Cohutta 100 Recap

This weekend it was time to get back on the mountain bike for the second race in the NUE Series-- Cohutta 100. I took an incredibly mellow week leading up to the race #1 giving my legs/body the chance to recover from Bootlegger 100, and #2 try to work out the back spasm that didn't seem to want to go away. In a stroke of luck, I remembered that my mom had gotten me a professional massage at a local place a couple months back as a 'congrats-for-finishing-ortho-hell-now-please-be-happy-again.' I still hadn't used it. Mom +100000.

 

The weather gods in Roanoke cooperated with my recovery week and sent lots of rain to the area, so after riding only ~30 miles all week my legs were feeling quite rested going into the weekend. Riding the week before I had caught a stick and my shifting on my Top Fuel hadn't been exactly on point and in the pre-race inspection Jeff Cheng informed me that I had in fact bent the derailleur. Insert multiple profanities... Fortunately, in the flurry of 'help' texts Jeff Brown replied back that he had an Eagle derailleur for his new bike in the back that hadn't been put together yet and told me to take that. Saved! Only problem is it's a suuuuper nice one and all I could think was "must not break...must not break..." By Friday my back was improved however not gone. Driving down I discovered I could use one of my dogs' toys as a back massager while driving which actually did help loosen some residual knots.

At check in I met up with Alex Hashem, Roger Masse, and John Petrylak. Alex had brought a couple things for me from Harrisonburg and offered to let me crash at their place. I had spent ~2 hours on Thursday cleaning all the dog hair and grime out of my car and was set on sleeping in the (for once) clean back but having great company and a fully legal place to park I couldn't say no. Then I arrived and their house was freaking awesome and on top of a mountain. Alex chefed up a legit pancake dinner before bedtime.

Alarms went off at 4:30a and after the mandatory coffee/breakfast ritual we drove the 15 min to the the Ocoee Whitewater Center for the start. There was a morning inversion...60 degrees at the house but 40 degrees down low at the start. After the last couple of chilly starts where by 30 minutes in I was cursing my arm/leg warmers, I decided to try sucking up the cold, starting with no extra layers, and hoped the initial hill would warm me up.

Coming through Aid 1

It worked. The Cohutta 100 route has over 11k feet of climbing and it starts immediately with a 1.5 mile climb up the highway towards the singletrack. Although short it does its job remarkably well and separates the group before the trail. Although there were people around when we turned onto the trail not once did I feel cramped or stuck.

The first 18 miles were a blast. The trail was twisty and flowy with minimal technical features. I love some good rocky gnar, but smooth flow is just so much fun too. The sun rising through the valley mist just made it beautiful and I was the perfect level of cool comfortable.

All too soon there were cars above me and after a couple turns I was coming through Aid 1. Cohutta was described to me as "a gravel race with bonus singletrack," and Aid 1 marks the start of the so-called "Death March"-- a 68 mile gravel loop around the Cohutta Wilderness to return to Aid 1/6. Short climb, short descent, repeat....interspersed with flatter sections winding along beautiful creeks and rhododendron thickets. I popped into Aid 2 to refill my bottle with a longer section with lots of climbing coming up before Aid 3 near the top of the biggest climb. With the cooler weather my Camelbak full of Infinit was still in pretty good shape but I wanted a buffer.

Cohutta 100 route in October 2017

Suddenly just before Mile 35 I came down a hill into an intersection where there was a large sign to my right and although I didn't read it as I passed it as I started back to climbing I had a complete sense of deja vu....Wait no. Actually. Oh my gosh, I KNOW WHERE I AM!!! I was right where fellow Moonstompers Jeff, Ray and I had bikepacked in October! However, today was about 45 degrees warmer, there wasn't snow on the ground, and my bike was at least 20 lbs lighter. We had come up from the left at the intersection and continued the way I was now climbing. As I rode along I marveled at how pleasant this was not in 23 degree weather with 30 mph winds. This time I was welcoming the short descents that 6 months before I had been cursing as they chilled me to the bone. I definitely chuckled as I passed Jack's River Fields as memories surged of vehemently talking Ray out of stopping to build a fire in the middle of the road. Then another climb and there was Pinhotti/Mountaintown Creek to the left....brief moment of "man I wanna go that way! I bet that'd be a lot more fun without a loaded bike..." but I kept moving along towards Aid 3 and the unknown.

Pinhotti turn with a MUCH heavier bike

By the time I hit Aid 3 I was ready for a break from climbing but we weren't quite there yet. After a few more pitches though I was finally going down (mostly) and the miles ticked by. The best thing of all though? My back. The first half of the race my back had still not completely spasmed but was tight enough to remind me it was there and had kept me from wanting to push the watts. I had focused on trying something John had suggested the night before and purposefully getting up out of the saddle from time to time and riding standing even when I didn't have to. It definitely helped. But then suddenly, somewhere around Aid 3, my back completely relaxed. Why, after a week of a massage and taking it easy and stretching it picked like 50 miles into Cohutta to quit bothering me I have no clue, but hell, I'll take it!! From that point on I felt stronger and like I was able to push myself a little harder.

Between Aid 4/5 we started seeing Big Frog 65 riders. My second drop bag was at Aid 5, so I stopped got a quick chain lube while I grabbed my gear and headed out again. The final 10 miles of gravel are mostly a haze. I know there was definitely more climbing and a bunch of Jeeps but then I was coming through Aid 6 and all like "Wahoooooo singletrack!!!" I was so excited to be back on trail that my legs seemed to barely feel the fatigue and the small pitchy climbs didn't seem all that bad.

Then, about 4 miles out from the end I caught a stick. Suddenly lost the ability to access my low gears even though it still seemed to be doing OK in the higher ones. I stopped briefly, found a small chunk of stick that was stuck and pulled it out which improved but did not fix the shifting entirely. Cursing endlessly I rode it out in my higher gears glad that nothing was very steep and thinking about how expensive that derailleur is and praying it wasn't that that was damaged. At the final downhill I caught up with another 100-er who warned me that there were "some washed out sketchy spots coming up." Let's just say our idea of "washed out" and "sketchy" is very different. Then it was out into the campground and a little over a mile of pavement hammering to the finish line. Final time 8:04:58....damn just missed sub-8. Guess that just means I'll have to come back and do it again!

After some river soaking/ice bath, food, and rehydration it was awards. Got to share a podium again with Britt Mason as she rocked it for second. The Stokesville Lodge crew crushed it-- Roger 2nd in the 100 Master's, Alex 5th in 100 Men's Open, and me in 1st.  John got 7th in Big Frog 65. After awards it was back to the house for porch sitting, some IPA therapy, and Roger let me borrow his inflatable leg compressors.  Gosh I want a pair of those!

Sunday morning it was early out to grab drop bags and head home. Per usual Google Maps gave me a few route options and I couldn't help but notice that home via Asheville/Pisgah was only ~15 minutes slower. I mean...PISGAH! Now, "Pisgah Recovery" might be a giant oxymoron but I couldn't pass up a ride there. Nick Bragg gave me some great beta and I headed for a mellow ride at Bent Creek which is tamer than the backcountry riding there but still super fun. My shifting continued to have issues with the lowest gears so I just stayed out of them. Then back north to Roanoke where I arrived to exhausted black dogs who had apparently spent the day out biking with Steph, Mary Lou, Tammy and 4 of their best dog friends.

 

Cohutta wraps up the last race for me until July. I work next weekend, Steph and Daniel get married the following, and then I start Pulmonary Critical Care which takes me through the last 6.5 weeks of PGY2. 6 days a week, 30 hour call every Saturday/Sunday = no racing for me. Goals: lots of core work to avoid more back issues and maintain fitness to get back to it in July. Finally, master mechanic Jeff Cheng added a simple full turn of tension to the cable and my shifting appears fixed in the stand at least. Still need to test ride but JB, I may not owe you a new derailleur after all! Fingers crossed...

On a completely separate note, this fun feature on Carla and I came out last week. Thanks so much to Life Outside Magazine for such a cool article!!