James finished 12th in a furious A’s race
The rain! The mud! The cowbells!
They were all present yesterday. The rain started falling early in the weekend, and made for a very slick and sloppy race course in Hillsboro. The crowds were impressive, and so was the racing.
As the rain continued to fall, the course became more difficult to navigate. 6 inch mud tracks weaved around and through each other, taking many racers down as their wheels stuck into the peanut butter consistency mud. Transitions from mud to gravel to sawdust to pavement kept most people on their toes, and luckily most of the wrecks were just slide-outs.
Sawdust berms in the barns!
Our own Shannon Skerritt finished 5th, taking him to 4th place overall in the series. Our old pal Aaron Tuckerman had a nasty wreck during the race and needed some minor surgery on his knee. We hope that you’ll keep him in your thoughts for a speedy recovery.
Aside from the carnage on the course, the mood was overall jovial. The fall weather is here, but folks seemed to be having a great time. Portable space heaters, fire pits, kegs, and barbecues could be found throughout the course. Let it be known that Portlanders are not afraid of a little foul weather. We love it, and we don’t mind standing around in it all day long if it means cheering for our friends and taking laps with mud in our faces.
Deep mud tracks on the back straightaway
The last and final race of the Cross Crusade season is this Sunday at PIR. Come on out, have some frites, cheer on your friends, and see the Portland cycling community at it’s finest!
More photos can be seen on our Flickr page.
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