Homage to Slush

Wow...what a hard race.
I had no idea there could still be so much snow in Mansfeild. Almost the entire course was snow, slush or ice covered. There was some awesome singletrack that was dry, but most of the course was early spring type doubletrack.

Started the day off right, with a cup of Starbucks thanks to J.Henri. Then it was of To Mansfield with an unplanned detour along the way. Drove there soo many times now without and issue, but managed to fudge it up somehow today. Oh well, got there with a full hour to spare anyways.

Warm up was good...felt strong. Climbed Airport road twice to get my legs and lungs working.
(off topic note: show on Discovery says that Jellyfish are taking over the ocean....and lakes around the U.S.. (I say we nuke em)) Start was fast, and I sat in a nice 3rd wheel draft till the first turn, where I took over. I could not believe the snow. It just never ended. When we hit it I thought it was just a patch....but no. It was everywhere!! I was forced to run a fare bit, as the snow was deep, soft and rutted out. I was doing quite well in the ruts though, able to keep balanced, and put power down. Before I ever got frustrated I thought about the people who rode there trainers all winter, and how frustrated they must be. After hammering for a bit I settled into a 50km pace and just rode smart and efficient the rest of the race. Had one small bail on a downhill where my bare legs got covered in snow, but it wasn't to bad. Just cold.

It was an epic day for sure though, very tough, but I enjoy a challenge. Huge thanks goes out to Dan for turning a cross country ski loop into something race-able on bikes. Massive difference from last year..

Congrats to team mate Meg Fleury for winning the 25km. Go team Liberty!!!!
J.C. finished 4th, which is awesome, and Jeff K was not too far back....nice work SHCC. J.Henri is quite sick right now, so its great that he was able to finish. Good technical training at least.

Can't wait to hear the results of the tour of Pelham. Predicting Etzie or Perry took it, but Chown was getting fit in SC, so who knows.

Andrew