Supercross Day 1. I doubt there will be a day 2 for me
Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 9:12 pm
Dreading the amount of bike washing I was going to do in Patrick's race I decided to forgo a pre-ride lap so I wouldn't have to wash my bike twice.
GO!
And I half heartedly clipped in and started sprinting on the only non-muddy road I'd see for the whole race. Lizzy went by on my left, oh well. We hit the track and things were still ok, then we turned left into the mud hole before pit 1. Naturally there was a pile up. I had to "run" for a bit, sloshing through shin deep muddy water with, what's that? Oh yeah, chunks of ice. Like a mudslide, I guess literally.
Past Pit one, I'm riding again, then down the little drop dodging the crashed out riders and up the false flat that for some strange reason, although covered in a couple inches of thin chocolate pudding, is actually ridable. Lizzy is running it on the right and I slide right by her to the yellow stake that marks the right hand uphill turn into unridability, shoulder the bike and bump and fight my way up as my feet sink and slide.
Into the woods, another place where the tires can find frozen ground under the pudding and I'm riding, avoiding the nastiest of the roots and pick off a couple guys. Then off the bike again for a nasty run up to an off camber left that's downhill and ridable, but tricky, and every once in a while the rear end goes sideways for no good reason. (Maybe ice beneath?)
Then the "drop" sort of like the drop from Nationals in Hartford. With a little ditch at the bottom to make it interesting. I'm still riding, but get crashed into the tape by a dude who suddenly goes sideways.
Now into the pit 2 mud-hole. This one is amazing. It's post holes 3/4 of the way up to my knee. Thin, watery mud to the right, or slushy grass in the middle. This is the point where I decide the race is ridiculous. WTF. Later I watched Curtis actually ride 1/2 way through this mud-hole before having to dismount. He didn't try that again though.
At the end of this mud-hole I try to remount, only I forgot that i'm effectively at least 4 inches shorter because of the hole I'm standing in and don't manage to clear the seat. (that left a mark). I manage to get back on and down through a little gully, slip slide and claw my way up the other side onto the only piece of grass on the course that hadn't been turned to slurry.
After that there's a couple running climbs, followed by off camber or tri-poding descents into huge puddles, followed by more running climbs. Lizzy passes me again somewhere in there, but I pass her back at the "barriers" which they'd removed before my race because the hole after them was getting too deep. Then a left turn onto the sweet gravel road through the start/finish and a quick glance at the lap card..
4. FOUR! FOUR more laps?!!!! are you kidding me!?!? ugggghh!
Lap 2 is pretty much the same.
On lap 3 I notice my front brake lever goes all the way to the bar without resistance as I hit the drop. Hmm, that's interesting. I fishtail down and carry on.
Katie yells some words of encouragement as I'm about to remount by the chainlink. I somehow manage to kick my leg through a stake, snapping it of 1/2 way (the stake) and then missing the pedal and somehow winding up with my foot on top of the wrong end of the crank.
Lap 4, I notice I don't really have a rear brake either. But what the hell, I'm sure the mud will slow me down on the drop if I just let it ride. Ohhhh crap, that's fast!!! But I manage to tripod and then get my weight back before the gully.
Lap 5 I notice the ice chunks in the slurry are actually flowing along with the race in mini-rapids. I try telling a Down-East guy how much I hate running, but he isn't amused. And then I fight my way to the finish line and it's over.
Wow, that was the nastiest cx race I've ever done.
5 laps, 56 Minutes. 27 out of 47, only 30 finished on the lead lap.
Patrick only manages 38 minutes and 4 laps in the pro race before him and nearly everyone else is 80%'d. Only 8 pros finish on the lead lap.
Curtis White is a machine.
Katie had a lot of fun taking pictures.
What? That was only 6.3 Miles?
GO!
And I half heartedly clipped in and started sprinting on the only non-muddy road I'd see for the whole race. Lizzy went by on my left, oh well. We hit the track and things were still ok, then we turned left into the mud hole before pit 1. Naturally there was a pile up. I had to "run" for a bit, sloshing through shin deep muddy water with, what's that? Oh yeah, chunks of ice. Like a mudslide, I guess literally.
Past Pit one, I'm riding again, then down the little drop dodging the crashed out riders and up the false flat that for some strange reason, although covered in a couple inches of thin chocolate pudding, is actually ridable. Lizzy is running it on the right and I slide right by her to the yellow stake that marks the right hand uphill turn into unridability, shoulder the bike and bump and fight my way up as my feet sink and slide.
Into the woods, another place where the tires can find frozen ground under the pudding and I'm riding, avoiding the nastiest of the roots and pick off a couple guys. Then off the bike again for a nasty run up to an off camber left that's downhill and ridable, but tricky, and every once in a while the rear end goes sideways for no good reason. (Maybe ice beneath?)
Then the "drop" sort of like the drop from Nationals in Hartford. With a little ditch at the bottom to make it interesting. I'm still riding, but get crashed into the tape by a dude who suddenly goes sideways.
Now into the pit 2 mud-hole. This one is amazing. It's post holes 3/4 of the way up to my knee. Thin, watery mud to the right, or slushy grass in the middle. This is the point where I decide the race is ridiculous. WTF. Later I watched Curtis actually ride 1/2 way through this mud-hole before having to dismount. He didn't try that again though.
At the end of this mud-hole I try to remount, only I forgot that i'm effectively at least 4 inches shorter because of the hole I'm standing in and don't manage to clear the seat. (that left a mark). I manage to get back on and down through a little gully, slip slide and claw my way up the other side onto the only piece of grass on the course that hadn't been turned to slurry.
After that there's a couple running climbs, followed by off camber or tri-poding descents into huge puddles, followed by more running climbs. Lizzy passes me again somewhere in there, but I pass her back at the "barriers" which they'd removed before my race because the hole after them was getting too deep. Then a left turn onto the sweet gravel road through the start/finish and a quick glance at the lap card..
4. FOUR! FOUR more laps?!!!! are you kidding me!?!? ugggghh!
Lap 2 is pretty much the same.
On lap 3 I notice my front brake lever goes all the way to the bar without resistance as I hit the drop. Hmm, that's interesting. I fishtail down and carry on.
Katie yells some words of encouragement as I'm about to remount by the chainlink. I somehow manage to kick my leg through a stake, snapping it of 1/2 way (the stake) and then missing the pedal and somehow winding up with my foot on top of the wrong end of the crank.
Lap 4, I notice I don't really have a rear brake either. But what the hell, I'm sure the mud will slow me down on the drop if I just let it ride. Ohhhh crap, that's fast!!! But I manage to tripod and then get my weight back before the gully.
Lap 5 I notice the ice chunks in the slurry are actually flowing along with the race in mini-rapids. I try telling a Down-East guy how much I hate running, but he isn't amused. And then I fight my way to the finish line and it's over.
Wow, that was the nastiest cx race I've ever done.
5 laps, 56 Minutes. 27 out of 47, only 30 finished on the lead lap.
Patrick only manages 38 minutes and 4 laps in the pro race before him and nearly everyone else is 80%'d. Only 8 pros finish on the lead lap.
Curtis White is a machine.
Katie had a lot of fun taking pictures.
What? That was only 6.3 Miles?