O Cup no. 2 Woodnewton

Woodnewton has officially been renamed Mudnewton. After a solid 36 hours of rain, Woodnewton was a complete mud-fest.

I watched the temperature guage in the car drop steadily from 11 degrees to 5 degrees as we headed north towards Woodnewton. The cold, coupled with the rain meant that it was pretty chilly. I was just sorry I hadn't brought a woolly hat and gloves!

The rain meant that warming up wasn't very pleasant. While waiting at the starting line, we all got very cold. By the time I started, I couldn't feel my hands but once we got going I forgot about how cold I was and concentrated on the challenge of the muddy trails. But, my hands took a long time to warm up!

I usually start towards the back of the pack to allow me to suss things out and gives me space to adjust to race mode. But this might not be the best strategy as I use up a lot of energy weaving and trying to pass people. Maybe for the next one I'll move up a little bit. There were quite a lot of blockages on the early part of the course and there wasn't much space to pass.

I have never ridden in mud so my first round was a steep learning curve. When I came through the second time, I was much wiser. I capitalized on sticking to the outside on turns which meant that I was cycling on 'drier' areas and so I was not only able to keep the bike upright and moving forward but I was able to keep a reasonable speed up. On my first lap I didn't keep my pedal strokes smooth and constant but second time round I concentrated on just pedalling no matter how slippy the trail. It worked! And if it wasn't a race, I might have enjoyed playing around in the mud for a while longer.

I was most nervous about the small rock gardens and obstacles on the course that might become slick in the rain but as I approached them I kept telling myself to trust the bike. It can do it, even if I think I can't and .... it did. I sailed over all rocks and obstacles without a problem. (Granted some of them weren't very pretty, but I got there!).

After hosing Woodnewton off my bike, I was ready for a butter pecan tart and cup o' scald in the Bakery in Goodwood. Good times.

Roll on Hardwood Hills!