Mohican 100 Race Report

It's been a while since my last post. Let's get caught up. On the weekend of June 1st, I traveled up to Loudonville, OH for the Mohican 100. I took the Epic along for this race and was looking forward to racing my first NUE race with gears and suspension.

Unfortunately, I was unable to enjoy the luxury of the squish and gears due to my back acting up soon after the start. Less than ten miles into the course, I was so uncomfortable that I had slowed to a crawl and was pulling over to stay out of the way of people actually racing. The plan was to bail at the first aid station however I just couldn't do it. What if I gave my back some time to work things out and it got to feeling better? It didn't happen. I don't know why but I also rode by aid #2. By the time I made it to aid #3, I knew that it was pointless to push on. I had been barely turning over the pedals since well before aid #1 and each revolution was just as painful as the last. I finally pulled out at aid #3 and rode the 10-15 miles of pavement back to the venue.

The ride back was a nice stretch of road along the Mohican river. With all of the people floating, kayaking, and grilling on pontoon boats, I was thoroughly entertained. I didn't count, but there must have been a couple dozen places to camp along that road. It looked like a great area to spend a weekend.

Yes there was a little bit of mud..not too bad this time.

As luck would have it, my traveling partner had also DNFed due to a hip injury sustained in the P55k. We showered up, grabbed a bite to eat and hit the road for our 10 hour drive back home. This was my first year at the Mohican and I have to say that it was a  very well run event. The venue was nice, the course was well marked, the food was good, and the volunteers were very helpful.

After my experience at Mohican, I decided that the 100 mile format is just too much for my body at the moment. Honestly,  I think that racing period is just too much for me right now. Even though I enjoy taking the trips and being at the races, I am too uncomfortable while on the bike to find any enjoyment in the race itself. I have decided to sell the remainder of my NUE entries and have restructured my season to include nothing but gravel grinders. Can I make it through the season by staying off of singletrack? We'll see.