And the winner is... Thank you to all who submitted a race story this year in a final semantic sprint of the 2014 Cohutta 100 and Big Frog 65 race. We enjoyed the varied experiences described in each race story and the enlightening perspectives disclosed through each one, revealing the beauty, hardship, and humor of spending all day on a mountain bike. While several entries proved worthy of the single trophy from Rock Shox, this years winner is Matt Calhoun. Please take a few minutes to enjoy reading Matts story and a couple more we have posted, particularly this link to Bellies, Bears, and Bruises by Pete Hitzeman. pete.hitzeman/cephas365/bellies-bears-bruises/ Honorable Mentions by Gordon Wadsworth (2nd fastest Cohutta time overall - Ist place SS) and Chris Irving will be in the next post :) Also, we (and the NUE series) would love some feedback in the form of this survey (https://dickinson.co1.qualtrics/SE/?SID=SV_3Iux8i3tfvl2i57), if you are so inclined...Thank you and we will see you next year! Charles The Winning Story by Matt Calhoun Cohutta 100 – Second Try is a Charm, by Matt Calhoun A couple of years ago, somebody stole my bike right off of my front porch. It was a major downer, because although I didn’t really ride it very much, when I did ride it, it made me feel like a kid again. I used to spend all summer riding my bike around the neighborhood as a kid, and one of my first jobs was as a paper boy. I have always loved riding my bike. My bike being stolen actually turned out to be one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. It was an old steel Schwinn rigid 26er (I didn’t know what rigid or 26er meant at the time). Some time after that, I decided I wasn’t going to let it keep getting me down, so my wife, kids, and I marched into Dick’s Sporting Goods to get a new bike. I was looking around, test riding all the Diamondbacks, when the sales person pointed out where the real mountain bikes are. Wow...suspensions?? Fantastic! Oh my God - $350 for a bike?? Should I?? Well, I thought to myself, if I spend this much on a “serious” mountain bike like this Diamondback Response 26” hardtail, complete with Suntour fork, maybe I’ll use it more than I did the old Schwinn. I had heard there were pretty nice trails around my home town of Chattanooga, so what the heck, I’ll try one out. My first ride on the Enterprise South Nature Park ‘easy’ trail was great. It felt like a roller coaster, where I could die at any second. And it had some serious climbs..at least 1/4 a mile long at some places (I was feeling the burn on those). Gee, I should sign up for some race...that could be fun. After some Google searches, I found the Cohutta 100. It was a little pricey, almost half as much as I spent on my bike...but it’s still cheaper than a gym membership I supposed. My training plan involved doing a full lap of Enterprise South Nature Park or Raccoon Mountain at least once a week (10-16 fun miles with zero long climbs), plus one or two 30-45 minute rides during the week. Truth be told, a few weeks out from the 2013 race, I was afraid I might be a little under-prepared, but I expected to make up for it with my never-quit attitude. I also tweaked what I could to get the bike weight down to a hair under 30 pounds. I also bought a pair of 5-10’s for the race, so my feet would stick to the pedals a little better than with my tenny’s. I finished my bike preparation by doing a custom spray-paint job on my frame, giving it a blue ‘camo’ look. My 2013 Cohutta Experience The morning of the 2013 race was nasty...rainy, cold, muddy, but I was quite enthusiastic and happy to be there regardless. I think I may have been the very last person into the single track, but I did pass a few people who flatted (score!?). Middle finger brakers of the world unite!About an hour in, my right foot went completely numb (I had stepped down in the little creek right before crossing the bridge to the Bear Paw Up trail). Shortly after that, my right leg was numb from the knee down. I actually did not mind that too much, because I have a chronic foot injury, and this meant I wouldn’t be feeling that today (score again!!). The 25 or so miles of uphill on the forest road, revealed to me the flaw in my training plan. If you don’t practice riding uphill, you can’t do it for very long (oops). So I started doing the walk-a-bike off and on. I still remember looking at the ditch and thinking “that looks like such a nice comfy spot to take a nap”. I could barely hold myself upright and my eyes open. I somehow managed to get far enough to get my bracelet, and then failed the cutoff at the lower-most aid station. On the van ride back to the whitewater center, with other riders who had failed the cutoff, I learned most of them had attempted this race multiple times without finishing, and they had very expensive bikes and were quite serious about their training and nutrition plans. Several of them noticed my flat pedals and shoes, and recommended I might not want to do that for a long race like this. It really settled in at this point, that I was waaay out of my league. I can count on one finger, how many times I set my mind to doing something and then completely failed. This was an eye opener, and I resolved to finish this race next year – no matter what. 2014 Cohutta Preparation The Bike My bike was really not up to the task of the Cohutta 100. I could take the easy route, and buy a more appropriate bike. But, unfortunately for me, that is not in my nature. I tore into my bike like a mad scientist, ultimately replacing everything but the frame, piece by piece (mostly from ebay). Over the course of a year, I turned it from a clunky department store jalopy to a snappy, stiffer/lighter ride that loves to be pointed uphill. Myself I intended to turn myself into a climbing machine before the 2014 race. I bought a road bike and began tackling all the climbs near my house. I am lucky to have several very nice 3-6 mile climbs that average 7-10% within riding distance of my house. I spent countless hours going up and down those climbs almost every weekend. I rode every time I had a chance during the week, including riding my bike to work a few times a week. My 2014 Cohutta Experience The weather was fantastic, it could not have been better. This morning, I was in the best shape of my life. My legs were stronger than ever and I was well-rested. I had perfected my nutrition plan, knew how to Potato Patch will beg me for mercy!! [evil laugh] pace myself and recover after hard climbs, I was ready to rock this thing. This day was almost all I could think about for the preceeding months...I really needed to redeem myself. After the starting gun fired (on the 3rd try), I stood there for a minute, to let all the insanely fast athletes get started, and picked a spot toward the back half to jump in. I had two goals for the first 15 or so miles of single-track. 1) Do not step down in that little creek. 2) Do not push TOO hard in the single track, use it more as a warmup. I accomplished both of those, and came out on the fire roads fresh and ready for a day of serious climbing. Most of the first 20-25 miles of fire road climbing is so gradual that it really doesn’t feel like you’re going uphill. As the grade began to steepen, I started passing quite a few people who were obviously feeling it. I was trying to keep what was a decent pace to me, but would not cause me to blow up before the big Potato Patch climb. I probably passed 20-30 people on this long slow climb, and that felt pretty good. It was nice to see a familiar face from my local bike shop, Suck Creek Cycles at the lower-most aid station. I still felt great, and rolled down through the flowy Pinhoti single track, past Mulberry Gap, and started the climb back up Potato Patch. I briefly stopped at the Suck Creek Cycles aid station again to top off my water, and then pedaled the rest of the way up Potato Patch. It was painful and hot, but my training was paying off big time. Last year on the long gravel descent toward the Pinhoti, I was white-knuckling it all the way, quite nervous. This year, with a lot more experience (and a dropper post), I just laid low on the descents, cruising down, taking it all in (and chanting things like ‘beer and pizza, beer and pizza’). I have to admit, on the extended downhill right before the last section of single-track, I did tear up a little, not because I was afraid there wouldn’t actually be beer and pizza at the end, but because this was the point I realized I was actually going to finish this thing. When I got to the last aid station, it had probably been a good hour since I’d eaten anything, but I figured there was less than 10 miles left, so I should just roll on through. That was a mistake. About a mile into the single-track, I bonked hard. My mind was somewhere else, I was weaving like somebody you see on a COPS dash cam. My legs were toast. I decided I needed to eat something. Not being ‘all there’, I just hopped off my bike and plopped right down in the woods for a snack (leaving my bike right in the middle of the trail). Other riders started catching up with me at that point, and they had to unclip to get around my bike (sorry about that!!). T minus 2 minutes to bonk After a few minutes of rest, I got my head partially back, got back on the bike and finished the race. My wife and kids were there waiving me on at the end, and I managed a baby bunny hop across the finish line. The crowd went wild (at least I think one person did). This race took everything I had, I had absolutely nothing left, and to finish like that is a great feeling to me. If I come back next year, it will probably not be on a 26” hardtail. But I am still not going to give up my 5-10s!!!
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 18:05:59 +0000
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