Mohican 100k - 60 Miles of Smiles 2011 (well sort of...)

When I tell people I know about doing 100k or 100 miles on a mountain bike they always gasp and then say, "how long does that take you?"
It's a tough question to answer. Usually, I say "it depends" begging them to ask the question, depends on what?

Glen(L) - Me

Well it depends on a million variables. Well, maybe not a million but there are quite a few out there. There are two examples I could give that might help. You start the day with a deck of cards.

Each time your heart rate goes over your max you hand out a few cards. Each time you stand up on your pedals off the saddle you hand out a few more cards. The bigger the effort, the higher value cards you must hand out. Every time you forget to eat or drink at the right time, you hand out more cards. Each effort early in the race will determine what is left in your deck at hour 4, hour 5, ect. This theory is not as supercrucial (just made up that word) in a 100k race as it is in a 100 mile race for sure.

The F'in Start

But back to my variable, "it depends". Since I am an ex-audio engineer, lets just think about the variables between a band recording in a controlled environment and playing outside live on a stage. Let's see, we have; controlled temperatures-no control over the temperature, comfort - your saddle, thermostat control-sun, couch-no couch (unless you ride a downhill bike), access to catering - access to only the food/water you can carry or obtain at designated stops, well you get the idea. There is no substitute for training on the bike and trails you are racing, unless you are some gifted athlete, for which I am not.

After several weeks now have passed, I have some good perspective on my Mohican race effort. I think I did pretty good for my age and fitness level. I managed to hold my own with the Top Women 100k finishers that are about half-my-age and was within 1 minute of the Female 100k winner from the last three years. That is the high point for me, she was in my sights just after Aid 3 and as we climbed that stupid hateful gravel road climb, I locked out my fork, put it in the 26 x 32 and gave it the bizz-ness to stay with Amanda. She just slowly rode away after the crest of the hill and around a corner. I was gassed after making that climb, hindsight, maybe the 11/32 cassette wasn't the best choice :)
Start to Aid 1
I spent 2-minutes at Aid 1 (Mile 20) where my team sponsor, BikeSource was supporting the racers and that aid station, they were all supportive and very helpful. BWE was there along with my friend Ben, who raced all those hundie's with me, Ray and Layne last year. It was great to have the help and support and know I was on my targeted time to Aid 1 of 2-hours. 1:50 would have been better, but with all the traffic, you just don't realize how much, sitting behind a few people here and there and waiting for them to move over, eats up precious seconds and minutes overall. I had eaten and drank what I needed to up to Aid 1 and was hopefully on track to get to Aid 2 in an hour 30. With my little camelbak and bottle refilled and pedaling away from Aid 1 with BikeSource Sawmill store manager Dan screaming at me, I put my head down to some of my favorite parts of the Mohican loop. I knew that stupid gas-line hill bike push and horse trail water bar section was near, then descending down across Route 3 and up that slog to Aid 2. Mentally, I was ready for the slog into the horse trail, what I had forgotten about was the bike push up through the boulder hill from hell. I did have my only wipe out of the day prior to the creek crossing in this area, I was looking at the creek on my approach, decided the best line was to swing wide and hit the creek crossing, well, as I swung wide, my front tire buried itself into the sand, flat rock and threw me down like a cartoon character. I really thought I broke my elbow (which already had been broken and is pretty ugly as it is) and considered sitting there for a few minutes with my elbow in the cold creek. I thought, I better get up and pedal away and just see what I could handle after that - my elbow was throbbing and I had to change my upper arm/forearm descending technique to take the pressure off my right arm until aid 3.
Aid 1 to Aid 2
After I crossed Route 3 and headed up to Aid 2, I reviewed the time, it had been more than 90 minutes, I wasn't going to make my time goal. I had to just slug on, get some fresh water to drink, lube up my chain and keep my time in Aid 2 to a minute. Upon riding up the hateful short steep hill, riders around me that I hadn't seen since the start, were starting to crack. I watched many of them flop down at Aid 2 like an overheated African lion, as a small group of us entered into the Aid. I got my water, chain lube and ran up the hill and bounced on my saddle with any cyclocross effort I had left at Mile 34. The benefit of leaving Aid 2 is the realization you are about half-way in the 100k.
Aid 2 - to Aid 3
I used it to my advantage and buckled down to gain some time back. There is much road riding after Aid 2 and I needed to find a few wheels to sit on for these sections. I managed to do just that, I found 4/5 guys that were all on 29ers except one other guy, who like me was on the tiny wheels - we all hauled ass at 20 mph plus, up and down on the rollers. I sat on, in true sandbagger fashion, not doing any work, since I was already suffering, pedaling my little wheels off and trying to find a good draft. Everytime the hill went straight up, we all separated to each side of the road hill and settled in for some slow speed, high cadence suffering, once at the top, we would re-group and hit it again. We did this all the way till the left hand entrance to the Mohican Wilderness "mountain bike trail". Two guys from our group from Team Dayton (cross racers) immediately pulled over about 500 feet into the trail. My plan from the get go here, was to get through this stupid poorly designed rock laden trail in once piece and put some distance on anyone behind me, by letting go of the brakes and pushing my bike hard. I managed to ride this section really well and I felt really great, popping out near Aid 3 and realizing I had to do that stupid loop up around the corn field in order to get back to Aid 3. No worries, this was mile 46 or so coming up and the end was near. I was hoping the BWE (BestWifeEver) would be at Aid 3 to bring me back to life. She was - thank you.
I was in and out in less than 4/5 minutes.
Aid 3 to the Finish
With a renewed zest and knowing I only had "about 15 miles or so to go" I was off to chase down some folks sit on wheels where I could and gain back some time. I was starting to feel the stomach issues coming on and had a few moments of cramping starting on the inside of my quads. I held them off by standing and pushing a hard gear. About this time, I see a blur of a Specialized 29er dual suspension bike and pro (100 Mile racer) Mike Simonson (i think) come blowing by me about 25 mph. I thought for a moment I could stand up, wind things up to a frenzy and try to keep at least part of that pace for a short time. That was not in the cards. I would have run for 1/2 a mile with my bike if I knew it would keep the cramps at bay. I knew there was a hateful climb coming up off the paved road. I remembered in years past walking up this beast, but this year I was going to dig deep and make it happen on the bike and try to stay with Amanda. As I started up, I was about 15 minutes in and heard panting, it was a guy from cyclocrosser and Team Dayton (Jeff Schoeny)(who also had dropped his teammate Peter Hills somewhere since we left Aid 3), rolling by me about 2 mph faster. He was closing the gap to Amanda faster than I was. I managed to get over the top and see them, ride away downhill together, but I was gassed at the top and needed some time to recover, before I could go again - blasted 32 cassette. I sailed through as fast as I could the next few sections and down that crazy rocky section before popping out onto Route 3 (see pic). I roll down to Rt. 3 make the loop under the bridge and head over to aid 5 - and yell out for a coke. I grab a cup and drink and go - thank you local bike shop volunteers. I head into the woods and see a local Rogue rider right on my wheel, I dig deep and try to keep him at a distance, as soon as the trail when up my legs said ummm no sir. He hollered and I let him come by. I tried to keep him within a distance and drank and ate some food where I could. As we reached the last peak of the trail, I started feeling better and started to really put down some metal and gain back the gap. I let him know I was behind and he really ramped up his game. We both had a grand ol' time flowing through that single-track. I knew if I could sit on and push him, he might run out of gas, before we hit the camp ground. I was starting to feel better and better. The end was near. As we blew out of the single track, I made my "move" and came around him and he got on my wheel through the shit course sections in the campground. The further into the campground we went, the bigger the gap (1000 meters or so?) As we approached the gravel across the camp sites, near the last straight, Rogue man was still there, I put in the rest of anything I had to try to make sure I was ahead of him, just cause, we are all competitive, even after 60 miles. We made the last right hand turn, into the gates and through the timing and across the finish line - 6 Hours 47 Minutes later.





Rogue Guy: Otherwise known as Dave Placke and overall great dude riding for a great team in the Dayton/Cincy area. Dave was right there with me and only 10secs behind me. He is competitive too after 60 miles.




Here's a video I found on the interweb: