April 13, 2008 - Hopbrook - Root 66 Race Series

Here is my verson of the race!Hopbrook has earned the reputation of being a weather disaster, whichit had been for the past four years. When Mike and I raced Hopbrooktwo years ago, it was about 33 degrees and pouring, which turned tohail as we lined up at the start of the race, and back to buckets ofcold freezing rain throughout the rest of the race. The mud was sodeep that at times you would sink in to your hubs. Best racingattire was a thick wet suit, and a kayak instead of a bike. Thisyear, all week they had predicted heavy rains, thunderstorms and mid40s temperatures, so I was having visions of a repeat. I could notbelieve it then when we lined up at the start that the sun was outand the temperature was poking the 70 mark. I was dry andcomfortable in just my bibs and shirt. I had put on an undershirtout of complete disbelief of the weather, which of course ended upbeing way too hot. Though it had rained during the week, the coursehad mostly drained w/ some short but deep mud sections thrown in. Ifyou carried enough speed going in those sections, you could coastyour way through w/out too much trouble as long you did not hit ahidden rock. There were a few challenging deep creek crossing whereMike took his header, but overall the course was fun and fast. Theonly problem I ran into was with a mud section in a tight turn.Easily rideable but it required some focus. As I came to the turn Inoticed a guy w/ a video camera filming the riders. Root 66 has beenputting some great DVDs together of some the races. Mike actuallymade it to the cover of one of them. Of course the pressure toperform threw me completely off and I ended up losing myconcentration, hesitating, unclipping, and taking the turn too wideending in the brush and trees. He of course captured the wholething. On second lap, as he was not there, I just flew through theturn w/out problem.As mike mentioned in his report, two year ago I finished 3rd atHopbrook and took the series leader jersey by the next race. Thatwas also the season that I blew out my knee. Yesterday's race was myfirst race after having been off the bike for 1 ½ years. I got backon the bike about two months ago and have been taking it easy toprotect my knee. I was therefore forcing myself not to expect much.My only goal was to finish w/out hurting my knee or wrappingmyself around a tree. I did not care if I came in last.I ended up finishing 31 out of 38; the weather was fantastic; thecourse a blast; my brother, who has not raced himself in 3 years,showed up (and did well); and my knee today is feeling pretty good.So though my result was not what it used to be, it was great to beracing again. Next Sunday is Winsted Woods, and the followingSunday Farmington.I posted a picture on my flickr account and will try to post one here.www.flickr.com/bellullabob