I headed to bedford as well. Chris Burke rounded out a nice
splattering of Providence Velo Club riders in three different races.

Mike went off first, I did the next race and planned to do the
following one that Chris would be in, but... i didn't.

It was a power sapping leg wringing course. Mud and grass and brakes?
Ya don't need no stinking brakes if your bike slows down in the mucky
muck.

This was the kind of day i've been hoping for. Except a bit warm.
Give me 10 degrees cooler and it would have been perfect.

Wound up 19th or so out of 60 or so in the 3/4 35+ race. Strung out a
bit from the leader but there was a distinct gap behind me to a few
ones and twos a long way back to the rest of the race.

It was hard and fun and all that.

Good to see Mike there - he is still around and racing I guess...

On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 3:45 PM, msbcpacfp <taxrefund@...> wrote:
> I have gotten lazy about writing race reports but after so many races
> they start to blend together from time to time.
>
> Well, this one stands out. It was perfect cross weather. Rainy and
> muddy. No a little muddy but the kind of muddy whereby it tends to
> spread out as the race goes on. However, it doesn't spread just to
> the sides but also downward. One spot had to be almost a foot deep in
> a spot. The second set of barriers section was so muddy that it was
> much much faster to run than ride (if you even could).
>
> Mistake number 1 I made was I went running yesterday since I had been
> cooped up Friday and yesterday from cycling. However I don't think
> doing 10.5 miles was the right distance if you are going to have to
> run thru the mud. Mistake number 2, I get lousy starts either from
> improper clip ins or todays being behind some idiot who couldn't clip
> in.
>
> Lastly, I can't figure out how I could ever go much faster since I
> averaged a heart rate of 168 (my usual max is 174) and my high was
> 178. The course in many parts was fast but I had to coast the
> concrete to settle down from running the mud.
>
> Anyway finished probably about mid pack and can't wait to find some
> pictures to show the conditions out there.
>
> Michael
>
>