Cat 3
Hunter, unable to make the 11 AM start for the elite race, continued his sandbag assault on the Non USA Cycling Tobacco Cross Series B race in Simsbury CT on Sunday. Hunter is leading the series and will try to keep it that way to the end at Palmer Cross, the day after Cheshire Cross.
Jim Thompson is an artist of a race organizer and He didn't disappoint at Stratton Brook. The course was 70 % wooded fire roads and hiking paths that could be ridden very fast. Significant elevation changes made roadie style climbing important. Laps times were fast and drafting played a part. There were still some very challenging sections of the course, the highlight of which was a leg-sapping 100+ meter beach sand section that also proved very decisive as only 60% of racers were able to ride the whole length of it.
Hunter got a gap by pushing it thru the climbing sections on the first lap, taking one rider with him. Gaps grew as the 2 leaders rode the sand very fast on the first lap and that was all that was needed. Hunter traded pulls and attacks for a couple of laps but then chose a slower line thru the sand and then had a bobble in a weird corkscrew section which put him behind the leader for good and settled him into another 2nd place finish for the series.
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