Ontario Mud Cup #2 - Albion Hills

Last weekend I raced the second MTB O'cup of the season at Albion Hills Recreation Area just north of Toronto. This is one of my favourite riding spots and for the week prior to the race the report was the trails were in great condition. Saturday, ten minutes after pulling out of my driveway to go pre-ride the course, the skies opened up and the rain poured down. Apparently there were rivers running down the main hills on the course. The race directors had two coursed planned, a dry one and a wet one, so needless to say we ran the wet one Sunday morning. I got to the race site as the 9:30 start was finishing up and they were covered head to toe in mud, great. The race was delayed due to slow lap times and we were instructed that there were still a few muddy sections out on the course but that it was drying up nicely, yah right. The first section was in great shape, really dry and fast. I immediately gapped my start wave and was determined to maintain my stagger on the master womens start 3mins behind me. Cross the road into the second half of the course and all I can say is mud, mud, and more mud. Mud on the uphills, Mud on the downhills, mud holes on the corners. Not just getting muddy mud, but get off your bike and sink into just below your knees mud. I decided to just accept the situation and have tons of fun. I was riding really well and making up time running the mud sections compare to the other riders until the last hike-a-bike uphill where I had my bike up on my shoulder and was apparently getting tired as I caught my foot and went face first into the mud. No one got a good photo, but I looked like mud person crossing the finish line. I won the senior expert division by over 12minutes and only one of the masters expert women beat me, and only by a couple of seconds. Much better riding than the first O'Cup. I am now in Kellogg country, aka Battle Creek Michigan, getting ready for the next Xterra Cup race of the season. The coffee shop here has the worlds slowest internet connections so only one photo uploaded before I completely lost my patience. Except for the short swim, only 1000m, the course here is going to be awesome and really fast. Update post race.

Pre-riding Xterra Michigan