the Mudfest report...

Its been a long busy morning in the office, but now I can finally share "the rest of the story".

Saturday night, call promoter, he says the course dries out real fast. And the only area that holds water is the back 3 mi of a 9 mi loop, and they would cut that out if its wet. Sounds good to me, I'm in. After all, I have a title to defend down there. And Rox is a trooper, she's in for a 2nd day of racin as well. Marathon starts at 11am.
Sunday am....
5:45am, alarm goes off
6:00am, vertical, hmm, legs feel pretty good, considering racing 18 hours ago.
6:05am, checking weather map and hourly forecast on computer, in my underwear
6:15am, "honey, we screwed up. its not 6:15am, its 7:15am" (#*&%$(@#%)!!!!!
REALTIME 7:16am, "do we still go? Yes, we should, I don't wanna be the only group from NE that flakes out."
7:25am, mouthful of mostly dry oatmeal while throwing bike bag in car, etc
7:50am, at gas station to get coffee, ugh, then driving out of town
??? I'm trying to hydrate, drinking a lot of water, so I gotta stop to wiz
??? Gas mileage is tanked cuz its floored. with bikes on top. Stop to fill up in Platte City. $2.55/gal, ouch.
10:40am, pass grandma on two lane residential in lawrence
10:44am Rox & I register'
10:45am Registration closes
10:50am, bikes off car
10:53am, attach number plates
10:55am, naked in public, putting on team kit
10:58am, at the start line, "anyone got a mini pump, my rear tire feels way low"
10:59, "sure I got a pump" but its schraeder only, oh well, start race and wait patiently for a pinch flat which never came-- a miracle of full susp
11am, its off, fast start. I'm in third and we're making a break away. Wow these trails really are dry. And tacky. Good thing I left on the semi-slicks I used at tranquility. I am leaning the santa cruz over like superbike in the corners. wow what fun. But the rear tire definitely getting squirrely. Hopefully we'll have a good gap before it pinch flats.
11:07am Still able to power out of every apex, we're getting a decent breakaway, yeah!
11:12am , trail heads down a bit, away from levee, notice color of dirt changes slightly, but still fast as ever, i'm in the 44, wondering if Roxy will let me have her old 46t ring.
11:15am, leaning into another sweeping left hand corner, what?? standing water??? WTF? WHOA, big time drift tires everywhere, I can correct, I can correct it, damn, overcorrected!, bike & I fall hard onto the right (driveside) in standing water and slide through 4" deep peanut butter mud. this is why the two guys in front of me seemed to slow down.
11:16am, I am off the trail getting back on the bike and get to watch another dude do the same thing I just did. Then everyone else comes in with varying degrees of failure in the mud.
11:17am, I am back on the bike, now a singlespeed.
11:22am, bike stops. need to remove softball size piles of mud clogging the frame and fork.
11:27am, bike stops. repeat drill.
11:30am, bike ceases to roll. repeat drill. Dream of a Pugsley with 38c tires.
11:40am, hmm, seems to be getting to drier trail. bike won't stay in any gear. every 5 minutes feels and sounds like I am ripping the chain over the cogs. I should quit. this is stupid.
11:50am, going through start finish area, everyone is cheering, what the hell are they so happy about? don't they see how irresponsible this is? Gosh dang it, I can't quit with all these idiots cheering.
12:15am, ok, I can do this, just keep pedalling and deal with. Mental challenges. I need this. Push myself. Can't quit. What Would Wills Do? If he's gonna complete Transiowa I can pull this off. Maybe. what the hell.
12:20am, wonder where roxy is. she probably hates this more than I do. hope shes ok.
12:45am, start 3rd lap, billie jean is playing on the PA. Definitely can't quit now. And I start my 3rd lap right as the sport open field enters the singletrack. I merge into 2nd and start a breakway with some kid. He's diggin it, but not powering through the corners enough.
12:50am, I tried to help the top 3 sport to get into a breakaway, we had a 20 second gap or so, then my drivetrain locked, almost threw me. I better get outta the way and let these kids have their fun. Wonder when the chain will break? Do I have a chain tool with me? Nope, left that in the car.
1:15am, wow, the course dried up alot, no more stopping to remove mud. But ZERO confidence in drivetrain, which mysteriously locks up every 10 minutes and hasn't stayed in any gear for 2 hours.
2:02pm, finish fourth lap, BURRITO TIME! Never pinch flatted, never broke my chain. checked psi, yep, what I thought like 23 lbs in the rear tire.

3 water bottles.
7 stops to clear mud and get wheels rolling again.
1 small pile of vomit after eating a marble size chunk of mud off my water bottle.
2 gu packets.
one clif bar.

So finished mid-pack, i think. Some of those guys handled the mud pretty well, but I think everyone had to stop to clear it off a few times those first coupla laps. In retrospect, it makes me think about how much confidence I normally have in my bike, and how I take it for granted. Once I first heard the gears grinding and drivetrain locking up, I couldn't push it as hard, and the idea of chasing down the fast guys idea went right out the window. But I got three hours in. Rox's frame has even less clearance than mine, she carried her bike on her back for over a mile, and called it good after lap 1. She helped with a bottle hand-up on the last lap, thanks honeybunny.

Last night Rox helped hose off the bikes, clothes, etc. She's a trooper. tonight, overhaul time.