We pulled into parking lot and we were quickly joined by other Crankskins.com riders: Tommy, Jimmy, and EJ. EJ greeted us with his proverbial hand signal which must be a male-gesture of endearment and once again, came bearing gifts -- we came home with goodies from his garden, handpicked by the hands of his children.
Side note: EJ has out a new product for your seatpost. Check out this video promo.
On the start line for the experts race, Crankskins.com had five riders line up. My goals for the evening were to try to hang with the dudes at the start of the race and NOT get lapped by Jeff. Most of you who read this, know Jeff and know how fast he is on the SS. For me, any training ride that we do together is lovingly called a 'torture-fest' but tonight, I wanted to work on my starts again and really try to go out hard and hang with the dudes, yes, more torture. Jeff, Tommy, and EJ were all up front at the start and Jimmy and I entered the single track relatively close to one another. I am amazed at speed and quick reaction time they carry into the singletrack. My neurons just don't react that fast to the changing trail conditions...but, nonetheless, while Tommy, Jeff, and EJ all pushed the pace upfront, Jimmy passed me on the steepest climb on the course and I was left alone. Eventually, a sport rider came up on me and passed me. I worked hard to stay with him for four laps and credit this dude in gym shorts for pacing me throughout most of the race.
Towards the end of my second lap, I saw Jimmy pulled over working on his bike and although I was unsure at that moment what had happened, I later found out that he broke his chain and was unable to secure it to complete the race. Jimmy retired early and went home.
For the rest of us, Tommy lapped me on my 6th of 7 laps. At that time, he was in 3rd and I was able to keep sight on him enough to see that he closed a gap on the 2nd place guy and took the sprint for 2nd overall! Good job, Tommy.
I didn't get lapped by Jeff and when I finished my race, I saw him standing there with the other dudes. Everyone had smiles on their faces and everyone was satisfied with their performances -- no mechanicals and no mishaps. Jeff finished 6th again (need to confirm this and 2nd in his age group?) and not sure about EJ's placing, but his time was faster than the previous weeks. For me, I won the expert ladies race and swept the series. The series is best of three and now, we are done with the series since we have a lot of weekend racing the next month.
After we cleaned up, we found Moe's Southwest Grill in Victor to grab a quick burrito for the ride home. While there, Kim and "Grog" walked in (we call him "Grog" because of a misprint long ago on race results -- his real name is "Greg"). Looks like, we all had an appetite for Mexican food this evening.
Thanks to everyone who was out there cheering for us this evening -- Pete and Theresa (along with their cute doggies), Steve, Michelle, and little Owie. A lot of folks had tired legs from the Black Fly race, so many chose to take a break from the series.
One final shout out goes to our nephew, Johnathan, who got 8th place in the Ohio State Road 1/2/3 Race last weekend. He's only 18 and riding on junior gearing. He was the 2nd cat. 2 who rolled across the line! Looks like cycling is in the family blood! Good job, Johnathan!
Enjoy the pictures of the evening.
Next up for us is the first race in the NYS series at Williams Lake, and then race #3 in the H2H series. Send us good vibes.
Together, we are Jeffina, crankin' out the miles, crankin' out the love for Crankskins.com.
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