My life on a bike.: Kenda Cup Round 1: She's A Mudder!

The first round of the Kenda Cup rolled off at Vail Lake this past weekend. The entire week the forecast called for rain all day Saturday and Sunday, but I was hoping the weatherman was wrong after we got almost zero rain and had good weather on Saturday. Saturday night night I got a text from someone camping at the track telling me they were looking at the stars. I went to bed thinking things were gong to be pretty nice out there and we might get lucky.

I woke up Sunday morning to sunlight in Huntington Beach, but then I checked my phone and saw it was raining in Temecula. Shit. I loaded up and drove out there hoping it would be done by the time I got there. I hit rain on the 15 at Elsinore and it only got worse from there.

I pulled in to the campground to find out it had been raining since midnight the night before and had not let up. As it turned out, the rain would remain steady all the way up to the 11:00 race start.

A view of the entrance to the pits.

Red Monkey pit and the standing water.

I got signed up, walked around and watched the Jr's race, which was pretty cool. Those kids were doing a great job in the conditions. Following their race I got dressed and made what adjustments I could for the conditions. The thing that sucked was we were wet as we got dressed and wet before we even headed to the line. There was not really anywhere to to do a warm up ride because of the puddles and mud, so most of the riders just did some sprints on the entry road. It certainly wasn't ideal, but everyone seemed to be making the best of it.

My improvised changing area.

We had an 11 am call up and my race started at 11:04. Well, that was before the weather. The rain finally stopped right as we started to line up, but now we were soaking wet and it was just plain cold.

Fun times on the start line with Mr Red Monkey.

Once the race started it was ON!! The start straight was a sloppy mess, but we were all charging. I swung to the far left and followed Ryan Hughes through the first mud bog. I was able to enter the first singletrack section and climb in about 6th. I was happy but my HR was already pegged. The climb was slippery and sloppy, but manageable, but once one person bobbled we all ended up dismounting and running. About half way up this climb (5 minutes into the race) my drive train was already full of mud and rocks and one of them got jammed in my chain at the front derailleur. I thought my chain snapped and was relieved to be able to free it up after I pedaled backwards. But..... The damage was done. I had a kinked link and would have to nurse it for the next 2 laps.

At this point the course was a sloppy mess and several sections resembled Glen Helen after a rain storm. The downhills were slick and muddy, but you were able to find traction and charge them surprisingly well. There were large areas of just slop with ruts going all over the place and large puddles of water you had to charge through. Some of the short uphills were slippery, but you could make it most of the way in a low gear just spinning. After that it was get off and run.

I spent the entire first lap nursing my drive train and watching the lead group pull further and further away with each missed shift or jammed chain. Then on the second lap, in almost the exact same spot, the chain snapped. Shit. I then spent what seemed like forever trying to take out the bad link and put in a new master link. At least I got to cheer everyone on as they went by. I was pissed, but at least the dirt on top of the hill was sandy so I wasn't standing in mud.

Right before I finished fixing it, Swap came pedaling by and had the look of death on his face. I looked at him, cheered him on and said "If mountain bike racing was easy, we would call it your mom! Now get going!"

Right as I finished fixing the chain and started gather my stuff up, the sky opened up again. The cool thing is that I was so far back I was able to just ride and enjoy the rest of the race. I charged hard, but had a blast on the downhills, talked to friends as I passed, and tried some different lines. By this time the course was a total slop fest and it was raining pretty good.

Charging through the pack after fixing my chain.

I was able to finish, which was cool. I REALLY wanted to just stop when my chain broke. I was wet and cold and muddy and miserable. But I couldn't do it. I had to finish. I'm happy I did too because it was a good time. This was the toughest race I have been in, but was also one of the most fun. And yes, that includes the moto races too! Another highlight was having Swap back out at the races. It was just like old times!