Chainbuster Racing’s Kissing Bridge Classic gravel race was a shocking good time! I was looking forward to racing, but sometimes you chip in to help make things happen.
My fist post was at the Kissing Bridge at mile 9 stopping cars from entering the bridge when riders were approaching. Ashlie Hogan and I were communicating with radio on opposite ends of the bridge while Kevin with Dashing Images captured some great photos of the racers at this beautiful historic site (Big Red Oak Covered Bridge). I got video of almost all the racers while they were approaching the bridge.
The weather was better than could have been asked for before 11am. It was hot and humid, but very overcast. Somehow mother nature just happens to wake up on the wrong side of the bed each time we race here. Once the sun peeked through, a nice deluge rolled in and kind of wreaked havoc to different degrees depending on where you were on the course. It wasn’t so great at the timing tent.
I was there at noon when a few minutes of lightning and a massive downpour put the timing tent into emergency mode. It was raining sideways, and Sean and I were frantically putting sides up on the timing tent while racers were still coming through. We were protecting Dawn, who had a laser focus on the timing results coming in on the laptop. I noticed that the timing unit had a good pool of water on top of it at about the same time that Dawn told us racer’s names were no longer popping up.
We had just secured the tent sides, and I grabbed a clipboard, some paper and a pen and kept it under my shirt while running after the last group that came in. I started taking down numbers of all the racers that came through but there were ten people sitting there on their bikes in the rain. The timing unit was still beeping, I am hopeful that data will be restored. But I have no clue which of them came in first.
Results will be posted at https://www.chainbusterracing.com/kissing-bridge-classic once they are final.
My favorite part of the weekend was driving through the construction zone drifting through soft wet red mud and doing a septuple fishtail while pulling markings from the short course at about 6pm Saturday. We cranked up the jams and drifted the course like we were in Tokyo. We never got out of the car once time from the time we left until we got back. I pulled up tight to the stakes on the passenger side and Jason reached out the passenger window and pulled them, handing them through the back passenger window to Patrick who separated the signs from the stakes and put them in the back of the car.
Great job to everyone that came out! It was great seeing so many Birmingham folks travelling to GA to race gravel. Thanks for supporting Chainbuster Racing!
Good luck to all my friends doing Unbound next weekend!
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