You get what you pay for, and if you paid your entry fee at the 2004 U.S. National Cyclo-cross Championships, which opened Friday at the Portland International Raceway, you got mud and muck, and plenty of it. For a city that averages almost seven inches of rain during December, Portland was a predictably soggy host to the first race of the weekend, the championship for collegiate and under-23 women. UC-Berkeley Ph.D. student Melodie Metzger made the best of the mud bath, winning the collegiate title, while 2004 junior world championship silver medalist Rebecca Much (Alan Factory) added the U-23 stars-and-stripes jersey to her trophy case.

On a course with many wet spots that grew progressively less rideable through the race, Metzger’s luck held out just long enough for her to hold off a late-race push by Betsy Schauer (Pitt). Accumulated clinging mud snapped off Metzger’s rear derailleur on the final lap, opening the door for Schauer to close what had been a sizable gap. But Metzger got her spare bike out of the pits with just enough margin to hold off the charging Schauer.

“It was really epic. I race in Northern California, so I’m definitely not used to this,” said the 27-year-old Cal grad student. “Luckily I had a second bike, because without it I definitely would not have won. I don’t mind getting muddy, so it was fun.”

Much crashed a ton, had plenty of fun ... and won the under-23 title

Photo: Chris Milliman

Much, who is using ‘cross as a weekend distraction while a freshman at Colorado’s Fort Lewis College, said the crazy course conditions created a race in which whoever handled the mud the best and crashed the least would win.

“I don’t think I’ve ever crashed so much in my life,” said Much. “I went down pretty much everywhere, but it was definitely fun. I did some ‘cross races this fall, but I was so tired from the road season that my coach told me just to go out and have fun, and that’s what I’m doing.”

The collegiate and under-23 men’s title will be contested Saturday on a course that promises to change a great deal in the interim.

U.S. Cyclo-cross National Championships
Portland, Oregon. December 10

Collegiate women
1. Melodie Metzger, Cal-Berkeley, 40:48
2. Betsy Schauer, Pittsburgh, 40:50
3. Rebecca Much, Fort Lewis, 41:09
4. Daniele Staskel, Easton, 41:28
5. Caitlyn Tuel, Penn State, 42:03
6. Angela Su, Washington, 43:31
7. Mackenzie Dickie, 45:51
8. Megan Harrod, CU-Boulder, 46:04
9. Kristina Dominic, Ft. Lewis, 47:33
10. Marcia Jensen, Washington, 47:38

Under-23 women
1. Rebecca Much, Alan Factory, 41:09
2. Caitlyn Tuel, Penn State, 42:03
3. Tela Crane, Rad Racing NW, 42:36
4. Catherine Dudley, UNH, 43:31
5. Robyn Embrey, Starbucks, 48:56
6. Natalie Stoll, UNH, 50:56