Pain and Suffering

WORS #2 at Treadfest was the race of races. I had put some pretty good time in at the course of the past month and was very confident going into the race. I knew where I was going to attack and where to recover...if it stayed dry. We were up in Minnesota on Saturday for Cathy's grandpa's 90th birthday. We got back on the road later than planned putting us back in Janesville around 11pm.

Sunday I got up early and went for a ride to spin the legs up for the day. It was pretty cold but looked like the impending rain might hold off. I debated about bringing some mud tires but left them at home. The 15th position call up got me a decent second row start and then we were off. With 3 climbs right off the start I didn't want to over do it out of the gate. I hung on to the top 20 until I could get good and warmed up, which happened about half way through the first lap. I started to attack every chance I had and was really feeling good. On the second lap the rain started. I started steering with my rear tire which was sometimes in front anyway and was still picking people off. I was really liking the slippery conditions because it allowed for more recovery in the single track. Nathan was pushing the pace and hooking up like a rock-star. I had to let him ride away and the bridge up on the flats. By the end of the second lap I was sitting 7th only 30 seconds down from Chris in 5th!

Laps 3-4-5 were not pretty. Some time in there the rain had stopped and the mud went from non-sticking-to-your-bike grease to peanut butter that stuck to everything. The Anthem's rear triangle isn't good for mud clearance to start with so it packed in harder than I have ever experienced. I did a lot of running the last 3 laps and was stopping any time I could find water or a big stick to dig out the mud. By lap 5 the rear tire was so locked up that I had to keep pedaling just to keep it turning - yeah that's right if I would glide it would lock up!
I ended up finishing but that is about it, I rolled through the finish and right to the car, we loaded up and just left - I had had enough. Hopefully we will have better luck or better weather up in Wausau.