Hell yeah. That’s my answer to “did you have fun racing in Portland this weekend?”. The racing, the course, the fans, the weather were sweet as. Lo and behold it was sunny for Saturday’s race, not exactly the kind of conditions most people, particularly the fans, in Portland were hoping for. With the exception of one giant mud puddle, the course was fast and tacky with a few greasy spots that could come up and bite ya here and there. I’ve been close a couple times at winning the SRAM Most Aggressive Rider award but apparently I got “lazy” so the award was always passed on to someone else, but this weekend I wanted to prove that I was no lazy git. A bad start definitely made my goal a little more difficult but I kept my wits about me and went to tackling the task at hand. I was happy to find myself riding with 2 seasoned crossers, Amy Dombrowski and Mo Bruno-Roy, and knew that if I didn’t make any mistakes I just might be able to stick it to these girls in the sprint. However, although I didn’t make a technical mistake but I did make a tactical one – I should have been first out of the last corner but instead I was 2nd behind Amy who was able to easily take the sprint for 6th. Or I should have tried to open a gap on them through the finishing straight where my power might have gotten the best of them. Or, or, or… Anyway, as I was making my way back to the car I was told to get cleaned up for the podium – I had won the most aggressive rider. Killer. The smile on my face from just feeling good about how I raced and the blast that I had racing this course got even bigger when they handed me the check for $250. I guess it was fitting that I ended up not being able to wipe the mud off my legs before stepping onto the podium to accept this award.
Sunday’s race was an entirely different story. Finally the fans and the true, hard-nosed crossers were going to get what they had come to Portland to see and experience – mud and lots of it. Rains overnight and late morning changed the course to a ginormous muddy quagmire. The first climb that was rideable yesterday was now a slippery run-up, one misplaced step and you were sliding backwards. They also rerouted us through a different section of the motocross course, one that still included a giant mud puddle but also more sticky mud and soupy slop. And, as I found out on the 2nd lap, the descents had gotten a lot more slippery too. Maybe it was the fact that my brakes didn’t work (but then they never really do), but I came flying down the descent and half way down realized I wasn’t going to stop. I had no other option but to dump my bike just before careening into the fans lining the tape and then go supermaning through the mud. And Superman is exactly what I did. Arms out, full belly flop, mouth full of mud. Spectacular. The fans loved it, of course. Needless to say, I ran that section the rest of the race. So, I didn’t have such a great day – one lap would be smooth and the next would be full of mistakes – but I had a blast!! Absolutely loved it. The muddier, the better. Racing in the rain on the road sucks but this was something crazy, something I truly enjoyed. No joke. Yeah, me, all muddy and loving it. Grinning ear to ear, showing off the pearly whites…because you couldn’t see anything else!! Awesome. Thanks to Portland for putting on a great race and to the super fans who were out in full force to watch the carnage.I’ve got a short video of the men’s race. It’s not great quality but it’ll give you an idea of how muddy it was. I should have given my camera to someone to video during the women’s race…next time.
You can check out VeloNews video highlights from here, too.
Not done yet…a few of my photos from the weekend are here. Notice it’s not just about bike racing, but a little Wii action on the big theater screen, too. Boxing anyone?? Anthony has posted a few, too.
