Month of Mud - Moraine

11th place Masters - 9th overall in the series

Last race of the season, and I should've just stayed home. The Wednesday prior I started coming down with some virus that's going around. By Saturday, I was starting to feel a little bit better. Sunday, I thought I might be okay. That is until I hit the first hill of the race.

We all took off from Davis Hollow Marina at Moraine. The course was slightly different last year, in that we took the first climb all the way to the top and over. My plan was to start of at a steady pace, not a fast one like the year before. I figured I'd pass a bunch of guys who blew their legs out, or that had mechanicals from all the rocks. Well, after climbing the first hill, I could tell I had no gas in the tank. The virus was just too much.

I thought about dropping out about half way through, but kept going at a snail's pace. I was walking my bike up hills that I had easily ridden in the past. Got to the end of lap one and thought again about calling it quits. Saw Dave atop a rock, and in my delirium thought maybe he had lapped me and was already done. He said his derailluer was bad and had to pull out. This made me want to quit even more. I could crawl up on the rock, with the sun filtering its way through the autumn leaves, and just watch the rest of the race with the cool rock soothing me.

Then some stupid voice said that it was the last race, and I had to complete it, even if I was dead last. Emphasis on the word dead.

I continued on with the second lap, but readjusted my goals. It was a beautiful day, so I was just going to enjoy it and not worry about my time (as if I had a choice).

Did okay on the second lap, the gels gave me a bit of a boost. Finished, got to parking lot, loaded up and left. Barely stayed awake enough to get home. Crashed on the hammock, and took a great nap.

Overall, I rode really consistent this year. I think I needed to do more interval training in the month prior the races. Disappointed it was only a four race series this year.

But as always, the guys that run MoM did a great job. Course marked well, very well organized, results up quickly. Kudos to them.

(p.s. result were up fast, blog now updated)

Until next year...