The first weekend in March meant Andy, Kenny, and Tim journeyed ten hours south for the last Snake Creek Gap Time Trial. Waking up Saturday morning we walked outside only to be greeted by snow....(really it's March way south of Ohio this is sort of ridiculous, and the week before it was 50 and the next week it's to hit a high of 65 mother nature knew we wanted a challenge) at breakfast and nobody could eat right away...even the bananas that Tim made sure we had by charming the manager with his West Virginian accent the night before. We've done the race twice before with no big issues so all the Murphy's law thoughts started springing up...what if I fall in the creek and drown, maybe I'll flat three times, or a raccoon could jump out on your face and then you proceed to ride off a fifty foot cliff steal your bike then claim your belt buckle as his own....that's probably the most likely hazard. We finally loaded on the bus, about a quarter of the passengers were local racers from Ohio! Between seeing familiar faces and the few first timers worried about the creek crossing the nerves settled. (Sidenote: if there is anyone out there that is going to do a race with five plus creek crossings in freezing weather do yourself a favor and go buy Gore-Tex neoprene socks $50 bucks but for all the time trials we crossed the finish line with cold but dry feet).
We finally got to the start and as everyone would expect Andy took the lead followed by Kenny and Tim. Andy hit the half way point at 1:43 about a ten minute improvement from the previous race, Kenny crossed at 1:52 one minute better, Tim wasn't paying attention nor did he care! With six miles to go Kenny rolled up to Andy bike upside down with a dented rim and a co2 cartridge that wasn't working, so Kenny handed off what cartridges and tubes he had and proceeded pedaling to the finish line before Andy yelled at him for wasting too much time. In the end Kenny improved his previous best by sixteen minutes, Tim cut seven minutes off, and Andy's twenty minute repair left his race two with his best time. Race times were irrelevant because all three time trials were completed and the infamous belt buckle was earned!!
Other random highlights of the weekend...Andy refuses to stop for stop signs and blinking red lights after dusk, and in the south they pronounce Salmon with the "L" so SALman...not Samon if you don't say it right at Outback they won't serve it to you, and the moment you go south of the Stark County border Tim will bust out in accent to get anything he wants except a clean bathroom at a truck stop.
We finally got to the start and as everyone would expect Andy took the lead followed by Kenny and Tim. Andy hit the half way point at 1:43 about a ten minute improvement from the previous race, Kenny crossed at 1:52 one minute better, Tim wasn't paying attention nor did he care! With six miles to go Kenny rolled up to Andy bike upside down with a dented rim and a co2 cartridge that wasn't working, so Kenny handed off what cartridges and tubes he had and proceeded pedaling to the finish line before Andy yelled at him for wasting too much time. In the end Kenny improved his previous best by sixteen minutes, Tim cut seven minutes off, and Andy's twenty minute repair left his race two with his best time. Race times were irrelevant because all three time trials were completed and the infamous belt buckle was earned!!
Other random highlights of the weekend...Andy refuses to stop for stop signs and blinking red lights after dusk, and in the south they pronounce Salmon with the "L" so SALman...not Samon if you don't say it right at Outback they won't serve it to you, and the moment you go south of the Stark County border Tim will bust out in accent to get anything he wants except a clean bathroom at a truck stop.
Belt Buckle's and beer...worth all sixty hours of driving
Andy... calm and collected navigating the rock garden
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Kenny...AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH more rocks really !? Great a photographer I can't dab now...
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No pictures of Tim yet....this will have to do
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