Monday, October 3, 2011

CX Season Woefull tales of mud

Sunday October 2nd Month Of Mud CX at North Park Masters Race
Mark Briercheck - 8th sport
Rich Allen - 5th Masters
Kirk Morrison - 6th Masters
Ray Sielski - 9th Masters
Welcome to October, rain for three days cold gray skies and a hundred fools wishing to test their mettle met at North Park.

The first races at 10 and 11 did nothing but encourage the mud up from the ground. Waiting for the Masters and Sport class was ankle deep mud and super saturated grass ready to suck those aero wheels three inches into the turf. The course was twisty with slight uphill sections, under a bridge through a stream (wheel wash) and a horseshoe pit thrown in for "just because".
Runners took over during the uphill and sharp turns. Running proved to be faster through about 25% of the course. The barrier crossings were placed very close together, then wide, then super close throwing off any rhythm in hurdling the section. Blocking out the rain the racers stayed bunched together through the twisty part getting a feel for the mud ride vs. the run through the turns and the mud pits.
Mark Briercheck and Rich Allen stayed in contact and finished on the lead lap, Kirk showed a tough sprint to the line and Ray rounded out the Ag3r field besting a group of mountain bikers in the sport class.



Noted sighting; Army Corps of Engineers meeting at the park dam engaging unsuspecting racers for next years race. CX through drained lake as a cost effective measure to remove and transfer silt from the lake bed to the high ground. Stay tuned.