thanks to Dr. Koster for going way beyond the call of duty and helping me out on a Sunday. Not only is he a sponsor of our team but he a friend in times of need. Next time it is raining in the Park, I'm keeping my glasses on!