Made a family weekend out of the Mohican 100. Borrowed my dad's 24 foot motorhome and took off just before lunchtime on Friday. It was a bluebird day and having ignored the radar forecasts I was optimistic that the rain would stay away and that the course would dry out for Saturday.
We arrived at around 1:30PM, checked into Mohican Adventures campground and set up our camp/pit. By 2pm a nasty storm rolled in that produced legitimate golf ball size hail. After about 30 minutes it cleared up. No worries until it stormed again about an hour later. After that storm I replaced my chain and cassette and promptly set off for a quick pre-ride of the opening road climb. While I was out, another storm hit during which I got drenched and my EZ Up got smashed up (beyond repair) by the high winds.
Later that night after putting the kids to bed in the RV, my wife, my dad and I strolled down to East of Ohio Pizza for a nightcap. We hit the hay around 11am. I woke up at about 4am by another heavy rain that lasted until about 6:30am. I got dressed and made the short trip to downtown Loudonville for the 7am start. I have done the 100 mile at Mohican three times and last year did the 100k. A little course knowledge is good, but on the other hand, ignorance is bliss.
I got a decent start position but rode rather slowly up the first paved climb and entered the single track behind what seemed like at least 100+ other racers. No worries, plenty of time, I thought. After about 4 miles of very wet trails and dirt roads we entered the Mohican SP loop just before the one mile marker. I was a little deflated as I thought we entered at mile 4, but I soldiered on. I rode the first 9 miles pretty good (no crashes!!) as I was passing more than I was being passed. After that I kind of lost my mojo and the group I was with rode away from me. At Aid #1 I was in and out quickly thanks to a friendly hand up from Juan. For some reason, I thought the hike a bike was 2 miles from the aid not 8 miles. Any mojo I gained was lost.
The hike a bike at mile 26 came and went and I was going very slowly on the very soft and muddy horse trails that followed. A few more people caught me (Beeson among others), while I caught no one during this time. On the road section and false flat to Aid #2 I saw some people and put in a bit of an effort and was able to pass 4 or 5 people (Beeson, Keller, Bolgrin among others) just before the Aid #2. I was quickly in and out of the aid station and caught up to some guys from Motor Mile Racing (that's what their jerseys said). Not many people passed me between Aid #2 and Aid #3. At Aid #3 I filled my bottles and rode slowly down Wally Road to Valley Stream. I rode the steep part of Valley Stream in the granny (last year rode it in the middle ring). Aid #4 seemed to come pretty quick and all that was left was six miles of single track. About 2 miles in it started to rain...hard...then harder. It actually felt good as the thick layer of mud on my body began to disappear. I finished strong, passing a few people along the way and even rode the crazy river crossing in the campground. In the end I rolled in at 7:05 in 29th place in the 100K open men.
Along the way I got to ride with some friends and meet some new ones. A little disappointed that I could not duplicate my top ten and 5:37 from last year...but such is life. Too bad no clydesdale class as I most definately am at 200 lbs currently. There is always next year (for a better result, not qualifying as a clydesdale):)
Next "A" race is the Power Series which starts July 19th. Between now and then are a few XC races at the Knob, maybe Wayne Ultra, maybe Tour of the Valley and some Westlake training crits.
Later,
BRD
PS. Sorry so many words and no pictures, I am lame.
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