Not so quick - that isn't one of our crew. This is Mo Bruno, cyclocross champion & MTB elite who finished first in the womens pro field at Winsted Woods today. Too bad I missed Donna's race! but I can attest to the conditions...they were deplorable - and yes, many DNFs - but our Donna hung in there! Way to go Donna!
Below is Donna's write up of the race today -
Well, that was 'knarly dude'. I pre-rode 1 lap yesterday and I was whiped out the rest of the day, so I new it was going to be interesting doing 2 laps today in wet conditions. That course is pretty technical......or shall I say, "the hardest thing I've ridden so far".
We are at the start line and the official groups all the women together (7 of us) and then it started raining, but she said "it's suppose to be heavy rain at 11", she asked us if we wanted to do 1 lap, of course no one admitted it, so 2 it was! We didn't even make it up the 1st climb, people were falling, walking and it was pretty much a downpour, then torrential rain, then the glasses wouldn't stop fogging up so I couldn't see going down hill so I had to walk alot of it. I was wondering how I'd finish in one piece. I came up on one section where there were cow bells and a guy in a grass skirt with a camp fire going :) That made me laugh.
So some of the crazy sections from yesterday were under water by then, so I didn't remember where they were, so I guess I just rolled over them, hence the saying "what you can't see, won't hurt ya", something like that. Imagine the big puddles at Winding Trails x 5, they were everywhere and I couldn't avoid stepping in them, some where 6 inches deep. And Imagine that steep climb at Winding Trails, but with logs, big rocks mud and roots and down hills designed to endo if you didn't do them correctly. The open grassy single track section was a muddy mess where dirt was coming off your tires....which was great, but going into your eyes....not so great..and if you went too fast you couldn't stop at the end, woe betsy, alot of slipping and sliding. Before the end of the lap there was a steep muddy slippery downhill that was forcing your front tire to go where you didn't want it to go, therefore 2 endos and 1 face plant, I decided to walk some of that downhill.
The 2nd lap seemed to be easier for some reason, seemed as though I was able to roll over more stuff or shall I say slide over it, maybe that was the section I couldn't see in. Some of the hills you couldn't make up because there was NO traction. There were some guys on the course with us checking out the conditions, I was told the later races would be shortened from 4 miles to 3.2 miles and maybe reduce the laps also. There is a first for everything and today I had alot of 1st's. It was crazy, trecherous, dangerous, insane, but it was still fun. I was doing the math in my head about what place I was in, and I was convinced I was in 5th place.........so another 1st is "never give up", because your math may be off. I came in 3rd for my age group. Some cat 3's were getting pulled for taking too long in the 1st lap and quite a few DNF'd. Crazy race. Go legs go :)
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