Mohican part 2...being lost sucks!

Ok, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, I was standing around in a campground with a bunch of guy's staring at a cue sheet and trying to figure out where the heck we were. 

Finally by group consensus it was decided that we needed to hike/ride back up the single-track where we lost contact with the arrows.  By this time we were totally out of race mode and rode together as a group. I kind of felt like I was out for a really long ride with friends...except that I didn't know anyone's name. One guy had a computer on his bike and it said that we had already ridden 34 miles. We rode up the single-track and finally found the torn ribbon at mile 23. It was easy to see our mistake. We should have taken a sharp left to do a nasty hike-a-bike and instead we had continued on single-track. I guess the year before there was a race volunteer at the section directing people, but no one was there this year. Hmmmm....I'm thinking next year they should put the volunteer back in. 

There was absolutely nothing that we could do but continue on. I was out of water, out of food and really wanted to get to Aid Station 2, which was ??? miles away. I didn't have a clue when I would get there.  My fabulous feeling legs no longer felt fabulous because we had stopped so many times, and I was just waiting to get to the 100k course cut-off. 

I ended up riding with some guy named Clayton for a long time. It was a weird coincidence because he introduced himself to Amy, Laura and I in the morning and ended up eating breakfast with us. I never could have imagined that a few hours later we would be lost in the woods. Anyways, he had a good attitude about the whole thing and I definitely did not :-) Basically I was riding with a bike-riding-cheerleader. Seriously, I've never heard anyone so positive in my life. He cheered for every single person that we passed. It was nice.

We talked the whole time that we were riding, and it didn't really feel like a race anymore. At one point Clayton was like, "dude, we are catching a lot of people," and I was like, "uh, whatever, we are still in the bottom third. See? He had a better attitude then me. 

Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit about my bad attitude :-) It didn't take that long for me to start having fun again.  Yes I was very, very, VERY disappointed but the weather was absolutely beautiful and I was in love with the bike that I was riding. Seriously, it climbs like a dream. The only time I missed my full-suspension bike was on the roots. I noticed that the HT lost contact with the ground a lot more. But still, it was the perfect bike for the Mohican course. 

Finally we came to Aid station 3, which is where the 100k course split from the 100 milers. And of course I didn't really take the short cut. The weird thing is that I kept telling myself that I was going to the whole time, even when I went in the 100 mile direction. It just sounded nice!

By the time I was at mile 70 I started really feeling it. I think that I was riding pretty hard when I was chasing after the entire field, I just didn't know it at the time. Plus, I probably was bonking a bit since I ran out of food when I was lost. I definitely owe Wicki-wicki-wicki-wicki some food the next time that I see her. She gave me a gel that saved my life!

I ended up crossing the finish line in 6th place after 10 hours and 6 minutes of riding. It was a looooooong day in the saddle, that's for sure. A long, long, long day. 

Congrats to my friend Amy for placing 9th in her first hundie. She did a great job, especially since she initially was planning on racing the 100k. Amy also drove the whole way home after the race and I owe her big time. We didn't get home until 2 a.m. and I was so tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open. I kept telling myself that I would be the worst friend on earth if I fell asleep, but I'm pretty sure that I was sleeping with my eyes open. I kept finding myself talking to her and would realize that I had no clue what we were talking about. 

Laura also did a kick-butt job in the 100k and has an awesome race report up complete with pictures. She even has a pic with me when I finally got to Aid Station 2! Hopefully the next time I find myself in a position where I can have my picture taken during a race it's because I'm so far ahead of everyone!!! Oh wait, I keep forgetting that I'm retired from the long stuff :-) Kidding, of course!!!