Mohican 100 Race Report

I don't have a lot to say about the Mohican 100 except that it was a really rough and tough race for me. Jeff Kerkove sums it up perfectly when he says if you don't like rocks and roots....stay home. It had a lot of them, and I think my body made contact with about a third of the Mohican Forest. I'm still searching for a part of my body that isn't bruised.

That being said, I'm glad that I went and did the race. Not because I liked the course but because it had the type of singletrack that I need the most help with. Tight and twisty and mostly on a ravine. I wasn't thinking about what the course was like when I set a "time goal" for myself. In fact, I didn't even look at last years time. If so, I would have realized that I was trying to finish in the last years winning guys time. Oops. I ended up racing for 10 hours and four minutes. It was a looooooooong day in the saddle.

Here's the lowdown.

Pre-Ride: I had a blast driving down to Ohio with Dan and Aaron. We arrived around 2:00, then headed out to spin our legs out from the drive. My legs felt really tight and tired but I decided not to worry about it. Dan showed Aaron and I the "Dam" that we would have to climb up tomorrow during the race and then we decided to go prep our "race bags."

I couldn't help but laugh when I compared my bed to Dan's. Mine was a little messier...you can totally tell that Dan has a military background.

Example #1: Dans bed

Example#2: My bed


Start: We woke up at 5 a.m. and I had my normal peanut butter and honey bagel. Then it was off to the race venue for the 7 a.m. start. There was a neutral start with the 100k's since they were racing the first 50 miles with us before they split off. Lots of female racers were milling around but I didn't know who was racing the 100K vs. the 100 miler.

Trying to warm up a bit before the race:

I saw Carey Lowery the day before and I knew that she would have a huge advantage over me on this course since she is Miss Singletrack Superstar herself. I figured that the only way I could even try to beat her would be to get enough of a lead during the start and try to hold her off once we entered the woods.

It was a nice plan in theory, but the first 30 miles was all rocky and rooty singletrack....a "Danielle Race Nightmare." I managed to stay in the lead for a while but I could tell that my legs were tired. Carey eventually caught me and passed me when I dabbed on the rock. Oh well. She's so darn fast and so darn nice that I actually cheered for her :-) Then I decided that I better try to catch her.

Miles 20-30. Temps got close to the 90's and it was incredibly humid in the woods. It felt like a sauna and I started to get this weird sensation that my arms and legs weren't attached to my body. Try maneuvering through a million rocks and roots when you feel like that...the outcome isn't very pretty.

Mile 50 (Aid Station Stop): This would be the mile marker that I briefly lost my mind. We had to ride down this little ridge that was surrounded by tall grass. My wheel hit the ridge wrong and I went down. F$%^!!!! I ripped all of my scabs off AGAIN! For anyone keeping track, that's four times in two weeks. At this rate, my knee is going to going to be scabby indefinitely.

I was almost delirious when I pulled up to the aid station. I had salty sweat streaming into my eyes and I couldn't talk coherently. Aaron (Slingshot) was there along with Dan Jansen. I was bummed to hear that Dan crashed really hard and hurt his knee. He had been racing in fifth or sixth place before he went down.

The station had a water hose and I took it and blasted it at my face. Then I stuck it down my jersey. Dan grabbed cups of water and poured them down my back. By the time we were done I was completely soaked. It was awesome.

Mile 50-70 (Bring on the rain): Somewhere during this time a thunderstorm hit. I was actually happy to be racing in rain, as it cooled things down for awhile. By the end of the race I looked like I had been rolling around in a mud pit.

Miles 70-98: Racing, racing and more racing. I rode off and on with the same group of guys during this race and it was nice having people to talk with occasionally. My legs were really tired and never felt like they had much power the entire time. I was counting down the miles and couldn't wait to see the finish line.

Miles 98-100: Just to make things really interesting, we had to hike up a dam before the last leg to the finish. Aaron and Dan were there cheering me on, and the climb actually wasn't that bad. OK, it was bad at the time, but I have a short-term memory when it comes to pain.

I was riding a dirt rail trail at the time that the thunderstorm hit, hence the mud. If anyone knows a secret to getting mud out of white jerseys, please tell!!!



The Finish: Carey kicked my butt by 45 minutes but I expected that with all of the singletrack. I ended up in second place and am pretty happy with how I did considering how tired I felt for the whole race. The women's field was extremely spread out during this race and I think that the third place women was 1.5 hours behind me. Out of all the hundies I've done, this one takes the cake for being the hardest...so far! I might start to like courses like this more when I can race through singletrack better.

All in all, it was a good time. I got to ride my bike, saw a ton of good scenery, and toughed out a hard race. The course was really well marked and I had no problems with farmers taking down arrows. That in itself made for a good day :-)


Post Race: We got to hang out with all of the normal enduro racers and then drove home. We didn't get home until 3 a.m. and I'm really hurting today. I'm curious to see how long it takes for me to recover from this race. I'm kind of using it to gauge how much I can push myself during Lumberjack. I refuse to kill myself during that race, because I have to be as recovered as possible for the following weekend. I might just have to try this "ice bath" thing that people swear by.