Skull Candy had a good showing in the first stage; the “over the top” or Kamas to Evanston Road Race. Skull Candy was represented with racers in a variety of categories including: Cat 5, Cat 4, Masters 35+ B, Masters 55+, Competitive Citizens and Cat 4 women. Before the race began the weather was a big question mark. There were some light sprinkles with looming dark clouds and everyone was questioning how to dress. Before the Cat 4’s started Gary Bywater (the race official) commented on how lucky we were. He said the group before us had the storm following them up the mountain. As he is saying this, everyone is looking behind him at the big dark cloud rolling our way and not feeling lucky at all. As the race got started the roads were fairly dry and everyone was pulling arm warmers and vests off. However, as the steepest pitches of the climb began, so did the rain. At first it started out as a drizzle, but by the time most were cresting the summit, the deluge had begun. Tyler K. bagged the KOM going over the top almost 2 minutes ahead of the chasing group, proving to those who don't know...that boy can climb!
Needless to say, vest and arm warmers began to come back on and the smart ones pulled out their rain capes. The decent was treacherous, not because of the steep pitch or winding roads, but because the hypothermia began to set it. At this point the battle became more than just physical endurance; it became a mental battle of will. Every rider was shaking uncontrollably and struggling to keep their bike upright. Vision was blurred and several were seeing stars. Everyone tried to push on, but soon legs were turning blue, heart rates were skyrocketing and body temperatures were plummeting. Somewhere around the 2nd feed zone the smart ones pulled the plug. Those who were to stupid or crazy continued on. At the finish they opened up the Evanston Hospital so all the riders could take shelter and warm up. They provided nice big warm blankets/towels and hot chocolate. However, the hypothermia shakes ensured that most of the hot chocolate ended up on the floor. Everyone was glad to be done and no one wanted to see their bikes for a while.
As it turned out, those with earlier start times fared better than those with later ones. While some citizen categories had completely dry rides, the cat 4 and 5 groups took a drink from the fire hose.
Due to the circumstances of the day, the race promoters chose to modify the stages that would count towards overall General Classification Standings. They determined that the Road Race and the TT would be the only stages counting toward GC. The crit would be run as an independent race. Probably smart on their part as the crit field could have been pretty small considering those who abandoned the road race.At the start of the TT conditions looked threatening again, and it was raining hard again by 9 am. Matt Bradley took 2nd in the Cat 4, TT finishing only 3 seconds behind the winner, he was on fire. Nice Job Matt! I guess that new speedy TT machine is doing him well.
