Touch the mud

MMBA race number one is under our belts and it was a muddy one. A week prior to the race the trail conditions were primo. Unfortunately, though, the five days leading up to the race it rained pretty much non-stop leading to a serious sloppy sufferfest. Because of the conditions I decided to race the rigid el-mariachi to avoid potential mechanical issues due to suspension. I figured the less that could go wrong the better.

Hand up from pops. Check out the fatty Panaracer Rampage front tire. Packed with mud its really giant.

My game plan for the day was pretty similar to last year's race here; get a good start (hole shot perferably) so that I wouldn't get stuck behind slower riders in the super tight/twisty singletrack. I rolled up to the starting line third so I was able to get a primo starting spot and when the gun went off, I trecked across the field and entered the woods in second right behind my nemesis Matt Boobar. Matt, of course, is so fast that he never had a chance to slow me down and quickly gapped me. If Matt is having an average to good day there is no way for me to hang with him so I let him go and settled into my pace. Soon I was passed by teammate Andrew Frye and John Bernhardt (both pros) so no harm there. I had hoped to hold them off sooner but it was only a matter of time so I didn't waste any mental energy on it. A few minutes later (probably 1/2 way into the first of four laps) a new bikeman teammate and U23 pro passed me as well. Thankfully, within another 1/2 mile I rode back up to his wheel and passed him. That would be the last of the passing/getting passed for me on the day.

The rest of the day saw me trying to reel in John B. and holding off anyone from behind. Unfortunately, it soon became clear that catching John wasn't possible so my focus turned to protecting my position. Towards the end of the second lap a buddy of mine, Nick Corson, made a hard charge and quickly started to close the gap on me and put the fear of god in me. Nick forced me to dig a little deeper to maintain my spot. Thankfully, after a lengthy running section (because of the massive amounts of mud) I was able to gain another good gap and never saw Nick again.

The rest of lap three was pretty uneventful with me just trying to stay upright in all of the mud and trying not to brain myself on all of the muddy roots. 3/4 of the way through the lap I noticed some thumping around in my front end. I immediately thought my headset had loosened up but at the end of the lap I checked my front quick release and sure enough, it had loosened up significantly. Phew, glad I noticed it before the front wheel came out and I augered in.

On lap four, I decided to put in one last hard effort to try to reel in John B. He had a big gap by this point but I figured it was worth a shot and you never know, if he were bonking it just might work. I didn't succeed in bringing him back but I did manage to almost make my legs cramp.

The El Mariachi performed beautifully throughout the race. There were only a couple of occasions where I wished I had some suspension. The combination of 29'er wheels and the big, fat Panaracer Rampage 2.35 at 30psi in the front took enough of the edge off to make it work. I may be using the El more than I anticipated this year. Time will tell.