Mooch Madness Race... which I henceforth shall call So Mooch Pain.
And pain aplenty there was.
Before we begin with Sunday, let's backtrack to Saturday.
@Santapez and I met up with some friends to ride South Mountain (not THAT one... the one in Emmaus, Pa). They're the same people we randomly asked for some trail advice in the parking lot at Dupont when we were on vacation last year and, instead of just pointing out some trails, they actually gave us a tour of the place. We've kept in touch thanks to Facebook and they've been trying to get us out there to ride and Saturday wound up being a great day for it. It wound up being a great ride for me. At the Ringwood race, I felt like I had two left feet and I was a little overly cautious, but Saturday, I was hitting up all the rocks and clearing some nice downhill stuff... and the ride just gave me back some of my confidence. Basically, I know I'm out of shape and I'm slow as shit, but it was a reminder I do have some skills hangin' out in there somewhere. I just need to quit the self doubt and start kickin' ass.
Unfortunately, we didn't get home until something like 10:30-ish at night and we had to get up early (i set the alarm for 5 am!) to get some coffee and bagels and head over to the BS camp to help get things moving for the race. So I was very fucking tired. And underdressed. I was wearing shorts and a shirt when we pulled up and I realized I should have planned a better wardrobe for the day. Luckily Steve has an extra hoodie in the car and I was wearing that for most of the morning. And I could continue with the other stuff, but you probably don't want to hear that... sooooo... in short: I made some signs and drank some coffee. And Steve made me breakfast:
BEST BOYFRIEND EVER!
It gets close to line up time... and I pee like 20 times and it doesn't help with the butterflies any. :/ It's
@Dominique , Shane, Dieci and me. so... basically podium and me. But really, my goal for the race was to ride clean. That's all. If I happen to pass one of those ladies, well, that means they had a mechanical... but I just wanted to ride better than I did at Ringwood. I try to warm up a little by riding up and down the fire road. I think all it really did was remind me how tired I was.
Last year, Cat 2 ladies did 2 of the big loops. It wasn't supposed to be like that but it was a last minute change and I was actually asking for that same change this year... but Norm said some of the other ladies wanted one big, one small loop this year and, morning of the race, I was in agreement. I was not feeling the desire to do the extra mileage. So we line up... the usual blah blah blahs... and HORN! And we're off... or rather everyone else is off and I'm spinning out in the back. Fuck it. I'm doing my own thing at my own speed. Ride clean is my mantra today.
So I'm chugging along and huffing and puffing and I want to throw up and I'm already questioning my sanity within the first mile. FUCK this is going to be a long day. :/
Somehow I catch up to some guys and crack a joke or two about how "they" said this was supposed to be fun. They laugh. But I think it's to hide their pain too. I think we bonded over a moment of shared misery.
I come up to some very wet spots and all I can think of is "JESUS MARY JOSEPH DON'T PUT YOUR FUCKING FEET IN THE SHIT"
I don't
I did way better at clearing the rocky bits in this race but I did get caught up a little bit and had to walk out of spots before I could get going. And the only major hill I had to walk up was part of the hill before the nice down hill ... which I knew was going to happen. Oh well. At least I'm still moving forward. And still breathing. Barely.
I make my way around the first loop of the course, slowly, but moving forward and there's people cheering me on.... Like the one cat 1 woman (Maria?) who was out running on the trails after her race. And then... I hear a lot of cheering and noise and all sorts of stuff... and I'm like where the hell is that coming from? Well, turns out IT WAS THE BEST FUCKING CHEERING SECTION IN THE WHOLE DAMN RACE!!! Zoe and company set up camp over on the switchbacks and they were cheering everyone on. I was worried I was going to have to walk that bit because my legs were hurting so bad, but having them there kept me on the bike and pedaling and moving on to lap 2.
Lap 2. Slightly shorter but just as painful as lap one. I wasn't sure where the two loops met back up and I was hoping it would skip some of those super gross muddy bits. But it didn't. I think that was on purpose. Much of the same shit as the first loop where I suffer through the uphills and love the downhills. Until I get to that one stupid little blip of an uphill before crossing the gravel road to do the other little ST loop section. It's small but steep. I pedal and push a bit to get up it and, as I crest up at the top, my legs explode. Like something inside of them popped and I was like "OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH FUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKK"
I coast down pedal and sort of work it out but that hurt and everything after that moment felt like it hurt just *that* bit more. I remain upright except for one moment where I get caught up on a rock and I ride, very painfully, to the finish line. I didn't even have enough energy to ride back to the car.
I toss the bike back on the car, get some grub and call it a day.
photos by
@jmanic and
@soundz