MOM 2009-Raccoon CX + Tandem CX!

MOM is the local series you just gotta support by doing a few races. These races makes me think about how the scene really changes over the years. When I started, Diane Blackburn was done racing, but Beth DeSanzo & Abby J-Platt were always up front duking it out.....women were all Open, which I did not mind at all. If anything, it taught me how much better I needed to try to get if I wanted to catch up to those two! The first few years I got a little closer to them, at least sometimes around some of the other mid-pack girls (Paula, Maggie, Mary), but never fast enough to catch those two! I do miss them at races, not only were they good racers, but also good sports & tons of nice karma all around! I wish Beth is doing well since injury earlier this year & I know Abby is out enjoying the outdoors just not on the course:-) But now there are new girls on the scene, and with some riding under their belt & some souped up new technology bikes they are so excited about racing and it shows as they are doing great and giving it all they got, nice job to Ryanne & Becky this year!

The second race in the series is what everyone calls the dreaded cyclocross, yet SO many people show up! This year's race had more juniors alone than I have ever seen in one race....16!!!

Just doing the Rattlesnake the day before, I was not sure about this race but decided to force myself to put in some fastness. I don't have a cross bike so JP rigs up my carbon Trek 26er to a 69er, with some thicker tread cross tires. This bike is light, but didn't realize the tires were really not the right choice this day. These tires held to nothing on the slick mud & I biffed it 3 times before almost giving up! I also felt super crappy trying to hold a faster pace, esp running up the steps. Shortly into the race, I realized this, and thought I am in no shape to battle & I do not want to cause a wreck so I backed off and just rode it out the best I could without wrecking again! Good 50 minute workout! JP has a good day after also a good day in Saturday race, he is currently 1st place in SS for the MOM series!!

Right afterwards, the new TanDUMB CX challenge was up. Now, Gunnar & Betsy have got this new fancy schmancy cx tandem, all shiny & they have been testing it out for this. They somehow talk us into trying it only one day before. So this morning, as we rushed out of the house, we strapped our old beaten up, often neglected MTB tandem with big knobby tires (ie: the Red Sled) to the bike rack. What the heck are we thinking we thought to ourselves? We have never raced this thing, and have never even thought about how we are going to get through a cx course on it! Oh well, we look at it as basically a fun thing to try out and give Gunnar & Betsy maybe at least some sort of competition, although quite frankly, we obviously expect to get our butts kicked!

them hot on our tail! our barrier skills! (photos: JMatta)

So, we quickly do some initial attempts at barriers, having no clue what to do but that's all we had time to try. The staggered start is great we have the course for just us two initially. Smack, our timing chain pops off right at the start. Shoot, that has never happened before, we scramble to get it back on (poorly misaligning the pedals!), while the Shogrens graciously hold up about 100 yards ahead for our sorry butts! How nice:-) Wow, I think, we have NO idea what else is going to happen on trying to go fast on this bike! Get going again and suprisingly as we hit the first muddy section, we get through fairly easy & we see they have a little issue with slipping. As it gets worse for them on the bends, they quickly compromise for this by Bunny using her quick dismount/mount skills to get off and run instead. Plus, they kick it on the barriers, FAST! I am really worried they can run it out faster than we can ride (!), but it seems each muddy turn keeps us upright and gives a few seconds edge until at one point in a grass straightaway, we take a pass. Continuing to gain a few seconds on each muddy turn, I think we did 5 laps(?) and come in just seconds to the finish before them! It was a super exciting race to try this the first time. Thanks to everyone that took all the pics and cheered for the race! I think we have also sparked some extra comp to come out, as rumor has it the TANDUMB CX showdown will have a total of SIX wheels this sunday at Grove City!!!! I also hear Gunnar is up to no good and trying to switch up bike parts for improved traction!!

Nice job to everyone at this fun course and thanks to organizers and of course GBywaters. Thanks for letting us all try to the tandem too, even though it was technically not on the roster!
Full Results: http://monthofmud.org/

A few other mentions:
-First year racer Josh Matta also did BOTH the Rattlesnake AND today's expert cross! Huge effort!
-Ryanne and Becky schooled me on MTBs today! WTG!