What an awesome group of people to hang out with. We should definitely reserve the “chuck wagon” for next year!
The ‘race’ in and of itself is an epic journey of determination. Shorter races always seem to be in such a hurry, you don’t have time to talk to people and it’s all about getting to your destination the fastest. I like the almost peaceful feeling of not being rushed in this race, everyone is polite, kind and willing to help you if you’re off the side of the road or trail. Overall, 99.9% of everyone at this race is super rad and getting some. I have to say I’ve tried to tap into Ali’s amazing grace in running! While watching her run the “pig” she always appears to be patient and running her own race. I guess what I’m trying to say is that It’s more enjoyable to turn the event into your own race and not worry about the other people.
The ‘race’ becomes a journey of epic proportions. This is a journey you signed up for and plan on finishing no matter it takes. Having only done one of these endurance races before, I’m definitely not a veteran and I’m still trying to figure it out. It’s amazing how fast you forget about the race details and the contemplation of never doing this again. But here I am, a couple days out thinking about how I can improve on my performance next year, what to pack, how to train, where to stop, etc…
This ‘race’ is definitely a great mental training ground. A place to learn something about going the distance, pacing, nutrition, persistence, etc… The feeling of accomplishment is such a good high.
After the race, everyone was pretty damn tired. Or, at least I was wiped. My stomach was turning and I laid down many times thinking I was going to throw up. Hanging out and chilling post-race with team mates and friends is the best.
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This is a repost from my facebook post with a few addendums:
-Doing a MTB race on a tandem through the technical sections at Mohican doesn’t seem logical or possible.
-Racing a MTB race with 1 arm (Charles Scott McDonald) through the technical sections is mind blowing!
-Amish horse and buggies are too slow to draft.
– Team Hungry! is a great bunch of people. For that matter, so are all the other great bunches of people you meet on the trail and hanging at camp. The MTB family is nice!
-Rear file tread tire was a poor choice. Slip, slide, slip, slide… repeat.
-Wedding planners and race planners need to coordinate better. I did not like back tracking
-Endurolites are black magic
-When your legs are failing, stop and have a picnic…
-If you feel like your body is being rattled apart, stop and take some air out of your tires.
-throwing your trash, gu packets, etc… on the ground is pretty lame…
-thanks to Campus Cyclery for my new superfly MTB!
-Farrell put Jameson in his drop bag!
-matt hardball!
I beat my time from last year by two hours and finished @ 10:07. I might’ve been able to get under 10 had the “wedding on the bridge” fiasco not forced me and several others to back track… grrr… At one point, I heard people on the bridge were throwing punches. I had a great time because I didn’t feel like I was in a “race.” Just out for a grueling, tough, never ending climb of a ride.
Now that the pain and suffering has faded, I’m scheming about how to get faster for next year. A big realization was that most of the people passing me didn’t have camelbaks on, just their jersey pockets stuffed and or, a smaller hydration pack. Carrying extra weight @ 100 miles with all that climbing can definitely slow you down. I put way too much stuff in my pack and drop stations. I went out slower this year but still too fast. I’m going to try and go out at more of an easy pace and ramp things up as I go. I’m going to do a thousand more hill repeats before I ride next year. I’d like to ride many more of the hills that I ended up walking!
Many times through the ride, I realized that I’ve signed up for a race that has about 7-8,000 more feet of climbing than the Mohican which just seems absurd.
I stopped and loaned a multi-tool to a guy with a slipping cleat. about 10 minutes later he caught me and pulled for about 10 minutes – karma is good.
About 55 miles I stopped to stretch my legs and every muscle in my leg cramped simultaneously. I just sat down and had a picnic for a little while. Many a person asked if I was o.k. and or needed any help. Good stuff!
*Matt Hardball was in the ER on Monday night after being thrown from his motorcycle, knocked unconscious and “gurgling on his blood.” He was unconscious and in the hospital Monday night and released Tuesday morning AND then did the 100 miles on his cross bike yesterday.
**Hanging out late night at the firepit and we had a discussion about, The Amish, holes in a sheet and paid sex…
“I live near a fairly large Amish community in Wisconsin and they are having problems with inbreeding because they don’t convert new people to the Amish way of life. Everyone is related so the kids that are now being born are having major problems. The elders of the community have allowed families to seek men from outside the Amish community to impregnate their daughters to bring new blood into the Amish families. They pay men a stud service much like farmers who pay to use horses or bulls to get their respective animals pregnant. The father of the girl will pay the guy and they put a sheet over the girl and the guy goes to work. If this isn’t at all strange the father and usually the elders sit in the room to make sure there is no enjoyment taking place. The reason I know this…well I was approached and I had a friend do this. The first time he did it he “enjoyed” it and they made him stop.” –from this source
If you read all that babble, thanks!
./me