The course offered a few twisty windy off camber sections which could have been fun in dry conditions but lost their punch in the peanut-butter mud. The relentless, muddy flat offered no recovery zone which does not help me out at all. Here, Erica Yozell navigate's the mud:
Someone asked if the course reminded my of Granogue, to which I replied with a resounding "NO." Not even close. Don't insult Granogue that way. Jimmy took a 2 hour nap in the car after his race, and slept the whole way home. I did have the best waffle ever. Nutella, chocolate, strawberries and whip cream. I earned it. Of course, this type of eating explains the marsupial gut:
I don't even drink beer, and yet there is the telltale gut. So unfair. The best part of the day, other than waffles, was pitting for Fergie in the Masters race and Valentin in the pro race. Valentin's host, Dave Berson, needed a hand with pitting since his shoulder has still not recovered from a fall during the Nittany race. With only one power washer available, the pit was like a scene from Thunderdome. I'm pretty sure I expended more energy in the pit than in my sad sack race. Speaking of which...
I'm leaving this one in the mud. It's like the French Creek mtb race this year...best never mentioned again. I mention it here only to prove a point.
I had a nice chat with Kevin Dillard and Kirk Thibaut, who I didn't recognize in civilian clothing. My mind is going. Here's good old Dennis Smith, who takes great race photos:
The shot kind of captures the gloomy nature of the day. Fortunately, it was warm out, as my barefoot progeny, seen here imitating a cow, will attest:
Sunday I avoided cx altogether, opting instead for a mtb ride in the Wiss and Belmont. Almost altogether, that is...I rode a cross bike and now my palms are blistered. Easy there, gutter brains! Try riding technical single track with drop bars and see how your palms respond. We had a rare Walt sighting during our ride:
Always a pleasure to see the man, the myth, the legend. We also ran into Jessica Singerman and Tim Bowman on our way from the Wiss to the Plateau. Consensus has been reached about the Mercer course. Blah. We took a lot of breaks today, hoping to extend our ride and in turn, the weather. What a day! Here is break #22, where we all tried out Frankie's new IF.
She's a looker. The light green metallic shade with the pink decals is something else. Tres arty. Here Jill, Elizabeth and yours truly wait for Frankie to fix something on her bike.
Why do all the expensive bikes require the most attention? It's crazy.Sorry to have missed the day 2 drama at Mercer, but it sure was fun to be in the woods with the girls again.
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