Finally! No longer muddy...

Its been almost a week since Mudslinger and I think I have finally removed all the mud that I brought home from Blodgett. It was epic. It was muddy. We got hailed on, rained on, snowed on, and even some sun.

It is in the mid 30s when we showed up to help out with the registration. There was an inch and a half of snow on the ground when we left Monroe for Blodgett. By the time the start rolled around it was in the high 40s. I had legwarmers, booties (which became a lovely collection bin for the mud), longsleeved turtleneck base layer, jersey, shorts, jacket on. Some guys had knee warmers and a long sleeved jersey on, I have no idea how people function with so little clothing when its cold. I'm not sure if they are stupid or just really warm all the time. Maybe some of both.

So it started off well. The first climbs are hard. It starts off with a stair step climb. With an ever increasing slope, topping off at 27%. Which is, well, hard. During the pre-ride 2 weeks before, I went up it in my middle ring, which almost made me puke/pass out simultaneously. So went down to my little ring, puking during a race probably isnt a great idea. I did some serious booty kicking on the initial climb. I figured I had to due to the lack of experience in the mud.


Mud: this mud was ridiculous. That good ol NW clay, slippery, slimy, and deep and gross and heavy. I fell over so many times in the mud to do wheels sliding, me sliding trying to tripod it down slopes, and the extreme lack of traction due to the mud adhering to my tires and becoming on big muddy heavy rotating mass.

Guess what? I crashed. Der. I hit a rut on a nice wide open decent and the front wheel went right I went over and did a one arm superman. I wasnt hurt. The bike was ok, twisted the seat post/saddle to the right and the stem a couple degrees to the left. This made steering/riding interesting for the rest of the course. The coolest part (and I have no idea how this happened) was the way my bike landed. It was perpendicular to the trail, resting on the saddle and handlebars with the wheels still spinning. You see in the picture how my seat was off to the right, and the handle bars to the left. No I am not holding it funny, the front wheel is straight.

Overall, it was fun. Muddy. But fun. The clothes took days and days (along with not an insubstantial amount of oxyclean) to finally rinse clear. Wonderful Chris took care of most of the mud on the bike. She is shiny and clean.

Good things: Agnes (the bike), feed zones, gravel roads, post race food (thanks Great Harvest!), someone to clean up my bike, Oxyclean.

Bad things: no mud riding skillz, bonking, mud between my toes (with shoes/socks/booties on), turning everything I touched post-race in a muddy mess.

Ok, Gonna finish up my Nutella (the great Nutella Debate) and almond butter sammich - its tasty tasty stuff and ride my bike/do some homework (probably in that order).

More race reports and pics here: Collin's Cycling Team Blog
More pics here: Here.