Yo Eddy with Number Plate
Ah...Yo Eddy looks good with a number plate.
This race turned epic, then ugly, then plain scary.
As you can see from this picture the weather was nice...it did not stay that way. The Laramie series races are run on a network of trails that double as cross country ski trails in the winter. Very cool trails with lots of twisting single track, tough climbs and fast technical decending. Each race the course is different so they don't get stale.
Lap one was sweet with perfect temps, but lap 2 of three its starting to sprinkle a bit with some grumbling of thunder coming from a very dark mass of clouds. The rain just kept building in intensity and I'm actually thinking it's kind of cool. That was until the first crack of lightning scares the crap out of me. I actually ducked as if I could make it miss... I had three such close encounters with the lightning on that lap and by the time I was on the final climb to the start finish the trail is running like a stream, about 5-6 inches deep. You could not see roots and stuff under the water so it was testing ones bike handling skills for sure. There was some small hail tossed in just for good measure.
The race was off at this point with the organizer pulling everyone off the course at the start/finish, which also has a warming hut for the skiiers. So at this point people are huddling about and telling there stories of close calls from the lightning or showing off their damaged bodies from the wrecks they took on the crazy trails. They had two small kegs of brew and a grill with burgers so once the rain tappered off a bit we were able to drink, eat and we did the awards and raffle with a lantern in the hut.
Pretty memorable experience, even though the race was ruined.