Cohutta 100 race report

On Saturday April 30th I participated in the 2011 Cohutta 100 mountain bike race.  As the name suggests, it is a 100 mile race thru the Cohutta range of the Smokey Mountains.  The 100 miles is a big loop and except for 3 miles at the start and 1.5 miles at the finish it is all on trails or fire roads.  Over the 100 miles the course gains just over 14000 feet of elevation so there is a great deal of climbing in this race.  I entered in the Single Speed open class and was one of 35 riders in this class.  There were a total of about 350 riders in total doing the 100.  There was also an option to do a 65 mile race and there were about 100 entered in that race.  It was quite a spectacle to see.

The race started at 7:00 and it was just 42 degrees.  By the time we got to the top of the first climb things had mostly warmed up.  For me it was everything except my hands, which stayed pretty much numb until I got thru check point one.  My strategy was to stop only 3 times during the race, at aid station 2, 3 and 5.  I passed thru aid station 1 at 18 miles feeling good and in great position.  I was a few miles from there when I felt an odd sensation coming form the bike... I thought I was getting a flat rear tire but as I looked down it was fine.  It wasn't much later that my seat came off the post!!  Fortunately everything was still there to get it back on, but as I did the repairs I got passed by quite a few folks.  I was in such a hurry, I just got it on and tightened it up without even adjusting it.  When I jumped on the bike I noticed how high I had the nose of the saddle pointing and it was slid back a good inch from where it normally was.  Oh well, I decided to just ride it like that and hope for the best for the next 80 miles or so!

here is my seat in the "new" position.  Normally it is level or a  little bit down in the front!!

From that point in the race there was a good climb that started at mile 28 and pretty much lasted until mile 58!  I made my way to check point 2 which was at mile 35 and filled my bottles and got some nutrition.   I had a drop bag there with supplies and the volunteers were awesome.  They filled bottles for me and held my bike while I did what I needed.  As I rolled into the aid, I saw my buddy BT and his family was there helping him.  He rolled out of Aid 2 about 30 seconds ahead of me and then I was off.  The stop lasted maybe 2 minutes.

Volunteer help at Aid 2

Mixing bottles

Leaving #2

From 2 to 3 was only about 12 miles but it was a tough 12 miles.  I had ridden this stretch before and remembered the climbs that just do not seem to stop.  I made #3 and refueled again, made it a quick stop, and as I was leaving BT rolled in looking good.  From 3, there was about 3 miles of rolling hills with one big climb of about a mile long then it was time to go down!!!!  It was at about mile 60 that the descent began and lasted for about 10 miles!!  It was fast and mostly on gravel which made for some very sketchy corners.  It was during this section that our buddy JT crashed twice getting a good case of gravel grind on both arms and loosing a good portion of his bike shorts to the gravel.  He was not seriously hurt and went on to have a great finish.  I skipped aid #4 and rolled into aid #5 with my bottles empty and feeling really thirsty.  I took a few minutes here to gather myself and as best I could tell I had about 20 miles to go.  The first 10 miles that remained was uphill and the last 10 mostly down hill.  This was the toughest point on the race for sure.  I made it to aid #6 and didn't even slow down, the horse could smell the barn and I was rolling.  The last 6  miles was some sweet single track downhills with banked turns and creek crossings then it spit you out onto a gravel down hill to the main road for a mile back to the finish.

I crossed the line at 10 hours 3 minutes

When I finished and got off the bike it was clear I was in the hurt locker.  I could barely stand still without wavering around and I couldn't think straight but it was an awesome feeling to finish!!

hurtin' for certain

As we hung out at the finish area waiting for the rest of our crew to finish we shared stories of our race with each other.

Inspecting the damage JT sustained on course

BT crossing the line

The results were good.  JT finished and impressive 27th overall in 8:10, Don came in at 9:44, I finished in 10:03 and BT came in at 10:39.  Most importantly we were all safe!!

chilling out.... literally!