CX Santa Rosa #2 - Thick friggin' mud

By the end of my racing, I was sweating mud.

The forecast was for heavy rain on Saturday, not so heavy on Sunday--so we'll see whether Candlestick gets sloppy for tomorrow's race, but today's race in Santa Rosa seemed a lock for wet, soupy mud, and it was delivered. In the car on the way there, a little voice in my head was anticipating the conditions, as my best-ever results, a couple C wins, were at super-slop races. There wasn't much time for daydreaming, though, as Hwy 101 had little floods and heavy spray--definitely high-speed windshield wiper conditions.

I arrived a little after 11 and watched the women's race: dirty, dirty women...seemed sort of ominous. The spectators beside me were C racers who had finished and cleaned up, and reports were of inches-thick mud on the backside of the course.

With that little bit of intelligence, I went back to sit in the car, pin numbers and gear up for the 12.30ish start of the 35+B/B/45+B race. When time got close, I did a single lap to scout the course...and soon was filthier than I've been in a long time. Some of it soupy, some of it goopy, some of it spreadable like peanut butter, all mud. The bike was OK with it, except for one little catch of the chain that would come back to haunt me.

My B wave started at a gap behind the 35+B's (logic? don't know) with a short sidewalk stretch before hitting the good stuff. A makeshift plank bridge crossing a waist-deep creek led into the really tricky bit of mud, and the wiser little voice in my head told me to get off and run...so I did, and started passing all the riders trying bravely and "honorably" to pedal through the stuff. A more rideable stretch followed, then more thick muck that I ran--and it seemed as though, just maybe, I was leading the B's and tickling the back of the 35+B field!

All for nought, though. When it came back to the rideable sections, that little skip of the chain came back. I can't tell if it was a sticky link or a front derailleur issue, but if I tried to power down (which happens a lot in the mud), the chain would jam between the cage and the rings and forward motion stopped. After much swearing and a couple forced dismounts, I figured out that backpedaling could get the chain to reseat itself, so better; but there's a reason they don't teach you the cha-cha (two steps forward, half a step back) on a bike: it doesn't move you very fast. Soon, I was losing positions, and more positions, and more forced dismounts...

I would've liked to ride more. It felt good to be pushing under those conditions, and being able to run the ugly bits was really helpful in the B's, but if the bike don't roll, y'ain't gonna do so good. We'll see where I ended up in the results.

Once the B's were through, I suited up for the singlespeed race right afterward. Dave C. pointed out to me that the SS bike was perfect for the conditions, and he was right--who needs gears in all that goo? Things didn't start well in this race, as I almost immediately took a great glob of mud straight into my left eye, which took some furious blinking to clear out (I'm still scraping mud out of my eyesockets now). Three laps in, Josh S. lapped me, my back and a knee were whining, and I was too tired to be able to solve those sections of the course that perhaps I could've ridden earlier with a working drivetrain, so I pulled myself and was done.

Cleanup was a bitch. I would hose myself off, turn to cleaning the bikes, look back at myself and I was dirty again. So: sweating mud. Even after a shower, I'm sure I'll be picking grit out of crevices for a while. And there's yet more 'cross racing tomorrow!

Sorry, no pictures: it was pouring rain and after just a little bit of riding I was filthy enough to dirty anything I touched. Several photogs were prowling the course, though, so I hope some of those shots (though not those of me) end up circulating. Alternatively, I am totally empathizing with the top-flight riders in Belgium today: there are some glorious mud shots in this gallery at cyclingnews.com.