Well, an entire summer of riding in the woods led me to enter the 12/24 Hours at Mohican race (along with 4 other guys) last weekend at Mohican State Park in Loudonville, OH. The five of us broke into two teams. My team consisted of myself and my buddy Erik. We had no desire to try to win or place – just have a good time. Therefore, I came up with an appropriate team name: Team Beer & Nachos.
Team Beer & Nachos was the worst team there by far! We raced in the 12 hour bracket and completed only five laps (I did two and Erik rode three). To give some perspective, professional mountain bikers came from all over the country to race in this event. Last year’s 24 hour solo rider category was won by a U.S. Olympian who completed 18 laps of the 10 mile course on a single speed bike!
Steve tuning up his bike before the race.
I only planned on doing two laps because I did not have a helmet light for when it got dark – the 12 hour race started at noon and ended at midnight. I was incredibly nervous/excited about the first lap. When Erik returned from his first lap, I shot out of the gate like a bat out of hell. I was riding as hard as I could and a quarter mile into the ten mile loop, my pedal caught a tree root and flipped me over the handle bars! I was going so fast that I skidded along the dirt trail for a couple of feet and took a good chunk of skin off my right shoulder/upper back, both forearms, right knee, and left shin. I was a hurting dog, but at least no one was around to see me fall – that would have been even more embarrassing!
…with the worst accident of my fledgling mountain biking career out of the way, I only had 9.75 more miles to go on what is billed as the ‘most difficult trail in the state of Ohio.’ They weren’t kidding either, it was TOUGH. I had to walk the bike up several hills and my legs felt like un-refrigerated Jell-O.
When I returned to the starter’s pavilion (utterly exhausted), Erik set out on the trail for his second lap. This gave me a little under two hours to try to recover. It’s amazing how quickly two hours can pass – it seemed like in no-time I was back on the trail for my second lap.
About a mile in, after a leg-wrenching long shallow-grade uphill, my rear tire went flat. I had to sit on the trail for about 10 minutes waiting for someone to pass by me with a bike pump. Finally, the third guy to ride by had one and helped me air up my tire.
The first lap I rode very cautiously because I didn’t know the trail and had no idea what was beyond the next turn. This lap I rode a little more aggressively and actually started to enjoy myself. Most of the ridiculous uphills were followed by long sweeping downhills that could be rode at a fast pace.
Everything was going fantastic until about the 7.5 mile point. I went to shift gears for a small uphill and heard a PING. I snapped a chain link and the chain fell to the dirt… I couldn’t believe it! I was so mad I could’ve had an aneurysm right then and there!!!
I was having a great time, peddling along at the pretty good pace – and now my day was done. Not only that, I was still in the middle of the woods – about 2.5 miles from the starter’s shack – with a non-functioning mountain bike. Awesome.
I carried the bike along the trail back to the start/finish line and chucked it to the ground in disgust. My day was done. There was nothing left to do but open a beer and start the evening’s campfire.
…with the worst accident of my fledgling mountain biking career out of the way, I only had 9.75 more miles to go on what is billed as the ‘most difficult trail in the state of Ohio.’ They weren’t kidding either, it was TOUGH. I had to walk the bike up several hills and my legs felt like un-refrigerated Jell-O.
When I returned to the starter’s pavilion (utterly exhausted), Erik set out on the trail for his second lap. This gave me a little under two hours to try to recover. It’s amazing how quickly two hours can pass – it seemed like in no-time I was back on the trail for my second lap.
About a mile in, after a leg-wrenching long shallow-grade uphill, my rear tire went flat. I had to sit on the trail for about 10 minutes waiting for someone to pass by me with a bike pump. Finally, the third guy to ride by had one and helped me air up my tire.
The first lap I rode very cautiously because I didn’t know the trail and had no idea what was beyond the next turn. This lap I rode a little more aggressively and actually started to enjoy myself. Most of the ridiculous uphills were followed by long sweeping downhills that could be rode at a fast pace.
Everything was going fantastic until about the 7.5 mile point. I went to shift gears for a small uphill and heard a PING. I snapped a chain link and the chain fell to the dirt… I couldn’t believe it! I was so mad I could’ve had an aneurysm right then and there!!!
I was having a great time, peddling along at the pretty good pace – and now my day was done. Not only that, I was still in the middle of the woods – about 2.5 miles from the starter’s shack – with a non-functioning mountain bike. Awesome.
I carried the bike along the trail back to the start/finish line and chucked it to the ground in disgust. My day was done. There was nothing left to do but open a beer and start the evening’s campfire.
We camped next to a cornfield on Friday and Saturday night.
All in all, I had a great time and am already looking forward to next year’s race. Hopefully by then I’ll have a helmet light to allow me to ride at night. At least I know for next year to bring an extra chain…
2 comments:
whoa - sounds wicked
Wow - I'm impressed! Sounds great!
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