Today I did the Muddy Buddy Race for the second year in a row. The Muddy Buddy is a running and mountain biking race you do with a partner. I was supposed to do it with my neighbor Eric again, but he was cool enough to let me race with with my 14-year old nephew, Jordan. Thanks Eric! Yes, you're supposed to be 16 to race, but hey, what's wrong with a little heated competition from a young whipper-snapper.

I came into the race on the verge of a cold, plus I threw my back out the week prior playing Ultimate, so I had no training time whatsoever. Jordan's been kicking ass on his cross country team (they just won league championship), but he's never ridden a mountain bike before. So I had to basically show him how to switch gears in front of the house, on flat ground, which is not realistic at all. I also showed him how to change a flat, just in case. So basically, we had low expectations going into this and simply wanted to have fun. Our team name was Pythagorean's Serum.

Turns out, we actually did pretty well. We placed 25th in our division of 62 teams, and beat all of my riding buddies. So I had to rub it in a little.

I created this logo as a friendly reminder of how they got smoked and told them I'm going to make them t-shirts for Christmas. Then they all complained about how I basically "cheated" by using a minor and they joked about turning me into the Muddy Buddy authorities. So, I updated the logo to make them feel better about the situation. No more responses after that... I call that the virtual smack down.

There was also a kids race, which was a blast. The kids had to go through a small obstacle course then through the mud pit. I took Ethan through the course, but right when he got to the pit, he didn't want to go in. So I picked him up and started to walk through the mud, thinking that he might see it as fun. Instead, he started crying. So I'm stuck carrying him through the mud, trying not to laugh. My friends are on the sideline yelling "Throw him in! Throw him in!" I just couldn't. I saw those tears and with my luck it would've damaged him somehow and he would spend the rest of his life freaking out at the sight of dirt or something.

Ryann did the race with no problem. She tackled the obstacle course and basically tip-toed through the mud like a little girl. Totally appropriate.

Here are photos of the event. Can't wait for next year!

Labels: mountain bike, Muddy Buddy

Posted: 10/23/2005 08:14:00 PM | Comments (0) | Post a Comment