Ohio Mountain Bike Championship Race #2 "The Grassman"

Grassman was a new course this year to the OMBC. Located in Coshocton it was an unusual mix of flowy smooth singletrack, grassy doubletrack, with rocks and roots on one half of it. Oh, and sprinkle on one huge climb per 7 mile lap just for fun.

Rain the night before and the morning of the race made for one mess of a trail. It also kept many of the racers at home sucking their thumbs. Our Pro/Expert field consisted of only 10 starters.

After walking around in the mud preparing my bike and registering for the race we finally lined up for the start. Off we went up the dirt road and into the first climb, where we all dismounted and walked through the mud.

At the top of the climb a group of 4 of us got away from the rest of the pack and we traded the lead until we were down to 3. I led the race for the first time this season for a few short minutes...but it was nice nonetheless.

Finishing lap one our group began to splinter and a gap formed both in front and behind me as I settled into 2nd place. Then it began to rain, and rain and rain for the remainder of the day. The trail became even more slippery and unpredictable. 3rd place was creeping up on me and my lone ride became a race again. The big climb was nearly impossible to ride and I saw many racers walking up it as I lapped the slower traffic beginning my 3rd and final lap.

With a little luck and a fair amount of pain I finished in 2nd place, still uncomfortably far from first but it's hard to complain about my best finish thus far in 2010. This race was also my first muddy race on 29" wheels and oh my they are the cat's ass in muddy conditions. Or just about any conditions for that matter. 29ers are here to stay as the top 3 guys at every race this year have been aboard the big wheeled machines....but like a said before....more on that in a later blog!

My next race will be Vulture's Knob Groovy Series #2 where I will have something to prove after my flat tire fiasco at the first race. Also there is the muddy paws dog race I will be doing with my Rottweiler "Sookie" the same day, I have a good feeling about this one!