Wet and Wild in Windham
In practice, trying hard to avoid the slick roots with my dad following behind me.
Well, that was insane.
I've been striking out with the weather in the Catskills this season. This week's Maxxis Eastern States Cup stop was at Windham Mountain Bike Park. The forecast - monsoon.
It rained so incredibly hard on Saturday, I was doubtful that I would be able to get any practice in. Thunder and lightning made an appearance as well and shut the lift down for an hour. The race course was the old UCI World Cup course that Aaron Gwin won on a few years ago. It's a steep, complex double back diamond trail. At the top, after a brief, flat rooty section, a steep chute is encountered. In the middle of the chute is a massive rock that was named, according to a signed nailed to a nearby tree, the Doom Drop. I wasn't about to take the line off the middle of the rock, so I searched out lines to the sides. I settled for the line on the left after walking - more like, slip/sliding/crawling - the section. Dropping in was kind of scary, but I did manage to get a little traction on the sketchy descent, and got to the bottom of the chute without bailing. I still had 90% of the course to descend and it was a mud bath, complete with a foot wide stream rushing down the center. My dad and I picked our way down, slipping and sliding. There were a bunch of blind two foot drops along the way where I barely managed to save myself from going over the bars, I just couldn't see out of my goggles and make out the trail in the mud and water. About halfway down I slid out and into a Safety Patrol's jeep. I swear I didn't scratch it!
The course could have been fun when dry as there were some fun little gap jumps, but I just couldn't clear them in these conditions. There was a long off camber section that crossed a ski slope that was ridiculously slippery. After two practice runs, I was soaked, tired, and a walking mud hut - we called it a day.
On race day the rain stopped, but it was immediately apparent, upon seeing the other riders, that the race course was in the same condition as on practice day. There was not going to be any drying out of the course, it was a mud slide. I did one practice run and found a few lines not too take (in places there were literal bogs of mud). We strategized, and I knew I had a good chance of making it on the podium if I just made it down. I just had to finish.
On my race run I had a crash just after the steep section at the top. I slid into a tree and l winded myself. I chased away the marshal that came over to check on me and got back on my bike. I had sheared half my race plate from bars. Wearily I carried on, slipping and sliding away, going down about a dozen more times. It stopped being any fun and I just wanted to get to the finish line. Eventually I made it and took third place.
I'm not a fair weather person by any means, but there is a point where it's just ridiculous to ride or race. There was a light turnout of racers for this weekend, and for good measure. In the future, I may be one of those that bails if conditions are predicted to be this heinous.
To get an even better sense of the race and conditions, check out the photos and video on the Pinkbike write up.