MNSCS#10 Singletrack Escape
The final race of the season was a total mudfest. The "Jail Trail" (so named since it is on state property adjacent to the St. Cloud state prison) was completely soaked after 3 days of rain. The steady downpour during the morning races only made things greasier.

This trail is tight and twisty with no room to pass except for the few sections of xc-ski trail. There was a prologue lap that ran on the ski trail for about a mile and then led into the last section of singletrack before the laps began. It was a mass start so I did my best to pass as many people as possible before the singletrack. I moved up to about 4th going into the woods when all hell started to break loose. All of the mud and grass was accumulating on my bike and I lost my rear brake. Nice. I kept going since I still had the front brake, and still had sight of the top 3. Somewhere between the end of the prologue and the beginning of Lap 1 I lost my front brake, which meant I now had absolutely no stopping power or control. I thought about bailing but I was feeling great and riding well, still in about 4th place. My problem now was to figure out how to shave speed for all of the corners and not careen off into the woods. After I while I got good at dragging a foot in the mud and/or grabbing a tree to slingshot around a corner. I did take a few turns too hot and wound up smacking some trees, but no major damage done. I stopped to try and clear the rotors, but it didn't help at all, my brakes were shot. I let 2 guys go by me while trying to fix things, then got back to the race. I held my position for the rest of the final lap, until another detour off course cost me some time and I let someone get by. I ended up in 6th place, which considering I did 90% of the race without brakes is pretty damn good. The downer is that I was feeling great and have no doubt I would have finished at least 2-3 places higher if not for the brake issue. Oh well, it wouldn't have changed my overall series standings anyway. I ended up 5th overall for the season. Now I get to ride for fun for a few weeks and then start training for next year.

Laddie's Loppet
I arrived Saturday and quickly set up my tent before the rain resumed. It had poured all day Friday and everything was a big sloppy mess. I prerode the course and it was greasy and largely unridable. I had to stop a couple of times to clear the mud off the sidewalls of my tires, as it was so thick the rear wheel would no longer spin. Braking was useless, as the mud was so thick the tires had nothing to grip. This course is mainly tight singletrack full of roots and rocks – difficult in good conditions – nasty when soaked. I came across a wooden bridge with a super muddy uphill at the end of it. I knew I wouldn't have the traction to ride up that section, so I jumped off and ran across the bridge. The wood was so wet my foot went right though it. Nice. I realized right then that this would be a tough race, basically a super-long cyclocross race on mountain bikes.

It eventually stopped raining Saturday night, and by Sunday the sun was trying to come out. The course was still quite sloppy for the Sport start. I got a decent start, staying towards the back of the lead group. Predictably, once we hit the singletrack it was tough going. Even with a tire change I didn't have enough traction for the quick climbs or twisting decents. After spinning out or sliding downhill (into trees like a pinball) with little control I decided to give up and run these sections. I had already planned on running the log bridges and downhill rock gardens, and the notorious Lakeside Drops would be ridden if they were dry enough. I rode them on Saturday: the uphills were to muddy to ride up, I was able to ride the drops, but it was super sketchy with all that mud. When I got there the spectators were out in full force, waiting to see someone take the drop to0 hot and fly off into the lake. (The trail snakes along the bank, culminating in a 12 foot drop which takes a 90 degree left literally at the water's edge. Misjudge it and you hit some rocks before launching into the lake). There were 3-4 riders ahead of me all struggling through this section, so I decided to shoulder the bike and run the entire thing. No style points, but I got ahead of them.

The rest of the singletrack was brutal, and I struggled to get any kind of rhythym going. Even walking the bike down some of the sections was difficult. It was like wearing bowling shoes on a slip-and-slide. About halfway through I slid out on a downhill section and somehow cracked the rail on my saddle. So now half the saddle was sticking up making riding seated difficult at best. Finally on the back section of singletrack I was able to stay on the bike long enough to make some progress. With the glasses fogged and in my jersey pocket, I got a nice chunk of mud in the right eye, making vision and depth-perception difficult. Especially ironic when you look at my race number. (I finally got the mud out of my eye about halfway through my drive home.) Pretty much if it could go wrong it did. Not one of my better rides to say the least. But, despite some scraped and bruised legs and a sore ass from the broken saddle, no real harm done. I finished 7th, killing any chance at top 3 and pretty much resigning me to 5th place barring a miracle scenario at the last race, where 4th is the absolute best I can hope for.

As usual, photos by Skinnyski.com