I was 4th in the B race at Hidden Valley on Sunday. I didn’t like this course last year, but things worked out for me this year. Compared to last year, there was a lot more mud and slightly fewer twists and turns. There were two mud sections that were faster to run, a log hop, which for me was a log dismount, a run-up and a set of barriers. The rest was mud, grass, turns, and straight. For me there were five dismounts per lap.

I had a good start, top 10 off the pavement, and stayed upright through the first muddy turns. After one lap I was 6th. I picked up two spots on the second lap and spent the rest of the race chasing, but not catching, 2nd and 3rd. Things went fine until I crashed 40 yards before the barriers on the last lap. It took me a while to get sorted out and back on the bike. Once I did get back on, 2nd and 3rd were gone, and 5th and 6th were uncomfortably close. I rode the rest of race to hang on to 4th.

There were lots of things I could have done better, but running those two mud sections helped a lot. They were way faster to run, and running didn’t seem to cost much energy, at least not as much as at HPCX. All in all I was happy with 4th.

Todd

Really nice job Todd.

nice work, todd!

what pedals are you using?

i had real problem on sunday: my spd's clogging with mud when i ran the crappy sections

I use Shimano XTR. I had some problems with clogging, but nothing too bad.

XTR: for the discerning gentleman

really though, that is hot result!

i have upgraded to cat3 cx for Staten, so you will have to show me what's up!

Pedals...I used to ride with Shimanos and found they clogged up on me all the time. I've never had similar problems with my crank brothers.

William you upgraded? Now I have to wait for a cat 3/4 race to throw down with you!