What Are You Crankful For? Cranksgiving 2014
There's always one race per year that those in the Carolinas look forward year after year, Cranksgiving. Gone is the hustle of bustle of the "regular" season and it's back to just plain simple fun grassroots racing in Upstate South Carolina. Keeping it simple and grassroots is what it's all about, friends, bikes, and beverages. Nuff said.
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 The weekend would start at one of Greenville's best watering holes, the Community Tap. It would be home base for the Jive Turkey Sophisti-Cat Alley Cat through the streets of Downtown Greenville. Riders would have to brave the busy streets of downtown on a Friday night to seven different checkpoints, each with their own unique challenge. First to complete all seven successfully with a sign off from the checkie at each point then back to base camp would take the win. |
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| Although we wanted to, we couldn't be everywhere. So, our choice for the Alley Cat, seven stories up in one of the many parking garages for check point number four. About thirty minutes after the posted race start time, we saw our first signs of two wheeled life. |
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| We did see some "cheaters" that chose to take the easy way out, via the stainless steel cabled box (aka the elevator). Where's the fun in that? Not this dude, he just had one more level to go to check in. Pedal, you're almost there! |
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| What was the challenge at check point four? Get Bailey (this photog's own retired 13 year old trail dog) to shake the paw. Seemed the ladies had an advantage. Bailey's always been sweet on the ladies and he loved the attention. |
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| Fast forward just about 12 hours and it's now time for day two, time for some racing. New this year, the organizers would take us to Pleasant Ridge County Park to compete on the fruits of our efforts. JFA trail, named in memory of Carolina local shredder Jorge F. Arango was constructed in 2014 with the funds generated from the 2012 and 2013 events. Most riders where stoked to see profits get dumped directly back into the local scene. |
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| IT WAS COLD!!!!!!! Day 1/Saturday's morning lows were in the low 20s (Fahrenheit), colder than most people thought it would be. It almost looks like Jonathon LaRoy is puffing on a stogie. |
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| Get Ya Numba Here. Registration checking 'em in, handing out the goods, then kicking them out. |
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| Jarrett Peek, the man in charge over the past few years, telling riders how it is gonna be this chilly a.m. for the first three stages of the Enduro following by the SC State Championship Super D. |
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| You can't have a race without Endless Bike Girl aka Shanna Powell. She always just having simple fun, has a smile on her face, displaying some face art, riding with her wings, or shredding in full costume. Got a Fixie? Need parts? Look Shanna up at Endless Bikes dot com. |
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| It's just about time to "Release The Hounds!" Or maybe that was rounding up and herding the kittens. |
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| Bergen Khare gets his chip activated. Time to put up or shut up young man. WOOOOOOOooooooooooo! |
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| Walker Shaw always has a keen eye for the camera. Buried in the woods, lying on the ground, you name it, he's got an eye like a hawk and takes full advantage of seeing my lens pointed his direction. |
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| Hayden Gary in the Junior Beginner class took the third spot behind Andrew Marpes and Jesse Heard. |
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| Congrats to Matt Griffin! We haven't seen much of this local lately, why? He and his wife welcomed their second future ripper to the world. I think this was Matt's first competition since losing lots of sleep and changing those poopy baby diapers. He finished 15th out of quite large and stacked 29 rider Expert class. |
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| Sarah Hill laid it down and was looking quick in the last 0.3 mile of downhill on the Super D course. More on that later. |
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| Christopher Herndon FINALLY was able to make it work and put in some time at a local event. Typically he's traveling the world on the WC circuit sharing his knowledge with America's best as a coach. We hope to see him more in 2015. |
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| Ethan Thompson took the second spot in Junior Sport with a 5:58.860 just a gnat's ass off the pace of Seb Streit with a 5:58.058. It's doesn't get much closer than that folks. You'd need a microscope to see the difference between those two Juniors. |
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| Patrick Alcisto made the 2 hour trip from Charlotte. Patrick's always good for local grassroots events, not to mention color with his Intense Cycles gear. He finished 11th in Men Open Sport. |
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| The fastest "Old Man" of the day? That would be Doug Riipinen. He took the gold in Masters with a 5:38.380. (NOTE: he won't be offended, I myself am in the 40+ club. Nothing wrong with one old man calling another an old man). Nice colors too Doug! |
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| It's the off season and just before the holiday, that means typically we see Caroline Westray home for a few weeks from her day job out West with Liv Giant. After her run I mentioned to her "Either I've forgotten how fast you are or all the riding out West has done you some good". She was flying, good enough to finish out the podium with the bronze. |
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| Dave Schaefer was the 8th best in Men Sport out of lucky number 13 riders. |
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| Matt Champion was able to be better than twenty one other Experts, he finished in the 8th spot. |
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| Jesse Heard was the fastest Junior Beginner with a 6:07.629. |
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| The Best Colors of the event go to Michael Kane. The GROM Racing colors always just look damn good. Mikey laying down the pedal power stroke he's putting into his Super D run. |
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| Another young gun, Dave Serra would miss the podium in 4th in the Junior Beginner Class. He was 40 seconds off the fastest pace in class. |
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| Fresh off a trip to Europe and Id' be willing to bet a wee bit jet lagged, Neko Mulally put the power down and walked away with the fastest time of the day and out of the twenty nine Pro Men. |
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| The decorated "veteran" Sue Haywood would be the fastest woman in the one and done South Carolina State Champs Super D. She was able to find 15 secs up on her closet competition Sarah Hill. |
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| Pro Women in 3-2-1, 3 - Caroline Westray, 2 - Sarah Hill (told you she laid it down), and 1 - Sue Haywood. Congrats Ladies! |
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| Pro Men in 3-2-1, 3 - Chris Wyatt, 2 - Luca Shaw, and 1 - Neko Mulally. |
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| It's been stated before, but there are two things that give riders "the stoke" at Cranksgiving, 1. is the prizes, plenty of quality prizes all around and 2. the trophies, the are some of the the SICKEST trophies I've seen. They didn't disappoint and the organizers kept that legacy going in 2014. |
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| Another SE region "staple", the pint glasses courtesy of Sycamore Cycles. Free for racers with their entries (and there's always extras left over). Over the years these things have actually become collectible. Having a full set, one from every race, there's only a handful of folks that can make that claim. |
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| These are the only Fall colors left in Upstate South Carolina on the final day of competition on Sunday. These were not the colors we all wanted to see and it was supposed to literally last ALL DAY into the evening with rain totals maxing out in inches (2-3 inches). Thanks Cecil Linder for the photo opp. |
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| Just a bit of a sprinkle, though that sprinkle would turn into a hard rain in no time and never let up. Riders were in for a cold wet final three stages on the last day of competition. I guess the only "good thing", typically you don't get to ride the park in these type of conditions, so enjoy it while you can. |
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| For a second it felt like a weekend on Beech Mountain. Luca Shaw makes his run on Stage I as a cloud passes through, not over, Paris Mountain. |
That's pretty much all the photos I could take on Sunday, unfortunately. My apologies, but you saw the weather map photo and as the morning went on those colors changed from green to yellow with hints of orange. One can only stand so much of being cold and wet to the base layers, not to mention precip and camera gear don't ever seem place nice together. The rain just never let up and got worse and worse as each minute went by. Booo!
There's talk of some changes in 2016, but we do hope that Cranksgiving comes back in full force. It's gotten to the point where the Thanksgiving holiday isn't complete without giving Cranks. See you all next year! Time for some Turkey, Mash Taters and Pumpkin Pie!
Cranksgiving weekend results:
SC State Championships Super D Results
Wild Turkey Enduro Results
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10 Comments
- 6 1
fecalmaster
(Nov 26, 2014 at 14:09)
Big thanks to all the large breasted women.
- 5 0
saxman2324
(Nov 26, 2014 at 20:39)
Mulally could've won with no chain...
- 4 0
insanemntbiker
(Nov 26, 2014 at 12:47)
Thanks for making my 3 year old bike obsolete.
- 2 0
ECCorp
(Nov 26, 2014 at 6:24)
Thanks Jay. Not sure about 2016. But we will be back for a heaping helping in 2015!
- 1 0
bdjohnson121
(Nov 26, 2014 at 12:57)
Great Write Up. I missed it this year, but hopefully will be there next year. Sundays conditions looked brutal.
- 1 0
Biocoug1
(Nov 26, 2014 at 15:20)
I'm thankful my crankset didn't die on me. I thought I was gonna have to replace it. Now that money can go to my dropper post as planned
- 1 0
jabrones
(Nov 26, 2014 at 13:36)
Mulally looks like a bear in the woods. Such a beast on the bike
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