Month of Mud part #3

The Grove City MOM race was the third of the series and the second and last cross race of the series. I really wasn't looking forward to this race because I was feeling crappy and sick all week. So I took is easy and reduced my hours but it didn't seem to help to much. The one thing that I was excited about was that it was going to be the Tandumb rematch. We got to the park with little time to spare as usual I was going through the over thinking of which gear to use. I decided to stick with the same gear as last week 42x19. It seemed to be a little heavy at Raccoon last week and was hoping it would OK here. At the start I found out that it was a little light on the road and got past by lots of people. After the prolog I started to make some up some ground and passed a few people. I could see Gerry and Steevo had a pretty big lead on everyone. I knew I had no chance of catching them. The gear felt OK in the woods and grass but I was getting crushed on the road. I was going back and forth with a few people on the first 4 laps. Then after about an hour it was over I finished 9 overall and was the first SS. I was hoping for a little better in the overall but whatever.

Now to the main event of the day the Tandumb rematch plus one more. It seemed like less pressure with three Tandumbs racing. Because when there was only two you could go from first to worst by one position change.The Shogrens learned something from the last race and had 26" mountain bike tires and wheels on. In the beginning on the prolog we were in third but passed Andrew and Maggie. It seemed like our barrier practice was paying off because we were keeping it close on the barriers. This race was going allot like the first race. We passed Gunnar and Betsy in the woods only to be passed on the road. There was one section that had a downed tree were we had a big advantage. We were riding the log on every lap and they were dismounting on it. But thanks to the hecklers the started riding it on the last two laps. We gave it our best shot and kept it close but in the end the Shogrens got the W. It was only by 12 seconds but as anyone that races cross knows that 12 seconds is allot. We never seen Andrew and Maggie after the beginning and found out later that they flatted. Now it was time to get cleaned up and head to the North Country Brewery for a few well deserved brews. Thanks again to the MOM crew and the rest of the fine sponsors.


J