Month of Mud - Moraine

Moraine - 11th Masters - 7th overall for series - 2:00

Almost forgot to write this up. Got to Moraine, and it was a beautiful fall day. I knew that I would finish in 7th place in the series as long as I finished. That took a lot of the pressure off. I decided I would ride a strong ride, but try to enjoy the day and the trails.

The experts started, and about five minutes later the rest of started. Almost instantly, the guy in front of me goes down hard. I saw his helmeted head bounce off the gravel road. I barely got the brakes on in time, and I just missed him.

The route this year was different. We quickly headed uphill, turned left in to some rocky uphill switchbacks. This section was packed with riders, things hadn't spread out enough. This section was built for me. Short sections that needed power, then stretches where I could catch my breath.

We got to the top of the hill and things started spreading out as we headed downhill. I caught the guy in front of me, but he was going slow. Finally, I found a place to pass him, and I could hear three guys behind me follow. I then stayed off the brakes and in no time at all we caught the pack again. Whew, time to catch my breath.

Had to do two laps, and like always when I was done with the first lap I couldn't imagine doing a second lap. But like always, I got in a groove and it wasn't too bad. And like always, I ended up not seeing a lot of people, I thought I must be dead last when I finished. Found out that I did okay actually, especially since I didn't push quite as hard as I could have.

Saw a lot of mechanicals, and saw a number of people totally cramping. Moraine's 12 miles feels like 22 miles by the time you're done. The rocks are awesome, very rideable, but you have to be on your game.

The series was a lot of fun this year. Got to see a lot of friends, the weather was awesome. A big thank you to the Month of Mud gang, great job.

Month of Mud - North park

Photo by Mike Briggs

North Park Time trail - #14th Masters - :35.51

Over 200 people? Yep, over 200 people showed up for the inaugural North Park time trial. Earlier in the week, I pre-rode the course, and on my single speed I clocked a time of 38 minutes. So on Sunday, I knew the pace would have to be high for the entire course if I wanted to get any points for the race series.

Mark and I registered, and then warmed up by stopping along the course to cheer on the expert racers that had already begun their laps. Sooner than expected, I found myself on the starting line ready to go.

In this time trial, racers are released every minute. Mark was two riders behind me, so my goal was to not let him catch me. Go! I was off. We had to first do a circle around a tree in the grass field. I almost went into it too fast and just about slid out. That would've been embarrassing.

I picked up the pace in to the woods and the initial switchbacks (where I heard later Mark took a handlebar to the chest when he crashed. I continued up the rest of the switchbacks, my heart pounding, and my lungs about to explode. Crossed the first bridge, and then soon enough I was at one of the steeper climbs of the day. Luckily with North Park being my home course, I knew I could recover afterward. And that's what I did.

Crossed the second bridge and hit those switchbacks at a high speed. All was going pretty well. Slowed down at one of the first creek crossings. I thought it best to slow down as a few weeks earlier I had burped my front tired slamming into the rock armoring. After hearing about a lot of people pinch flatting, I was glad I had slowed down.

Sped down the flowy downhill section in the pines, then headed back up the valley. Somewhere I had passed three riders, and no one had passed me. As I came to the really sharp switchback, a masters rider made a pass on the right. I had expected this, in the WV series he races expert. I stayed on his wheel for a long as I could. This definitely helped me pick up my pace quite a bit. Though I lost him on the last switchbacks to the Wisconsin shelter.

I crossed the road, and then made a left. I lost a bit of time here recovering, but it was needed. Soon, I passed my fourth rider of the day. Before I knew it, I was headed down the last decent.

At this point, I was getting a bit sloppy so I made what I hoped was a good decision. I descended at a moderate pace; I could've gone a lot faster, but I may have easily crashed.

Crossed the finish line, and about 30 seconds later, Mark crossed. I had done it, I had held Mark off.

Not exactly the finish I had hoped for, but compared to my total collapse of fitness this summer (heat, humidity, exhaustion) I was pretty happy. No back pain, which is great, but I definitely I could tell that my setup doesn't allow me to get all the power from my legs that I could.

Last race of the series this Sunday - Moraine. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks.

Month of Mud - Grove City

Grove City cyclocross - 15th - Masters - :58.45

And then it rained some more. That was the theme for Grove City. Rain, rain, and more rain. Pulled into the parking lot and got dressed for the rain, but at least it was cold.

Did a short warm up and then went and watched the experts finish their race. They were covered with mud, front and back. Soon enough we were lining up for our race. The rain had pretty much stopped, but I was pretty sure the mud would still be there.

The prologue lap was on slick pavement, and I decided to line up toward the back and play it safe. Unfortunately this was a bad strategy. There were no pile ups, so I was about midpack once we hit dirt and the first barriers.

I passed a lot of people as we moved on to the mountain bike friendly section of the course. We were then dumped on to the grass section, and a number of cross bikes caught me. Steady through the rest of the grass section, then on to the pavement and back to the start line. I was able to draft here, so I stayed with the pack. One lap down, three to go, hopefully.

Fourth lap - whew, I barely made it. As I crossed the finish line for my last lap, I saw the judges getting ready to pull people over for being lapped. Did my last lap, and caught and gapped a rider I had been battling with for two laps. I always need that kind of competition to keep my pace up. I also was able to work with another rider quite a bit. I could tell he wasn't in my division, so when he was sitting on my wheel for a lap it didn't really bother me. But when I dropped behind my "nemesis" I used the guy on my wheel. Once we hit the pavement I pulled to the side and let him use his higher gears on his cross bike to up our pace a bit. I then took back over when we hit the rough stuff. On the grassy sections, we took turns as needed. I'm not sure I really drafted except for the pavement area, but mentally swapping helped me keep up my pace.

The mountain bike was good for about one fifth of the course, but the cross bikes were just faster the rest of the race. Though I find it hard to rationalize buying a cross bike for two races a year, but I really wish I had had one.

It was a good race, muddy like cross should be. To be more competitive I need a cross bike next year. I also needed to be more up front at the start, as I was only about a minute behind three races, and that back of the pack start cost me at least that much time. But still, the race was fun. A one week break, and then the North Park time trial.

Month of Mud - Brady's Run

Photo: Fred Jordan

Brady's Run - 13th place - Masters - 1:14

Master's category getting pretty big now. I remember years back, there would be only like five us that might do the whole series. Now the category has really grown. The downside? Master is an open division. So quite often I'm racing with guys that are in master's expert division in the WVMBA series. I really don't have a chance.

Be that as it may, again there were tons of people at Bradys. It was in the 50s early on, but warmed up perfectly. Trails were dry and fast.

Prologue lap I was in back third. Started up the first hill and moved more mid pack. Mark was right behind me. Hit the straight away not one second too late. Mark passed me here and gapped me a bit. Slowly I worked my way back up so that I was only two riders behind him.

We took a sharp right up the very steep hill that would dump us on top of the hill. I was feeling good, finally this hill was actually dry. I was pacing Mark pretty well until three different guys at three different places jumped off their bikes but did not clear the trail. Even though we were telling them that riders were behind them. The last guy was the worst as he stopped, picked up the front of his bike, and started spinning his front wheel listening for brake rub. Problem was, it's a very narrow trail! We all yelled, but too late, off the bike again.

By this time Mark was about eight riders in front of me. I knew I couldn't close the gap on the first lap, I had to wait and hope he blew up on the second lap.

Rode all the log piles, rode a very clean first lap. But still didn't see Mark. Started the second lap, and rode up the steep entry hill except for one very brief dab.

I started feeling good on this second lap. It actually helped that the experts started lapping us as their energy had me pick up my pace. I remember specifically going down one steep descent with an expert behind me, urging me on in a fun way. I was riding way faster than normal, and at one point shot off the trail laughing. Got back on track, and soldiered on.

Much too quickly I got on the final descent to the finish line, feeling I had some power left in the legs. It was good to finally have some power again. The days of rest and the cool temperatures were great.

Found Mark who only finished three minutes before me, but I felt like he must have had a good ten minutes on me. Mike R. finished soon after, he knocked 20 minutes off his time from last year, and his cleat pulled off from his shoe half way through! Shred had to do three laps, and he finished soon also. He looked like he really had pushed the pace.

Great reace, I cut 15 minutes from last year's time, but I remember not riding hard last year as I went out just to do the race I was already out of contention as I had two mechanicals in other races.

Next up - Grove City cyclocross

Month of Mud - Bavington

Photo - Mike Briggs

Bavington - 17th place Masters - :57 minutes

Most riders I've seen at Bavington. Weather was perfect, though a bit hot by my time. Bavington is a time trial, which I like except for the waiting part. But with me racing the day before, the wait gave me time to get a really good warm up.

Sooner than I expected, I was off. I rode super solid, but had not spark in the legs at all. Every time there was a straight away, I just couldn't accelerate. I would've done better with a 30 mile race than the fast 8 miles we did.

Regardless, never dabbed anywhere, rode the plunge easily (unlike last year where I wrecked). Ended up three minutes slower than last year.

I really did not train this year to be able to pull off two hard efforts two days in a row. But overall, it was a really fun race, good to see a lot of familiar faces.