Crank Racing : : News

ONE Ugly day. Rain last nite and still raining hard today. Turn on TV, big yellow and dark green on weather map and heading towards Hartford area (Farmington is near Hartford). Gunna be a wet one. Flood warnings are up for Hartford County.

Oh well I’ve already paid and my buddy will be here at 7am. As we drive down, it is raining. We get closer to Hartford the rain gets harder. Finally we get to the race area. It is still raining hard. Get the theme ?? We go up and register and then dress for a pre-ride.

Course is very wet but very rideable. Mainly dirt roads with some short sections of singletrack (“ST”) thrown in. Nothing technical unless you hit an unseen or submerged rock or log while riding the doubletrack. Yes the water is that deep. As we go along I notice the puddles and size. So I line up for the start and get near the front. Looks like 20 plus guys. (turns out to be 21). Anyhoot, I ponder: go out hard then settle or slow and pick ‘em off later. I decided the latter until some one decides he can’t handle the water and takes 5-6 guys out in front of me. I shift into a hard gear dip to where he just vacated and pedal hard for some 2 minutes.

I move up into 5th or 6th. I see the guy who won the first “66” race and settle in. He is up front in 1st with the string of guys between him and me. (or so I thought). Course is wet and people try to hang on the edges. I plow through the middle and it seems firm under there. Praying there are no hidden rocks or logs under the water. The puddles now are becoming small ponds. Haha. On second “ST” section notice most of the guys can’t handle the wet “ST”. So I will need to pass 1st chance I get. So I do so and settle in behind the 66 “leader” with one other guy. This is nice for the remaining of the 1st lap and most of the second. I take a chance at the end of the second lap on some “ST” and create some distance. Ufortunately at the Start/Lap/Finish line I bonk a bit and he catches me. I eat and lose sight. Second guy passes too. Atleast I know I have ‘em on the “ST” sections. Well I ride hard for a little bit and I ”see” the leader guy (or atleast the Team jersey) So I pace myself up and find out it is a teammate, same uniform. Crap, we are near the end and I try hard but the legs just are not there anymore. I soft pedal through the “ST” and up to the finish. I find out there were two guys ahead of the “66” leader guy and I’m in 5th (and not 3rd) out of 21 for the 40-49 sport group. But the race is done and I still did OK.