Witches Cup "Go G-Ham"

Witches Cup in Salem, Aug. 8

I rode from work to the Witches Cup around Salem Common and as the final lap rounded the corner, the back of the pack exploded and the riders in the women's race and the riders went down in a crack or carbon and to the sounds of cleats popping.

Crash during the last lap of the women's race

The men's final lasted an hour and the pace was pretty quick. There's a pretty good article in The Salem News that recounts it. This year, I knew some people in the crowd and in the peloton. I stood next to Jay, who is friends with Kurt Maw, who recognized my name from Facebook. Across the street stood Mike and Karen, strong riders on the Tuesday night Marblehead Cycle crit. In the pack rode Geoff Hamilton, Tyler's brother, and he gave it a good shot and hung in with the pack the whole race. It was a jittery ride, and some of those turns are quite scary. Jay and I kept shouting for Geoff, and hopefully that gave him some encouragement.

G.H. during the cool down lap

Witches Cup speeds by the common

There were no crashes, the breakaways could not stay away, and the race ended in a sprint finish. I couldn't see who finished, and so I rode home, skipping the podium ceremonies. My apologies to Arthur, who was at the courtesy tent the whole time, looking to catch up on old times of this past PMC weekend.