Muddy Raccoons

"We watered it down for you last night," the awards announcer stated. He was talking about the course everyone had just suffered through at the 2008 Raccoon Rally cross country race. Rains that had fallen over the past few days had left much of the course a bit wet and muddy. The driest part of the course were the trails that stayed close to the top of the ridge.

The day started with the beginner race at 10:00 am. I'd ridden part way into the trail to watch them come through and take a few photos. A few boys from Port [Allegany] were riding in the race as well as my dad, Steve. I found a spot on a rock and within a few minutes the pack of cyclists came tearing up the muddy trail, some swerving all over in the mud. Anthony, Brian, Craig, Steve, then Kord all went by as I yelled at them. Heading back to the field at Camp Allegany, in Allegany State Park, NY, I took one more look the lines I should take through the mud.

I got some final warming up in and headed for the start banner in the field. At 10:30 the experts took off and the sport class rolled up to the start. We received the final notes on the course and took off on the air horn. I jumped off to a good start sitting in the top 10 as we exited the field onto the dirt road then tucked into the draft of 6 or 7 guys in front of me that had fallen into a pace line. At the end of the half mile dirt road, the grade kicked up, and I found myself in third. Then we turned into the trail, which was immediately a muddy mess. 2nd Place was swerving all over in the mud and I easily passed him riding a straight line up the edge of the trail. Shortly after I stepped into first place for a short period, only to be passed by two guys just before the turn onto Snowsnake trail. The first piece of down hill proved a glimpse of what was to come. The grassy 'road' was quite soft and the bike just started turn all over the trail on me. It was going to be a surfing kind of day. The down hill was short lived and soon we were going uphill. A few more guys passed me, but no one was going too fast. Rear wheels were slipping all over the place as we tried to hold traction up the hill. There were three spots on Snowsnake that forced me off the bike, the grade was just a little too much and the trail too slippery. I'd been riding a lot more than some others, though their walking wasn't much slower than riding. Finally, we re-entered the Patterson trail where I grabbed a sip of water from the water bottle my uncle Jim had taken for me. Patterson was much more solid and my speed increased significantly.

The course rolled through some small ups and downs as it cut some extra loops off the main ridge trail before joining the ridge trail just prior to dropping from the top of the hill back to the base. Going up Snowsnake I'd caught a few experts and one had caught back on and passed me. I jumped as best I could, though he opened a small lead. It was a perfect rabbit though. At some point I caught and passed him on a small uphill. He was wearing blue and white, and then I realized as I pulled away, I just dropped Adam Craig. Okay, so it wasn't really him, but it was nice to think so. The trail turned downward, and once again very muddy. The bike drifted all over the trail. Finally I came out onto the steep switchbacks on the Bova ski hill.

For lap two we would climb straight up Patterson, on what I thought would be a bit more solid from what I saw at the top on lap one. It wasn't, in fact it was pretty soft and muddy. I was also finding that all this climbing in soft muddy ground had really taken a toll on my legs, they were pretty much shot. I just kept pedaling though as the final guy to pass me, ever so slowly pulled away. I went into damage control mode, just keeping the legs turning as best I could. Thankfully at the top we cut straight across the ridge trail for lap two. I couldn't press too hard or my legs would start to enter a cramped, locked up kind of spot. So the survival spin would continue. Finally I hit the down hill and surfed the bike through the mud as fast as I could using minimal brake. I re-entered the dirt road for the final push to the field and the finish.

Rolling across the finish I was done, in every way. The mud had slowed me 30 minutes and change from last year's time, my legs had nothing left. 2 hours and 30 minutes of all out effort.

Results: (click here for the results page)
Beginner - Anthony, 1st in age group, 6th overall
- Steve, 3rd in age goup
Sport - Scott, 1st in age group, 7th overall
Expert - Pat (my cousin), 1st in Single Speed, 7th overall. He probably could have won overall had used some gears

For a few photos of Raccoons playing in the mud, click here.