Mud. Plus Mud. SCC #5 Donida Farms

Sunday was the 5th race of the Seattle Cyclocross series, and the weather forecast did not disappoint us - it finally was a race with true cross weather. It rained on and off, with mostly on at the start of the Cat 3 men's race. I didn't pre-ride the course this time, which probably didn't make any difference in my performance, but definitely saved me some clean-up. Those that did pre-ride came back from a single lap looking soaked and mud-caked.

The course was fun - some turns around a grassy horse training area followed by a muddy wall run-up, a quick muddy downhill, a barrier followed by a short muddy run-up, then a few 180 degree turns on an infield, three barriers, and more mud, before we did a long u-shaped trail through some woods that was completely filled with - you guessed it - mud. The mud in the woods varied from thin, just mixed plaster to peanut butter. The thin stuff was the best since you could just power through - the PB mud was usually mixed with stucks, rocks, and who knows what else under the mud. After the muddy jaunt through the woods, we were back at the start line for another lap.

remounting after the barriers in the infield

I re-confirmed that I am not particularly good at mud, yet, but I improved quite a bit after completing the first three of six laps. My last two laps were probably my fastest, and if I could just get myself to pass people more often, rather than tentatively sitting behind someone slower than I, I could really improve my placings.

It was fun, the bike survived without any mechanical issues, and I was not last, nor was I lapped (although it was closer than I would like). I finished in 47th out of 67.

Next race is out in Bremerton, and based on the weather forecast, there just might be mud.