Well, I did my second Sunset series race this year at Camp Fortune. Took the lead early, only to give it up to Imad and Vincent 3/4 of the way through the 1st of 4 laps. Managed to take a wrong turn,(as did many others), and crashed twice on a course which is in serious need of some TLC after many seasons of abuse and an especially rainy summer season so far. In the end Imad took the win, I came in 3rd well behind. Props go to Imad for a stellar ride and for keeping his lines dialed by regular visits to the beast we call Camp Fortune!
Other Kunstadt riders included Richard , James and Norm,(the Badger). James took some wrong turns too and Richard got many flats (3 total I think).. Richard: your luck is bound to turn around. I didn't speak with Norm after but he looked happy.
In all honesty, the place needs some work, the course was poorly marked, I know at lest 5 people I talked to after got lost. The trails are badly eroded and injuries are a very common occurance these days. I landed on my head, Rob Kerr needed stitches for his right ankle, Nancy Manning, (former world champion, and new team Kunstadt member), cracked some ribs. There were trucks, (3 over the course of 4 laps) flying down the course and narrowly missing me and likely many other riders.The least they could do if they want to run and charge people fo a race is ensure that there will not be oncoming traffic! Also, I don't think marking the course would not be too much to ask. On the plus side it was a beautiful night and Nancy seemed to be all over the place cheering us on. It would be wonderful to see someone new and enthusiastic like her, take the reigns for the series, just feels like it needs to be freshened up a bit.
I have to agree. The funny thing is I remember thinking _exactly_ the same thing back when they ran the National Championships at Fortune 2 years in a row (1999 and 2000, I think). During those years (2000 especially) I remember a lot of rain, and a lot of unchecked erosion on the course.
ReplyDeleteOh yea, I also made a wrong turn last night, so add me to that list. To be honest, I knew the right turn, but with head down, given' 'er, its pretty easy to miss a turn that's not clearly marked. Didn't go too far down the wrong path, but it takes the wind out of the sails, for sure!
And speaking of that, I literally thought of the course marking at several turns during the race - if it was my first race, there was 1 or 2 turns, completely unmarked/untaped, at which I wouldn't know which way to go. Very uncool.
Yea, it was 3 flats. One front tubeless sidewall slice before the race, one rear tubeless loss of seal due to rim bottom out (as far as I could tell) on the 2nd lap, and one front tube flat through the sidewall slice; that last one was not really a factor, it didn't flatten until after I had to quit due to the rear flat. Oh, and one more tube pinch flat this morning during a Kanata Lakes loop! And that's it. Bad luck comes in streaks, and I think mine is up, I can feel it.