Wednesday, May 13, 2009
World's Muddiest Race?
Have you ever seen the movie The Perfect Storm? There is something exciting about the perfectly bad combination that comes together to doom the cast of characters.
Last weekend's Dirt Sweat and Gears became just that... the perfect mud storm.
The whole course was held on rarely ridden wooded single track on top of ancient ocean bottom clay and limestone!
Seven inches of pre-race rain and a downpour at the start meant bad mud, but then the rain stopped allowing the peanut butter mud to mix with the straw leaves and grass to make... Super Mud!
I am still sore from the 20-plus miles of carrying a mud-caked bike on my back. It was awesome I had all kinds of bruises and scratches from my bike the day after and I have not been that sore since my crash at La Ruta!
I did persevere, but almost to a fault, I realized during my last 3-hour 10-mile lap that this was STUPID! and made a truce with the only other remaining solo riders, Harlan and Andy Applegate, (Tostado, Plews and Ernesto had bailed hours earlier) that this should be our last lap because it is now a contest of self tourture not a bike race. Pheww...
The stories from this race will not soon be forgotten. There were tales of some of the female riders abandoning their bikes on the course because they could not pick them up because the where so heavy with mud!
Despite the conditions, the scene and music in the start/finish area was fantastic! It became like a mountain bike Woodstock where the festival goers didn't care about the mud anymore and everyone was hanging out and having beer and food!
A really cool vendor was a small bike-beer brewery that had a wooden bar and stools! It was really cool. I will be back but I will bring the cross bike.
Another memorable aspect of the trip was that it was the first race Conrad has ever been to and Erin's first Mother's Day!
After the mud fest we took a detour on the way back to see my Mom in Otto North Carolina and introduce her to the little guy.
Good times.
Now I am going to get on my road bike and pedal for a change. Ha ha ha ..
JeremiahLabels: Endurance Racing
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