Smithville, Tx., Race #7- 05/15/10-05/16/10: I dont think the heavy stuff is coming for quite some time:

Just forget about the 3 inches of rain on Friday and the storm earlier in the week.

We’re mudders!  Our mudders were mudders!! We come from a long line of mudders and promote only the same.  Hell,  my shoes have been wet since November, and thats just how I do’s it.    Channo,  can  I get an AMEN??!!

Welcome back old friend. Its been a while, too long, much too long to enjoy a sweet ride  in  the piney woods of  Rocky Hill Ranch in Smithville,  Texas!! One big loop is all the elixir you need, dont need no multi-lap formats, we’re going out and back, see you in a bit, have a cold tall dog waiting for me. Man I like this trail but wish I could still get a 1/2 lb cheeseburger, jalapeno and all when Im done! Paul, cant you start running this place again?!

With such excellent weather we  decide to meet up at Lances station and punch our tickets to Crunk City!!.      11am, not a bad start, we just have an hour or so to go and just want to get a lil preride in before we get too deep in the tall dogs and all the other business of the day. After all, Godfather and OMW Hall of  Famer “Ready” Rob Remlinger will be making his presence known since this is his home course. Is that any good?!! Id love to have Rocky Hill in my back yard!! Looks like a fat ass double cheeseburger (or multiple double stacks ) from Wendys is the hole filler along with copious adult beverages and we are east bound and down! All crunked up when we get there and barely make it past the check in folks. Hey Lance just give them a wad of bills, they will work it out. Or will they? Can anyone count around herrrrr?

Lets see, best spot for camping?  close to the action, right off the starting area, room to roam around and be loud. Yeah, we got it!!   Pop up in full effect, canopy upright, jammin cooler that goes to 11, blowing it up!!  Dont let me forget the new OMW Racing bike rack that Sean so graciously developed! Holds all our pigs!! I guess we should think about a preride sometime soon.  You know its down right wet, dont you? I mean its not clumpy mud, but its a bit nasty and gnarly in places, mostly just WET! There are a couple creek crossings and they all have water in em. Ok more like 108 creek crossings, all with varying degrees of dampness.  No worries and we’re taking it all in.  9 mile cut off?? Not on a tummy of tall dogs n such!! We re gonna keep going. Keep going all the way around, 21 miles! What happened to those bail out markers???? Oh well, its in the bag now, wheres my koozie???

Dinner at Robs Back Door Cafe in Smithville.  Janet and the girls hooked us up!!! Pizza, with the Shiner bock crust, shrimp, crawfish, chicken, salad, all so very delicious, Even Eduardo said so in English and he’s not so good with English. Head on back to camp and get our drink on, carbo loading for the big day ahead.   One by one they all fall down. Next think you know its Dan, Lance, and Channo holding the fort.  Same as usual yo!! So were all 3 fighting it,  waiting for the other to call it when we get the call…  Josh is bout to leave Austin to come represent on Sunday!! Its 10:00 at night!! He wont be here til 11pm!! Guess we better refresh and reload, which we  do.  Josh makes it right on time and its not long and we re all out for the night. Dreams of piney trails and fat chuck, WHAT?

And now an excerp from Channo:

“Now I’m sure most folks were cringing as the thunder began a deep, heavy roll on Friday, raining out their weekend parade…but no, not I. I was grinning ear to ear…No, not those of us known as The Band of Merry Mudders. Mudders are in hog heaven come race day after a nice heavy T-storm has had its way with the land; blowing through and leaving in its wake some of mother nature’s own homemade soup- It’ll cure what ails ya!!

…now if only we could manage to work in a few creek crossings…”

Sunday morn comes early and Josh is first to go at 9:30, so theres time to change his tube out, wait youre not supposed to see the tube bubble out of the side wall, right? Oh and BTW, Cat 3 goes off at 9am, not 9:30, Einstein, your group is staging!! “Moments  Notice” Bailey manages to buy a tire, fix the flat, jockey up to the line, and he’s gone. May the force be with you young Jedi. The rest of us dont go til 10:30, but its good and muggy now! you can feel the moisture coming up off the ground.  Its gonna be hot and humid today.  We still still got Eduardo, Tom,  Rob, Lance,  Shannon,  and Dan to represent. With all the rain the organizers have had to reroute the start to bypass  “Greys way” and its stickity ickity clay mess,  and head straight up the jeep road to Fat Chucks Revenge.  Thats a good 3/4 of a mile with 2 fairly steep and stubburn type climbs just to get past Fat Chucks. I saw my share of guys already blown up at this point and we’re not to the single track yet. The course is wet but thankfully not “wheels wont roll” muddy. So we are able to get around essentially unscathed but wet.  Some new trail is fun to crush and some old familiar ones as well. Overall a great 21 mile jaunt thru the piney woods.

And OMW Racing was fast today!! Well most of us at least.

Eduardo takes the win AGAIN!!! Blows the field away, I think he caught most the singlespeeders. Shannon gets the podium with a 3rd place finish.  Tom pulls down 4th to solidify his good standing in the overall.  Dan doesnt shine today and manages only 17th on the day. Josh gets 21st.   Rob brings home 13th in the SS  group as well.  Lance flats twice and makes the call to walk it in for points….  from 10 miles out!! Are you Sh!#ing me?! He got his points though bitches!! AND  a slap on the butt as Dan passed him on the trail! MMMM the sweet nectar of 12 tall dogs coming my way from that catch!!  Wheres my rabbit?!!

Another great weekend of riding our bikes all over this great state of Texas!! Better check the overall standings, looks like we have 5 guys in the top 10 (make that top 6,  WYB!!). We are off to the TMBRA Texas State Championship finale, The Mellow Johnnys Classic . This one  is  out at Lance Armstrongs  Juan Pelota Ranch in Dripping Springs, Tx.  and is gonna be played out on Memorial day weekend. It just happens to be by our favorite swimming hole at the Hickman Hideout, so we’re gonna have our own zip code once again!!

We hope to see everyone at The Mellow Johnny’s Classic in Dripping Springs, Tx. , Memorial Day Weekend, when we will put it all on the line and collect our hardware for the 2010 TMBRA Series Overall Standings, then back to  my place for the OMW fiesta!!

OMW BITCHES!!!

to be continued…..bitches!