Mud Pedal

Sunday, Oct 4, 2009
Lake Bryan, TX

We arrived on Saturday am and got in a pre-ride before the rain hit. The course still had some standing water in spots but was otherwise in fine shape for the pre-ride. Folks who rode after the initial round of intense rain said otherwise. It was a soupy mess.

It rained on and off all night long. It stopped raining around 8:15am Sunday morning.

The CAT1's wheeled off at 9:15am, delayed waiting on the ambulance crew to show up. The course was reduced from 18 to 11 miles due to the sloppy conditions. The fast ones were doing it in around 1:10-15.

CAT2's, we lined up at 11am. I was on my beater no-name SS 26er running 32-18 hoping it wasn't too low of a gear ratio for the flats, but it was fine, and by the end I was thinking a 19 might have been better. The thick mud is tough to pedal through. After sloughing through the course, I came in at 1:29 and 4th place. This makes my fifth top five for 2009 and forces me to CAT1 for the spring. (I requested and was granted a waiver to remain CAT2 for the remaining two races of the season).

Onto other news, Lance Armstrong is hosting an XC race at his Ranch de Juan Pelota in Dripping Springs, TX on November 22nd. Lance along with JHK and Heather Irmiger are signed up. So far over 500 folks have pre-registered for the race (cap at 700) in under 48 hours. WOW this is gonna be fun, there are already 55 racers signed up in my group, second largest behind the 63 signed up for CAT2 30+. STOKED!