Held at YWCA Camp, we pulled in and saw many familiar faces, and were glad to see other Crankskins.com riders, Tommy and Jimmy. Later, EJ showed with very cute daughter, Hannah, in tow. I asked, "Where's the Chaser-man?" and EJ replied with, "He's only reserved for special occassions!" In total, Crankskins.com had four riders line up in the expert race.
Prior to the start of the race, the Jeffina were able to get in some warm up laps and were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves on familiar trails. The loop was about 2+ miles and had less climbing than the Farmall circuilt, but was completely tight, twisty singletrack. There was also a bridge that had steps leading into and off of the bridge. I did a typical cyclocross dismount and remount for the bridge, but others were able to lift their front wheels onto the bridge and ride off! The race director, Teddy, did an awesome job picking out the loop. Despite the rain we had earlier in the day, the course was in relatively good condition.
Anyone who knows me well knows that tight, twisty singletrack is not my forte. Jeff's handling skills are amazing and I find that each year, his handling continues to improve. Call me a girl (or whatever you want to call me), but I struggle with certain elements of racing, but I am always willing to work on those weak areas. This course would definitely test my single track skills.
Unlike the Farmall series where expert women do the same amount of laps as sport men, the Park Ave. series has expert women riding the same amount of laps as the expert men. I personally enjoyed the longer race last night and felt it more closely resembled a typical weekend race.
The expert women lined up in back of the expert men and after a few words from young race director, Teddy, and GROC board member, Bruce (who nearly severed his finger off last weekend OUCH!), we were off. There was a mad dash to the entry of the woods and as one would assume, there was also a back up at the mouth of the trail. People were pleasant and everyone single-filed onto the single-track. The expert ladies stayed together relatively close through the end of the first lap. I knew that I would be out there longer than the previous races, so I tried ride a reserved race. I had a lot of miles in my legs from the past days, and knew my limitations. I was able to steadily pull away during the 2nd lap and stayed off the front through the finish. On my 6th lap, hunky husband Jeff came riding by on the steepest part of the course. He gave me plenty of notice, but I chose a line that forced him to almost stall his SS....I felt bad, but afterwards, he told me that he was able to get it rolling again. Jeff finished in 6th overall and 2nd in his age group. When I came rolling across the line, Jeff was standing there waiting for me (which made me really happy) and we both thanked the race director and the owner of Park Ave. for a wonderful evening. We hope to get in maybe one more race of this series, but will be determined by how we feel after the weekend races.
Overall, this course and the race organization get an "A+" from the Jeffina.
Rochester has great areas to ride and a very strong riding community. If you're ever traveling through the area definitely take time out to enjoy the trails.
Together, we are the Jeffina, crankin' out the miles, crankin' out the love for Crankskins.com.
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