SCX #2 Beverly Park

Wow is all I can say about Sunday's race. The rain gods opened up the sky and rained so hard all morning/afternoon. Thank you rain gods!!

When we arrived at 8am it was starting to rain, the grass was wet but not to muddy yet. As the morning went on it rained harder and there was so much more standing water on the ground. There was a one point a small river running under the True North Trailer. My poor dog wouldn't even sit on the ground it was so wet.

The first couple races of the morning were on wet grass, but since the first couple classes are the biggest numbers of racers every lap they raced the grounds got softer and the mud started to form. The good thing was that it was still raining so the mud was very wet and not sticking to bad to the bikes.

I got out and did a warm up lap around noon and my bike was muddy but it wasn't collecting to bad at that point. Holden raced first, and I was concerned that he wasn't going to have any fun and get frustrated out there. I told him that he had to relax and just have fun and be OK with getting off and running in the mud. And boy did he do that, he was so darn cute. He was running in mud that almost up to his knees and he was having so much fun. He had a smile on his face and when he finished all he could say was "I love mud!" I love it, definitely a future cross contender for sure. And he was able to ride all the downhill slippery mud sections, he has awesome bike handling skills.

Chad went next, it continued to rain until about the first 3rd of his race and then the sun started to come out and actually started to thicken the mud up a bit. It was starting to stick more to the bikes so I was starting to get a bit nervous about just how hard the course was going to be to ride. Chad had a great start and got the whole shot and was first up the run up. He looked awesome! As the race progressed it got slower and he fell back a bit in the standings, but rode strong and even with a crash about half way through he held on and finished in the 20's.

I went next, and boy was the mud even thicker! I started out and decided not to go all out because we start and go right into a run up so I didn't want to blow up on the hill. I was 2nd at the top I think and then got on and started using my technical skills to move away from the rest of the ladies. I absolutely love epic conditions because it requires great bike handling skills and a very strong mental game. My two strengths. I worked hard the first lap and started getting a gap on 2nd so I decided to change my focus to seeing how far I could get up into the single speed guys that start 1 min ahead of us. I was passing guys like crazy and really having a lot of fun despite how hard it was to push through the mud.

After the first lap came into the barriers and realized just how heavy my bike was when I went to pick it up. Holy cow at least 10lbs heavier in 1 lap!! Luckily my awesome husband was in the pits ready for me and I was able to get a nice new clean, light bike!! It felt amazing to be on a lighter bike as I knew I had to switch every lap. And that I did, Micah and Chad were so busy in the pits with mine and Corrie's bikes to clean each lap. But it made the world of difference and was a huge part in my big gap over the other girls. With 2 laps to go I flatted just coming off the track into the grass. I slammed my rear wheel on the curb, I was getting tired and just didn't pull up enough and pinch flatted. The funny thing was the mud was so thick I didn't even notice it was flat until I went through the finish area and made the hard right had turn and realized the tire was flat. So I ran up the hill and got a new bike, and managed to increase my gap to almost 2 mins and won the race.

I really had so much fun, I love the mud. I just hope we didn't do so much damage that we won't get to go back there. Thank you to everyone that spent their Sunday evening racing and laying grass seed. You are all awesome and so appreciated!!

Sunday is Silver Lake park in South Everett. I love this course to because it is more of a MTB style course so I can use my skills again. I will let you all know how it goes.

Kristi