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Madison County Gravity Fest V
Munnsville, New York
About 30 miles east of Syracuse, in the rolling
hills of New York lies the town of Stockbridge. In this town is the village of
Munnsville. A quiet little community that has become the home of Gravity Fest.
There is one stop light in the town, at the intersection with the state route
and the road leading to the course.
The course was the same as it was last year. We
start off with a short straight heading towards a huge right hand sweeper.
Another long drafting straight builds up speed heading into a hard left turn. I
never attempted to take this turn without brakes. There is another mostly
straight section, with gentle bends heading to Crash Corner, which is a 90 right
followed by 90 left with the finish around the corner of the left hand bend.
Friday, July 28
I was supposed to get in yesterday afternoon but I
managed to sit in the Newark airport for 8 hours, 4 hours on the tarmac! I
arrived in Syracuse about 11:30, only 9 hours late. I was delayed leaving Newark
because there was a huge storm between Newark and Syracuse. This didn't bode
well, as the race is between Newark and Syracuse.
Well fortunately there wasn't much planned for
today. I spent part of the afternoon checking out the town. There is supposed be
a parade later, if the weather is good. It is raining off and on all day.
The weather cleared a bit and at 6PM there was a fairly large parade. Bob and
Roland
started the parade. I think someone forgot to tell them to go slow! There was a
lot of people in the parade, a high school band
several old cars, some tractors, a fire truck,
and many other vehicles. Our truck was somewhere in the middle.
Unfortuantely I don't think we really had anything on the vehicle to indicate
who we were. I was the only one wearing my leathers,
 until
Bob joined us. There wasn't a huge crowd,
but still there were quite a few people
 out
to enjoy the parade. The parade went down the state route, then circled back
around to the parking lot, it wasn't too long.
Next year we will have to do something to show our boards as well.
After the parade was over we hung out at the festival. In the past the
festival was only open on Saturday and Sunday, and we always missed it. This
year they decided to have it open Friday. There wasn't much to the festival,
although I know there would be some more stuff tomorrow. Apparently there was a
midway with some games and rides that I missed. But where I was there were a few
booths of people selling arts and crafts, a couple of food booths. One booth for
MCGF souvenirs.
The local post office had a special street luge cancellation stamp! After dusk
there was a fairly impressive fireworks show.
The Legionaires are the ones that do most of the work to support the
race. We were allowed to camp for free on their property,
and we used their ramada as a pit area.
Apparently they left an enormous pile of wood for us to use as firewood.
Saturday, July 29
The Legions cooked us breakfast of eggs and bacon and French toast in return
for only a donation. I guess I was a little late, because after breakfast there
was already a line of people for tech inspection.
Rick Wilson was pressed into service as an inspector
and it didn't take much time to get everyone inspected.
We got started a tad bit late.
There were a few more people here than last year, in fact we had too many people
to fit into the truck we used last year.
Fortunately we had a second bus, which was good for me, because my knee is still
stiff from my accident 2 weeks ago. It was easy to get into the bus. The morning
went by pretty quickly, and despite the fact that we had a lot of riders, we got
plenty of runs in. Before lunch the dirt surfer race was run.
We had a lunch break, where those that ordered got sides of chicken. It was
quite humid, and so most people just tried to relax at lunch time.
We then had a chance to wish Jenna a happy birthday.
After lunch we were going to do a parade run. As we got ready
 Beagle
called Stacey Allen
so we can all say hi.
The parade run was perhaps the best one I've ever seen. We kept together in a
very tight pack of riders, it must have look pretty cool in Crash Corner.
After the parade run, we started with Junior Luge,
Rookie Luge
and Am luge.
We weren't wearing numbers or any distinguishing marks. For the most part we
radioed to the bottom what each person was wearing. We had a tough time with
rookie luge when they all had blue and white leathers! The final heat was pro
buttboard. I came in first in my heat, and was pretty happy.
The weather hadn't looked good all day. After the first run, we rushed to get
back on the truck. But it started to rain before we got back to the top. And
then it REALLY rained.
I spent most of the time helping the Florida Boys hold their tarp down. I wasn't
very happy, as the rain would probably cost me a shot at winning, I just
couldn't get through the turns fast enough on wet pavement. Then it was
announced the race would be called, even as the rain subsided! Apparently there
was a tornado watch! As the rain let up, we gathered up at the ramada.
A few of the kids were asking for autographs.
We had a short riders meeting,
and did the dirt surer prize giving. We were also introduced to two riders who
are skateboarding across Canada for a cancer cure.
There website is
http://www.pushforthecure.com.
The legions cooked dinner, again only accepting donations.
After dinner there was a Karoke set up.
Quite a few people got up to sing.
Most people went to bed early. Because almost no racing got done today, it was
going to be an early morning and long day tomorrow.
Sunday, July 30
I woke up to a wet road, and the weather was %100 humidity! I made it to the
legion in time to scarf down a quick breakfast before getting to the top of the
hill. The weather didn't look good.
We started fairly early with a riders meeting.
It was going to be a tight schedule, as we had to finish off yesterdays heats.
My goal was to return to the podium in buttboard, since I won my first heat I
was in good shape. In the first heat of the day (heat #2) although I was out in
front, I thought I needed to run the road hard to win the heat. I took the hard
left turn harder than I had all weekend. Between barely tapping and the cold
road, I wasn't able to hold onto the turn, and bounced off the hay. I finished
third in the heat, but managed to sprain my right knee. I went on to finish #1
in the next two heats. Hodkinson did the same I did in heat #3, so we ended up
tied and in a runoff. My goal was to let him through the hard left first, then
pass him before Crash Corner. Well as I was right on his tail through the hard
left, I ended up touching my front wheels and slowing too much. I couldn't catch
him and took second!
As soon as yesterdays races were taken care of, the standup races were run.
In case it rained again. With twenty racers, it was the largest standup race in
the States in a long time. I got down to Crash Corner to watch one of the heats
of standup. While I was down there I forgot sign the cherry picker.
Beagle did a great job of announcing the event.
Bob Swartz set up a wireless radio system, so he could be heard elsewhere on the
hill. VIP seating was setup
in Crash Corner unfortunately there was low turnout, I think due to yesterdays
weather.
After the standup race, we had a quick break for lunch. Today the Stockbridge
Youth Group
served us hamburgers and hot dogs and delicious brownies for only a few dollars!
The first even after lunch was another parade run. Unfortunately this one wasn't
quite as smooth as yesterdays,
but still a decent parade run.
I took a ton of pics on the run,
many were out of focus, but some were cool.
I think we had more people in Crash Corner yesterday.
Across the street from where we park the truck lives a lovely lady,
whose birthday was two days ago. So we wished her happy birthday.
We had a few bad spills during the morning session. One of the causalities
was Iron Abs Cayer. She went straight into Crash Corner and broke her leg.
She had already made it back, and was in good spirits.
We ran Am buttboard and Pro luge.
They had a bad in Crash Corner for the afternoon session.
In my second heat I got taken out in Crash Corner and ended up in dreaded 5th!
Wrecking in one of the few 5 man heats really hurts in a point system. My next
heat I tried to pass everyone in Crash Corner by late breaking and taking an
inside line. I think both of my legs were finally starting to hurt, and I wasn't
able to slow down fast enough. I almost hit the hay, but manage to turn just as
I reached the hay. I rode the edge of the away through the corner, until I
notice a bale of hay was essentially sitting in the middle of the road
(apparently it had fallen off the top). I narrowly missed the bale, clipping it
with my hand. Turns out I was luckier than I knew, as Roland made a similar
mistake and slammed into the bale just after I passed it. If I had hit the bale,
Roland would have slammed into me. I ended up in the lower ranks, but in a run
off. Allowed me to get to the bottom of the hill and watch the finals. Once
again the finals consisted of the top four point earners. Hodkinson came around
the the corner in second but tried to pass Auld at the line.
The final event of the day was the Bucket Brigade. I decided to run the
second leg of the race. I figured I didn't have a good push, and my weight would
give me an advantage in the middle section.
There were 6 teams, three of us on each side of the road. The first rider came
screaming around the corner, we wondered where everyone else was. Turned out he
was the only one of the starters that rode a luge, so he had set the bucket in
the luge, and had a better push. Unfortunately he wasn't able to stop and lost
most of the water! My teammate showed up and we took off. We were in third, but
I was pretty happy with our position, figured we could move up a spot. I got to
the transfer point, pushed off my teammate. Waited a second, then hopped on my
luge to head to the bottom. Just then Jeff came by me SLOWLY carrying a bucket!
I thought everyone was already down. I get to the bottom, to find out who the
winner is.
They were still trying to measure the water. My team showed up third but with an
almost full bucket. Jeff showed up LAST but with a full bucket. The two buckets
were close,
but Jeff's team was declared the winner. (Our bucket is the pink one, BEFORE I
poured more water in and demanded a recount) I didn't think our team lost that
much water, but oh well! At least we didn't show up with a hole in our bucket!
Unfortunately we ran out of time and the Sunday Mass had to be canceled.
While the results were being tallied and paperwork figured out, we were asked
to sign a bunch of memorabilia.
Some for prosperity and some for next years auctions. A lot of kids were also
asking to have their tshirts autographed.
As the sun was going down we had our awards ceremony. The awards were held up
on the hill, on a freshly built podium. The trophies were standard.
Although the standup guys got something extra.
The Bucket Brigade Trophy was also handmade, but Dr. No left them at home. MCGF
is Beagle's event,
and Gwen heads the committe that runs the event.
Gwen and a whole list of people to thank. Finally Neil got the awards under way.
Juniors:
Thomas, Kiehn, Cayer
Am Buttboard:
Eberhard, Novak, Bianciello
Am Luge:
Dean, Eberhard, Colmorgen
Pro Buttboard:
Hodkinson, McBride, Morrison
Standup:
Desmarais, Pascal, Boily
Pro Luge:
Auld, Hodkinson, Dominguez
Rookies:
Helphenstine, Earwood, Filatrault
Bucket Brigade:
Kachoris, Schonzeit, Hoffman
It was late Sunday night and people were already packing up and leaving, many
people had a long drive ahead of them to get home. My plane leaves tomorrow
morning, so a few of us went and had a nice dinner.
Once again the town of Munnsiville came through and delivered a spectacular
race. If we can just figure out how to get a few thousand people from
Syracuse or Utica to come out, then it will be one amazing event! Unfortunately
we had too many injuries this year. One broken leg, and two people take in for
concussions.
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