Mud, its just like a trip to the spa

So this is a few months late but no matter...

The welcome relief from engineering school known as spring break has come and gone, and as a college student this week is always go big or go home. Why not go home then go big?

VA XC State Championships
It seems silly to have a state championships as on of the very first events of the season doesn't it. It is but why not, time to find some early season strength and see if I can snag a nationals qualification.

Soup

Leaving Blacksburg early Saturday morning for my excursion to scenic Danville VA, I noticed something strange. The further east and further south I drove this very peculiar white stuff was consistently coating the ground more fully. With a forecasted high in the 60s it was going to be a mess and mess it was! I'll skip the play by play because frankly its boring, just had to go fast and go big!

I met up with Bryan, Steven and the rest of the UVa crew before the start and immediately commenced warming up aka riding out the backside of the course to give Bryce a hand-up and help power him to a 2nd place singlespeed finish! These cats know how to do mountain right!

On to my race, summed up in 5 words: it was really freaking muddy!

Keeping it dirty

Frankly we put well over a years worth of damage on that trail in one day, the only saving grace was the flavor of mud present. Rather than all peanut butter packing up everything to a 80lb bike sort of mud it was the very soupy standing water coat everything and I mean everything in a thin even layer kind of mud, with enough water to wash off chains when needed.

With an Ikon on the back I slid into a 10th place finish making the top 15 for my nationals run! When I say slid I mean it, sideways all over the place but it was fun! Certainly it was a race of survival, many quit to save their bikes others due to shredded rear mechs and demolished miscellaneous parts.

Before heading back to Blacksburg Tyler Edwards convinced me to bust out a sweet century ride showcasing the thunder ridge climb and a little bit of gravel. For those not in the know Thunder Ridge is a really freaking big climb, 12.5miles at 5% with over 3000 feet of gain. Was a sweet ride for sure!