Murder in the Mud

jdurrin Uncategorized 2

I came to Belgium knowing that I was really bad at riding mud and knowing that I would get a fair dose of it in the Motherland of Cross. This weekend was not a letdown with the first really muddy double weekend this year. The amount of mud that I came across this weekend was more than I have ever seen in my entire cyclocross career. Add in the fastest fields in the world, and I was in for a true ass kicking. This is exactly what I need, a crash course in mud riding.

 

This weekend I participated in two races, Esson GVA series race and the Namur World Cup. Both races had more mud than any race I have ever seen.

At Esson i was prepared to suffer big time and slog around a muddy flat field for a while.  I got an amazing start in a field of around 40 people and was riding in the top 20 in the first lap. I was very happy to be able to get a good start like this in such a strong field. I was riding behind Jonathan Page and other amazing riders that I watch online every weekend, and they started 3-4 rows ahead of me. After a couple laps I realized this was going to be pretty much the hardest race of my life. The course was not particularly technical, it was just SO MUDDY and I had a hard time pushing the power needed to ride some of the sections that the guys at the front were riding pretty fast.

I actually dropped out of the race after about 40 mins of racing realizing that I had a World Cup the next day that I wanted to feel fresh for (in hindsight I wish I hadn’t done this, as Namur ate me alive!).

Now on to the Namur World Cup….. I just want to say that every course in the US is a little baby course compared to the BEAST that was the Namur World Cup. I was able to pre-ride the course with good ‘ol Timmy Johnson which was nice. He gave me some great advice on some sections and other great advice on racing in Europe in general. And it was nice to see another friendly American face for the first time since I have been in Belgium. The course was the scariest thing I have ever seen. I have never actually been scared to go down a hill on my bike before until I saw some of these drop ins on the course. And it wasn’t only steep, it was rooty and rocky and all rutted out. This made for some seriously terrifying moments in my race.

I lined up at around 65th position out of 76 starters.. I wanted to get a really good start like I normally do, but I realized this would be pretty tough with a very technical start to the race. I was actually able to get a pretty good start, moving in front of most of the Americans in the race except for Page and Johnson. We got to the crazy off camber section of the course on the first lap, and I absolutely crushed the line that I was pre riding on and moved up about 10 spots in that section alone. I was sitting pretty in about 40th position going into the second lap and riding with a good size group. The next lap went pretty good as well, I rode smooth and was with a group with Mitch Hoke and Troy Wells.

Then things started going down hill. I was able to make it to the off camber section on the course with the group and I hit the line that I was hitting every lap. This time though, my front wheel made its way over to another rut that took me straight into the top side pole. My bike got stuck in the fencing and i got thrown off into the mud and I literally slid to the other side of the course and under the snow fencing. I then had to climb my way back up to the other side of the course and untangle my bike from the fencing while getting passed by A LOT of people. Thats when things went down hill, literally. My bike shifting got all messed up after the crash and I had to change bikes, but the other bike was all messed up as well and I got flagged to not go into the pit as they were currently fixing my bike. So i continued on with a messed up bike on the hardest course I have ever riden a bike on.

I have learned so much this weekend about racing in the mud, which is why I came here. So I am happy for what I learned about what it takes to race in this thick mud.

In non bike racing news, I bought a scarf so I could look more European, and im planning on travelling to Rome for a few days at the beginning of January. I did not know how to put my scarf on properly though, so I had to ask for a little help on my style!

Life in Belgium is so much fun. Coming up I have the Superprestige at Diegem on Friday night and then the Zolder World Cup on Monday. Should be a really fun and challenging week coming up with racing every other day starting on Monday. Im learning every race and im hoping to feel like I did at Overijse last weekend. Thats my favorite race thus far in my trip. Stay tuned for some more updates coming up.

Thanks for reading!