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Mud Wrasslin'

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Mud Wrasslin'

Old 01-06-07, 05:41 PM
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Mud Wrasslin'

I was dragging my butt up the last steepest hill on today's ride and just creeping along when I saw the most hilarious thing. It rained a lot yesterday and off to my left was a new house being built and the yard was torn up into a muddy mess-we're talking NC's finest muddy red clay. Off to the side of the foundations for the new house were two people rolling around in the mud. It was 98 miles into the ride and all kinds of thoughts were running through my mind. At first I really thought it was two females but as I got closer I could see it was a couple of young boys probably 10-12.

They were having the best time. Slinging mud, rolling around and splashing muddy water to where they were literally completely covered in mud. Their dad's were working on the new house but stopped working to look over at them and they laughed like crazy. I think they had a pickup truck so maybe the kids just rode in the back to get home.

It was one of those times that I really hated that I didn't have my camera with me. I wonder if Stapfam gets that muddy on his off-road rides????
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Old 01-06-07, 05:53 PM
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Here in Ohio "slinging mud" takes on a whole other meaning.

You're doing a century in January? A tip of my helmet jppe.
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Old 01-07-07, 02:57 AM
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Originally Posted by jppe
It was one of those times that I really hated that I didn't have my camera with me. I wonder if Stapfam gets that muddy on his off-road rides????
I have to admit that I do not intentionally roll in the mud but Why is it that I always seem to find the deepest mud when I do not have the strength to pedal through it? Worst out of the lot is on the Tandem. It takes a lot of Skill to keep that thing up at the best of times so you can imagine how many times I suddenly find myself inverted and wondering what happened.

Just a couple of incidents- Slight downhill and I decided to take My partners through and area that I knew would be deep mud. Put the speed on and as soon as I hit the deep mud, the front wheel stopped. Quick somersault and my skid mark was about 50 ft long. Then the best was when I was last in line along a really muddy path. The others kept falling off but they were showing me where not to go. Got to the end of the path and the last one fell off the Ridge in between the Ruts. I took the rut and it was deep watery mud. Only 10 yards to go and I accelerated. Going great and the front wheel fell into a hole. Quick somersault again and Splosh. At least 2 ft of water and apparantly I went right under. I can vouch for that as I was covered head to foot, front to back in white clay.

By far the best though is where there is a deep muddy patch and all the others gingerly creep along the edges to miss the mud. The Tandem cannot do that so it is speed up and try to stay upright through the middle. Ok if you have enough speed but anyone trying to stay clean by going along the edge will be covered in our wake.

Only problem though is when you get back- I am relegated to the Garage and the Dressing gown is thrown at me. But before that can be done- You have to clean the bike. Attachment is from one of our normal rides where we did not fall over but I had already changed into less muddy clothing
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Old 01-07-07, 08:31 AM
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When my sons were about that age we lived in a house that had a creek running behind the back yard. I called the creek a "boy magnet" because it always seemed to pull them down into it. Sometimes when they came up from the creek it wasn't possible to tell what color clothes they were wearing. It wasn't uncommon to hose them down outdoors to wash off the worst of the mud before letting them into the basement to take off their clothes.
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Old 01-07-07, 04:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Louis

You're doing a century in January? A tip of my helmet jppe.
Yeah.....we did a century on the same route for 6 straight weekends to build some base mileage. We had a surprisingly large number (30-60) to show for each one-many more than have done this in the past. This was the last of the 100 milers that have been planned. Coldest morning was 19 degrees and the warmest day was close to 70 degrees. We were really fortunate and missed any wet weather as well. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly my "riding" legs were able to come back. By the third week I felt like I had my legs from the summer. That was encouraging.
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Old 01-07-07, 05:09 PM
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How much elevation is included in that 100? One of the guys in our club who does triathlons is doing longish rides, keeping his heart rate low, to work on base strength. I've been working on hills, and trying to keep up with the fast guys on one ride a week this winter in an effort to build my base. So far, my program seems to be working better, as my avg. heart rate was quite a bit lower than the tri-guy's on a ride last weekend.
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Old 01-07-07, 06:18 PM
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When I was a kid up on the south plains of Texas the standard job for under 15 was "choppin cotton", and we tended to work in packs of maybe three to six boys for the summer. My family weren't farmers but lots of others were and there was always some work to be had. Sometimes the farmer would feed the lot of us at lunch, then we'd go out to a playa lake, 18 inches deep and 20 acres wide, choose up sides and have a mud fight to cool off. After the mud fight it was off to cattle trough to wash up and then back to work.
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Old 01-07-07, 07:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Terex
How much elevation is included in that 100? One of the guys in our club who does triathlons is doing longish rides, keeping his heart rate low, to work on base strength. I've been working on hills, and trying to keep up with the fast guys on one ride a week this winter in an effort to build my base. So far, my program seems to be working better, as my avg. heart rate was quite a bit lower than the tri-guy's on a ride last weekend.
This is what I would consider a very flat route and is designed to be just that to get in some decent miles without killing ourselves. There is only 3800 feet of climbing in the 100 miles. There are probably six to seven 1+ mile climbs that are 5-6% and then a number more that are 1/2 mile or less-rolling kind of stuff. The steepest climb is at 98 miles and tops out at 9% but you feel it pretty good. There are also several segments that are probably 5-9 miles long that are very flat where the pace can average 23-26 mph in a group without working very hard at all. It seems like 90% of the rides I do there's always steep hill near the end and this one is no exception!
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Old 01-07-07, 08:22 PM
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"The trouble with wrasseling in the mud with a pig is after a while no one can tell who you are and who,s the pig."

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