Stump Jump AMBC

Date: Sunday, May 18, 2003
Race: Stump Jump AMBC, SC State XC Championships
Place: Southside Park, Spartanburg, SC
Distance: 15.3 miles
Speed: 7.1 mph
Time: 2 hour, 8 minutes

Mud, Mud, Mud could be the title of this race! With all of the rain that the Southeast has received over the last few weeks, all of the trails are either submerged or muddy or both. The trails at Southside Park were no exception. The course was approximately 7.7 miles long over mostly flat terrain. The course started out through the baseball fields and the parking lot before going downhill on a gravel road. The relatively hardpacked road turned into singletrack that was muddy. Everywhere riders looked, they saw mud. Mud on the trail, on the bikes, flying in their eyes, on their clothes. Just mud. The course sort of followed a river for several very flat miles. The only obstacles to break up the monotony of mud and flat were two short, slick hike a bike hills. Under dry circumstances, they would have been easy to ride, but shoe spikes were needed to walk up them under racing conditions. The trail then turned upward for a 1/4 mile rooty climb. It came out on the powerline full of red, mucky Carolina red clay waiting to clog up brakes. The powerline went up and down several slick hills, which were hike a bike for all but the most powerful riders. The course finished by wandering through the baseball fields again. 

I lined up with about 7 other people for the start of the Sport Women's race. To my surprise, there were only three people in Senior-Me, Myself, and I. I figured that Myself would be my biggest competitor. The other 7 ladies were racing Master. Still, I decided that I would try to ride as hard as I could given my hatred of racing in the mud and fear of falling. This would be good practice for the upcoming NORBA NCS Races; I have never been to an East Coast NORBA NCS that was not muddy and wet. You cannot back off during a NCS race because of the course conditions. I decided to try to get to the front at the start of the race to break it up and to avoid the traffic when we got to the singletrack. My tactic worked somewhat. I took off on the front through the baseball fields and beside the parking lot. I led down the gravel road until Rebecca (Reality Bikes) passed me. I slowed down when we hit the first mud bog. I tried staying on the side where it looked a little firmer, but that did not work very well. I sat back and spun, which would turn out to be the best tactic of the race. Sit and spin. I hit the singletrack at a pretty good pace. A glance down to my computer revealed an average speed of 13.1 mph for the first mile. That drifted downward as the first lap continued. I looked back and saw a few women about 5 yards behind me and knew that I would soon be passed. I settled down and got into my racing rhythm. I knew by now that this would not be a fast race for me. Two women passed me. A third tried, but she fell before she was able to. The other women took off. I was already in my zone looking at the trail ahead. I would spend most of the race by myself. My head cleared of any thoughts except for the mud. I hit the first major section of mud and kept spinning. My wheels became concrete weights as the mud clung to my tires. Plenty of tire clearance provided by my disk brakes and 1.95" tires kept the mud from clogging my fork and seat stays. I could feel the heaviness of the rotating weight. My bike was not responding like it should because of the masses of mud that clung to my wheels. As I came to the first hill, I did a flying cyclocross dismount and sprinted up the hill, making sure to put my feet sideways to make the most of the shoe's tread. I hopped back on at the top and was greeted by another mudhole. Half way through this bog, the mud cleared and gave way to a little bit of solid ground--covered in sand, which stuck to the mud already clogging my tires. I picked up a little speed to shed some of the gunk off of my wheels. That worked for about 30 seconds until I hit the next mudbog. "Forget it!" I told myself. Going faster was not an option in the mud. I settled back down. Sit and spin. The next hill was slightly longer but posed no more of a challenge than the first one. I heard another woman behind me sliding around. I got on at the top and tried to go a little faster. It was fruitless there was another mud bath waiting for me about 10 feet down the trail. Finally, I came to the quarter mile climb. I made it up half way before sliding out. I dismounted and began to jog. Once again, I remounted and began the "race" again. By this point I wondered if I would ever breath hard during this race. I popped out onto the powerline and turned left. The first downhill was not in terrible condition; I took it at a good speed. I dismounted, ran the next hill, went down the hill, and repeated the same process two more times before coming to the baseball fields. I finished my bottle of water, grabbed a gel, and started to look for Chris, fiancé of Pro Lisa Ropke (Sobe-Cannondale). He had my other bottle. I saw someone stand up across the field and hold out a bottle. That had to be him. I picked up the pace and cranked through the slop. We did a perfect bottle exchange, and I went through on my way to the second lap.

The gravel road was a welcome relief from the mud. I maintained my faster pace to shed some of the mud off of my tires. That lasted a minute until I came to the first mud, which had started to "dry out" and had the consistency of peanut butter. The rear end of my bike sunk down and tried to hold me there. I popped up into an easier gear and spun. When I got to the singletrack, I tried to go a little faster. My legs protested and said that they were starting to tire from all of the mud. A second Gu was in order. This was a bad place to try to eat a gel. No sooner had I started to climb, opened the gel, and began to eat when the trail dipped downward on a muddy slope. A five second stop was all it took to finish the Gu. The downhill was a nice relief from grinding through the mud. The second big mud hole was just ahead. I eased up on the gearing and sat and spun. About half way through it, my rear wheel caught something and started to spin out. The Kelly wanted to throw me, but I managed to jump off before that happened. I grabbed the bike and jogged until the trail was solid enough to remount. I had to get off again to run the first hill. Because the mud had thickened, I had to walk a little further this lap to get to solid ground to be able to remount. The second mud bog was painful to get through. My legs protested and said that they wanted to ride on solid ground. About this time, I heard the pitter patter of soft raindrops on the leaves in the tree canopy above. The deluge started several seconds later. The peanut butter that had been the trail quickly turned into soup. My bike felt lighter; the mud that had been clinging to my tires had finally shed. I picked up the pace towards the second hill. The rain continued to pour, and I got cold. The rain made the hill very slick, and I had to pick my way up it. At the top, I remounted and continued on. I hit the quarter mile hill and again had to get off when my rear wheel slipped about half way up. The trail was so disgusting that it was not worth trying to ride parts of it as it was faster to walk. I came onto the powerlines with it lightly raining. The red Carolina clay was in full muddy, disgusting glory. Near the bottom of the first hill, my rear wheel slid into a washout. A quick unclip saved me from ending up on the ground. I dismounted, ran about 5 feet to the bottom of the hill, and duck walked my way up the other side of the muddy mess of a hill. I remounted and carefully made my way down the other side of the hill. Again, I got off for the longest, steepest of the hike a bike hills. I glanced back and saw Karen Masson (Sobe/Cannondale) behind me. I remounted as quickly as I could at the top and took off. I wanted to see how long I could stay ahead of her. Not long. She came flying by me as we went over the road before the final powerline downhill and climb. As I came into the final few feet of the trail, I saw a huge puddle that developed during the rainstorm. Not knowing how deep it was, I got over the back of my saddle and slid through it. I sprinted a few feet and sat back down, so that I could power through the finish. 

Disk brakes are a great invention! I never had problems with stopping power despite the mud and grit. I never breathed hard enough to call this a real race effort. I do not like racing in the mud. Racing in the mud do not I like. Since I'm recovering from a bad fall that happened a week ago, I rode even more tentatively than I would have. Had this race been dry, this course would have been very fast and fun. I was happy with my race. It was a good reintroduction to the race world after doing road races this spring.

Trish Albert (Team Peggy-Boneshakers) taking the last puddle before the finish. She won the Senior Sport Women.

Karen Masson (Sobe-Cannondale) won the Master Pro Women.

Lisa Ropke (Sobe-Cannondale) gets wet before the finish. She won the Senior Pro Women's division.

Rebecca Leeb (Reality Bikes) on her way to winning the Master Sport Women's division.

All Photos courtesy of B and B Event Photography. Copyright B and B. May not be reproduced without permission.