Saturday morning we took in Ian's first soccer game since he played in 1st grade (now he is in the 4th) and he did not disappoint. Scoring a left foot'er from a decent distance back and making tons of plays the kid looked like he had been playing for years. His crew won their first game 5-0 and then went on to win a second 2-0. He had a blast and we did also watching.
Jake was off cheering on his xc crew at Missouri Southern and looks to return to running on Monday seeing how he responds; this will determine pretty quickly the rest of his season.
Met Ira a little before noon, loaded up wearing a huge smile, and make the trek to Hermann. Got our primo spot for the pop-up camper (right on the corner of a lot of action) and before you know it the compound was set up and ready for the night. Crusty, JBowes, and ACoe showed up and a little later Dale was there (Cale trickled in right before the 3 race). Everyone settled in and look to be a fun evening.
After watching a couple folks warm up it seemed the question of the night was to run or hop the low barriers. Although in my practice laps I hopped 'em I know my limitations and chose to run it every time. We took a couple loops to get the feel of the course and it was very typical Jeff Yielding style - fun, twisty, and fun. The Piranhas were hooking up nicely and went with them with the newly glued up tubies in the pits.
Ira and Dale went off first in the 4 race and both looked really solid. Ira got the front line start while Dale was at the other end of the group moving up the entire time. Ira put together a great race and ended up 3rd and I'm not sure of Dale's placing.
Warmed up and ready for the season opener I toed the front line of the 3 race and to my surprise got the hole shot into the twisty stuff (not typical me of past). Ira and I had worked on starts the other day and I was looking forward to giving it my all on the opener. Not too long into the first loop I was passed by a couple of guys and for the next handful of laps stayed in 3rd place with a KCCX rider in tow in pursuit of 2nd (1st place was way gone). With four to go three guys bridged up to us and two Dogfish guys went to the front and upped the pace. I jumped right in with them and during that lap we gapped the KCCX and one other and 2nd was right in front of us; I was feeling great as I kept my efforts in check thus far and every lap was hitting the turns with my speed and confidence. With 3 1/2 to go my rear tire losses air 50 FREAKING FEET past the pit so I ride a totally flat tire a 1/2 lap before switching out to my tubular pit tire (thanks Cale for the assistance). Amazingly I only lost three or four places (we had a pretty big gap on the field) by the time I rejoined the game. Upped the pace and began reeling back in a couple places when I rolled my rear tubie in a high speed turn (that I had pushed harder every lap) and my night was done with 2 to go... suck!
*** Above race video shows getting the hole shot, the sandpit, Crusty turning cartwheels, the off camber turns after the steps, and the low barrier sections. 2nd up the stairs in the shots; more coming...***
The mechanicals were totally on me as I was the one who chose to try the Challenge latex tubes in the Hutchison rear (the front is tubeless) and pair the price for going with something exotic instead of solid; I know better now. The rolled tubie was also on my as obviously I didn't glue it up as well as I needed; learning process also.
The good news is I felt really good fitness wise (still some improvement to develop), but my technical skills/handling is the best I've ever had. Way less braking before and tons more flow. I continually made gaps/advances on those near me on the barrier/stair sections (except for the lower barriers where I figure it was a wash). This is going to be a good season.
So back to the compound to get some pasta cooking while taking in the Pro/1/2. Right at the start the rain began to fall and lightening (off in the distance) lit up the sky. The race was called after two laps.
I started whipping up a bunch of pasta for the crew and about 5 minutes before the spaghetti noodles were done my propane tank went empty... seriously, ARGGGG! The crew was more than kind and choked down 1/2 cook pasta (the sauce was super good) and ACoe called it a night (slept in a tent while JBowes crashed in his truck).
Oh, I almost forgot, the entire time the rain is coming down pretty heavy, but didn't really notice since we were nice and dry in the pop up. We watched an hour of The Flying Scotsman before calling it a night; still raining and at time pretty stinking hard. Lots of lightening and thunder and rain and rain and rain, but around midnight I start to drift off; still raining.
The Hermann Under the Lights course is set in the city park of Hermann in a pretty low spot of the town with a lite creek that flows on one side. Just thought I would point that out.
At 1:something AM Jeff Yielding (HUtL race promoter and all around good guy) is pounding on our door telling us we have to get out now. What?!?!?!?! I step outside the camper to water just below my knee. I take a look around and holy cow the whole park is under water and it is rising quick. The bottom of the camper is covered and I can't get to release the jacks to tow it out so we started grabbing stuff out and throwing it in the truck. Within 10 minutes the water moved inside the camper and still rising. Everyone took their vehicles to higher ground and then helped those still needing assistance (several elder couples with large travel trailers were going under water). Cale was helping out an older gentleman with a 5th-wheel trailer that was clearly frazzled and ended up dropping his trailer on his truck bed (at no fault of Cale or I) and doing quite a bit of damage; he finally figured out his 'locking mechanism' and got it out safely.
We are finally standing around only to see Andrew C walk into the water/current and retrieve three wheels he lost at the initial flow; 30 minutes later and he just happens to see them floating. We thought they were long gone.
It was nutty how fast things were moving and all the time a sense of helplessness for the pop-up. We drove off to higher ground and last we saw the water line was just below the slide out beds (roughly 4' deep). She was done and I knew there was nothing to do but wait; and wait we did. (Just a tip: always a good idea to get insurance on various item and just so happens I had it on the camper so it wasn't too big of a deal as a replacement will come). A couple team trailers full of equipment were under water (KCCX and Mesa) and a couple vehicles were caught and swallowed:
We killed some time under cover of a closed gas station to regroup and re-pack.
Around 3am or so the water receded enough Ira and I were able to hook the truck to the camper and tow it off. It was a mobile sponge and most everything inside is covered in Hermann creek mud (it's nasty). He and I got a couple hours of sleep before heading back to SWMO around 7am. What a night (good news is no one remember the 1/2 cooked pasta now - HA!)!
The below pic #1 has the water level 2' below it's highest and #2 is only ankle deep as the water receded and Ira and I were pulling it out. Here is a local news story of the flood and it had pic #3 (funny thing about that shot is Ira had on only his BVD's as he didn't want to get his shorts wet so he used the screen to literally 'screen' himself on his way to his pants). More video and pics coming...
Sunday left like slow motion as I don't function well without solid sleep. Got a short nap in, but muddled through the day; finished out a new shrub bed, cleaned up what was salvaged from the trailer, started the re-gluing process on the wheels, took Ian to the gym... was really glad to see the bed at the end of the day. I did start my insurance claim on the trailer and an adjuster will be knocking soon.
All in all a nutty couple days, but looking forward I like how I raced and look for this to be a solid season and interested to see what comes of the camper replacement. This weekend I couldn't make a USGP trip to Madison work so I'll head up to KC for the inaugural Manion's CX.
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