18 Hours from a Rookie...WOW!

The beginning of the race is much a blur. I remember arriving a few hours early to make sure all of my things were in place for the night, but in no time it seems like we were at the start line waiting for the “GO”. The pace was pretty slow around the gravel roads with several people trying to push towards the front. I kept thinking “man, this is an 18 hour event, who cares if you enters the woods first.” I was nervous to say the least and kept remembering what Todd had told me just before the start “don’t blow your load on the first lap.” No doubt that was the mindset of me and everyone around me with a few guys seemingly struggling to make it through the roots and up the short steep climbs that litter the Scout Camp.

The course this year was awesome!! Ed really did a nice job of adding a few miles of trail (several of which I was able to help build) and Billy insisted on adding some gravel around mile 7. This was a nice welcome on every lap, as was the vuvuzela that one of the camps was blowing on this short gravel section. The real relief to the gravel section was that you knew only a few miles were left once you re-entered the woods.

At the end of lap 1, I started to panic when I looked over at our camp and saw somebody sitting. This person had dark hair, and that was all I could see. I immediately started yelling “hey Todd, hey Todd”, but the person didn’t move. When I got to timing, I yelled for Todd and he was of course there waiting for me. Todd was off in no time at all; “check” first transition went smoothly. Turns out that Matt Juaneza had come to join us for a few hours to hang out at the camp and he was the dark haired person that didn’t moved when I yelled.

When I got back to camp I was thinking the laps would take about an hour. Then I got to thinking, how the heck would I know when an hour was up? I started mixing my drinks to consume over the next hour and Heed for the next lap. As I sat down, it hit me that I had luckily brought my watch that had a chronograph on it. So I grabbed that and sat down for the quickest 30 minutes of my life. Soon it was time to get to the transition area for lap 2. I checked my tire pressure and was out. This turned out to be my routine for the next several laps.

While waiting for with the Bike Factory guys for Todd in the staging area for lap 3, I was listening to them talk about how fast they were turning laps and how they all felt great. (I had no idea how fast my laps actually were at this point) There was a vibe that the leaders (Gordon and Jay) would not be able to maintain their fast laps and these two Bike Factory teams would soon be catching them. When Todd appeared, he said he had passed one of the other teams to move us up a spot. I picked off one of the 4 man teams during my 3^rd lap so I was thinking we must be doing alright. But then I realized that I hadn’t looked at the standings and had no idea what place we were in. Lap 3 came and went as did lap 4. I felt pretty good as the night set in. I knew my laps were getting slower, but felt it was a pace I could maintain.

After lap 4 (or so??), somebody told me we were in second. I thought cool, but didn’t know if this was second overall or second in class. Either way, I was happy with that. At the beginning of the race, I was talking with some friends and we were discussing the strong teams in the duo field. Seemingly heavy hitters for sure and I was thinking Todd and I may finish somewhere in the top five, or may get lucky and squeak onto the podium.

During lap 5, it was dark and it really hit me that I wasn’t sure I could continue to do this for another 8 hours. The air was thick and the roots were slick after the dew had fallen. This also had the affect of making the trail nice and tacky so you could really rail the turns. I had become much more comfortable with the short downhill sections of the course and was really flying down them. These were a blast! This was the first lap that I hadn’t really seen anybody on which would become the norm for the rest of the race. I saw several huge frogs around the lakes. It was crazy!!

I saw Paul in the pits after lap 5. He was hanging out and about to call it a night. Since there was only two singlespeeders, he figured 2^nd place was locked up for him. Paul said he was going over to the showers in the fort, so I headed over there as well hoping the shower would straighten me out a bit. It was a nice break from the hectic pit area for sure. Unfortunately I came back just as screwed up as when I had left. I was mentally drained and physically hurting from some serious chaffing I had picked up. I have never had a problem with chaffing so I didn’t bring anything to prevent it or treat it. Serious mistake!! During lap 6 I could hardly let my ass touch the seat. It was burning bad. When I came back around, I told Todd that I would have to sit the next one out. I just didn’t have it in me. I felt HORRIBLE for screwing Todd like that!! Todd is a machine and powered through though.

I could see the sun starting to peak over the horizon when Todd entered the transition area to pass me the chip for my lap 7 (as it turns out, I really didn’t know which lap I was on at this point). My legs and lungs were still strong, but the chaffing didn’t let up. I decided half way through that this would have to be my last lap. Looking back on it I really feel like I gave up on myself and Todd. Paul mentioned that I would feel really bad if I gave up. You know, he was right and I still feel bad about it.

I will be better prepared for my next endurance race due to this experience. The key is to make the most of your down time and the only way to do that is to prepare everything before hand. I didn’t do enough of this so I ended up doing bike maintenance, mixing bottles and picking out food to eat during my breaks. While it would be nice to have someone do your bike maintenance for you, this is inevitable. But mixing your bottles and organizing food is something that can be done ahead of time. Preparing for any sort of medical problems is a must and any rubbing must be addressed immediately before it goes too far. Food, can’t say enough about food. You HAVE to eat to maintain your energy. I felt nauseous during lap 3 and never ate enough after that. I also found that I didn’t finish my bottles during the laps like I had planned on doing. I'm looking forward to entering more races like this one next year and will be at the Camps Honor for sure. Hopefully Todd and I can improve for next year.

BTW: Paul is awesome and woke up to do a few more laps to win the singlespeed category.

PS: I will try and get some pics up for my next post..doh.

Days of the NUE

This year’s National Ultra Endurance races have been a tough bunch and you never quite know what adventure awaits when rolling out from the start. The weather has often been quite bad and I’ve had a few hard spills. One thing is for sure, every hundred mile MTB race is an adventure in itself. Epic conditions and intense days on the bike have helped to forge a stronger rider in me.

The Cohutta 100 - April 24th
Rain the night before the race had made the trails nice and tacky. A long paved climb at the start crested and tuned right into fun and flowing single track. I surged around a group to make up some lost time and pinned it on a paved section approaching a wooden bridge. My brain did not compute how slippery it would be and I tossed myself and the bike across the bridge at about 20mph. Later, I noticed my rear brake dragging and was getting quite annoyed with the squeal of the disk rubbing on every revolution of my rear wheel up the big climbs. I would find out later that it was more than just a pad out of adjustment...

After more single track and the start of the 65 mile forest road section, it became soul crushing when a thunderstorm engulfed myself and others midway up the longest climb at about 45 miles into the race. The torrential sheets of water mocked me as I rolled into the aid station and paused before continuing up the rest of the major climb. Rain washed stinging sweat into my eyes as I approached. For extended moments I was essentially riding blind. At the aid station, I fished my bottles and gels from my drop bag as I shivered in the downpour that was relentlessly stripping any body heat I had left as it washed over my skin. Struggling with my rain shell, my arms cramped and my upper body pretzel’ed. Things seemed very bleak.

This single moment is the only time I have seriously debated dropping out of a MTB Century. But, I decided I had come with a purpose and I was going to get my hundred miles. I pushed through the rest of the big climb, riding way off the beaten tire tracks on the fire road. At this point the road had two rivers running down the double tracks. I looked forward to hard pedaling because I desperately needed the warmth. 50 deg F and pouring rain will drain you down fast if you don’t generate some serious body heat.

Riding in those demoralizing conditions with another 50 miles to go seemed to unearth the dark corners of my mind, and bring them sharply into focus. I felt anguished while remembering my cat and friend Lemmy, whom I had just lost to an illness that starved the life from him. I recollected all to vividly how he struggled to stay alive as the long night refused him another dawn. In that moment I became intimately reacquainted with the sense of helplessness I had tried to forget. Struggling to crest the mountain and escape down the other side, the realization that I was not helpless to finish what I had started became clear. That’s when I knew there were 50 more miles I would ride, no matter what.

While I rode the last mile of paved path to the finish, a fresh thunderstorm kicked up and gusts of gale force winds and rain tried to blow me back to the mountain. I pressed on cursing the rain and laughing madly back at the storm like King Lear. For sure, this was one of the toughest days I've had on a bike.
132 Finished open men, I placed 109th in 10:52, almost an hour off last years finish

Mohican 100 - June 5th
I love the Mohican 100. It’s one of my favorite races and has loads of fun single track. The forecast was for partly sunny skies and I could only hope for a bit drier race. I woke up at about 4:00AM as multiple waves of thunderstorms rolled through and dumped all over our campsite and the Mohican wilderness. As I got dressed I just hoped that it would not be raining when we started the climb out of Loudonville. As fate would have it, conditions cleared up nicely for our start on the road and gravel.

Plunging into the single track, it quickly became clear just how muddy the day would be. Slithering back to the campground via single track muddied us all considerably and proved slower than usual. The next fun and flowing 15 miles in the Mohican State Park were great, and not in too bad of shape. There was a long wood bridge with a turn in the middle that was covered in rain, and a thin coating of muck from the racers that came before me. The folks helping and taking pictures cautioned us to slow and watch out for the Death Bridge…I slowed and let out a “Yee-Haw” for the photographers… and then promptly crashed on the wet planks.

The remaining 80 mile of the race was very challenging because of all the peanut butter mud sections that required extra strength from all corners of the body. Also, a pretty nasty storm kicked up and I was again caught out riding in a tempest. I found out later that the storm system spawned tornados nearby. At the last section of the course, I was glad that a really nasty short wall of a climb had been re-routed at the campground where the race ended. There was however a very full stream to negotiate while hoisting my bike overhead. Crossing the finish line, I collected my pint glass and washed away some of the mud… then swapped war stories and recollected the challenges of the day.
190 started open men, I finished 64th in 11:06
There were 90 DNFs in open men.

Wilderness 101 - August 3rd
Ah… Pennsylvania trails. You had better like rocks, cause that’s what your gonna get. They are not the insurmountable hike a bike type of rocks, but rather a carpet of smaller pummeling instruments. The weather forecast looked good, maybe a 100 miler this year for me without all the epic thunderstorms and rain.

The race rolled out of Coburn park at controlled pace behind a lead out vehicle. This was a nice section to get the legs warmed up before pulling the trigger on the 1st gravel climb. Sure enough this day was starting beautiful and the weather would remain that way.

My friend Clarke has a nickname for me, it’s the “Cro” as in “Cro Magnon”. You see, at times I am like those prehistoric ancestor of man who probably approached some things in an adrenaline fueled, fight or flight responses. I like to go fast in single track. I’m better at killing trails than speeding up long gravel climbs. So, when we got to the entrance of the first section of trail, I should have heeded the warning a couple of cheerleaders were chanting… something… something…”watch the rocks, watch the rocks!”

I was feeling my oats and quickly overtaking riders in front of me so I decided to pass. “On your left” as I tried to weave around a rider in the grass next to the rocky trail. Just then, a strange and sudden feeling filled my senses. There was that sickening violent fling and moment of weightlessness as I arced over the bars and into the rocks my front tire had just met. Ouch! My limp carcass littered the trail and I lamely pulled my bike to me so other racers would not run into it. It was going to be a long day and Pennsylvania had just let me know where I was.

The rest of the race unfolded with out too much drama for me, just a few folks who felt they should point out I was a little dusty, thanks guys… The last abandoned train tunnel you go through is full of rocks and the line is on the right. Some how I ended up NOT on the right… and then my front tire found another big rock and I spewed some profanity as I met the rocks once again. My calf seized in a cramp as I tried to pick myself up, and I must have looked strange as a collapsed pretzel of man and bike. Ah… Pennsylvania.

Overall I finished a bit bruised, but not broken and with my best time yet of 9:52.
205 open men started, I placed 96th



Next up - Shenandoah Mountain 100 !
Cheers, Jeff Plassman