I feel like an addict who just got a fix!!! Yea!!! What a fun day!!! In case you don't know what Mountaincross is, let me try to explain. Everyone races everyone regardless of skill level, the race is handicapped by time. Lesser experienced people get longer to race; the more experienced race the shortest time. The course is a closed loop usually 1 - 2 miles; so you complete as many laps as possible in your given time frame. The person who completes the most laps wins. I knew going into this that I wasn't going to win, and having been sick for two weeks; I knew it was going to be a hard day.
Regardless my attitude was to have fun and just enjoy the day. Since the last time I rode a bike on a trail was New Years Day, I had no high expectations. I figured if I got 3 laps out of my 51 minute race then I'd call it a successful day. I also figured it was going to be fun anyway since the course was going to have snow, slush and a lot of mud. The temperature was mid-50's so what slush there was quickly turned into mud. I had a blast in the snow/slush. Having played on my bikes in the yard during the recent snows, I've learned a bit about keeping it upright and moving when it wants to go in an other direction.
As it turns out, Paula was signed up to be in Sport Women class as well, so I would have someone to ride with or chase as the case would become. I was happy as a clam that I managed to stay right with her for the first two laps. I soon fell behind, but staying that close to her was fun while it lasted. It was also amusing that we made a complete lap before a lot of the fast guys got started so we came through the start/finish line right together. I think our first lap was 10-11 minutes, but I'm not certain about that. Of course I probably finished way behind the winners since most everyone passed me at some point during the race. I think I finished 5 laps. Each one was more and more entertaining, yet tiring!
The course itself was entertaining. We started off on the paved walking trail that encircles the park. After that, we made a left onto some single track. The first bit of it wasn't too bad. There was this one rise with a tree root in it that I struggled with especially as the race went on because it got more and more slick on this section. After this there was about a 3 foot long walk up which was like climbing up half melted butter, again this got sloppier as the race went. On my last time through it I stepped in a place where someone had been before and was mid-shin in muddy water. Thankfully I have waterproof shoes! This walk up was followed by the gnarly downhill. This section is treacherous when it's dry, but today was crazy!!! The first trip down was insane especially since few people had been on it. There was a lot of snow, a lot of rocks, and a lot of mud. I can't remember if it was trip one or two where my front tire got sucked in and I nearly endo'd. I know another trip I ran halfway down it and yet another I bounced down with one foot out of the pedals. A quick left and right took us to a slick bridge where I just slowed down and carefully rode across each time. This was followed by sloshy, soaking wet grass. Here there were patches of leftover snow/slush. Of course there was a stream crossing that led to a muddddddy flat section. Last but not least was the lower deer trail. This trail has a few switchbacks and offers up a nifty climb. I think I rode sections of it each laps. As it went along, the deer trail became the deer stream. There was literally a stream of muddy water running down the trail at the end.
I had an absolute blast today. I was very happy with my effort today! I'm not sure I could have done much better even had it been dry. The mud just added to the entertainment value. I'm so looking forward to it drying up! Time will tell though! Doesn't sound like this week is going to help with that. The next race is Saturday night where we will be using bike lights! I am not good at riding in the dark, so I will just keep the same attitude as today - have fun!
2 comments:
Great job,can't wait to see you at the night race on Saturday!
Sounds like a great time, mud and all!
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