Rewind - Mogollon Masher

BEFORE

What may turn out to be one of my favorite races in the MBAA series and I'm almost a month late in posting about it. We drove up to the Mogollon Rim fairly early Friday in the new VAN. We were meeting Jeff and Vienna to camp for the whole weekend.

The set up in the van. Layla is laying on a nice comfy futon mattress.

The views from our campsite, on top of the rim.

Our campsite.

Vienna getting the dogs settled. My favorite picture from the trip.

Once we arrived, Jeff, Zach and I suited up and went out for a preride. I loved the course. It reminded me a lot of Nine Mile. Alot of people did not like it because there was not enough climbing (huh?), but after the Prescott MBAA race and the Whiskey 50, I was ready for a "flat" course. And despite the protests of flatness, there was climbing. It was nice and gradual, no crazy steep climbs. It was good. Lots of pedaling. That's probably what people didn't like. It was beautiful with pines, aspen groves, and open pastures. The snow had just melted so there were a few mushy water crossings and 2 creek crossings. Fun stuff.

After the ride we got settled in (Thanks Vienna for setting up camp!) and celebrated Jeff's birthday.


The race venue turned out to be about a 20 minute drive from our campsite...yet I still somehow ended up running late. I barely had time for a warmup and we were off at 8:45. The race went well. I loved the trail even more the second day. The course was set up lollipop style; each loop was about 9 miles. The double track up to the feed zone turned out to be a killer and the 2 way traffic section back to the finish felt like 5 miles since it was all uphill.

First place! (dang I look old!)

Zach had a good race with photo finish at the end with his friend Tim (who lives in Chino Valley).

And then he puked.

The altitude must have gotten to Tom. He finished second.

Jeff dnf'd. If I remember he flatted...maybe twice.
After the race we chilled around the campfire. Tim, Robin and their 2 dogs joined us that night. We had 6 people and 6 dogs! We should have gotten up and rode Sunday morning, but we were all feeling a little groggy. We had breakfast and cruised. Stopped in Payson for some killer Mexican food and Zach slept in the back the whole way home.

AFTER

12 Hours of McDonalds

My new race strategy was a success! Over the last few years I have stuggled with forcing myself to eat all the way through races like this. Endurox and EAS shakes get old after a while. Too many gels bunge up my tummy. So this race I decided I was going to get something that I love and crave often and nutritionally might not be too bad for an event like this. Before the race Sara picked me up 15 McDonalds hamburgers (7 with cheese). Most laps I ate one burger, 1 hammer gel, 1 bottle of Gatorade, and 1 bottle of water. I never had any problems with cramping or fatigue through the whole race. I usually ate my burger on the road section at the end the lap. People look at you kind of funny when you pass them eating McDonalds.

During my first 7 hours I felt great. The last 5 hours were good but there were some soreness issues. The issues during the race were not my butt. My issues were my shoulders and forearms getting really sore from the "Rocky Bitch" a pretty long gnarly rocky section that I am still trying to forget about. All my other problems were mental. I got a little freaked out over the course of I think laps 9 and 10. Over those two laps I saw 2 rattle snakes, a bat that flew after my lights for about a half of a lap (while I screamed like a litte girl), and a freaky old man wondering around in the dark. These things had kind of messed with my focus.

Tom was just the opposite of me. During the 1st half of his race he didn't feel that great and also broke a chain. Somewhere around 7 hours in he caught me and kept going. I don't how he rode 12 hours on a SS at this course.

I ended up winning the 12 Hour Geared category and Tom took 1st in the 12 Hour SS. We were the only two solo 12 Hr racers to finish 12 laps. We both could have gone out for lap 13 but we both decided against it.

Here are the RESULTS

Our team had some great results in other categories also.

I have to thank my lovely wife Sara and Misty from Vassago for the support and helping me through the race. I never even had to even leave the course.

Here are pictures from the race.

LeMans start.












Heading into and out of the feed zone.






















Tom















Camp.

































Sleeping arrangements and pit crew.