Michaux Maximus

Partook in the first Michaux Endurance Series race of 2010, Maximus, this past Sunday. Been riding fairly keen singletrack on the other side of Michaux State Forest this spring, so the coupled facts that the race would take place near my newly assumed stomping grounds and that it was ‘bout time to anty up and clip in for my first race this year led me to fix on doing the race rain or shine, race fit or not.

I knew I wasn’t in ripe racing form, so I attempted two pre-rides last week. Neither of them were successful…race-prep wise. The first was a group ride with fellas from Gettysburg Cycle and others, for the first few miles at least, but I fell off the back of the pack on a long rocky downhill and guessed incorrectly at a crosstrails, bringing another unlucky rider with me down the wrong trail and out to a highway. Neither of us knew anything about the systems in that part of the woods, so we settled with peddling back to the cars and calling it a quasi-fitness ride. I tried to ride the loop another day, and missed a wholly different turn somewhere and ended up riding a ridgetop for 10 miles. Beautiful view, but not part of the race course.

Thank the gods for me the course was superbly well-marked on race day. The venue was great too, and the race was well-organized and handled professionally throughout the day. I registered for the 10-miler (there were 10, 20, and 40 mile options) pledging to myself to do the 20-miler for the next race and the 40-miler the following. As I suited up, I could see the 40-milers take off from the fire road start adjacent to the parking lot. The lot was packed and an organizer had said 230 registered. Good mix of sponsor-clad jerseys and thick-bearded single speeders were milling around prior to the 10 and 20 mile start. As I went through my pre-ride routine, I decided that this was one of my favorite parts of race events. The riding is good, of course, but not always the best depending on how things transpire. The brew and grub are undoubtedly nice after the race too. But that pre-race excitement and methodical preparation sells me on racing. Anyway, short pre-race brief and then staging at the start. 20-milers left about two minutes prior to the 10s and everyone had been staged by age group and whatnot, however, the first few miles of the course were fire road and by the time I turned into the woods I had no idea who was racing what and how far. I knew there were people in front of me and people behind me, so I just tried to ride my pace.

The trails were a bit moist, but fun (think Chubb a day after a thunderstorm). Some nice smooth singletrack and rolly downhills, but most of the trail was rocky and boggy (or maybe these are just the parts I recall best as this is where I spent most of my time.) The course was paraded up until about mile 5, where I turned a bend after a downhill and witnessed firsthand the carnage a slippy rock garden can create. There were probably 10 riders all stopped off trail making repairs within a half mile of each other. Everybody gave the okay as I passed and me and a guy who I’d been trading positions with rolled on through. We rode past the first aid station of the 20/ 40 milers almost in tandem, but he hit a wall on the a muddy climb and we parted ways. I was huffing pretty good but knew there was a group of four not far behind me. About two miles out from the finish, I started thinking a bit, and realized I’d passed a lot of riders but remembered a lot of speedy-looking guys at the start who I hadn’t seen since the fire roads. That’s about as far as I got though before I nipped that thinking shit in the bud. I just tried to keep spinning to the end and finish without anything left. Closed a couple hundred meters on the rider in front of me in the last mile but he sensed me coming and powered out to the finish ahead of me. I felt good coming through the finish chute regardless. I shook hands and jaw-jacked with the guys coming in around the same time as me, then de-kitted, had a burger and fries with cold beer, took some pics and met the guy I’d spent most of the race trading spots with, and then headed home. Good day.

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