The Mud, the Epicness, the New Bike, the Mountain and the Triffin Power!!

This past weekend was UC Berkeley's home MTB race at Lake Sonoma. I don't know if any of you kept up on the weather this weekend, but it rained on Friday night and all Saturday. And when I say rain, I mean RAIN! My uncomfortable, cold sleep on Friday night was interrupted by the soft dropping of rain around 3am or so, to which I said Emma, "Emma?" "Yeah?" "It is seriously raining? Or am I hallucinating?" Well I was not hallucinating, it was raining, and when we stirred to following morning around 6am, the hallucination was continuing. I was running registration, which got off to a rocky start due to some issues I dare not mentally revisit, but by 8:45 I had my people, they were registering other people, and I could go chamois up for our 10am start. Oh yeah, it was still raining!!!!!

Amy just had her gorgeous Velo Bella Kona Kula Lisa built and she graciously allowed its first mud-filled hours to be ridden by me. And granted they were to be mud-filled to say the least! I took a short 15 minute ride through the beginning of the course only to return to the starting line with more mud than anyone ever wish to deal with in a race, let alone a warm up. The roadies who had come out to the race were beginning to look a little peakid, and complaining about how dirty their bikes already were! Well us true MTBers were not juiced for such conditions, but nonetheless ready to battle the God of Mud once and for all! Just as starts were going off the rain picked up and things got interesting!

The first lap of this course was slush, dirty nasty slush, it was a slip and slide on your bike. I slid out on one part and slammed a pedal right into my right inside calf, and it began to feel like a charlie as I continued to ride. As I finally came around for the run-up finish I did not think with my calf and this rain and the amount of mud I had in my mouth I could do another lap. BUT, a Davis chick passed me just before lap 2, and it was on! I couldn't give up, I had Triffin power and I was going to use it! By the second lap, the rain had let up and the mud turned to clay, sticky clay that seemed to attract itself to bikes and never let go! So what you had to go slow for before in order to not slide out, you now had to go slow because you were sticking to the ground! However, Triffin and I made it through, passing the Davis girl within 1/4 of the lap, and holding her off and pulling away 3/4 through. I finished the race running up to the end and then realized a few things:
1. I couldn't breathe.
2. My mouth had more mud than saliva in it.
3. My calf hurt so bad I could barely pedal to the car.
4. I was freezing.
5. Amy's new beautiful bike, didn't look so new anymore! Dirty, muddy, nasty. Doesn't even begin to describe us.

The rest of the day was spent shivering, drinking wine, eating brie, figuring out team pay stuff and rider counts, and figuring out a way back to the City. I was not camping in this weather, no way, no how. I wanted a hot shower, some ice, a clean, mud-free bed, and some food. So back the City I finally made it, but I could barely walk on that calf. But I did get 2nd in the race!

I arose the next morning, a long time after the alarm, with about 5 minutes to load the car and go. BUT , it wasn't raining! With some hound dog barking from Callie upstairs, Starbucks stop, gas station fill up, and some music to begin my morning I was driving to Lake Sonoma, praying to the God of Mud to subside! And then, just as I was driving and the coffee was hitting my system, the sun began to rise! With registration under way, I prepared for the downhill. After shuttling up, unloading, and waiting for the other categories, I was going down the hill fast as I could with my calf still sore, with Triffin power blasting behind me! Cyclocross styling it through some creek crossing and across the finish I went! And I got first! Then it was back to camp to figure out the short track!

The short track ended up being a super short track, but soooo much fun! It was down and around, up and through, to finish line I went getting 2nd again and lapping a few people too! Then came podiums and medals! And finally figuring everything out for the official. Don't fear though, I am pro, organization and preparation paid off and it was pretty painless squaring him away. A little clean up, packing up, and jumping up and down that everything was over, and I was back in the car to stop at Ferrari Carrano for some chardonnay and then to find an In-n-Out.

Overall Recap: The weekend was hard...really hard! Currently my calf is pretty bruised, my ankle seems to be collecting some of the bruising above, but I can walk. After some scrapes, some skins, and a little sunburn I figure that the weekend was a success! Two seconds and a first! I am ready for conferences, ready to battle it out for the omnium and pray for more Triffin power! I'm telling you, the stuff works! Until next time I leave you with this:

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like - Queen