DELUGE!

VeloRochester in full affect (image from Skinnyski.com)


Sorry for the lack updates, but quite frankly writing about training isn't very exciting...
After today, I have something to write about. Around 1pm the elite race started up the ski hill at Welch Village. The highlights of the Welch course include "the Wall," a killer hill that shoots right up a black diamond run, and "the Metric Drop," which is a technical little section near the end of each lap.
When we left the cities it was pouring, and we were hoping that we had left that weather behind...for 3.5 laps we did=) The first half lap (long prologue if you will) was actually a reasonable pace. I was glad because I had to make an emergency bathroom visit about 15 minutes before the start and I wasn't sure what a sizzling start would do to me. As we headed up the main long climb the second time, Sam O attacked because we were kind of just crawling along...as Phil Liggett would have said, "the group has no impetus right now." I was the only one who wanted to follow Sam, and we quickly gapped the field. Sam did the Ore To Shore in Michigan yesterday and still had plenty of mustard left in his legs. At one point, Sam said "man, there must be something in my water bottles today!" Entering the 2nd lap, Sam asked me to go first in the single track. I did and turned it on...the single track there is tight but it flows well, yummy. (image from Skinnyski)
I am pretty sure it was in the single track where I increased my gap each lap. Anyway, nothing exciting happened until the top of the long climb on my last lap...a deluge!
(2 Pics from Skinniski.com)

It was no longer than a minute before the single track became a stream and the open sections became bogs. The hills were mostly unclimbable and the down hills were more like luge runs that were taken with locked wheels. I had about 2 minutes on Sam, so I just went as hard as I could. I crossed the finish line with the muddy win.
I won't write anymore, but here are the after affects.

All you can do is laugh

Sam and I got muddy

The Fuel took it well

Ben's Fuel didn't fair as well...he won the dirtiest bike contest because of the mud stalactites.
One other sad thing of note...I was flying through the air on a training run last week and I came down a little, well, not perfectly straight. My front tire rolled out and the the shifter swung around cracking the 9.9's top tube=(
Lesson learned: No more "sweet jumps" on the 9.9. A replacement is on the way...I will leave it at that.

Next up is Spirit Mountain followed by 24 hours of Afton.

-b