Month of Mud #5

(See attached file: MOM.jpg)

Finally it was here the final MOM race of the year at Moraine. I was excited and worried about being in first place in the single speed series. In the past I've been in contention for the overall going into the final race and always managed to screw it up somehow. I was hoping this year would be different. The morning went a little better than some but that would soon change. I only left 20 minutes later than planned and stopped to get a cup of coffee and everything was going good. Then with less than a half mile to go on 422 the day took a turn for the worse. I was more concerned about getting to the race than the speed I traveling. Luckily for me a nice PA State Trooper decided to stop me and point this out to me. So after that unexpected delay I was really getting there late. I hurried up got registered and then more bad news. When I got back to my car to get ready Team Echo was parked beside me. If you know Echo this requires no explanation. While getting dressed I heard 15 minutes to get lined up. So after a short quick warm-up I felt like crap and figured today was going to be a rough one. We lined up and rolled out on a neutral pace to the start.
It's always nice to get a call up so tried to make the most of it but came up short. After a short flat section we started up the first climb and I was feeling it and getting dropped. Then after a flat section we were headed up the second climb and I started feeling a little better and managed to be fourth into the single track. I worked my way up into third and felt like I was doing OK then it happened. I don't ride with headphones or listen to music much when I ride. Usually I can get a good song in my head and get in a groove. But today my mental playlist was broken. I got a bad song in my head and couldn't get it out of my head. The cover of Careless Whisper by Seether how does this song and group get any air time? Then I crossed the road and was headed into the big rock garden. I ride at Moraine at least twice a month and if I don't clear this entire section of trail I'm disappointed with myself. Not sure if it was the mental abuse from my playlist, the fresh leaves or the fact that I was running a tube in my rear tire but I couldn't ride any of it. After running and walking though it I got my playlist working again and caught up and passed to Tim. Then it came back and I'm not sure what happened but I crashed it was like I just fell over. Tim passed me and we rode together through the finish and headed out for the second lap. This is when I looked down and noticed my Garmin was missing and figured it came off during the crash. I started feeling a little better and past Tim then is was back. I got in the rocks and somehow took a really bad line and rock or something knocked my rear wheel out of the dropouts. While I was getting it straightened out Tim went past me. Then I crossed the road and was heading into the rock garden again. I was thinking to myself that there's no way it could me as much trouble as the first lap did. I soon proved that thinking to wrong and walked through it again. At this point I pretty much wanted to be done. I came to the area were I crashed on the first lap and decided to look for my Garmin. The only reason I stopped was because I was feeling lazy and knew it would be hard to get the motivation needed to go back and look for it after the race. But after some leaf picking I decided to move along and finish and come back for it.
By the time I reached the finish it wasn't great a race but it was OK 4th overall and 1st SS. I also had a huge relief because I knew that I had won the series finally. While I was waiting at the finish I was happy to Joe Fotia come rolling in he had allot of pressure going into this race. He was one point behind Frankie Ross at the beginning of today. So if he could beat Frankie he would have the tie breaker and the series win. I talked Joe into heading back with me to look for my Garmin and some leaf picking I got lucky and found it.
I was happy that the series turned like I planned for once. I also had a couple of other surprises waiting for me at the award ceremony. The big one was I got inducted into the Month of Mud Hall of Fame I'm really happy and honored about this. So that means I'm like famous or something now right? Almost but not quite my plaque has my name spelled wrong. So is it really me or someone else they meant to induct? Funny thing is that I like that it's spelled wrong. For as many races that I do my name always gets spelled wrong. It's my own fault for not listening to Sheriff Gary NO CORRECTIONS FOR SPELLING ERRORS PRINT BETTER NEXT TIME! I just want to say thanks to the Month of Mud crew and Rob Riddell who did an awesome job filling in some pretty big shoes. One more thing be sure to listen to the Sheriff.

J