Race report LPP #3: Soft, yet hard.

So, Carlington Hill is done. While everyone who attended the race said that it was a great course, it was a small crowd that raced, although we did have or first group of spectators! Perhaps the forecast of evening rain scared some off, perhaps the rapidly melting snow discouraged others but the night was beautiful, warm, and still. The one thing I did learn was that with weather like that, courses can change quite rapidly! While I was on the course Monday, I worked all day Tuesday. When I arrived to set the course on Wednesday afternoon, I found to my shock that the up-and-over I built last week, which looked fine on Monday, was still good on the north side, but had shrunk by about 8 inches in 36 hours on the south side of the barrier! Too late to add snow and compact, I gave everyone a heads up and advised those without bashguards to think twice before giving it a go.

The course, apart from the lemans start to retrieve bikes left a third of the way down the hill, was behind the sliding hill, and in the trails south of the reservoir. The trails were tight and twisty; with the melting during the day, it was critical that you found the balance of speed and control that kept you in the middle of the trail or you would sink. The course came out of the woods and crossed a road (that turned to black ice once the sun went down, which I discovered at the cost of a very bruised hip) and went down a sweet little descent to the bottom of the old toboggan hill on the east side. The hill was a slog; I think only Dollywood consistently made it up, partly due to the icy conditions and partly because there was an off-camber transition of the main hill to a side trail that seemed to trip up the non-fat bikers.

Four laps of this and everyone got to bomb down the hill via the snow-cover slalom course to the finish.

the top five:

Boobies

Fushia

Dollywood

Buttercup

Gabba Gabba Hey!

So coming to the series final at Kanata Lakes on March 11th (date changed due to a conflict with the WQW roller race on the third), here are the leaders for the overall:

Ozzy- 6.5 points

Fushia -6 points

Hot Pants, Boobies- 5 points each

1/2, Dollywood, 4 points each

That's it for now. next week I'll put up more info about KL, including a gps of the course; it's going to be sweet!

BTW, anyone want to help with the race on the 11th? Does anyone have some tiki torches and a hibachi they want to lend out?

-Flounder.