mountwood followup

I'm winning! Hurrah!

I must say that I am just pleased as a peach to be in the lead of my first series. Even if there have only been 2 out of 15 races run. 

On to the race follow up. (this is mostly for my benefit)

Fenders are a fantastic idea in the mud. I thank the flying spaghetti monster that I used one. Even though my body did get muddy during the race, my eyes stayed clean. Fenderless folks were not so lucky. There were quite a few people in the bike wash using the hose on their eye balls. Literally hosing out their eyes. Ouch.

I really thought about taking the fender off before the race. After all, most people didn't have one. I'm so glad that I didn't follow the crowd. I think that it was a case of form over function gone horribly horribly wrong. Fenders don't look cool, so many chose not to use them. I saw one guy riding a $3500 Jet9 with a cut up milk jug zip tied to his down tube. A good fender costs about $15. Figure that one out. I certainly couldn't. 

Rampage+ Crossmark is a surprisingly decent combo in the mud. They didn't pack up, and the grip was as good as I could hope for fast rolling tires.

I need to run lower gear in the mud. 32X18 was much to hard. I was not able to stand much because I lost to much traction, so I had to stay in the saddle and grind away. It hurt a bit. 32X19 or 32X20 would be perfect.

aqueous gluteus

I need to put fenders on. My ass is getting soaked almost every morning now. I hate wet ass. I’ve been wearing some rain pants from REI that really cut the wind and help keep me dry, but they are no match for the salty brine that my tires kick up. Not only do I have the rearward soakage to contend, with but when I arrive at school my mouth is filled with road grit. It is not the most appetizing substance. The garbage tastes like well salted dirt.
Fenders will go on. Front mountain tire will go on. I normally run 700c wheels on my commuter, but since it is a mountain cycle, it seems logical to change the back to some bigger rubber for the winter. But that means I have change those damn kludgy brake things I had to use to get the brakes to work with a bigger wheel. Oh well.


(the commuting cycle in its kind-of-winter form)

I really need to decide on a racing schedule for this summer. Wilderness 101 is most defiantly a priority. Yarg! So much training and prep to be done.