Mohican double

 Mohican double confidence check. 

So for the two weeks after Bentonville I did nothing but eat shitty food and get fat. I did need 1 week of recovery, but two and eating bad was excessive. I gained a good amount of weight, which was kinda needed since I lost 8lbs in bentonville. So I started working out again a few days ago and was supposed to race Mohican on Saturday, but it got cancelled due to rain. 

I am also in quite a research and planning of the Mohican 100. This is going to be rough because of the time cutoff. I’m not fast, I just have grit. So adding speed is going to be a challenge. Basically my speed issue is a calorie issue. I don’t have a good aerobic base, so my heart rate is high the whole time, burning calories like crazy. 

So this was a confidence ride and an expeirement, I was carb loadeddddd on sugar junk for sure. So I wondered how long that would hold me over. Also I only got cramps once at Marji. Never had them since. So I wanted to induce cramping, practice pickle juice, try new nutrition, and go out hard, I needed to blow up and bonk for calculations and learning. 

That said…. Fuck blowing up and bonking is rough! I’m good at it though…. So…. There’s that 😁

Ok now you know the plan, blow up and bonk and a double Mohican ride (50 miles, 5880 ft climbing. But do it all on pure garbage sugar product. Pop tarts, pecan pie, coke, pizza, ice cream ect… 

I parked at a different location then last time, mix it up a bit. So I started at mile 15 and did 2 laps back to 15. I left chocolate milk, coke, electrolyte gum, uncrustables,  and slim Jim’s at mile 0 and 15. So 3 aid stations. 

So yesterday I started my anti diarrhea pills as usual. I think I took 3 randomly. And had a healthy nap yesterday, therefore I did not sleep much last night. So I got up at 3:30 this morning with a lot of stomach pain and nausea. Quite unfortunate…, hmm what to do. Well if it was a race day, I would proceed, so let’s proceed with the day and see what happens. I first tried water, did not help, couldn’t poop. So I tried ginger chews from a Marji page recommendation, still did not work. So the ol trusty finger down the throat it is. I puked a little and figured I had done all I could do. Head to Mohican and see what happens. So I started on the 1.5 hour drive, I got 30 minutes in and had to poopie, so I swung by “the thorn” and indulged. Felt a little better now, so I started lightly sipping my large vanilla honey latte I acquired yesterday. Typically this is a solid 500 calories pre ride, but today I only got a few sips. 

Now I’m at Mohican, aid stations set up, another poop down and on the trail. I opted for snickers, baby ruths, and slim Jim’s for my every 20 minute “snack”. Then every 2 hours or so I had an uncrustable or pecan pie. The pecan pie worked well. Tried to drink coke but could only get a few ounces. I had chocolate milk in a bottle on my bike; so everytime I would stop to pee… I would take a few gulps. I ate a piece of energy gum every 1.5 hours ish. 

So I’m on trail, parking at mile 15 was cool to start because it was downhill, so my first 10 miles to the first aid station were fast. My legs were heavy but not painful, so I was putting down as much power as I could on the climbs, no heart rate monitor today. Just winging it. At the first aid station I didn’t have much food. Half an uncrustabke and a bit of a coke. I should have definitely ate more. Food just taste gross when I’m riding. The snickers and baby Ruth’s were a mistake. They were not going down easy, definitely need to go back to chews. I forgot about the slim Jim’s until like mile 30, then ate 11 of them. They tasted decent. I had unwrapped all the slim Jim’s and put them in my pocket for easy access then had the candy bar pieces unwrapped and in a top tube bag. 

At the 25 mile aid station I was making decent time, about 3:30 moving time. That’s an acceptable pace. I was riding all the uphills in 1-2 gear and then staying in that gear to recover on the few tiny flats, then aggressive downhill stance on the downhills. I had a small pecan pie with 390 calories, 100 calorie soy protein gel, and a few ounces of a coke, then headed back out. I felt pretty good, well the same as I had, the food was helping and I was doing good. Toward mile 35 said station I was feeling lactic acid situation in the legs. I had another pecan pie and bit of a coke then left for the last 15 miles. 

I passed a guy with a chainsaw hiking to a tree across the trail, I praised him until he was out of ear shot. What a great bunch of people, 25 miles of trail and only one tree down that was cleaned up by noon. So by the top of the 1-3 mile climb I was feeling it, legs were tired and I was getting lazy. I made a deal with myself I’d get to a picnic table about 8 miles away from the car and sit down and eat again. Try to salvage the last few miles, still on track for an acceptable time. So I got to the picnic table and had one sip of hot chocolate milk and 2 bites of an uncrustable and felt the puking coming on. Oh know; hello bonk, been a few weeks. Here we goooo. I got to 4 miles from the car and bonked and blew up, started cramping, had no power, couldn’t stomach anything but water. 

Okie dokie, so I pretty much hike and biked to the car, riding downhill only. I rolled back to the car after 4 hours and 45 and was depleted and bummed. 8 hours 45 minutes. 50 miles 5880 of elevation. 

I got naked in front of the guy cutting the grass (your welcome bud 😉) and changed into my comfy clothes and carefully started the drive home. I swung by my makeshift aide station and got goodies and all the ants that had accumulated in my bag. Then headed home, sipping water and reflecting on the outcome of this experiment. 

And now that I have drank my recovery shake and wrote this; I’m seeing lots of positives. 

I didn’t eat nearly as much as I thought I did, not every 20 minutes like I should have, my drink didn’t have calories in it, I forgot about my slim Jim’s, I did ride up a lot of the climbs, and Mohican is just rough! My downhills were on point today, staying off the “sissy levers” and riding that momentum as long as possible. But when your legs are jello at the top of the climb, it makes the correct downhill position shaky, then with my new found momentum, I was linking the climbs together faster. So just burning up those legs. Not a lot of free trail at Mohican. 

Now I think I’ll cut some weight and carb load with potatoes and rice and pasta next time, until 24 hours out. Then free fur all. Sleep better, high carb in the camelback, chews in the top tube bag. Water in a bottle. Yoga everyday and meditation. Then we will re evaluate in a few weeks after black fork. 

Yah see… black fork gravel grinder is close to the Mohican 100 gravel portion, so that combined with my 2 Mohicans today…. Is pretty close to the Mohican 100 course. 

Mohican 100 is my first 100 mile race so…  I’m getting nervous. 14.5 hour cutoff. 

Listened to 2 rich roll podcasts and a lot of Ke$ha and Backstreet Boys