HPCX 2011

Wow, that was definitely the muddiest course I've ever ridden, it might have been the muddiest course I've ever seen. It made Nittany look like a couple of dinky mud puddles.

I was glad to get down for the race, after our Beacon plans were nixed by the incredible amount of snow we got on Saturday. We lost power around noon, and water shortly after that. We cooked on the wood stove and melted snow for water, and I shoveled the driveway three times. All afternoon and evening we heard the distant (and sometimes not so distant) BOOM and CRACK of branches and trees coming down. Today the two lane road by our house looks like singletrack. Plus our basement sump pump stopped without power, so every few hours we've been siphoning it out with a garden hose. But that's another story.

So getting down to HPCX was a welcome escape of sorts. The park itself looked quite beautiful, the leaves were still on the trees, and a fair bit of snow on the ground. But wow, the course was the biggest mess I've ever seen. I did part of a warm up lap, but bailed because my drivetrain was loading up with mud and starting to make bad noises.

Getting to start on the second row was a huge advantage. After a short pavement section, the course turned up into a muddy climbing section that would be a big mess during a crowded start. I got into the top 10 somewhere, and traded spots with the same group for a while. I was able to make up good time on the muddy climbs, usually by running, but lost it on the flats or more technical sections. Twice I wiped out pretty good, once on each side, just to spread out the mud evenly.

Finished 8th, good race, liked the mud more then expected. I rode the Captain CX tubeless, which seemed to do quite well. I could feel the rims hitting on some of the deeply rutted parts, but no problems.

Edit: check out Shippensburg's photos, they capture the mud quite well. The entire course was like that.

More photos here, from swanson22. Excellent photos, really shows the mud.

Also, check out the HPCX photos and videos from the cxmagazine.com website.