cohutta 100 write up

20913440-co104_1_small, originally uploaded by solo_goat.

better late then never, eh? work lately has been kind of crazy, so sorry for the delay. good news is that my client went live this past weekend, so the end is near.

drove down early friday AM and was able to get to get to the venue at around 3'ish after roughly a 9 hour drive which included a short stop for lunch and to pick up some fat tire ale (can't get that stuff up north).

hit up the beginning climb and single track with billy a, richie rich, matt and a few other friends whom i was supposed to stay with. long story, but my directions got hosed up somehow and i ended up staying with josh the toastman which was cool since i haven't seen him in awhile and as bonus, he cooked dinner and i supplied the krispy cremes.

woke up saturday AM to the sound of rain which quickly cleared by start time, but both josh and i started the race with vests and arm wamers as i think we both feared the rain that was about to come. and, incidentally, i think we were the only two riders with arm warmers on in the front five rows of riders.

race started, i got dropped off the back of the main group just before the top. could of made it, but i didn't want to peg it that early in the race. by the first single track, i caught the back of the main group but some slower riders got in between me and the main group - they slowed me down and the main group went away. it was totally my bad, just a lapse in aggressive position holding at a super critical time.

about half way through that first single track, i passed the slower riders and slowly started making my way to catch the main group.

caught the first guys before the stream crossing as they made a mess of the little root section right before it (as i have made a mess of it my first year). the pivot 429 ate up the roots and i rode by.

think the next main group i caught was with eddie o and antoher rider on the flat road section. we rode together for awhile and then i parted ways as the road went up.

next group i caught was with john p from ohio and 2 other riders. we rode together for awhile but i again lost contact with them as the road went up and they stopped for food.

next up was with garth with whom i would ride with for awhile but would loose on the feeds, the last of which i saw him was in between food stop 5 and 6 as we caught up (and got dropped) by matt who was freakin' riding a single speed. garth would sneak away too.

after food stop 6, it's all mostly single track that looks like it's going down on the topo map, but it doesn't really seem like it. very similar to the sm100 where just when you think it's done, the race kicks you in the gut again.

i roll through it, keeping up good speed and keeping pressure on the pedals as i have lost places in this section before. i pick off one rider in my class with about 6 miles to go that looks like he's seen better days and then i pick off another rider literally a few hundred feet from the finish line.

ended up 11th on the day. good start to the 100 miler series.

next up, the dsg 12 hour (let's hope for no rain) - and a mucho thanks out to steve for finding me an entry for the lumberjack 100.

sologoat out