The first running of the Hampshire 100k was Sunday. Theme for the race, don't underestimate this one or it'll bite - I got the teeth marks to prove it. First mistake was to run a rigid fork..I've wanted to go rigid for at least one race this year, fox blew a seal last weekend at GG24 I figured it was a no brainer. The jarring and dribble vision, not too bad, my biceps will eventually re-attach to the necessary ligaments, maybe.
My seated flip came early in the race while bombing down the right side of a railroad bed. Freakish that I was unscathed after my left pedal made solid contact to a high railroad tie and sent me soaring on a seated front flip. Happened in a flash. Duck and roll, fractured helmet and returned rubberside up...then the spill sent me careening off the ten foot embankment while my bike gathered kinetic energy with a single bounce off another railroad tie. Like a super ball it sprang up into the trees and then crashed down ten feet beside me. I jumped to my feet and looked for blood. One word. freakish. No blood. No broken bones, face intact. Helmet, well I can get another. Bike...not so lucky. Didn't notice the dent in the top tube till 5 hours later upon finishing the race.
About the landscape of southern NH, I had no idea that Greenfield NH was the sand capital of the world. I saw more sand in those 62.5 miles than any beach I've ever been to. Maybe next year they'll cut out the 30 minutes of perfectly straight sand road that was once a rail bed. Would have been more bearable if I'd had someone to work with during that time but found myself alone trying in vain to gap up to two guys 600 ft off my bow.
The second half of the race was nice. Degraded jeep roads and small rocky climbs with small road section in between. The final few miles were single track with views of southern NH. Very sweet. I was only lost once for 10 minutes near mile thirty and after surviving that seated roll I didn't really care what position I held in the race but somehow pulled of a second place in senior II expert behind my blog bud Rick.
Congrats to all that did this one. Some pictures captured from my spiffy low quality camera phone.
new meaning of "will work for beer"
La Ruta Reenie!
Pakistan Roz!
Good ride Glen
Lloyd!
Wake up Rick, time for the podium
Brad growing sleepy
More personality for big red
6 comments:
yes, I was chased by dogs three times in this one! (a new personal record in a race) Those mini pinschers must have been pooped cause they chased every person I talked to.
Good job on that SS of yours!
You can hardly notice the dent. I believe wojcik as a jig like a pipe cutter that rolls the dent out.
crazy!
yeah, those little buggers were tenacious. not as scary as the black lab though.
I got lucky and missed out on the black lab...the 150 pound white sheep dog had me in spinning in turbo and the german sheperd was also an interesting experience.
I've come to realize Andy doesn't touch anything that is less than 100 and involves some kind of aggro-batics. Congrats on the sweeeeet finish.
Post a Comment