The Terror of Teaberry

There certainly is a reason for that name.  I think it's going to be haunting me for weeks.

Went out with CB the day before to camp out, and relax under the stars for a bit.  It was a great night, until I was awakened with the imposing sound of rain falling on the tent.  I thought, 'well, hopefully it won't rain too much tonight, and at least it should be nice tomorrow.'

We woke up to just a little bit of standing water.

Woke up with the tent basically floating in about an inch of water.  It could have been worse, at least it didn't leak.  Got moving slowly with my usual coffee and oatmeal ritual, did a quick once over on the bikes, and time to line up.  Line up on the road, getting ready to go, and all of a sudden "OK, everyone drop your bikes!!"  Wonderful, a le mans start.  I really dislike running.  Especially in mountain bike shoes.  They sent us out on about a half mile or so jog through the woods, back to the bikes, and we're off.

Head down a pretty cool rocky down hill, to a long double track climb, where for a short time I was ahead of the eventual winners of the single speed class.  That was about to change as it turned downhill, as these guys were all locals, and knew the perfect line to fly down the hill.  Alternated for a few miles between double track down hills, and tight singletrack climbs, eventually coming out on a long double track climb, before the fun really started.

Hook a right at the top of the climb, and the rocks started, and I guess that you can say the dirt ended.  Up until this point, I was back and forth with my friend Aaron, and I started putting a little gap on him.  All that I remember about this section is that it was mostly rideable, but I just kept losing my momentum, and had a hard time getting moving again.  Finally got through it, down some cool switchbacks, climb back up, and there's the aid station.

Heading down the road a bit, back into the woods to where the true terror begins to show itself.  Think big rocks, with rock ramps leading up to them, and rock dropoffs on the other side, onto rocks.  On the edge of a cliff at times.  I kept thinking that this would be a great place to screw around and try to learn how to get through it, just not so much racing in it.  A couple of times, I just had to stop and laugh, and think "really??  you want me to do what to get past that?  MAYBE if it was dry, no way in hell when it's wet."  Oh, I forgot to mention that it was still raining.  Not bad, just enough to make everything interesting.  Maybe a little too interesting.  I saw a couple of people getting close to me from time to time, including Aaron, but I was somehow able to slip away.

After that section, it really wasnt too bad.  Made it to the next aid station, where I caught another singlespeeder who was stopped when I got there, and was still there when I left.  I've really been making an effort to not screw around at the stops, and I think it's been paying off.  The trail from here was alternating single and double track, mostly climbing, with a couple spots of pretty serious exposure to a steep, long drop down to the creek.  I saw one guy in the 20 mile race almost topple over the hill.  He was a bit shaken up.  Near the top of this climb was where I caught Montana, which I couldn't believe.  He is still recovering from the Breck Epic, I suppose.

Near the end, I finally caught up with an Indy Fab rider, who passed me while I was filling my bottles at aid station 1.  Was able to get past him on the road climb, and had a decent gap on him going into aid station 3, where I stopped at to get a litte bit of water, because I was completely out again.  I should have asked how long it was to the finish, as I thought that we had 8 miles to go, when in reality we only had 4.   We battled it out in the single track, when I finally conceded, and let him past me.  What I didn't realize, is that we were about 100 yards from the finish, and he was able to take 5th place from me. 

 I'm tired

In the end, I am just glad to have finished, when so many people didn't.  I'm pretty happy with 6th place at this race, especially since 4 of those that beat me were locals, and 2 of them built most of the trails.  I'm also happy that I beat my goal of 5 hours by a little bit.  I know, 5 hours isn't much of a goal for a 36 mile race, but this was far from a normal race.  I am also especially happy to not have broken myself, or my bike at this one.  Time to rest up a little bit before some more craziness....

so much for that

So, I think that I said I would keep up with this blog a little better?  Um, maybe not.

It's been a pretty hectic summer, trying to keep up with the work and race schedules, along with life, and some things sometimes fall aside.

Raced at Cooper's Rock, WV this weekend, and had a great time destroying myself.  I was ok, but my cranks are now dead.  Sweating a little bit waiting for the new set to come in, to prepare for the Shenandoah 100 this weekend.  Getting a little nervous about gearing and tires, and I'm hoping to hold on to 5th place singlespeed in the NUE series.  Hopefully.  One day soon, I'll get around to catching up on here.

Really.

Now it's time to ride the fixie through the woods again on the way to work.  Hopefully I won't get yelled at by the railroad construction guys today as I run across the tracks.

Mohican 100 part 2

Talking to different people over the last week, it seems as if there was a disturbing trend following the Mohican mudfest..

I've heard it before, but this is the first that I've experienced it.... Muddy farmland and bike racing do not mix well in your gut, if you know what I mean....   I really wasn't feeling very well last week after the race.  I thought it may have been the post race BBQ, but no.  Looks like it was just too much mud....

Mudhican 100

Hello new blog.  Figured I would start out with a mudfest race report from one of, if not the, hardest raceever on a bike, The Mohican 100....

A view of the storm from inside of our bug shelter.

We managed to survive in hurricane like conditions camping the night before.  Actually, I guess that they were tornado-like conditions, since the town's tornado warning siren was going off...

Steevo explains the finer points of holding down a dead man's shelter

What was supposed to be a fast, fun course, was a horrible slop fest, due to a week of heavy rain.  Despite this, nearly 600 people lined up to start either the 100 mile, or the 100k version of this grueling event.

I was able to start out near the front of the field, and although I didn't hang in there, I would have to say that I was around the 50th into the woods, which really wasn't too bad.  Until we hit the mud, that is.  Let's just say that the first couple of miles of trail involved nearly as much walking as it did riding...

The first 30 miles of singletrack really sucked a ton of energy out of the field, and by aid station 3, it appeared that many people were dropping out of the race.  Either that, or they just decided to take a little nap.  After aid 3, I pretty much rode alone for the rest of the race, eventually catching up with Montana and cruising along with him for awhile, until I managed to drift away from him at around mile 70 or so.  Spent about 25 miles back and forth riding with John Gorilla, and he sure rode like he was one.  Managed to get him at the line for 6th place by 8 seconds.  I thought we were racing for 4th. Oh, and he was racing with a broken wrist, on his singlespeed.  Made me feel weak.  Need to train harder.

Steevo and I had planned on staying there again after the race, and hitting up a road race in Youngstown, OH the following day, but instead drove back to Pittsburgh, and I was able to sleep in a warm dry bed, as opposed to a cold wet sleeping bag.  I think we made the right choice.