First Wet Wednesday at 'Underground' Cross

[dreeves69]

With the continuos rain all day long, I am sure I wasn't alone as I looked out from the confines of daytime obligations and wondered what a wet Layaritz CX course was going to reveal.

I rolled up about 15 minutes before the A race and what struck me most was the reduced number of riders. Seems like the rain 'washed away' the faint of heart and left behind those who were ready for the real CX season to begin. The course was kept entirely in the high grass area of the park to avoid damaging the fields. What this meant was turns, turns and more turns. I lined up in the front row and had a better than usual start making it to the hole shot in about 5th place. We started to pull away from the rest of the 'A's and I made up a couple of other places as we headed into the second lap.

The course was getting slicker and slicker and I slid out on a nondescript corner that I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Handlebars were twisted and I had to stop a few hundred meters up to get them aligned. A handful of guys passed me but I was able to catch up on the fire road as we headed into the 4th lap. The next two laps were a comedy of slips, slides and errors as I realized that the tread I had been running for the last month was now, after the first real rain, inadequate to say the least. I felt strong until it made no difference because I couldn't keep the bike upright with any real speed.

We finished covered in mud, smiling and looking forward to an outside shower with our mostly composite garage mates. Tires will definitely be changed for Monday!

[trevor]

Awesome report Dylan! I am so jealous. I'm sure Monday's conditions will be similar so I'll get my fill of slippin' and sliding' then. Looking for to it.
Happy thanksgiving.
See you at Topaz!