[XC62701]

Hey guys. Looking to see any reports but none so far. Looks like the torrential rain and storms put quite a damper on the race. I just saw the results and there's a TON of DNF's? What was it like? I'm curious since I couldn't make it out.

 

[Pete Gurney]

It absolutely kicked my ass, and I was one of the many DNF's. I did Cohutta this spring and thought that might make the LBJ a little easier this year......not the case. The standing water section definitely contributed to my mental/physical breakdown. Other than that, I don't know WTF happened. I'm curious to hear what other people have to say as well. Still a great race, and I know I'll be back next year.

 

[bh357]

My write-up is on my blog.

bh357.blogspot.com

This was my first crack at a race of this magnitude, and the first time I'd ever done 100 miles off-road (I've completed a few road centuries before). Finished in just under 9:19, for 11th in Men's Singlespeed.
That mud was a nice touch:thumbsup: . I rode through most of it on lap 1, hiking the last stretch due to traffic. The other 3 times, I walked through it.

 

[esilvassy]

here is the comments that I wrote up for my team:

Started out with Kristi and I meeting up with Marty and Nick stopping off at the cabin then heading over to big M for a pre-ride.
After some debate we decided to just do the inner loop, which turned out to be a great plan considering the watery/swampy trail sections.
The pre-ride went pretty well I did a good job of keeping my heart rate down and calm mellow ride. I was glad that we did as I never got a chance to head up there to ride there.

So as Jon said in the blog the weather turned out really nice and the trail was quite dry. Well dry aside for the several hundred yards
of swamp/under water trail. I started out in the same part of the pack as Kevin and Jon. Walked the first sandy hill with everyone else then took off on the single track. I was caught up a few times with people that were struggling on the rougher downhills, but all was well in the inner loop.
Heading out to the outer loop I was feeling great, stopped at the aid station for a minute then off again. I was feeling really good at this point but then I hit the swamp. Not sure why but doing the hike a bike through the water then having wet squishy cold socks for the next bunch of miles took a bite out of my motivation and mental state. Finished the first lap in 2:50 and was still feeling pretty good. Heading out to the second lap walked the big climb again, the rest of the inner loop was a touch more difficult and I could feel the climbs a bit more this time around. I was trading places with one of the Dark horse women when the top men lapped us near the end of the inner loop. Heading out into the outer loop my legs were not feeling as fresh so I took a 5 minute break a the aid station and headed out for the swamp. This time around I was un-phased and went right through it. Leading up to the climby section my legs were not feeling it any more and I had a tough time of it going up to the firetower and the last climbs on that lap. My second lap was over 3:30 so I was going to have to do a sub 3 hour lap to make the cutoff. I headed out for my 3rd lap but right before the second steep climb my stomach cramped up pretty bad and I had to walk pretty much every climb and take frequent breaks as every pedal stroke and every bump hurt. I made it out of the inner loop with only an hour left to the cutoff so I called it a day. I am still not sure exactly what caused the stomach cramp but I think I took in too much cold water and had a bit of an energy drink during the last pit stop, I was also noticing that water was starting to make my stomach feel not that great on my second lap.

So all in all it was a great event just a really tough event. While out having a tough go of it I was thinking that was it for this race but I am already leaning towards giving it a go again next year. I realized that my downfall was the longer climbs in the outer loop. The inner loop with the shorter steeper climbs was OK and I actually enjoyed that section. So I need to find some routes that have longer climbs to add into long riding days.

so for a total I got 58 miles in.

 

[lytleric]

It was a fun race. While a tough course, I didn't think it was a complete killer. In fact, I was surprised after coming in from my second lap when my wife told me how many people had already dropped out.

I've done a few 24 hour solo races but never a 100 mile race so I wasn't sure what to expect. My goals were to: 1, of course finish, and 2, do it in under ten hours. I met the first of those two goals, finishing in 10:29. I figure my less-than-stellar performance was related to a few factors:

First, my wife had had a cold last week, and I had done my best to stay clear of her all week. Unfortunately, I woke up Friday morning with a slight itch in the back of my throat, and sure enough by that evening it was a full blown cold. Just what I needed the day before a 100 mile race. Then, due to my timely cold, I slept like complete crap the night before the race.

Second, due to the tremendous storms the on Thursday night, the main roads up to Manistee were completely washed out. So it took us quite a bit longer to get up there (coming from Wisconsin) than we had planned and I didn't have a chance to ride both on Thursday (due to storms) and Friday (due to travel). I never seem to perform my best if I take the few days off completely before a race.

So factoring in those things, I've got room for improvement! I thought the course was fun and challenging, good flow, lots of constant up and down. I like to lock out my fork during hard climbs and I must have locked and unlocked a hundred times each lap. Made me wish I had a remote lockout. The swamp sucked, it was knee-deep black mud water. Also the last climb is a long grueling killer but the last decent is a worthwhile reward!

Looking forward to next year.