I went sub 9 easily at 8hrs 30min, 10,500ft climb, 31st/170ish. i finished and got my growler of Great Lakes Brewing beer. then the cramps started bad and i rode through them the best i could for the remaining miles and i was cramping across the line.

the last aid station was at 92 miles, got some more endurolytes and trudged on. i actually walked halfway up a road climb to keep from cramping. about 80miles in i started to get that tight feeling on the inside of my knees and i knew i was going to cramp soon.

from mile 60-72 there was a rail trail type section that i thought i could lay down some rubber but that section about damn near blew me up since the first 6 miles was a gradual uphill grade, my hr was 150ish and my legs were on fire and i was worried i wouldnt go sub 9. from mile 50 on, i was eating endurolytes from the aid stations like candy. i was tired by mile 50 and was regretting going out so hard. the race was very tough, the climbs werent as long as cohutta, but they were steeper and they really wore on me. so the first 35 miles was hard to get calories in. tailwind is camelback compatible while the perpetuem isnt the best when you are trying to make a mix to last for 5 hours, so i had to use a bottle, which hurt me since its a bitch to get the bottle in/out with my FS bike. i have cramping issues due to not getting enough salt, but i found the solution with tailwind nutrition, but i didnt order in time so i had to use perpetuem. the first 35 miles was all single track and i rode in a freight train with about 7 other guys but was riding harder than i wanted too. a peloton was forming up ahead so i busted ass and got into the lead group of about 30, where i hung for the first half hour before i calmed my ass down and slowed down. up over the hill all was good but was back further than i wanted to be. They start all 600 people at once, regardless of class or if you are doing the 100K route, so i lined up 2nd row behind tinker in an effort to get away with the leaders and avoid bottle necks going into the single track, as the start was a 1/4 mile sprint to a 300ft road climb, followed by 4 miles of road until we hit the forest.

I had no idea how i could do, so i just set the bar at sub 9 hours since the course had about 3K less ft of climbing then cohutta 100( still over 10K though). The field was stacked with gerry pflug, steve twinning, christian tanguy and the legend, tinker jaurez. I traveled to Loudonville, Ohio this past weekend to race the Mohican 100 mountain bike race.

Origin 8 cx700