2018 Rasputitsa
2018 Rasputitsa
I’ll just leave this here
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
I'm glad I did not go.
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
Is was hard but fun, all around awesome weekend as usual at Rasputitsa. Busick and I were together until the end. I was surprised he didn't drop me, I'm guessing he wasn't putting in the effort Cratty was... I hope you all search out those pictures.
Brian A
Brian A
Brian Anderson
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
so far it sounds like rasputitsa is either a bike race, an all-you-can-eat buffet, or a key party
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
OK I’ll write a real race report because I have to get it off my chest once and for all. Rasputitsa is in fact a race of some kind. I only decided to do this because I transformed my Crux CX bike into a gravel bike so it needed to be raced. Also last October after a few beers I bet Mark Miller that I would beat him, and the price was, guess what, a case of beer. Busick got in on the bet as well because we all knew that was the only motivation to do this race. Of course both Chris an I knew that our best bet for beating Mark Miller would be:
1) He didn’t train all winter
2) He didn’t show up
Both of those almost happened, so I don’t regret the bet.
Anyway on to the “race”. Now let’s be honest, its not a race that any of us had a chance of winning. It was a 1300 person Mass start with a bunch of pros, cat 1s and other endurance freaks that only come out once a year to put their VO2 Max’s on display. It’s more of a time trial where you try to beat as many people to the finish as possible. In total it was 41 miles and 4300-ish feet of climbing on mostly soggy gravel roads and supposedly 1 snow section that would probably be walked/run (Cyberia-clever spelling ha ha whatever).
There were a handful of MRC’ers there, I lined up with a new MRC member of the offroad team, Kathleen Wanat. We were close to the front, maybe 300th wheel. Busick and Briana were about 10 feet in front of us, and Miller was in the front row showing off his bare legs because it was 32 degrees and he’s a tough guy. Antony was somewhere, and Batten was probably tail-gunning in 1300th place.
There was a 1-2mi downhill neutral start, I could have lined up in Massachusetts and I knew I’d be at the front at the bottom of the hill, which I was. The race kicked into gear, we took a right out of town and the arrow was developing at the front. I was 3rd wheel for a minute or 2, Mark was about 10 wheels behind. I yelled at him but he didn’t respond, probably cause the sound waves must have ricocheted off his face mask, oops I mean sunglasses. Anyway he was in the zone, or more likely oblivious. So I was sitting pretty until the first hill and the pace went bananas. By the top where we took a left hander onto the gravel I probably had lost 200 places, partly because it was WAY too fast and partly I was holding back, this was going to be a hard race. Well the road kept going up and up and up and we eventually hit Cyberia and it was Hike-a-bike and I kept losing places because running with bikes is stupid. We’re an hour in and already done ½ of the climbing when we hit the top and I’ve lost many many more places, Mark is long gone but I never saw Busick. I ride the snow down Cyberia to the main road and start the process of getting my places back. I had set a stretch goal of top 50 which looked laughable at the moment, and even the “at least top 100” looked unlikely.
But then something happened, I got my mojo back on the first descent. For the next hour I rode like a lunatic, jumping from large group to large group, smashing the descents and crushing the flats and passing hoards of skinny climbers who had left me in the dust, ummm mud earlier. The hills felt better, I would dangle of a big group for a while, then leave them to die on the descent. It was REALLY fun and I was thinking Rasputitsa isn’t that bad, my 3hr target was going to get smashed. I was going back and forth with the eventual Women’s winner Allison Tetrick, and on the last crazy descent with HUGE Rocky Gravel chunks that had recently been installed, I passed her going 45 MPH in the super tuck while she was tip toeing through the tulips. “I won’t be seeing her again” I laughed in my head.
I got to the last climb with about 3 miles left and it was STEEP as hell. About 1/3rd of the way up, to my dismay, Allison went zooming past me and I never saw her again. Oh well who cares, I’m crushing and I’m almost done. A few more people passed me as well, and then I heard a voice coming on my left commenting about my loud drivetrain “You’re gonna need some WD-40 for that”. It was Jeremy Powers, out for a Sunday stroll apparently. I picked up the pace a little and we chatted, really nice guy. Finally I had to let him go or blow up for good, the hill was really steep with no end in sight. I finally made it to the top, took a right hander into the woods, and UGH 1 more hike-a-bike section. It had to be short, right? Well kind of. This is where the story gets dark.
There are people strewn out all over this section that took maybe 5 minutes but we pop out of the woods onto a road and there’s no signage but everyone goes straight across onto another snow section. I literally stop because it doesn’t feel right. Another guy stops as well and we deliberate, but more and more people are coming out of the woods and going across so we decide it HAS to be the way. It’s a shit-show, people are crashing, running, walking. I’m running, cramping, yelling. I keep stopping because I KNOW in my heart of hearts this is WRONG. After a while I’m debating turning around, but more people come so I run then walk then stop then run again and think of Busick probably laughing at my crappy situation. The loop goes around in a huge circle and goes on forever. Now I’m just wondering if I’m going to make it back or end up in Canada. We finally pop out on a road, jump on the bikes, take a right and about 20ft later we’re at the same cross road that had no sign. EXCEPT now there is a sign pointing left, and a log blocking the trail. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I just lost about 45 minutes (although it was really 21 minutes).
Quick flash back to the last time I raced at this place, Burke Mountain. 25 mile MTB race called Circumburke, 4000 feet of climbing in the mud and worst trails ever, I took a wrong turn and did 5 bonus miles and came in 19,817th place (slight exaggeration for effect).
Anyway back to the race, I’m horrified and very angry. The worst part, the finish line is about 2 minutes away. (Seriously if I had taken a left I might have gotten a top 10 with an asterick of course) I get to the access road, go up a small climb while getting a whole body cramp, another hike-a-bike section, down into the finish field that’s all snow. I could have gotten back on my bike but that would have been slower and I was cramping so I ran to the line, Katie Busick doing a nice job capturing my agony as I flailed my way in the direction of the beer tent (which I later found out didn’t even exist).
The only good news is pretty much everyone in the top 100 made the same mistake, including Miller, Busick and Briana. The bad news is I figure I was within striking distance of 50 but no worse that 75 (we’ll find out because they are working on an adjusted result). BUT sadly I’m listed at 123.
If I had to guess, I was never going to catch Mark but it wasn’t from a lack of trying, I think I closed the gap significantly. Anyway I just bought him some very expensive craft beer which he better share.
Pros of the race: The course was 90% cool and the weather was better than expected.
Cons: Wrong turn of death, too much hike-a-bike, aside from J-Pow the people during the race were generally jerks, and there was ONLY 1 BEER LINE which was insanely long.
Would I do it again? No. But I was only planning on doing it once anyway so it doesn’t matter. And I’m never running with my bike again. EVER
1) He didn’t train all winter
2) He didn’t show up
Both of those almost happened, so I don’t regret the bet.
Anyway on to the “race”. Now let’s be honest, its not a race that any of us had a chance of winning. It was a 1300 person Mass start with a bunch of pros, cat 1s and other endurance freaks that only come out once a year to put their VO2 Max’s on display. It’s more of a time trial where you try to beat as many people to the finish as possible. In total it was 41 miles and 4300-ish feet of climbing on mostly soggy gravel roads and supposedly 1 snow section that would probably be walked/run (Cyberia-clever spelling ha ha whatever).
There were a handful of MRC’ers there, I lined up with a new MRC member of the offroad team, Kathleen Wanat. We were close to the front, maybe 300th wheel. Busick and Briana were about 10 feet in front of us, and Miller was in the front row showing off his bare legs because it was 32 degrees and he’s a tough guy. Antony was somewhere, and Batten was probably tail-gunning in 1300th place.
There was a 1-2mi downhill neutral start, I could have lined up in Massachusetts and I knew I’d be at the front at the bottom of the hill, which I was. The race kicked into gear, we took a right out of town and the arrow was developing at the front. I was 3rd wheel for a minute or 2, Mark was about 10 wheels behind. I yelled at him but he didn’t respond, probably cause the sound waves must have ricocheted off his face mask, oops I mean sunglasses. Anyway he was in the zone, or more likely oblivious. So I was sitting pretty until the first hill and the pace went bananas. By the top where we took a left hander onto the gravel I probably had lost 200 places, partly because it was WAY too fast and partly I was holding back, this was going to be a hard race. Well the road kept going up and up and up and we eventually hit Cyberia and it was Hike-a-bike and I kept losing places because running with bikes is stupid. We’re an hour in and already done ½ of the climbing when we hit the top and I’ve lost many many more places, Mark is long gone but I never saw Busick. I ride the snow down Cyberia to the main road and start the process of getting my places back. I had set a stretch goal of top 50 which looked laughable at the moment, and even the “at least top 100” looked unlikely.
But then something happened, I got my mojo back on the first descent. For the next hour I rode like a lunatic, jumping from large group to large group, smashing the descents and crushing the flats and passing hoards of skinny climbers who had left me in the dust, ummm mud earlier. The hills felt better, I would dangle of a big group for a while, then leave them to die on the descent. It was REALLY fun and I was thinking Rasputitsa isn’t that bad, my 3hr target was going to get smashed. I was going back and forth with the eventual Women’s winner Allison Tetrick, and on the last crazy descent with HUGE Rocky Gravel chunks that had recently been installed, I passed her going 45 MPH in the super tuck while she was tip toeing through the tulips. “I won’t be seeing her again” I laughed in my head.
I got to the last climb with about 3 miles left and it was STEEP as hell. About 1/3rd of the way up, to my dismay, Allison went zooming past me and I never saw her again. Oh well who cares, I’m crushing and I’m almost done. A few more people passed me as well, and then I heard a voice coming on my left commenting about my loud drivetrain “You’re gonna need some WD-40 for that”. It was Jeremy Powers, out for a Sunday stroll apparently. I picked up the pace a little and we chatted, really nice guy. Finally I had to let him go or blow up for good, the hill was really steep with no end in sight. I finally made it to the top, took a right hander into the woods, and UGH 1 more hike-a-bike section. It had to be short, right? Well kind of. This is where the story gets dark.
There are people strewn out all over this section that took maybe 5 minutes but we pop out of the woods onto a road and there’s no signage but everyone goes straight across onto another snow section. I literally stop because it doesn’t feel right. Another guy stops as well and we deliberate, but more and more people are coming out of the woods and going across so we decide it HAS to be the way. It’s a shit-show, people are crashing, running, walking. I’m running, cramping, yelling. I keep stopping because I KNOW in my heart of hearts this is WRONG. After a while I’m debating turning around, but more people come so I run then walk then stop then run again and think of Busick probably laughing at my crappy situation. The loop goes around in a huge circle and goes on forever. Now I’m just wondering if I’m going to make it back or end up in Canada. We finally pop out on a road, jump on the bikes, take a right and about 20ft later we’re at the same cross road that had no sign. EXCEPT now there is a sign pointing left, and a log blocking the trail. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I just lost about 45 minutes (although it was really 21 minutes).
Quick flash back to the last time I raced at this place, Burke Mountain. 25 mile MTB race called Circumburke, 4000 feet of climbing in the mud and worst trails ever, I took a wrong turn and did 5 bonus miles and came in 19,817th place (slight exaggeration for effect).
Anyway back to the race, I’m horrified and very angry. The worst part, the finish line is about 2 minutes away. (Seriously if I had taken a left I might have gotten a top 10 with an asterick of course) I get to the access road, go up a small climb while getting a whole body cramp, another hike-a-bike section, down into the finish field that’s all snow. I could have gotten back on my bike but that would have been slower and I was cramping so I ran to the line, Katie Busick doing a nice job capturing my agony as I flailed my way in the direction of the beer tent (which I later found out didn’t even exist).
The only good news is pretty much everyone in the top 100 made the same mistake, including Miller, Busick and Briana. The bad news is I figure I was within striking distance of 50 but no worse that 75 (we’ll find out because they are working on an adjusted result). BUT sadly I’m listed at 123.
If I had to guess, I was never going to catch Mark but it wasn’t from a lack of trying, I think I closed the gap significantly. Anyway I just bought him some very expensive craft beer which he better share.
Pros of the race: The course was 90% cool and the weather was better than expected.
Cons: Wrong turn of death, too much hike-a-bike, aside from J-Pow the people during the race were generally jerks, and there was ONLY 1 BEER LINE which was insanely long.
Would I do it again? No. But I was only planning on doing it once anyway so it doesn’t matter. And I’m never running with my bike again. EVER
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
The one thing that kept me going through the "bonus" section was knowing how much more miserable cratty must be, and thinking of the poor soles around him that have to listen to it..
Rasputitsa is supposed to be a miserable experience that's the point and why you never hear me talking anyone into doing it, and also why I thought for sure cratty wouldn't show up and something crazy would happen to mark and I'd win two cases of beer.
Instead Mark showed up focused and dressed like he was going to an early October CX race, and Cratty, after a week of deliberation showed up, crushed the neutral start and blew me away.
Good thing I had Brian to ride with, although he hit the bottom of each hill to hard for me, had me thinking he would drop me for sure. I kept grinding away and would catch Brian about 1/2 way up each hill when he realized these weren't cx race hills.
Rasputitsa is supposed to be a miserable experience that's the point and why you never hear me talking anyone into doing it, and also why I thought for sure cratty wouldn't show up and something crazy would happen to mark and I'd win two cases of beer.
Instead Mark showed up focused and dressed like he was going to an early October CX race, and Cratty, after a week of deliberation showed up, crushed the neutral start and blew me away.
Good thing I had Brian to ride with, although he hit the bottom of each hill to hard for me, had me thinking he would drop me for sure. I kept grinding away and would catch Brian about 1/2 way up each hill when he realized these weren't cx race hills.
-Chris Busick
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
Cratty's report gets my vote for the most epic - definitely the funniest - race report I've ever read on these forums. That was great 
KT
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MarkMiller321
- Domestique
- Posts: 105
- Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 4:58 pm
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
Mary keeps me around for my memory. My friends have always called me an elephant. I never, ever forget anything. If you need an obscure memory from a ride we did like what the weather was like or what we were talking about, I’m your guy. The thing is I remember Rasputitsa from the last time I rode it in 2015. I remember almost crashing going forty plus when my wheel got sucked into a blown out mud hole. I remember going airborne, unclipping, and having my leg posthole into the ground injuring my hip for the rest of the year. I also remember Cyberia, and how it was a thirty-five minute run through the backwoods of Vermont. I remembered all too well and I was sure that I would never be back. Well…
Nearly a year after my last Rasputitsa the race organization sent out a neat and tidy little pre registration email. This may have been before they really embraced the whole hardcore bring you to your knees course design mentality. The email was light and the course description was almost breezy.
Hey look it’s the email.
First 500 only! Registration is open: https://www.bikereg.com/rasputitsa
The Rasputitsa is a unique 45 mile unsanctioned gravel road race with a challenging section we call Cyberia. This section almost 1 mile in length turns this race into a real competition of strength and endurance.
What happens in this forested section is legendary and tales of Yeti and Unicorn sightings and maple syrup shots are told and re-told.
Hope to see you in April!
Heidi
Having lived three hours of personal hell this email didn’t really fit and I felt that a rewrite was in order.
Hello!
Please update your friendly email to read as follows.
The Rasputitsa is a psychotic 45 mile, insane, drop to your knees and cry sufferfest with an absurd section so difficult that people won't believe your stories about it section called Cyberia. This section is three miles and odds are it will be covered in snow so be prepared to run three miles uphill in the scary backwoods of Vermont where at any time a Yeti, or Bengal tiger may jump out of the woods, bludgeon you with a blunt object, and either leave you for dead or drag you back into the woods for a nice little Saturday brunch. It's a real competition for survival! Just like the popular 90s movie Alive or the classic folk tail of The Donner Party.
What happens in this forested section rivals Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs saying "It puts the lotion on or it gets the hose." Oh yea we try to make it fun with maple syrup and donuts, as if that is some kind of solace for the hardest thing you will ever do in your athletic life!
Well guess what the organizers thought my little email was pretty clever. They used it across all of their social media platforms and when Bicycling Magazine did a feature of must do gravel races they featured some of my lines in the blurb about Rasputitsa. The reward for my accurate portrayal of the race was a comp entry to be used whenever I decided to come back. I actually had no intent of ever going back. The memories were fresh and my elephant brain really didn’t care to relive any of the madness.
Insert Jeremy Cratty here.
Some of you may have noticed that Jeremy and I have a relationship that is built on a huge foundation of bullshit. A serious conversation is rare and when alcohol is introduced things spiral out of control quickly. Last fall at the registration table of the MRC CX race Jeremy was pretty excited about completing the set up of his gravel bike. He proudly proclaimed that he was going to do Rasputitsa now that Battenkill was officially dead. My recollection of events is that I was initially trying to caution Jeremy based on my memories of the experience in 2015. I know of his aversion to running and suspected that a hike a bike really wasn’t in his wheelhouse. Not sure where things went sideways, perhaps it was the Wally and the megaphone, but before I knew it a challenge was laid down. The bet was simple, first person across the finish line wins, no excuses for mechanicals, or poor training. Be on the line in April and be prepared for the horror that is Rasputitsa. The prize, beer, lots of beer. (Somewhere along the way Busick caught wind of the bet and got involved so even more beer was up for grabs.)
The race was exactly what I had remembered and within the first half hour I was wondering what the hell I was doing back on these roads. I actually love riding gravel and it is becoming my go to discipline because of the smooth roads and lack of trucks trying to kill me. Anyone that kids themselves thinking that Rasputitsa is a gravel race is an idiot. This year you were either on soupy wheel sucking mud, terrifying slushy ice, or worst of all you were running your bike through the snow.
Early on I actually felt good and went with one of my go to strategies, find Al Donahue and follow his wheel to the front. This worked well and when we hit the initial hills and bombs started dropping I was right there. On the first downhill the sketchy conditions started to come into play. Going forty plus downhill through a minefield of muddy potholes is a recipe for disaster. Something happened to someone and before I knew it there was a bike toppling through the air right toward my head. Grabbing a fist full of breaks I went off the side or the road and almost crashed into a tree but I kept the rubber side down. I rolled back on the road and was totally freaked out. I was pretty shaken up for the next half hour or so and somehow caught in the adrenaline of the moment ended up on the front of the race. I was pretty certain that I didn’t belong there and the effort of the first forty minutes was already catching up.
Through Cyberia I was leading the second chase pack but I really felt terrible. Onto the flats after yet another scary decent it was clear to me that my legs were not having a great day. At this point I adopted a new strategy of winning the bet and not ruining my chances at Quabbin.
For a while I was actually having a great time. I was in no mans land for what seemed like an eternity and it was easy to convince myself that I was just out for a hard Saturday ride on my home roads. Late in the race I got linked up with another group and was content to just ride with them for the rest of the madness. I estimate that I was riding somewhere close to twenty-fifth and was generally happy about the morning. What I perceived to be the last climb was hard and I was able to shed all but two of my group companions.
All that fun was quickly dispatched as we once again took a sharp right off the road into the woods. I committed to the run immediately and was ready to work until the dumbass behind me tried to ride through the snowbank and did and endo right into me as I was dismounting. I took a pretty big hit to my nether region and somehow in the pileup my rear quick release had opened and my wheel came off. Try remounting a wheel when you’re totally cracked after taking a shot to the groin. I easily lost two or three minutes. Figuring the madness was almost over I half heartedly ran through the woods. Suddenly we were out of the woods and at an intersection. Riders were going straight so I went straight too.
I’m a pretty positive person, in fact some of my coworkers say I display a type of blind optimism that’s infectious. Well all that went out the window as I ran through snow and slop for the next twenty minutes. I was pretty negative in the woods and dropped a lot of swears. Reemerging from the woods at the start of the loop there was a bottleneck of riders deciding what to do. Some were taking the left some were running. I was about to blow! I was so angry at all the riders going the right way and was certain that Jeremy and Chris had gone the right way and that I had lost the bet. Remember, no excuses. I coasted down the road lamenting my problems and ranting at whoever would listen. Down the road we dismounted again and ran to the finish.
As a former runner I actually hate running now. I hate the way that twenty years of competing makes me feel like an old man every morning in my late thirties. I hate the thought of going to another godforsaken 5k on a Saturday morning to win a few hundred dollars. What I hate even more than all of these things is running a bike through the snow. The thought alone makes my blood curdle. Elephant memory on high alert! Never do Rasputitsa again!
At the finish I got cleaned up and ate alone. I felt like someone had beaten me with a sack full of door knobs. My feet were killing me and my big toenails were black from running in shoes that weren’t designed to run in. Eventually I hooked up with the crew. Apparently I had won the bet and will be taking delivery on two cases of the best IPAs New England has to offer. Was it worth it? Not by a long shot.
Mark
Nearly a year after my last Rasputitsa the race organization sent out a neat and tidy little pre registration email. This may have been before they really embraced the whole hardcore bring you to your knees course design mentality. The email was light and the course description was almost breezy.
Hey look it’s the email.
First 500 only! Registration is open: https://www.bikereg.com/rasputitsa
The Rasputitsa is a unique 45 mile unsanctioned gravel road race with a challenging section we call Cyberia. This section almost 1 mile in length turns this race into a real competition of strength and endurance.
What happens in this forested section is legendary and tales of Yeti and Unicorn sightings and maple syrup shots are told and re-told.
Hope to see you in April!
Heidi
Having lived three hours of personal hell this email didn’t really fit and I felt that a rewrite was in order.
Hello!
Please update your friendly email to read as follows.
The Rasputitsa is a psychotic 45 mile, insane, drop to your knees and cry sufferfest with an absurd section so difficult that people won't believe your stories about it section called Cyberia. This section is three miles and odds are it will be covered in snow so be prepared to run three miles uphill in the scary backwoods of Vermont where at any time a Yeti, or Bengal tiger may jump out of the woods, bludgeon you with a blunt object, and either leave you for dead or drag you back into the woods for a nice little Saturday brunch. It's a real competition for survival! Just like the popular 90s movie Alive or the classic folk tail of The Donner Party.
What happens in this forested section rivals Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs saying "It puts the lotion on or it gets the hose." Oh yea we try to make it fun with maple syrup and donuts, as if that is some kind of solace for the hardest thing you will ever do in your athletic life!
Well guess what the organizers thought my little email was pretty clever. They used it across all of their social media platforms and when Bicycling Magazine did a feature of must do gravel races they featured some of my lines in the blurb about Rasputitsa. The reward for my accurate portrayal of the race was a comp entry to be used whenever I decided to come back. I actually had no intent of ever going back. The memories were fresh and my elephant brain really didn’t care to relive any of the madness.
Insert Jeremy Cratty here.
Some of you may have noticed that Jeremy and I have a relationship that is built on a huge foundation of bullshit. A serious conversation is rare and when alcohol is introduced things spiral out of control quickly. Last fall at the registration table of the MRC CX race Jeremy was pretty excited about completing the set up of his gravel bike. He proudly proclaimed that he was going to do Rasputitsa now that Battenkill was officially dead. My recollection of events is that I was initially trying to caution Jeremy based on my memories of the experience in 2015. I know of his aversion to running and suspected that a hike a bike really wasn’t in his wheelhouse. Not sure where things went sideways, perhaps it was the Wally and the megaphone, but before I knew it a challenge was laid down. The bet was simple, first person across the finish line wins, no excuses for mechanicals, or poor training. Be on the line in April and be prepared for the horror that is Rasputitsa. The prize, beer, lots of beer. (Somewhere along the way Busick caught wind of the bet and got involved so even more beer was up for grabs.)
The race was exactly what I had remembered and within the first half hour I was wondering what the hell I was doing back on these roads. I actually love riding gravel and it is becoming my go to discipline because of the smooth roads and lack of trucks trying to kill me. Anyone that kids themselves thinking that Rasputitsa is a gravel race is an idiot. This year you were either on soupy wheel sucking mud, terrifying slushy ice, or worst of all you were running your bike through the snow.
Early on I actually felt good and went with one of my go to strategies, find Al Donahue and follow his wheel to the front. This worked well and when we hit the initial hills and bombs started dropping I was right there. On the first downhill the sketchy conditions started to come into play. Going forty plus downhill through a minefield of muddy potholes is a recipe for disaster. Something happened to someone and before I knew it there was a bike toppling through the air right toward my head. Grabbing a fist full of breaks I went off the side or the road and almost crashed into a tree but I kept the rubber side down. I rolled back on the road and was totally freaked out. I was pretty shaken up for the next half hour or so and somehow caught in the adrenaline of the moment ended up on the front of the race. I was pretty certain that I didn’t belong there and the effort of the first forty minutes was already catching up.
Through Cyberia I was leading the second chase pack but I really felt terrible. Onto the flats after yet another scary decent it was clear to me that my legs were not having a great day. At this point I adopted a new strategy of winning the bet and not ruining my chances at Quabbin.
For a while I was actually having a great time. I was in no mans land for what seemed like an eternity and it was easy to convince myself that I was just out for a hard Saturday ride on my home roads. Late in the race I got linked up with another group and was content to just ride with them for the rest of the madness. I estimate that I was riding somewhere close to twenty-fifth and was generally happy about the morning. What I perceived to be the last climb was hard and I was able to shed all but two of my group companions.
All that fun was quickly dispatched as we once again took a sharp right off the road into the woods. I committed to the run immediately and was ready to work until the dumbass behind me tried to ride through the snowbank and did and endo right into me as I was dismounting. I took a pretty big hit to my nether region and somehow in the pileup my rear quick release had opened and my wheel came off. Try remounting a wheel when you’re totally cracked after taking a shot to the groin. I easily lost two or three minutes. Figuring the madness was almost over I half heartedly ran through the woods. Suddenly we were out of the woods and at an intersection. Riders were going straight so I went straight too.
I’m a pretty positive person, in fact some of my coworkers say I display a type of blind optimism that’s infectious. Well all that went out the window as I ran through snow and slop for the next twenty minutes. I was pretty negative in the woods and dropped a lot of swears. Reemerging from the woods at the start of the loop there was a bottleneck of riders deciding what to do. Some were taking the left some were running. I was about to blow! I was so angry at all the riders going the right way and was certain that Jeremy and Chris had gone the right way and that I had lost the bet. Remember, no excuses. I coasted down the road lamenting my problems and ranting at whoever would listen. Down the road we dismounted again and ran to the finish.
As a former runner I actually hate running now. I hate the way that twenty years of competing makes me feel like an old man every morning in my late thirties. I hate the thought of going to another godforsaken 5k on a Saturday morning to win a few hundred dollars. What I hate even more than all of these things is running a bike through the snow. The thought alone makes my blood curdle. Elephant memory on high alert! Never do Rasputitsa again!
At the finish I got cleaned up and ate alone. I felt like someone had beaten me with a sack full of door knobs. My feet were killing me and my big toenails were black from running in shoes that weren’t designed to run in. Eventually I hooked up with the crew. Apparently I had won the bet and will be taking delivery on two cases of the best IPAs New England has to offer. Was it worth it? Not by a long shot.
Mark
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
It's funny how there really is no "in between" on Rasputitsa. You're either in Camp Brian or Camp Mark, never indifferent. I didn't need to do it once OR twice to know I am firmly in Camp Mark 
And "beaten with a sack full of door knobs" is a great expression, rivaling the age-old Smudgerism "legs felt like a bag of spanners"
And "beaten with a sack full of door knobs" is a great expression, rivaling the age-old Smudgerism "legs felt like a bag of spanners"
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
And that's the race report from the "winner"
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MarkMiller321
- Domestique
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Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
Never again! I do however want to do a real gravel race that has actual gravel roads and no running.
Overland? New bet? Takers?
Mark
Overland? New bet? Takers?
Mark
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MarkMiller321
- Domestique
- Posts: 105
- Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 4:58 pm
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
Or...
D2R2?
D2R2?
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
Two good options are the Guilford Gravel Grinder and the Overland. I think Busick and I are signed up for both but I’m sure he’s worried I’ll bail the day before
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
I'm considering Guildford. I'll be fat and drunk by the time Overland comes around.
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
I just took a look at Guilford. I'm interested, so please include me in the discussion.
D2R2 & Overland I'm not so sure. We'll see.
D2R2 & Overland I'm not so sure. We'll see.
KT
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
I'm glad I can go back to enjoying Rasputitsa next year without the people who can't appreciate its true beauty.
I wish they'd do something about how they stage 1300 people though.
I wish they'd do something about how they stage 1300 people though.
-Chris Busick
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
lol Mark, well done!!
One day I hope to build relationships with all of you on a huge foundation of bullshit.
One day I hope to build relationships with all of you on a huge foundation of bullshit.
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MarkMiller321
- Domestique
- Posts: 105
- Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 4:58 pm
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
One day I hope to build relationships with all of you on a huge foundation of bullshit.
Classic post. Well played.
Classic post. Well played.
Re: 2018 Rasputitsa
First time doing it, but to me it was a hilly gravel ride, not a race. Especially because I was probably 500 people behind Busick and Brian A. at the start. It took ~ 5 miles for the traffic to clear out. I rode my Cross bike, the only change being that I swapped the stock 11-32 cassette for an 11-36. I was very glad I did that because I used that 36 a fair amount, especially on the hard climb which was ~ 3 miles before the finish. Talked with a younger guy that had the same bike as me, except he didn't have the lower gears and he was suffering on the steeper climbs. For 2019 I might go with a 42 cassette.
When I first heard of the ride, I got the impression it was a MTB race, because I heard people were doing it on Mountain Bikes and Fat bikes (silly). There is nothing really technical enough to require a MTB, or Fat bike, except that you could conceivably pedal the snow sections... I say conceivably because most of the fat bikes were hopelessly stuck behind traffic of CXers on foot. I didn't see anyone try this on a road bike, it is conceivable with 28c or 32c tires, but not advisable. So my conclusion is the best bike for this event is a Cross bike with some extra gearing and as wide a tire as you can fit.
Would I race it? Sure, if there were categories by age or USAC category. But otherwise I can't race against the pros... so it just becomes a race against the clock.
When I first heard of the ride, I got the impression it was a MTB race, because I heard people were doing it on Mountain Bikes and Fat bikes (silly). There is nothing really technical enough to require a MTB, or Fat bike, except that you could conceivably pedal the snow sections... I say conceivably because most of the fat bikes were hopelessly stuck behind traffic of CXers on foot. I didn't see anyone try this on a road bike, it is conceivable with 28c or 32c tires, but not advisable. So my conclusion is the best bike for this event is a Cross bike with some extra gearing and as wide a tire as you can fit.
Would I race it? Sure, if there were categories by age or USAC category. But otherwise I can't race against the pros... so it just becomes a race against the clock.
Hup Hup