Maryland Mayhem

I don't have any pictures of the muddy mayhem that occured this past weekend as I took the trip solo.  So let me just tell you about all of the fun I had this weekend.

Headed out to Hagerstown MD after work on Saturday and arrived at the hotel around 6:30pm.  I decided to check into the hotel before going for a pre-ride so that I wouldn't have to worry about it when I got back.  Arrived at the trailhead by 7:00pm, and thought I had enough time to get in one lap.  Boy was I wrong! 

It's a very short course, only about 5.5 miles long, and last years expert women were turning 33-37 minute laps.  So I figured, "just riding", I would be done in no more than 45 minutes.  I took off down the trail, the skies were clear, it was warm, trails were dry.  Then 1/2 way through, the dark clouds rolled in, it became extremely dark, then the torrential downpour came, followed by lightning.  I had never been there before, so I didn't know where to shortcut out, I was afraid of getting lost and making things worse, so I continued along the trail.

I came upon a descent and rode it thinking to myself that I will probably come out here tomorrow when it's light and not believe that I rode this downhill without crashing.  This became somewhat true the next day.  I rode along the tree line in the open sections to avoid drawing attention to myself from the lightning.  I finally  made it back to my car in about 39 minutes, thinking I almost became a star on that TV show "I shouldn't be alive!"

Next day, I headed over to the race around 10am, and learned that the trail was no longer nice and dry.  And learned some more when the race started that the trail had become down right gnarly.  No more nice smooth climbs, no more fast descents, no more carelessly pedaling around for 30 minutes.  Now it meant business, with big slimy rocks, slick water bars on the climbs, "suck-the-life-out-of-ya" mud, and the hugest puddles I have ever seen.  It was a sight for sore eyes.  It had turned into one of those races where if you can just get through your laps without flats or mechanicals, you were probably going to do pretty good.

Nevertheless, I finished in 3rd, less than one minute off the leader.  Yeah!

Next up, a long break.