Mud and More Mud

Halloween came and went quite quickly. Amy, Dave, Kresten and I lounged around in the living room drinking wine, giving out candy, and eating small appetizers that Amy was producing from the kitchen. It's what I call a pretty good Friday night, but hey, add wine to any event, and Schug at that, and I am pretty happy! I did not end up donning my gladiator costume for the evening however. Once again the lure of Halloween night has been eclipsed by the previous weekend's Halloween cross! However, that evening Dave and I decided, perhaps not smartly, to race the next day in Santa Rosa. There is a cross series being put on by Bike Monkey, and we thought it would be fun to go check it out.

Saturday morning came, rain included, and we left the house to head north. The more north we went, the more rain we encountered. Once we arrived at the venue, we were directed to park across the street and at the local high school. And, of course, just as the Subaru pulled into its parking space, the deluge truly began! A couple minutes to slip on my chamois and jersey, layer my heavy Velo Bella jacket, North Face jacket, and rain jacket over the top, and we were off across the street to register and pre-ride.

Everything was so wet I am not sure my signature would legally holdup in court. But I am sure they will cash the check, no matter its wet condition. Dave pinned my number on, he put my messenger bag over a shoulder, and then I was off to try things out. Let me put it this way, I made it about 1/4 of the way on the course and decided it might take me too long to pre-ride and make the start. Yes, it was that muddy. It was one of those courses you figure there's really no reason to make yourself suffer a whole other lap, other than the ones you have to race.

It would have been a very fast course had the rain not come. There was a creek crossing that was a little sketchy, and another small bridge crossing that came after a sharp left turn and 2 foot drop. But in the rain, it was slow. SUPER SLOW! Kicking my ass around that course was hard. Maybe not as hard as Watsonville, but that's only because there was no eroding run ups!! Nonetheless, it was fun. It's always fun to get muddy on your cross bike! And I was wearing the white velo bella jersey for effect.

I hope you all voted today!! I did (two weeks ago).