FTW

Last weekend was 'Wallow' Beach, so named because of the massive mud-pit the course turned into. I was debating whether I should race or not, since I had spent the early part of the week trying to decide if I was getting sick or not. In the end, I was feeling better as the week went on, so I decided to make the trip up the 401 to get some points.

Unfortunately, not many people made the same decision. It had been raining heavily the day before, possibly a turn-off for some, but in my mind, a great way to get more experience with the mud. And experience was got! I only did one full pre-ride of the course - it was so muddy, I didn't want to weigh my bike down any further, or get dirtier than necessary before the race.

We lined up, and it was the smallest women's field at any race - 6 in total, 5 of whom were Master Women. I took the hole shot, and by the time we cleared the beach, I had a gap and never looked back. I changed my race focus to riding things cleanly and smoothly, getting the legs turning over. I managed to catch a few of the M2 riders who had started a minute ahead, and then waffled between getting "strategically lapped" so as to end the race early, or try to catch more. In the end, I decided I didn't want to get lapped, so I kept slogging through the muck.

While getting the win was fun, it wasn't the most satisfying race I've ever had. It was lonely up there on the podium, and as NB said, "way to beat up on the old women!".