Mohican Race Report

The day before the Mohican 100 (or Mohican 115) was absolutely beautiful. My friend Amy and I drove down the night before so we were able to sleep in, get some breakfast and pre-ride a bit of the course. By 2 p.m. I had her convinced to ride the full 100 miles instead of the 100k. 

The rest of the day went by in a blur with packet pickups, meeting up with Laura, dinner and getting our drop-bags ready. It started raining just as we were getting ready for bed, but oh well. What can you do?

The race started at 7 a.m. and went up a paved climb. The climb was slightly steeper then Cohutta, and I warmed up quickly. I found myself behind Betsy Shogren as we entered the singletrack. She's been winning endurance races since forever it seems, so it was a good place to be. I was very, very, very happy with how my legs felt. The singletrack had some short little climbs that we had to hammer up, but it was super buff and fun. You couldn't even tell that it had rained all night...except for the wet roots. I hit one root the wrong way and it laid me down flat before I even knew what hit me. At this point I was passed by Karen Potter and Cheryl Sornson (Trek) but I wasn't too worried because we had a long way to go and my legs felt good. 

After my crash it took a while to feel smooth in the singletrack again. I caught up to a group of guys and started to feel the flow again. We were flying down these fun switchbacks with log piles and I was having a blast. I was initially worried about racing a hundred miles on a hardtail but I was really happy with my decision because that bike was so freaking awesome. After a lot of descending we reached a fork in the road. 

Literally. 

If we went straight the singletrack eventually ended, and if we turned left we went over a bridge and hit a whole new section of singletrack...but there were no arrows. One of the guys rode ahead and then came back to inform us that there were race markers further on the trail. Mohican is kind of notorious for people getting lost, but we figured that we were going the right way since there were markers further up. 

After riding more fun singletrack, the guy leading our group came to a halt. He pointed to a marker saying 3 miles and we realized that we were riding the beginning singletrack backwards. 

OMG. 

I think I just stood there in shock for a moment or two. A few other people came up behind us who had done the same thing and we tried to figure out where we had gotten off of course. We rode back to the bridge but couldn't find any arrows. Finally we decided that we were going to have to hike back up the singletrack that we had come down. Over an hour had passed since this point and it was incredibly disappointing. We had all gone from being up near the front to being absolutely and completely DFL. I was completely out of the race by a long shot. Not to mention that I had no food or water left since I was supposed to have been at aid station 2 over an hour ago. One guy told me that he was going to drink out of the river if we didn't find our way out...but luckily it didn't come to that :-)

Once I realized that I was SOL, I decided 3 things...

1. At the age of 31 I was officially retiring from endurance racing...completely. 

2. Since I was officially retiring, I wasn't going to finish the hundred miler. I was going to cut out on the 100K course. 

3. Since I was going to only race short XC races, I was going to tell my team director that I was going to keep the hardtail. It was supposed to just be a loaner bike until I got another full-suspension, but clearly I wouldn't need another FS since I was no longer racing long races. 

But first, I needed to find my way out of the Mohican woods....

To be continued after I go back to sleep for another 15 hours or so! But rest assured that I already talked to my team director and he gave me the OK for the hardtail. That sweet bike is my new official race bike. I love it!!!

Time for another road trip!

Well, less then an hour until I leave for the Mohican 100. This time I'm driving with my friend Amy (Priority Health). She's racing the 100K in preparation for Lumberjack, and I'm racing the 100 miler...

The women's field is pretty impressive and it's going to be one big hammerfest. This will be my longest ride by far since Cohutta, and I'm excited!

The computer is staying at home because I am 99.99% sure that the place we are staying will not have internet access. But that's ok, I think I can do without my computer for 2 days. 

Ok...that's a total lie. I'm shaking just thinking about it :-)

We're driving home after the race so I should be able to do a race report on Sunday. Wish me luck!!!!

My bike was wearing white WAY before Memorial Day

Last week we (by we, I mean Jeremy) put on my new grips!!!  And they are everything that I want for racing. Plus, they are super comfortable to boot. And personally I think the white looks freaking awesome on the bike....

Not that I'm trying to be all matchy-matchy or anything-ha ha!

This past week was pretty great. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but the weather was amazing and I had a ton of fun on my bike. This week I'm going to be gearing up for my next hundred miler. Hopefully for the sake of my white grips the course will be bone dry. Believe it or not, I am still finding mud from Dirt, Sweat and Gears. 

Most (actually all) of my training has been on the bike pictured above and I've officially decided that it's going down to Ohio with me. It needs to race!!! And speaking of racing, the big races are slowly coming up. Lumberjack is right around the corner and I'm going to have to represent since it's in my home state :-) Shortly after that Scott and I will be going out to Colorado for 2 weeks, which I am very, very, very excited about. I've only visited once, and it was for a day, so I'm going to have to cram in a lot of stuff. Then it's back to Michigan to hammer at Ore to Shore and then I'm road tripping down to Georgia with you-know-who for the Fool's Gold. We all know what happens when Namrita and I do long bike rides together, but we've never done a car trip before. Search parties should probably start organizing now....

Last but not least, congrats to my hubby for pulling out another win this weekend at the Bloomer XC. He's too busy writing about more important things on his blog, so I have to do the bragging for him :-)

A real quick update

After a week of easy rides I'm back to training. Yes!!! And I think I'm pretty much recovered. Proper recovery time is super important and something I used to be horrible at. Thank goodness for my coach. If it weren't for her, I would be overtraining all of the time. I always think that I'm recovered WAY before I really am. 

Anyways, yesterday I had a nice 3 hour ride on the road with some 20 minute L4 intervals. They were a wake-up call, let me tell you. My legs felt pretty rusty and I had a hard time holding any sort of power. By the end I was a swerving, pot-hole hitting, sweaty mess. Even though I didn't feel great, I'm really glad to be back to this type of training. I guess I kind of got addicted to intervals over the winter :-)

And speaking of winter....it's already a distant memory. After months of pure icy torture, Michigan is shooting out day after day of perfect weather and I'm all, "Michigan weather is the best!" Today temps are supposed to reach the 70's and I have a 3 hour mountain bike scheduled. 

Hence the short post. Time to go ride my bike!

VCC Monday night ride

Yo, it's at the  Game Area off of 4 mile. The ride starts at 6:30. No Drop! It's fun!

Plus, a bit of new trail was put in by volunteers from the Western chapter of the MMBA. We need to break it in. 

See you there!

Moments of weakness

So, my cereal promoting PA made a bad call regarding the "critter bites." I definitely have poison ivy.  Yesterday I had a few bad moments where I had to sit down on the living room floor and itch until I drew blood. I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to poison ivy. I was also tempted to go rub my legs against tree bark while walking Naomi, but at least I refrained from that. 

Right now I'm about to get out and do a easy level 2 ride before it starts to rain. Then tonight...Star Trek! I'm perfectly content with the fact that my rides are going to be short and easy this weekend. It feels good to not have to worry about race logistics or traveling! I think I might even go crazy and unpack my bags from Tennessee. Usually I don't unpack until I'm getting ready for another race. 

I leave you with  a post by Jason about the metabolic testing Toni got last week. It was by far the best testing experience I ever experienced. Mainly because we got to drink coffee and relax while poor Toni was suffering. I wish I had it on video because Toni has an awesome cadence. She basically never faltered until her legs completely gave out. I've tried to match it when we ride together and it's insane how fast her legs can pump up and down...

Fighting the itch

Today I had to pay a visit to the Doctor to find out exactly what sort of rash I picked up in the Mud, Sweat and Mud race. My legs are beyond words right now. I should take a picture, but I don't want to frighten everyone away. Just picture black and blue with red bites all over. It's a good thing I don't have to wear a dress anytime soon....or possibly ever!

Anyways, my Doctor couldn't fit me in so I had to see the Physicians Assistant. I'm not sure how I feel about this guy. I was convinced that I had poison ivy, but he said that the "mud probably had a bunch of little critters that were biting away at me during the race." 

Fabulous. The very thought of "little critters" biting away at me just makes me want to itch more. Ugh. 

I also had blood drawn to make sure that my iron level was ok (for Breck training), and he started telling me to eat more cheerios. No big deal, but this isn't the first time he's talked about cereal with me. And it's not just in passing. He talks about it in great detail. I think he's paid by Kellogg or something on the side :-) And really, no one needs to convince me about the benefits of cereal-I think I support at least half of the cereal industry with my Kashi and Nature's Path addictions. 

Besides the bruises and itchy legs, I'm actually feeling pretty good. I'm still a little sore while walking, but my legs feel fine when I'm on my bike. On Monday I led the Velo City ride at Egypt Valley and discovered the one silver lining to racing (walking) at Mud, Sweat and Mud. I have a whole new appreciation for riding my bike. It doesn't matter how fast or slow I go, but just being able to sit on my bike and keep it moving seems like a novelty. And my bike feels so freaking light now that all of the mud has been scraped off. I can lift it with one hand. It's hard to believe that I couldn't make it move this past weekend!

Lynda has me taking it easy for the rest of the week with 2 hour easy rides every day. I need to recover and rebuild. Then it's time to start getting ready for Mohican!!!

Oh, and after talking to my coach I made one last little schedule change. I'm totally eating my words. It looks like I'll be going after the axe after all!!! And I'm going to embrace every single sand pit out there!!! In fact, I guarantee that you will never hear me complaining about sand ever again! And if you do, just say "mud" to me and I will shut up really, really fast!

I think I'm gonna make it after all...

Photos by Namrita!!!

We're back home. Dirt, Sweat and Gears is already starting to seem like a bad dream. Except for the fact that I can barely lift my arms or bend my fingers. I felt like a robot today trying to get coffee. I basically had to tell the barista to put the cups into my hands. 

This was my drivetrain after 10 miles....

Bruises and muddy bikes aside, the thing that's actually bugging me the most are the hundred mosquito bites that I got during the race. Since it was raining, bug spray never occurred to me and half-way through the race I was attacked. I don't know how the mosquitos managed to get through the mud, but those little buggers are EVIL! I think that they knew that I couldn't put my bike down to defend myself. 

Right now I'm trying to salvage my cycling clothes. It's 50/50 on whether the Kenda logo will ever be white again. And my shorts...my poor, poor shorts. I always bring multiple shoes, glasses, gloves to endurance events and this past event was proof of why!

I do want to give mad props to the promoters of the race. They obviously couldn't control the weather, but they did a great job with everything else regarding the event. It was definitely one of the best promoted races that I've ever been to. And they give equal payouts to the females. Will I be back??? What do you think?

Below is a video interview of me when I had my first mechanical. It took Scott 1 hour and 45 minutes to get that bike clean, and that was only after 10 miles on the trail.  Another fun fact? One racer had their bike weighed after a lap and it was 100 pounds. Isn't that freaking insane? If I wasn't on the course I wouldn't believe it, but there were a few times where I couldn't lift or push my bike one inch. So I totally believe it. 

And now, without further ado... 

Danielle Musto VS. Mud  

P.S. I DID manage to get that chain out from behind my cassette!

P.P.S. I've been telling Scott that my legs have become super muscular from all of the intervals Lynda had me doing over the winter, but after watching this video I'm thinking I envision them as being a lot bigger then they really are :-)

P.P.P.S And speaking of Scott, I can never thank him enough for doing my support at this race. Even though I was gone for hours on end, he was stuck with the worst job of all...bike cleaning. I think it will be at least a year before I can convince him to come to another one of these :-)

I had a bad day...

Ouch. I can barely type this because my fingers are so torn up. So I'm going to keep it short. 

Both of my bikes are now broken. My mechanic, Jeremy, is going to flip out when he sees them. 

The race was an absolute disaster and I was barely able to ride my bike. I had such bad chain suck from the mud on lap 2 that I was out there for a million hours trying to get my chain out from behind my cassette. Hence the torn hands.  Whenever I tried to ride my bike the mud would build up until my wheels stopped moving. And whenever I tried walking my bike it did the same thing. I had to carry my bike on my back for miles on end until my back felt like it was going to go out. 

I ended up doing 2 and 3/4 laps and lost 3rd place in the last 3 miles when my second derailleur hanger went into my wheel.  I had to remove my back wheel, put my bike on my back, and cut the course to the main field. Disappointed? Yes. I wanted to get 3rd place for the$500 prize money because I'm pretty sure that I'm going to need multiple new parts. 

The thing that I'm most disappointed that I barely got to ride my bike. I went into this race with good fitness and all I got to do was push and shove. That's not very fun. Everyone was in the same boat though, and the carnage rate was HIGH. It was like we all entered a mud walking competition or something. I saw racers throwing their bikes. I saw racers come to complete stops on the downhills because the mud was so thick. There was a guy from the Priority Health team there and the sole of his cycling shoe came completely off in the mud and he had to walk with one shoe off. I had to laugh a lot because otherwise I would have started crying. 

You should see what I look like now. Basically it looks like someone took a baseball bat to me and hit me repeatedly. My arms are really bruised from carrying my bike and my calf muscles are black and blue from my pedals hitting them as I was slipping and sliding on the trail. And then there are my fingers. Not only are they missing a lot of skin from my mechanical, but they are also rubbed raw from riding in completely muddy and wet gloves. 

Despite all of this, I think I will recover a little faster then I normally would after a 12 hour. Yes I'm wrecked, but not the way I normally am. I think I'm going to be sore in a lot of different muscles from the walking and carrying. Since I barely rode my bike my bike riding muscles are going to be ready for some serious training. Because I'm going to be looking for some serious redemption at Mohican!!!

P.S. Rebecca Rusch won with 4 laps (40 miles). Normally we do about 80-100 miles  during a 12 hour so that shows you just how sick the course was. Jeremiah Bishop won for the guys, but I don't know how many laps he got in. 

Finally in Fayettville

The trip down to Tennessee went much faster this time. Probably because Scott did most of the driving and I did most of the sleeping!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get out quite early to pre-ride the course. I'll try to take some pictures too. As of now the weather for tomorrow afternoon looks nasty! I've heard enough reports about how this course handles rain to know that I don't want it to happen. Apparently the mud turns into peanut butter and just builds, and builds and builds until your bike stops moving. Fabulous. 

My second race bike is still en route, so my team director gave me this bike for back-up. I usually race full suspension for endurance races so there is going to be a bit of a learning curve racing this hardtail. I was able to take it out once, and it's really fast. I love it. I'm definitely going to race it at Ore to Shore. 

Well time to relax. I'm not that nervous about this race which is kind of surprising. The competition is really high. I have to race against both the 24 hour World Champion, and the 24 hour National Champion, not to mention a bunch of other really amazing racers.  It's gonna be a fast one!!! I can't wait. 

Stay tuned...

Trail Day this Saturday at Luton Park

Rick Plite (Mr. Kisscross) needs MAJOR help this Saturday (May 9th) at Luton Park. He has arranged for 2 huge dumpsters to be on location for scrap metal and trash. Rick has spent many hours/days/weeks working at Luton, and as a result we have another kick-butt trail to ride on. Thanks Rick! 

Trail work starts at 9 a.m. (rain or shine) and will go until 1 or 2 p.m. And I think the weather should be nice up here since all of the rain seems concentrated on one spot right now...the Dirt, Sweat and Gears race venue. 

Lunch will be provided for all of you busy trail workers. I feel bad that I can't be there, but I've promised Rick that I will send Scott to do some trail work later on this summer. Ha ha!

P.S. Wear heavy boots/gloves!!! 

P.P.S. Rick wants everyone to meet at the Kies Ave. Barn to group up etc. 

P.P.S. Thanks!

About the Monday night ride

I'm going to have Mike Clark (head honcho at Velo City) send out an e-mail, but I'm hoping to have the rides out at Egypt Valley starting next week. I learned that riding Bass River after any sort of rain is almost like being at the lake. 

Besides having to do some serious bushwhacking, the ride was a lot of fun. I do have to say one thing. Remember how in my last post I mentioned that everyone should wear a helmet??? Well, there was one rider that showed up who was not wearing one. 

But I totally didn't notice, because I was too distracted by the fact that he was smoking a cigarette while riding. If only there was a video camera. I would love to see what my face looked like. 

There is no doubt that the ride next week is going to be very mellow, since I will be recovering from Dirt, Sweat and Gears. Wow, time is going by very quickly. I'm hoping against hope that the weather will make a dramatic turn, but right now things aren't looking so pretty. The Southern states are experiencing some sort of monsoon right now. I've heard that the course turns really, really nasty when wet. Stop, rain, stop!

VCC Monday night rides

Be at the Bass River trailhead at 6:30 p.m! Wear whatever you want but DO NOT come without a helmet. Bass river is pretty easy, but there are plenty of trees to ping-pong off of. 

The weather is going to be freaking awesome, and this ride is going to be fun and super relaxed. A good way to loosen up legs after a weekend of longer rides/racing. Every 3 weeks the ride location will change, but I think Bass River is a great place to start. We can get our singletrack skills on...

See you there! And by there I mean here!