Mohican 100, full report

When I landed in Cleveland Thurs. and was greeted to steady rain, I wasn't super happy. Any apprehension about the rain was gone once Scott Henry and I did our pre-ride over the first 10+ miles of the course. It seems as though the lush vegetation totally sucks up anything that falls from the sky (for the most part).
Race morning started cool, but the heat was turned up quick as we tore through downtown Loudonville,OH and the days first of many short steepish climbs. This one had $200 to the first to the top, so you can imagine the pace.
As we entered the first trail section, I was probably in the 40-50th range. Not exactly where I wanted to be this early, but at least it was early. 3 miles in we hit our first hike/bike sections. Ridable by ourselves the day before, but throw in 150+ other racers and you have yourself a nice uphill jog. Picked up some places there and not too much longer was into the sweetest single track I've seen in years. I almost forgot we were racing it was so much fun. For the next 20+ miles we were in this maze of trails through the Ohio back country. Some of the trails were really muddy,rooty, rocky, etc. but were fast and furious.
Once we broke out into some dirt roads, I hooked up with various riders to share the load. Thane from Colo.(Voodoo cycles and friend of Scott's) and Matt from Utah(Monavie-Cannondale) were my riding partners for a while, up until mile 45 when I got a cramp in the ol' hammy. I had to back off a bit on the gear and spin a bit while sucking down a bottle and a gel. After a couple minutes I was back up to speed, ran down the guys I was with, and proceeded to blaze through the countryside with them.
At about the 60 mile mark, we came to an old railroad bed that is now a trail. We still had 3 of us and picked up a 4th rider as we took turns hammering down this 10 mile section at 23-25 mph at some points. A few times I wanted to just fall off the back of the train, but hung on as we turned into aid 4 and the 75? mile mark. Refreshed my bottle, stuffed some gels in my bibs and we were back off again. I don't think any of the stations were for more than a minute.
After aid 4, we got back to many more of the short(half-1mile climbs) that had us really hurting.
Thane was now gone and it was really only Matt and I working together. A couple guys who felt a little stronger and went out on there own on some of the climbs paid the price and came back to us. It was pretty cool to blow by them on the flats and not even say a word.
Into aid 5 and the 92 mile mark I stopped to take a bottle and Matt didn't. Once I saw this I took off again, in chase mode once again back into the single track that would lead to the finish. I started to really push a big gear up one of the climbs and the cramp was back. Same protocol as before, ease off a bit, supplement......OK ready to go. By this time though, Matt was long gone. After a couple more hike/bike sections a super steep descent down through a creek and some gravel road I was finished. Crossed the line in 8:11 and 24th place. An improvement from Cohutta(28th). The Mohican had a larger field of riders and felt like a harder course too(we accumulated over 11,000 ft of climbing thoughout the day, yes, in Ohio).
Scott Henry, who I roomed with, and fellow Texan was 14th. An impressive showing no doubt.
A big thanks goes out to Don Green, who made the drive over from Indiana to crew for myself and Scott. Don was spot on with bottles, gels and water to re-fill my Camelbak at the aid stations. I only wish he could have stuck around a bit longer to enjoy the festivities a bit. Post race is always the best.
That wasn't all for the riding though. We all loved the trails so much, as our recovery ride Sunday morning, Scott, Thane and myself headed back out for another 1+ hour romp in the dirt. It was that good.