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The 2nd edition of Mud, Sweat and Beers went into the books this past weekend. This year's race was even better than last year's. The large start groups were broken up into smaller waves, the course was marked extremely well and left no doubt on which direction should be taken, the course was pretty much a legit 20 miles, there was an addition of quite a bit of single track, a mud pit was added to the finish and beer tents, bars within and food stations were multiplied. All of this not only made for a great race but, post-race experience. The weather forecast looked to be chilly but, the sun came out and temps climbed comfortably into the 50’s. I was happy to try out our new team shorts.
I am not going to lie. My race performance was nothing better than lousy. My start was fantastic. I shot out off the line and tucked into 3rd. A position I knew was doubtful I could retain. However, it kept me out of traffic in the narrow, winding start. The first section of the race is rather sandy and very hilly but, wide open trail. On one of the first down hills another single speeder decided he wanted around me, made a pass, jumped onto the best line in front of me (the line I was following) and almost immediately went down in the only muddy spot on the entire course. In the excitement, I tapped my front brakes in the attempt to avoid the yard sale and went down right behind him. Luckily, we didn’t connect and it wasn’t a bad crash but, my acrobatic maneuver to avoid the other rider put my stem in my crotch. Ouch! After shaking off the pain in my "groin area", I realized the largest, sandiest climb was now staring me in the face. I made an attempt to run up the hill as waves of riders passed me. To be specific, 14 single speeders and unknowly, at least one of the women experts. The rest of the race was exactly as I remembered. Besides the addition of the single track, the course was either serious pedal mashing climbs with an immediate decent following or spinning out in long flat areas. I thought I was being wise switching to back to 2:1 gearing after Yankee felt like it pushed me close to death but, should have held out another race. I was way under geared. I found myself stacking up long lines of riders in the single track, holding my own and making some gains on the hills but, I was simply getting walked away from on the flats. I’d reel a fellow single speeder in within a few yards on the climbs, at points pass them on the down hills and then they’d simply pass me back and disappear from sight on the flats. The latter ½ of the race had so much flat stretches, I lost contact with all single speeders ahead of me. I was a little bummed most of the race considering I knew plenty of single speeders passed me in the beginning and I knew even 10th place was out of reach. However, I had thought I caught and passed the lead expert woman in the early single track sections. That wasn't the case. 2 more slipped passed me at somepoint. Most likely at the wall considering I opted not to walk up it and took the winding route through the notched trees. I almost made it up whole thing until a rider got their bars wedged in between trees. I certainly was not nearly as spent at the end of the race this year as last. I remember the last climb feeling next to impossible last year. I cruised up it with ease this time around flashing the thumbs up to former highschool and college teammate Joel Gaff who was snapping pics. The mud pit at the end was pretty uneventful. I was in a pretty cheery mood considering I thought I had finished in front of the expert women and attempted to hit the deep end of it. Which turned out to be the shallow end. I am hoping to find a picture of it. I got all freaked out just before hitting it thinking I had too much speed and was going to endo. I am pretty sure the look on my face was priceless.
The post race festivities didn’t disappoint. Fellow teammate Bryan Deal made the trip up with me. We hung out with my childhood through college friend Sam & Brent Sheffer. We enjoyed some of Sam’s famous home brew, some of Traverse City’s finest Right Brain micro brews and pulled pork sandwiches. Even though it never made it passed the 50's, I managed to get a little sunburn.
Will I be back next year? I certainly think so. My personal fear is the popularity of the race will increase and force the number cap to be raised to point it it’s simply not fun anymore. Like a similar race in November in the area. I am hoping that fact that parking is so limited will prevent such a tragedy from occurring. Unless the organizers loose all senses and think shuttling folks around is a good idea. There is even talk of friendly wagers on fastest time on a bike costing <=$50 next year.
Did someone say beer?
