It's been a while since I did a nice muddy race. This one was pretty satisfying as I had lot's of fun sliding through the corners. Since it was hot and sunny at the start, most people seemed to have on their normal dry racing tires, myself included. Halfway through the race though, the rain came. It was dumping at times and the course was like ice. I screwed up the start worse than ever before, coming out of both pedals. Sweet rookie move from the front row. I had to go extra hard to get back near the front and I followed Brendan and Paul Hanson into the woods. I was riding the singletrack pretty well and passed Paul after a bit. Brendan was close but I didn't have the legs to try to catch him. He is a step above the rest of us so far this season. After a half lap I started to cook. It was humid in the woods and I wasn't dealing with it very well. I have always struggled with overheating, especially in slow speed humid forest riding. I need to really train for it or I am worthless. So I had to back way off and started dropping back. At the end of the first lap I was back in about 9th or 10th. I dumped a bunch of water on myself, unzipped the jersey all the way and was finally bringing my internal temp down.
I passed Scott and Kevin and started riding a smooth tempo for the rest of lap two. Then it started to rain. The single track was an oil slick. Every corner was an accident waiting to happen. Every root was a trap. But it was cooling off nice too and I was able to keep pedaling away. I passed another group of 3 and was riding up to the next group. I was riding pretty smoothly, no crashes, no real problems. It kept raining harder. Soon the climbs were unrideable. Good thing I had toe spikes in my shoes. I caught Jesse Reints and was in fourth. I was still riding pretty smooth but was coming unwound on the climbs. By the last hill I was totally blown. I walked most of the way up it. I held on for fourth and felt like crap the rest of the day.
There was some confusion and controversy about the number of laps. Apparently one person was telling some riders to stop after three and a few people did. No one told me to stop and I'm glad. Mountain bike racing is about riding in, over and through whatever you have to. One of the most challenging aspects of certain races are the weather conditions. Mountain biking in the mud is a luxury.
2 comments:
Nice job finishing. Sometimes the hardest most miserable races have the greatest sense of accomplishment.
Doug, Good race and attitude!
Nothing wrong with racing in the mud!!! It sucks some people got caught up in the fake announcement and listened to spectators telling them the race was shortened. I heard it, and hesitated after the start line to clean some mud off my bike, but didn't believe it... Figured at the least they would have ran tape across the course. Also the feedzone still had lots of people in it when Jesse, Owen and I went through...
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