Canal Crown Race 4 - Grand Finale

I can not believe we pulled this thing off. There was a lot that could go wrong, but didn't. The trail was cleared for every race (merely minutes before the last race thanks to John P), only one race had to be postponed due to rain, no one sustained any major injuries, and everyone had an absolute blast. We started out with 10 people at the first race and the line up increased every Thursday. Race 4 had a total of 23 riders chomping at the bit to give it a go! Lots of familiar faces were seen as well as some new ones.

John Pilcher, Canal Crown Tree Massacre!

The expert class was dominated once again by hometown hotshot, J to the T! Dude is like a bulldozer with a wrecking ball attached. I'm still looking for evidence to prove he cut the course, bear with me guys...not really. Another repeat was in the number 2 spot. Matt Kogel was able to stay consistent and keep his usual 15-secondish gap over the race for 3rd. And the race for third is usually a good one until JT's riding buddy, Josh Jackson, makes his race debut to mix things up. He put on a good showing and beat out the usual 3rd place suspects. Another interesting thing that happened was the starting situation Dustin go into. I noticed as I was starting the Expert class his bike was upside down and it looked like he had a small pit crew dialing things in. Come to find out Phillip borrowed his bike and had the flat pedals on. Needless to say trying to get pedals off with a short wrench is on the difficult side. So D was up next, I gave him the 30 second warning, they're still struggling. 10 seconds, 5 seconds, and about the time I said go he was at the line clipping in, and taking off. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this may have effected his lap time in a negative manner. Nothing like some pre-race stress to get the heart rate up.

The Sport class is always a good race and this time it was no different. Brian Williams kept doing what he does and landed the 3 spot. He just barely knocked Jimmy C off the podium. Speaking of Jimmy C, I'm pretty sure there's nothing left of the stairs as he completely crushed them on the climb. I swear there were chunks of wood flying off his back tire. What made this race really unique was the fact there was a tie for first place between Kris "I only do the clockwise races" Fausnight and Bobby "I swear I'm not a sandbagger" Boham. Being that we've never had a tie we really didn't know what to do. We threw around some good, and not so good, ideas then somebody said let 'em chug for the win. Obviously there was no arm twisting necessary there. So they chose their poison from my cooler, we got the megaphone ready, and they proceeded to do their impression of a young man at Kappa Alpha rush week. Being that Kris's can was empty and Bobby had Miller Lite all over him, Kris got the win! Could you imagine if everything was settled that way?

Last, but certainly not least was my favorite, the beginner class. It's really good to see people step out of their comfort zone and give something new a try. Most of the beginner class is folks that have never raced and in some cases never ridden the trail. It's all in the name of fun, and fun was had. Jerry Murphy put it down once again and landed himself in third (must be that vintage dirt bike racing). There must be something in the water because Bob Kogel, Matt's dad, landed himself in second place as well. And then first place went to not only someone making their race debut, but also the youngest competitor. Josh Boham came out and cleaned house in the beginner class. Someone is definitely moving up to sport next year, maybe even expert if he keeps things up.

But the real highlight of the evening was not the racers with the fastest times or the ones with the best placing. This goes back to the idea of trying something new. My wife Kim had contemplated doing one of the CCTT's each time, but it never seemed to happen (probably because she was always helping set up or taking registration). While she was signing people up at race 4 she was going back and forth with the idea giving it a try. She pre-rode the course, she had all her gear with her, but the struggle continued. To back track a little we let the beginner and sport class go first this time. Kim was still torn, but it was too late to jump in as the group was finishing up. That is until Jeff G showed up. Jeff races the beginner class and was running behind schedule, or on time as we typically run the beginners last. So we told Jeff to hurry up, sign in, and run after the last expert racer goes off. So Kim signed him in, I gave him a number plate, and he was ready. Then like a phoenix rising through the flames, Kim throws down the pen, puts on her helmet, and says screw it I'm racing. At this point I was freaking out and trying to get her pumped up at the start. While my efforts may have been appreciated, as I look back I was probably doing more harm than good. Off she goes into what is becoming darkness. I know my wife well and I know she's not a fan of the woods at night. I'm hoping she makes it back out of the trail before the sun falls over the Canal Jungle. Almost 18.5 minutes later, Kim crosses the finish line, 1.5 minutes faster than her original goal. I asked her how it went and she said it was getting really dark, really quick and she was trying to keep the boogey man from getting her! She definitely earned a pat on the back for that one. I have a feeling Kim will be putting down the sign-up sheets and picking up her bike next year!

Kim Jordan gets out of the woods just in time!

I would like to take a second to thank everyone that helped keep the CCTT series going. Whether you raced, did some trail maintenance, or helped out at a race, your efforts are greatly appreciated ane we could not have done it without you. The series was even more fun than I expected, everyone else had more fun than I expected, and we're looking forward to putting it on next year. So start your training now!

Bryan Nuckols right behind team Rabobank on the run-up!

Another Chris Scarff Comic

Click the image for full size.