Cohutta 100

This past Saturday I did my first ever 100 mile mtb race. The race was the Cohutta 100, the first race in the National Ultra Endurance (NUE) series. That means that this race would be stacked with fast people. Racers that I now believe come from another planet. More on this later.

This race is touted as one of the easier races in the series. The reason for this is that the entire middle section of the course is gravel roads (other races have more singletrack). I am here to tell you that this is no easy race. Coming in to this race my goal was to finish in less than 12 hours. This would also be another opportunity to figure out nutrition and pacing before Leadville. In the weeks leading up to this race, I began to think maybe I hadn't put in enough miles. Would I even be able to finish?

Jon and I went up the day before. The race started and finished in Ducktown, TN. We did an hour pre-ride of a section of the course when we arrived, and I was feeling good! I started to believe that maybe I could finish in closer to 10 hours. I only need to average 10 mph, not so impossible I thought.

The race started at 7 am on Saturday. Usually that seems way too early, but I was excited to race. I got to the start line, and it was a little weird. Normally, everyone is pushing and fighting to get a position on the front. The only ones that cared about being up front were the pros, everyone else was spread out all over the parking lot. I pulled up right behind all of the serious folks at the front. I decided I would push myself a little harder at the start than I have at past endurance races.

                                                           The calm before the start

I am not going to give you the play-by-play, here is a brief synopsis. I maintained my 10 mph average until the half way point. The climbing got to me. At around mile 62 there was a 9 mile steep gravel climb that destroyed me. About 1/2 way up I stopped caring about finishing at all. I even vowed to quit when I got to the next aid station. I knew Jon was at that particular aid station, and I thought I would just quit and go home with him. The climb took me 2 hours! At the top there was a left turn, and I was on one of the sweetest sections of singletrack I have ever ridden. It was almost totally downhill, and fast!!! After that and a little more gravel, I was at aid station #6......75 miles into the race. Jon was there, and he was telling me that it was mostly downhill back to the start. That news, combined with the adrenalin from the singletrack.......I couldn't quit.

The next 25 miles were not all downhill. It didn't bother me so much, but a few of the people I caught up to were not happy about it. One dude was having a melt down. Every time I would get near him, he would rant about how stupid this race was, or about how this was mostly uphill, or ask how far to the last singletrack section. It was kind of entertaining, and I was glad this crazy guy was riding with me for these last few miserable miles. When we finally reached the right turn which would take us to the last 7 miles of singletrack to the finish..........let's just say it was awesome. Even the climbing was more bearable when it was on singletrack. I got got to the finish line in 11 hrs and 35 minutes. That is a hell of a long time to be on a bicycle. Even though I had a pretty slow time in comparison to the winners (the women's winner finished in around 8.5hrs!!! She is definitely from another planet.), and even though it was miserable for most of the ride, I found myself thinking about what I needed to do to be faster by Leadville. I think I can do Leadville in 10 hours, no problem!!:)

                                        This is how you look after riding your bike for 11 hrs!

And for those that are curious:  http://app.strava.com/rides/7571848