Mud is Gud!

What can be said about this race that cannot be gathered from the pictures? It was top fun despite being a little wet and muddy. Sadly it was a bit of a bike killer but c'est la vie.

The course was short and 30 minute times were expected so we elected to do double laps in daylight, triples at night and play by ear on Sunday. Not being present at the previous night's 'democratic' vote I was sent out for laps 1 & 2 but given the staggered start (solo, 2s & 3s + 1 minute, 4s + 2 minutes, rest + 3 minutes) didn't expect much traffic. Little did we know riding first would work very much to my advantage as things played out but more of that later.

Despite Whisperer's pep talk did find traffic on the first hill (yes - I stayed with the front of our starting wave only to hit the end of the prior one). I'd do plenty of walking on the climb so why not start the way you mean to go on. Traffic first lap was a good excuse, mud and zero grip later laps another one.

Once up the top I took the 'A' line (always take sniggle over firetrail - no matter what) and did so on every lap. Here and on the fire trail, even on lap one I was gently smiling about the choice of bike/tire I'd made for the race. People were sliding around up and down hill, but a fat Minion front and fat High Roller rear felt pretty good to me. I've been told that's not the best combo in the mud, but all I know it's a hell of a lot better than the Crossmark/Larsen combo the Rush has on it! Of course the Yeti is a lounge chair in comparison on the descents so had to love that too.

I knew a clear run down the gully was required for maximum speed and fun but sadly this wasn't to be as on lap one I came across a group of riders trying to pull a comrade from the creek beside the first bridge. There was a board out on this bridge, but how he fell where he did I don't know. Neither he, nor his bike looked to be damaged though so on I went. Wheeeeee.

Rest of the course is pretty uneventful, but the paddock sucked a bit on the big tires. You win some, you loose some - no drama here. Finished up with 34 + 31 minute laps without really pushing hard anywhere so felt quiet good.

Took a shower and rested for the first night stint coming my way. Quiet apprehensive as my DIY lights have never seen rain, let alone heavy stuff like this and I just hoped they would last.

However, forget the lights, it soon turned out that brakes would be the real worry in these conditions, it now being so wet and muddy that my fronts were gone after the first lap of this stint. Managed an 8 minute pad change on the front and headed out again. Those pads, despite being metallic compound plus the rears were gone after this session of just three laps though. I'm hopeful the discs will live though, but ouch, that's some wear rate!

During this session my MkI lights suffered a bit. They were cutting in and out and sometimes dimming - water clearly got into the control box and confused the low power indicator circuit. Luckily MkII are housed a lot more professionally and didn't miss a beat.

Given the light and brake issues, and the truly treacherous state the course was now in I was very happy to knock off 34, 37, 38 minute laps (middle lap is almost 45 mins on the results due to that pad change). Looking at Whisperer's next lap, and other times from that period just before the track was closed for safety reasons I'm very happy with those three laps. I put this down entirely to those fat tires, as a lot of people had resorted to walking down the gully by now but thankfully I had the grip to keep on riding and having fun.

Don't get me wrong it was still no walk in the park. Damien passed me emerging from the 'A' line sniggle on the climb one lap, but I apparently passed him on the descent same lap. Although I have memories of passing numerous riders down there don't recall seeing him at all - that says a bit about where the mind was focused - squarely on picking a good line and staying on the track!

Finishing this stint, played with the fire hose for some time, took a proper shower and finally became warm and dry. Thoughts turned to how I was going to get motivated to get up at 4am and do it all again. Then, the joyous news came that for safety reasons we were going to have a break until 7:30am. Probably a good call by the organisers (certainly for me) as wet is bad, riding in torrents of mud is bad, riding at night is bad, but a technical descent combined with all three is probably asking for trouble.

A quick calculation, and.... I'm done! Five laps for Rob, three for Whisperer and only two for the rest meant I would not be asked to ride again in the morning - straight to the fridge for a beer!

Bitter/sweet moment to be honest - you do these things because they are tough and challenging and have been robbed of the chance to push yourself. That said - damn - was it nice to relax and have a good night's sleep and stay dry in the morning!

The rest of the team performed pretty much to plan on Sunday and brought us home third in our category. Finals lap counts were Whisperer & I: five, Junkie, Greg & Steve: four, Blondie: three.

So despite all the drama with weather - top notch stuff, and pretty happy with a podium with the team - my first!

Look at the pictures and see the smiles - don't let anyone try and tell you this weekend wasn't a goodie!

P.S. There's no GPS of laps 1+2, but here's the second 3 lap stint:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view....