Mohican Endurance Festival Race Report

This past Sunday I raced in the inaugural Mohican Endurance Festival, hosted by HFP Racing.  HFP normally hosts great events, and they do their best to make them feel 'bigger' than they actually are.  I've been to Mohican State Park in Ohio a number of times camping and fishing and what not, but I've never raced there before, so I was looking forward to this race.



Mohican's iconic covered bridge

Being the inaugural event, I figured the turnout would be a little low.  HFP also capped the field size to 500 racers max - presumably due to park restrictions.  500 racers, that is, spread out across Mini, Sprint, Olympic, and Half distance races.  I chose the Olympic (1 mile swim, 40K/25 mile bike, 10K/6.2 mile run) since I didn't really know where my fitness was at this year, and I expected the field for that race to be pretty small (it was just under 80 people). 

I left the house at 0-dark-30, made a quick stop for coffee, and ate my bagel (with chunky peanut butter and nutella - breakfast of MOPers) on the way down.  When I got to the venue cars were already parking along the sides of the roads as the parking lots were full - now I understand the 500 racer limit.  After a quick but crucial porta-potty stop I was checked in and headed out to check out the swim start (but mostly the path from the lake to transition)...

HFP had sent an email out the night prior to the race, suggesting that participants bring an extra pair of shoes or something for the long trip from the lake to transition, so I took a walk down to see if that was really necessary.  What I found was a muddy trail leading steeply uphill from the lake, connecting to a steep concrete walkway followed by a bunch of concrete steps.  To say it was a long, steep hill to climb was an understatement.  Nevertheless, I didn't feel the need for extra shoes and, being fairly proficient at trail running, thought it might even be a chance for me to make up some time lost due to my horrible swimming skills. 

I finished getting set up in transition (HFP does a nice job of spacing out racks, organized by race distance), pulled my wetsuit halfway on, and headed to the lake for a little warm-up.  I hadn't swam since last season, so I wanted to at least get a feel for the water and my wetsuit again.   

Volunteers

Volunteers can make or break any race, so before I dive into the details of the race I definitely want to give a nod to the great volunteers at this race.  The course was well staffed, aid stations were where they needed to be, and just when you thought you might need some cowbell to keep you going, there was cowbell.  Extra special shout out to the wonderful ladies at the top of the dam and the young folks at the aid station on the way in/out of transition and at the finish line.  I'm sure there are others I'm missing, but I sure hope that if I saw you during the race I already thanked you.

The Swim

After the mini and sprint races went off, the Olympic waves started to go, and before I knew it I was rounding the first buoy.  The course was set like a large L, with the long leg of the L parallel to the shore.  I usually swim decent in these kinds of courses - I like to be able to see forward progress when I breathe, and in this case I was able to watch the trees going by as I went.  We did two loops around the long leg of the L and then swam back to shore for that huge climb up the hill back to transition.  Total swim time including the hill run was just over 26 minutes.  Very poor by any standards except mine.  I was thrilled with that time.

T1

I was, for some unknown reason, a cluster in transition.  I'm normally a sub 1-minute kind of guy, but for some reason I was scatterbrained.  Took me around a minute and twenty seconds.

The Bike

The bike set out on the roads around the park.  It was raining all morning and still a bit to start the ride, so it was wet and a little sketchy in spots, but overall a really nice course.  Rolling and gradually downhill for the first 5 miles, then about 7 or 8 miles of rolling and gradually uphill, 5 or so miles of gradually downhill, a 1½ mile climb, and then rolling and gradually downhill back to transition. 

Kind of like this:




Mohican Endurance Festival Olympic Tri Bike Course, as captured by my Garmin.

I ate a couple of gels on the course, and drank the better part of a half-strength bottle of Strawberry HEED.  I was feeling fine and didn't need any more than that.  I was able to bring back a number of people, and even caught and passed some of the folks from the sprint race.  My strategy was to just go hard and try to hang on for the run, which is exactly what I did.

Given the hills and the rain, I'm really happy with my bike.  I came in with an average of just under 20 mph, and rode above what I thought was my FTP (I had measured it earlier in the season, and during this race my 60 min max was higher by almost 20 W).  Guess I need to up my FTP, or at least re-test soon.  Solid middle-of-the-pack effort for this race.  Actually, it was top 10 for this race, but hey, with less than 80 people in the Olympic it's hard to say that the field was a good representative sample.

T2

Normally I'll get my feet out of my shoes during the last few hundred yards so that I can do a flying dismount into T2.  In this case the transition area was below the road, so there was a small hill that made a flying mount (out of T1) and a flying dismount (into T2) challenging... I chose to just dismount with my shoes on and jog it in.  I quickly racked my bike, changed shoes, and set out.  I grabbed a gel to eat after the first mile or so but dropped it on the way out of transition and never went back for it.  Probably didn't need it anyway.  Thanks to the volunteer who picked it up for me.  I don't litter out on the course, but I figured an unopened gel in transition would be more like treasure than litter.

The Run

The run course was interesting... you ran out on some rolling park roads, then descended this huge hill (from the top of the dam to the bottom), ran a trail along the river, popped out on the road and across Mohican's iconic covered bridge, then back.  The drop down the hill was the running joke of the day.  Some people were disgusted, some thought it was funny.  For me, it was the price of admission to the trail, which was great - somewhat muddy but otherwise just fine. 



A long way down to the trail run portion, but a longer way back up

At some point along said trail I really had to pee... had to since the swim, actually (too much coffee).  I don't / can't pee on the bike, and I wasn't going to pee my pants running, so I pulled off the trail to whiz in the trees.  As I started to relieve myself I suddenly released the most boisterous, gratuitous fart I think I've ever launched.  I have no idea... maybe it was all the pulled pork and hefeweizen for dinner the night before, maybe it was swallowing too much air during the swim, or maybe it was my nutrition (though I don't normally get gassy from gels or HEED).  Whatever it was, it was epic.  So epic that the dude who was running by at the time just about lost it... All I could hear was him laughing in surprise/disgust as he headed down the trail.  Hope I made your race a little better, buddy.

I eventually caught and passed the fart laugher as well as two other guys in my race on the way back to the finish.  Lots of people were walking the hills and generally feeling bad.  Trail running / racing through the winter paid its dividends for sure.

I'm normally a sub-45 minute 10K kind of guy (barely), and this was a hilly course.  My time was a little over 51 minutes, and I'm not sure if it's because I overcooked the bike, or because of the hills.  Either way, though, even that time was relatively competitive against the field and I'm happy with it.  Could I have done a little better? Sure.  Would it have made a difference about how I felt about the race overall?  Nope.

Finish Line

The finish was uneventful... "The Voice" of HFP racing called me in (if you've done any HFP races you know Rich, or at least know of him... great guy).  A few spectators were there cheering but nothing crazy, just like most of the other races I do. 

I was surprised to find out that I ended up on the podium in my age group and in the top 10 overall, a result that I'm more than happy with (and didn't really expect).  It was a small field, but it still feels good to place well on a tough course like that. 

Finisher medals (unnecessary for an Olympic distance race, yet increasingly common) were actually pretty sweet belt buckles.  Now all I need is a belt that will accept it and a matching pair of cowboy boots. 

Overall Verdict

I loved this race, and I'd definitely do it again.  I think HFP is onto something with the course, the venue, the format, the whole thing.  Next year I might even consider heading down the night before and camping out (there's also decent fly fishing in the tailwaters of the dam... one of the few trout streams in Ohio - it would be a good way to unwind before the race).  It's clearly evident that the HFP staff are racers themselves... they get it and it's obvious when you look at the little details that are taken care of throughout the event.  Thanks, HFP, for a great start to my multisport year.