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MuleX 2009

Submitted by Bill on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 3:06pm

Mulecross is well documented, take a look at the Mule X Blog. For the visually stimulated there is the video (highly recommended). For the snapshot crowd there are the photos. And the stat geeks the results. Here is my short recollection of last weekend. 

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Saturday morning my friend bob and I took the drive to Bozeman in anticipation of snow and cold wet muddy conditions. When we arrived we found perfect fall weather and the mud was really minimal. When we approached the venue I immediately saw the large run-up that dominated the skyline. I said, "holy shit ... a real run up". Not only was this run up steep but apparently muddy.

I haven't run up a hill like that in the mud since I left Plattsburgh New York. I remember the days behind the fieldhouse when we included streams, single track, and long run sections. Once I remember we even put a gate-hopping in the race.

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MC-ing the event was a gunslinger and  … um … well the costume looked a little too small.  Sten, Cory, and Rich did a great job announcing the showdown. I wish I got a photo of rich, he was reggae man.

The course was divided into two sections. Recovery and then anaerobic. You start out on some flat sections that included one set of barriers. It was a chance to catch your breath after the anaerobic start finish area. Soon after battling the wind you turn and head for "the hill". First you must negotiate a off camber turn by a pond and then it was time to tackle the run-up.

After busting up the mud you must remount and descend immediately. Take a high speed downhill, a couple turns, then it was out of the saddle grunting up a climb back up the hill. Totally rideable but by the time you reached the barriers on top exhausting.  Over the barriers and back out onto the course. 

The course was fun and it flowed nicely. I rode my mountain bike and had a blast.  If all the courses were like this one I might just get excited about cyclocross again.

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The coolest part was post race and the trophies. Cleanup was a snap as everyone stayed and helped clean up. Then it was off to Erik and Julies house for some beer and Thai food. Great weekend!

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Oh yea, what am I doing with this trophy?  I won the Masters A category.

My Fault

Submitted by Bill on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 11:13am.
I would like to add a note for the photo second up from the bottom. The one with the course and torn down flagging. I just want to claim responsibility for the condition of this part. I was racing and came around the corner too vigorously. I caught the first stake and dragged it and all remaining steaks and streamers for about 20 feet as I struggled to remove it from my front tire/fork. Almost lost a finger. I was in a hurry because Frnak G was behind me :)
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Was wondering what happened...

Submitted by Rich on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 3:49pm.
Ya know.. I was wondering what had happened to that part of the course. Did my roving course maintenance crew not do their job? Was the wind blowing THAT hard? Oh.. now I get it. The dead flagging was just a consequence of hard racing. Cool. And.. we'd know if anybody cut the course -- cuz we'd see their obvious tracks in the sloppy mud. :)
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