Thursday, June 10, 2010

More Mud @ Mohican

The NUE Series continued last Saturday with more muddy conditions and torrential rain. Bikes and bodies were tested over 100miles of surprisingly hilly central Ohio country-side at the Mohican MTB 100. Team FTC rolled into Loudonville, OH on Friday only to be greeted with golf-ball size hail and heavy sheets of rain. Just when the sun shone through the clouds and we thought we could get a quick pre-ride in another thunderstorm would come ripping by. The harsh weather was reminiscient of Cohutta, the last NUE race. It was hard to stay positive about the long day of riding that loomed ahead of us. We all fell asleep to the sound of water on the roof and visions of mud under our tires.

We awoke to more rain but the rain actually subsided for the first half of the race. Sloppy mud turned to slick peanut butter, which was even tougher to ride in. It all washed away (from our bikes atleast) when yet another rapturous gale either re-energized or restrained riders mid-day. Personally, I loved it and was able to spin faster on the long flat rail-road grade section. This was the type of elevation I was expecting from Ohio. What we got was a course that included plenty of hills that, atleast around me, took both single-speed and geared riders off of their bikes. Short but steep. If the mud wasn't forcing people off their bikes a number of the hills did.

The trail sections were unexpectedly fun with some neat features. Worth checking out again when they're dry. The first 20-30 miles were an almost continuous rollercoaster of singletrack. It was hard to pace yourself for a 100mile race when the riding was such a good time. The road sections stayed interesting with random backwoods broken down mobile homes, friendly religious camps, swollen rivers, and a nerve-racking suspension bridge that went over one.

Team FTC proved yet again that mother Nature can't slow us down. Vicki Barclay earned herself an impressive 3rd in the Womens field. Erik Lenzing overcame a serious mechanical early on in the race to finish 7th in Mens Masters. I was disapointed at first with my time, but pleased to get 15th in the Single Speed field. All in all a good day at the end of it.

Full results here.

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