They should have renamed this race Mother's Nature's Hissy Fit today. Good grief. I had spotted this race way back and thought it would be a nice training ride for the Rotor Meltdown in October plus a good way to support and ride a new trail system.
So evidently I totally checked out when it came to the weather forecast today. I thought they said it was going to be 70's, cool and sunny. WTF happened? Did I misunderstand? Did they get it completely wrong? Just checked the iFlow gauges - Woolwine (the hometown of IC Dehart park where the race was) got 1.48 inches of rain in the past 24 hours. I think most of it fell during the first lap and the only complete lap of my race. I swear if I ever pick a new career, I'm going into weather forecasting because despite all the computers in the world, Splinty can do better than them! And you definitely don't have to do a good job, hell you don't even have to be right!
Anyway enough bitching about the weather - what it created was a big mess. I don't know what the ground is normally like in that part of Patrick County, but I do know that when you add a bunch of rain to it it becomes the consistency of peanut butter. My poor bike was so filthy I had to strip it and wash it when I got home. The Kenda Small Block 8's I run were no match for the Elmer's Glue, Peanut Butter trails. They caked up quick and didn't not shed any mud. I found myself pedaling, spinning the back tire and going nowhere fast. The crap collected on my bottom bracket eventually preventing me from shifting from granny to any other gear. Along with this came the fact that my chain would get sucked between the chainring and the frame and seized up the entire operation. I could backpedal it out, but it would get sucked right back in. The back tire would get caked up to the point where there was no gap between the tire and the frame. DISGUSTING!!!! Of course, as soon as that happened it was like riding on a slip and slide. I feared for my safety.
There is a nifty section of downhill switchbacks that was nearly impossible for me today given the combination of above plus the fact my front brakes basically were non-existent the first lap. I ended up sliding down one of them like I was sliding into homeplate all the while still clipped in. At another point with no front brakes, I basically rode right through a turn barely dodging a tree. For some stupid reason I started the second lap after deflating my tires in hopes that this might provide some extra traction - FAIL. And as I was going down the paved sidewalk I discovered that yes I did have a major brake issue. Squeeze the handle and the fork shook worse than a car with a bad alignment - again WTH? I started wondering if I had some how lost a brake pad during that mucked up first lap. I stopped at the aid station to discover that it was in fact present, but not functioning very well. I adjusted the knobs to give myself a glimmer of stopping power. This gave me a false sense of security as I would soon have the chain suck into the frame again, decided to walk and nearly fell off of a slightly. off camber bridge. The bike did go over the slide, but I was walking and grabbed a tree quickly.
Oh and mind you with our shoes every step I took in the peanut butter caked my cleats up so I barely was clipped in during most of this adventure. My second lap turned into a trail run with my bike for the most part. I tried riding, but would get frustrated repeatedly. I made up my mind that the 2nd lap would be my final lap. I didn't even make it back around - I got near the ballfield that bordered the staging area and bailed out right behind my friend Kenny. It was too much for me today - my bike felt like it gained 20 pounds each lap by the time the tires caked up. I couldn't pedal. I could barely clip in. I could barely stay upright. It truly reminded me of riding in the snow.
So did I accomplish anything today? Other than trashing my bike, I did brush up on my bike handling. I think that I could have done 3 or 4 laps at this park. The trails seemed like they would be fun and fast when dry. I will definitely have to go back down there and explore. There are some neat trail features that are definitely unique. It's a nice park and the people are super nice. They deserve a lot of praise for putting this event on and getting a good turnout!!! I'm happy for them and will hopefully be able to support them again in the future!
Meanwhile, it's back to focusing on Rotor Meltdown - need to get Punkin' repaired and tuned up and get on out to the Cove to get reacquainted! But I'm still looking to buy that road bike!
And by the way, the green jersey you see in the profile pic - it's getting retired for a while - I think it's bad luck!
****I see my blog friend, Anita is calling out the weathermen! So I'm not crazy!
