Mud wrestling in Santa Rosa

This week was good for me, I haven't had a lot of work to do (uh, so if you're reading this and you need tires glued or your bike built, cleaned or repaired drop me a line... all this racing's not exactly paying the bills...) so I pretty much hung around my apartment, rested and trained.

On friday, I got a taste (Literally. Eww.) of what was to come when I went out for the first rainy ride of the year and it was pretty gross since the roads hadn't been washed by rain in about 9 months. This meant I arrived home spattereed in oil, dirt and bits of roadkill which seemed more plentiful than normal on the roads around my house that day. Time to break out the rollers (for warmup and cooldown) and stationary trainer (for intervals) I guess!

Saturday morning I awoke to steady rain. I met up With Tim Brennan and we headed up to Santa Rosa for race #2 of the CXSR series. I wore full rain gear as I watched Tim race and inspected the course- the conditions were epic with intermittent rain but fairly warm air, probably about 60 degrees. Judging by the condition of bikes that had only done a single inspection lap, I opted to just walk the course on foot to see what I was up against.

The track consisted of some nice grassy sections with 2 sets of 3 barriers on one side of the park. So far so good. I walked over to the creek at the edge of the park at the first crossing to find a very sketchy little bridge made for the race. It appeared to be hastily constructed with some 2x4s and ply wood, and covered with chicken wire... Sketchy at best. The creek had nearly overtopped this thing earlier in the day, according to some onlookers/course marshalls. It looked like carnage was virtually guaranteed at this spot as I watched a few riders cross over it.



Beyond this point, the track entered what may have been a path or a dirt road. It is impossible to say, since this long section was covered with tracks through standing water and lots and lots of mud! I tested the depth of several puddles with my boots to check for hard ground and potential dangers to my tires and found that in most wet spots there was harder ground beneath. The boundaries of the course had disappeared, as it was marked with tape on the ground. The tape had long since disappeared under the mud for the most part. There were a few cool berms that were still above water so maybe this area was a kind of trail? It was gnarly.

The track then passed over another bridge which was very narrow, but at was up to code with high handrails. The entrance to this bridge was kind of treacherous though, as there was a big tree root drop-off that could have been pretty straightforward but became very tricky in the mud. After that it was back to the more civilized grassy park.

I washed down a lemon-sublime GU packet with a few gulps of water, set my tires to 24 lbs front and rear and headed to the line. The men's A field was small but several fast riders were present including Chris Brown and Duncan Meyers, 2 top class mountain bikers. My plan was to ride carefully and take a lap or 2 to figure out the good lines through the muddy mess. I wanted to ride conservatively since sunday was the Pilarcitos race at Candlestick and I was hoping to use this race as a warmup. But when the race started and Duncan got the holeshot, I realized quickly that I'd need to be in front to get a clear shot at the difficult track. I passed him at my first chance and settled into my rythym around the course.

I was pretty surprised to get a gap right away and when I came into the pits for my first bike change, no one was in sight. I stretched my lead out as the race went on and I tried to relax and conserve my energy in the tough mud. Katie Fox was washing my bikes each lap and doing a stellar job in the pits, it was a huge advantage to get a clean bike each lap. I was thinking about all the guys trying to finish the race on one bike and figured that if I was careful not to crash and always take a bike, my gap would grow.

Luck was with me; I kept the tires on the ground where they belong and I rode in for the win. Although I was trying to be conservative, I still ended up expending a lot of energy just riding the mud. It was pretty hard on my lower back since this kind of muddy race requires steady power to a big gear. I can't complain though, and I felt pretty good at the end with a sore body but fresh legs.

I quickly washed the mud out of my eyes and off my body (or tried to...) and got dry and warm. My prize was a package of fresh pasta and pesto from local pasta company Pasta Etc. which turned out to be an incredibly tasty dinner and breakfast on sunday! I began my recovery immediately with a new product that I'm testing out for GU Sports; a yet un-named recovery drink. This stuff is being produced in a strawberrry-watermelon and pineapple-orange flavor and it's probably the tastiest recovery beverage I've ever tried. I washed down a packet of blueberry-pomegranate flavored GU Roctane gel with it and I felt better right away. GU's support has been really key for me this year, particularly on these 2 race weekends.

When I got home I spent a couple hours cleaning my skinsuit, shoes and bikes. I rinsed my skinsuit again and again, and mud and dirt just kept coming out. My driveway was quickly covered with an incredible amount of mud. It was pretty impressive, but my suit came clean after several rinsings and a soak in cold water. I used oxy-clean in the wash and even the white parts came out looking pretty good.

The bikes both got new shift cables and housing. There's really no way to avoid this after a muddy race, so I keep cables and rolls of housing on hand so I can do it quickly. The A bike got a new rear brake cable as well. After stuffing my face with pasta and any other food I could find, I hit the sack and passed the hell out as the final step in preparing for Pilarcitos #2!