Month of Mud #1

20121005

Month of Mud #1

The 2012 Month of Mud kicked off this year with the Moraine State Park mountain bike race.

Attending this year was Rich Allen, Kirk Morrison, and Henry Dimmick.

Rich finished in 6th Place of the Masters Division (32nd Overall in the "Long Course" race)

photo by Mike Briggs

Kirk finished in 8th Place of the Single Speed Division (54th Place Overall in the "Long Course" race)

photo by Mike Briggs

Henry served as the "middle-of-the-woods" Corner Marshal, directing traffic one way on Lap#1 and a different way on Lap#2.

photos by Sonic Imaging

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Here is Kirk's story of the day:

This was my first race in the SS class and, between the course and the competition I was fully challenged.

The good news is that my new belt drive, SS Spot Rocker performed flawlessly.

photo by Mike Briggs

The bad news is that I got caught up in the traffic jam of the slower Masters & Vet racers and never got into a good rhythm. Unfortunately, I was pulled after the first loop since the Sport leaders (on a shorter, less technical loop) passed me just before I was able to start the 2nd loop.

As a consolation, Stacie Truszkowski and I decided to ride the 2nd loop to make a full day of the outing. After we were out on the course (which was now closed), we decided to help the organizers with course cleanup by taking down the course tape. After filling up our pockets and backpacks we ended up stuffing the rest of the tape under our jerseys. Needless to say, by the time we made it back we both resembled the Michelin Man.

photos by Sonic Imaging

Regarding placings, I thought that I had avoided DFL status since I had passed a few other SS racers. However, in the final results I ended up in 8th place (DFL !) since it appears that 2 racers from the SS category DNF’d (the expert loop was pretty challenging on an SS rig …). Oh well, better to end up DFL rather than DNF (I’m hoping that this is the last time I can use this line !).

Results link: http://monthofmud.org/?page_id=2072

Excellent race organization and course work (thanks to Brian Parker & Brad Kriley). Also, great course marshalling by HD!

Richy should have some good info to add (including a hard crash, bent shifters and 4 bee stings !!?).