i think that new hampshire's secret state motto is: "new hampshire.  a
little piece of the south right here in new england."

plaistow, where i raced the first two stages, was just over the border
from ma and seemed like any typical little new england town.  but stage 3
was at star speedway in epping.  they have nascar racing there on a
quarter-mile oval.

on the way there i passed a shop with a big sign that said: "Hole In the
Wall Gun Shop.  Always Buying Guns."

the racetrack was a little scary.  there were a lot of bumps and splits in
the pavement about the width of a road tire.  and it's pretty easy to get
lapped on such a small loop.                         

racers were quickly off the back and in the way.  my teammate skidded out
when she came up on a girl who got lapped (no joke) at least 5 times and
who was sitting too close to the inside--and so my teammate was off the
back.

it was run as a points race, with the final result determined by sprints
every 5 laps for about 50 laps.  i had a hard time of it with no
teammates, but managed to get 2nd in a double-points sprint and third in a
normal sprint, so i finished 5th overall.  1st through 4th were all people
who had teammates and leadouts.  yeah, i'm whining, but when it's totally
flat like that it's really hard to go it alone.

with my 4th place finish the day before and 3rd in the QOM, i managed to
get 5th in the GC out of over 20 starters, despite the time trial
debacle.  so i was pretty happy.                

i was late for steve's party coming back so i drove my nasty sweaty self
down to his house from epping and had a great time.  went to bed after
11.  averaging 4-5 hours of sleep every night this week.  working at the
shop tonight, then falmouth road race in maine tomorrow.