Mohican 100K: Race Report

Not much to say about this one. It poured rain in every form possible Friday and Friday night. I was less than happy to continue my streak of driving to races in the worst possible weather conditions imaginable (Southern Cross, Cranky Monkey, and now Mohican).

Woke up Saturday a.m. in the back of the xB to MORE rain, and thunder and lightening. Yada, yada, yada... The race starts with 500 people (my first Mohican 100 back in '06 had MAYBE a couple hundred TOTAL) climbing up the pavement and an eventual left turn on a farm road.

As I started down the farm road I pedaled and something didn't feel right in the drive train. I chalked it up to a mis-shift and kept on. Soon the road ends and hundreds of racers were just standing there waiting to filter into the first section of single track. It was quicker to just walk around them and keep walking.

Got back on my bike pedaled and hit another small climbed that turned into a hike-a-bike do to the number of folks and the ankle deep mud. At the top I remounted and slipped and slid my way down the hill. Put the hammer down- and nothing. Pedals turning, wheels not moving. FREE HUB!! WTFFFFFFFF?

It soon engaged again, then went, then engaged, then went. I rode down another hill that came to some pavement near the Mohican camp. I was done with only about 5 or 6 miles of what was to be 62. I was stunned at the turn of events that just happened. I stood there and watched hundreds of folks ride by me and continue their race. Then a woman with the race asked me if I was out of the race. I shamefully admitted my defeat, she took my number down, and I was officially done. The only thing saving me from utter mental destruction and the want to go pound beers at 7:45 in the morning was the fact that the conditions were horrific and there was more storms in the day's forecast.

I walked, scooted and rode (when possible) back to my camp site, taking the time to take some video and pics of some racers along the way. Then I just sat there wondering what the hell I was going to do. Brad, Don, Montana, Steve-O, and Rob were all out racing. It was only 8 a.m. and no one would be back until late in the day. I brought the pop up tent that had all their shit under it, and there were storms scheduled for the afternoon. I couldn't just take it, but since there was nothing else to do but either drink beer alone in a camp site or leave, I left, and left the E-Z Up and hoped that one of them would be able to fit it in their car. If not, somebody at Mohican just got a damn nice EZ up tent for free.

This pretty much sums it all up...

I drove home in near silence, choosing to shun the iPod and just reflect on what had happened to my race. The free hub lasted nearly 5 years, never had an issue, but was never serviced once. Maybe I should have had some preemptive service done to it? Who knows, just wish it could have held on another 6 or 7 hours.

Funny thing is, when conditions are bad we all joke about how great it would be to have the "happy accident" of a race ending mechanical. But you know, it STILL leaves one feeling like shit. There's nothing fun about standing there watching folks continue on and knowing that your friends are out there suffering, and in some twisted way enjoying themselves. This was not the end I wanted for the meat of my 2010 race season and the start of Semi Race Retirement II (SRR #1 didn't really happen for more than a week or two).

I might roll the Hilly Billy late this month, but nothing planned for the rest of the year. Not saying it won't happen, but I need to want to do it, and find a reason to do it that I can't find with riding 40 to 100 miles on my own.

If you finished the Mohican 100 or 100K, hell even if you made it more than 10 miles, you have my utmost respect for sure (Not that means anything to anyone). One of the only good things that I heard, was before I left I stopped in the registration area to once again confirm they got that I was a DNF. The dude told me that about 10 folks stopped in before the race even started to quit. Hmmm, I guess at least I got 5 miles on those folks! LOL!

Time to go order some bike parts.

Later.