Last weekend’s Verge New England races at Pineland Farm in New Gloucester, Maine were a mix of torrential rain, mud and then sunshine. Despite the colder temperatures, I was excited to race in the mud and spend the weekend at my sister’s house. I was especially excited to have she and her kids come and make a huge, noisy racket at the race on Sunday. The field of racers looked competitive and the newly designed racecourse had several challenging hills and technical turns. Adding some serious mud on top of it made it an especially difficult course.

Off the start line things were looking pretty bad for me as the field seemed to collide and collapse leaving me and one other rider on the ground tangled in bikes as the rest of the riders took off. After untangling our bikes, we took off after the rest of the field that were now clear over the hill on to the muddy course. I was forced to run with my bike in order to get rolling to pop my chain back onto the front chain ring before getting my momentum back. There was no doubt about it: I was off the back.

Once I got going, I was able to push through the mud and keep the pace high as I moved through the field of riders. On the second lap, I was able to catch back on to the lead group and work with a few riders to catch the leader on the final lap. In spite of my disastrous start, I moved into the lead on a muddy run-up and I picked up the pace into the last few turns holding off two riders, taking the win!

It had rained all night long but the sun was brightly shining in the morning and the temperatures were forecast to be up in the 60’s. My sister, our friend Angela and their kids gathered up all of their noise making toys and instruments and headed to the race to be my cheering fans.

I happily stayed upright at the start and immediately worked into third spot before working my way to the front of the race on the first big climb. The mud was even thicker than the day before due to the sun drying things out a bit, making it slippery, super muddy and technical.

I stayed on the front, trying to ride consistently and with as few mistakes as possible. I increased my lead a little bit each lap and held onto another win for the weekend!

Thanks to Julie and Jed, Angela, McKayla, Courtney and Bella for the great host housing and cheering! Also, a big thanks to John Columbus for taking care of my equipment on Saturday while Matt was away at a conference.

Two more tidbits of news for you: After my wins in Maine I learned that I am still leading the USAC cyclocross standings! Also, to celebrate my success in Maine, Seven Cycles has a special promotion going on now. You can get your custom Seven Mudhoney cross bike in just three weeks! Check out Seven Cycles to read more and see some great photos!

Next up, we travel to the Mid Atlantic for two of my favorite races on the calendar. Thanks for reading!

Cyclingnews - Day1

Cyclingnews - Day2

Velonews - Day1

Velonews - Day2

Cyclocross Magazine - Day1

Cyclocross Magazine - Day2

MM Racing 2009 Calendar of Events:

11/7+11/8 CycleSmart Cyclocross Northampton, MA
11/13+11/14 USGP Mercer Cup Mercer, NJ
11/21+11/22 NACT Whitmore’s Super Cup Southampton, NY
11/28+11/29 Baystate Cyclocross Sterling, MA
12/5+12/6 USGP Stanley Cup Portland, OR
12/12+12/13 USA National Championships Bend, OR

Photo above Natalya B