Today's course was at a high school grounds way out in the 'burbs, and included several slick sidehills, a few short blasts through loamy forested spots, some gravel, a fast pavement descent, the obligatory runs around the football and soccer fields, and a steep running descent to a wooden creek bridge followed by a steep 30-50' climb up a "stairway" made of railroad ties, vertically about 2' apart. My little 30" legs could literally barely make the steps! I thought I overheard someone say this was more difficult than the other courses they've done this year, though I wouldn't know myself.
I ran a 38:18 (2.1:1) gear. I was a little concerned this wouldn't be tall enough and I would spin?out on the flats. Not a problem -this gear was just about right.
So, bottom line: Holy CRAP that was fun! I fell twice, both on the second lap - once on the running descent to the creek, and once on a sidehill descent. But falling in that squishy mud was a little like falling in snow. No hard impact, no pain. By the fourth lap I had both mud and sweat in my eyes, splattered up from the front wheel and dripping down from my eyebrows.
It was also starting to get hard to pedal, which at first I attributed to mud buildup and maybe me getting tired. On the third lap my tire started buzzing the chainstays, and as I later learned, rubbing the brake HARD on the other. When I got off the course it was wobbling well over 1/4". LBS says the rim is toast. It was already on its way out, though - I'd had it trued a few weeks ago and AGAIN just yesterday. The important thing is I finished the race! I may have to look into a real singlespeed hub for this bike, though.
Another thought that came to mind over and over during this race: Y T F would anyone do this with multiple gears? The courses are fairly flat, the mud gums up cassettes and shift cables, and flying mud and frequent crashes destroy expensive STI shifters. OK sure, you could be a little faster with gears, if you're in it to win it. But let's be honest here: most of us were out there to play in the mud, not to run a lap 12 seconds faster. I'd rather focus on staying upright in the middle of a 2-wheel drift across the mud than on what gear I'm in. What's funny is a lot of guys think the singlespeeders are the masochists in the crowd. I think just the opposite.
No pics of myself racing, but here's one just afterwards, though I had my eyes closed:
Here's a closer-up pic of the aftermath to the bike. Note the buildup of mud, grass and leaves around the BB. Yeah!
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