Mudfest

Only did the 50 - but finished

As Fatboy said, it was a bit like Capital Punishment #1, without the rain and cold. Probably wouldn't have been too bad except for a reasonable amount of rain falling on Saturday night. The soft track / mud made a pretty flat course feel like it was uphill almost all the way. Even on the downhill fire trail bits the sticky brown clay made it feel like a skating rink in many places. Sniggle was generally sandy and not too bad, but you had to watch the wet roots and occasional puddle corners.

I had a better bike for the track and felt I was riding better than last year, but did about 21 mins slower. Managed to finish in the top half of the super masters, but only just. Interesting that there were about 70 entrants listed in that category when the rider lists were posted, but only 41 started.

Got overtaken by Matt Fleming with about 2 km to go and even he had a moment in the mud, sliding sideways to a foot down stop in the middle of a flat bit of fire trail about 50m in front of me. Still couldn't get back on his wheel though...

So much for getting a new chain and rear cluster last week...... but I'm glad I put some new Crossmarks on. The worn Small Block 8's would have been really skittish in the mud.