Sunday, April 27, 2008
MudMan 2008 - Ski/Board --> Downhill Mountain Bike --> Run
Actual name of the event is Leadman, on Silver Mountain. I really thought I had this race in the bag. After a 2nd place finish last year due to slightly inadequate snowboarding and downhill mountain biking skills (some people call it "yard saling") there were some changes that I made this year.
Here were the changes:
A) I am a father
B) I had a tricked out mountain bike demo model with sweet shocks, even better than Pedro's
C) I did not party the night beforehand, unless ginger tea and a hot bath is considered the wild side
My strategy going into the race start was a massive success - I leapt off a snow cliff in front of the entire field and beat everyone in the 100 yard dash to the snowboards and skis.
The rest of the race progressed as follows:
-Watched the field disappear as tiny little specks in the distance while I tried to tighten my snowboard bindings
-Tried to catch up with everyone and rode my snowboard off the course because I went too fast and crashed
-Hiked back onto the course and kept snowboarding
-Crashed again on the uphill into mountain bike transition
-Hiked up into transition
Where's Ben's bike? Oh, it's just like one of the only ones left in transition, pretty easy to find really.
Well, I have a tricked out bike so now I can catch up, right?. Wrong. I swear, the entire 7.5 mile downhill bike was ALL mud. I had no fender or visor. I held my glasses in my teeth once they became too dirty for sane vision. I lost count of the times I slid off course and crashed. I was literally a ball of caked mud and bruises by the time I reached run transition. You could have started a nice little garden on my face with some pumpkin seeds and maybe some nice little tomatoes, the yellow kind that are really tasty.
I took off on the run and glanced at my reflection in a store window as I ran through downtown Kellogg. That's the first time in awhile I've busted up laughing in the middle of a race, because I was like that comic book character in Spiderman that looks like a giant piece of dirt.
Running and flailing and blowing muddy snot out my nose.
I hosed off after the race and drove home. I had been soundly defeated.
But it was a beautiful day and I had my adrenaline fix for the weekend. Life is good.
OFFICIAL RACE VIDEO FROM HELMET CAM: http://www.youtube.com/user/SilverMtnResort
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5 comments:
I am cracking up! Life is certainly good. I would have loved to see a picture. Soundly defeated is always good for the soul. Reminds us. Makes us work harder. Thanks for the post.
Great description. Wish I could have seen it with my own eyes!
Sounds like fun! Next year for sure.
I thought my mountain bike experience was tough. I did have blood though. I have to agree with Lorie in regard to seeing pictures. Good effort anyway.
Ben,
Loved this story. Can't wait to read about your Wildflower experience. I heard the bike was wonderful!
love you...
Mom
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