Badger Cross

I woke up this morning, looked out the window, and it was raining. I didn't know rain was in the forecast. This could be a good day for me. I love racing in bad conditions.

I pre-rode the course and it wasn't deep mud or sticky mud, it was just kind of slippery. I've decided to go with wide tires with low air pressure. I'm also prepared to use my pit bike in the second half of the race if my bike gets clogged up with mud and grass during the race

Once again I had a bad start in the middle of the pack when we hit the first grassy double-track section. One guy went down and there were a lot of riders grabbing their brakes through the first few greasy turns. Within the first minute of the race I could see the leaders were already 100 yards ahead of me. Dang.

This race I am really focused and I feel strong. I am confident in the corners and I work my way up to the top ten after 2 or 3 laps. I was about to make contact with a group that was in 4th - 8th. While I drifted off and started think about how nice it would be to draft off them, I lose my focus and wipe out on a straight away section. That was pretty stupid.

The adrenalin kicks in and I start chasing hard. My brake levers are bent inward at an extreme angle, but other than that my bike works surprisingly well. Going through the start area downhill I pay the first penalty for the adrenaline rush. On the muddy turn at the bottom of the hill I miss grabbing my brake levers because they are not where I expected them to be and I fly into 3 foot tall grass. To the delight and/or disappointment of the spectators, I didn't wipe out, but now I'm way off course and get passed by another guy. I work to catch him but then I pay penalty number two for the earlier adrenaline rush. Now I'm completely blown and there are still 2 or 3 laps to go.

I take it easy on the next lap to get in a little recovery. I'm also banging on my handlebars while I ride trying to straighten out the levers. Lucky for me there were a lot of spectators out on the course today and whether they are rooting for me (rarely) or against me (usually the case), I find it motivating and I got a second wind with 2 to go.

I regain my focus and work my way into 8th. When it was all said and done, that's where I finished. No mechanicals and a minimal amount of crashes. Given the conditions I'm pretty happy with how this race went. Again, not a great result, but it gives me upgrade points and it was a blast riding in the mud. This was a true cyclocross race. Now that's entertainment.