THE Mullet Classic

This race has been bouncing around in the back of my head for a few weeks now. Originally I had thought about making the long journey for the WORS season finale in Sheboygan (WI), but work commitments nixed those plans and left me searching for something to sate my desire for one more mountain bike race. After my crash and subsequent shoulder injury last week I figured that racing the Mullet Classic was out of the question. As things slowly got better over the course of the week and I grew restless, I started to consider racing again. I figured if nothing else it would serve as a nice long aerobic workout, which is something I felt I’ve been missing lately. Besides, how can you resist a race that has “mullet” in the name. A spot in the Feagan’s vehicle sealed the deal for me, and we took off bright and early Sunday morning for Lake Ahquabi.

After arriving and kitting up we took survey of the trails before start time. I had heard/read ahead of time that the course was fast, with lots of doubletrack and swooping turns. The pre-ride/warm up did not disappoint as the course was fun and barn-burner fast! I decided pre-race to set up some bottles on the Feagan’s aid table as I didn’t really have a good feel for how many bottles I would need or how long the race would take. I positioned a couple cold water bottles in my cooler so that they would be available for a quick exchange, and headed to the start. Despite the fact that this was supposed to be a low-key race for me I was still nervous. Nobody likes getting their ass kicked, and this was my first cat. 1 mountain bike race. Even if it was a small race there were still fast guys in it.

As the starter sent us off Cam Kirkpatrick and Matias Perret went to the front and lead the group out with Ryan Feagan, Jay Chesterman, and Ryan Nenninger in tow. I started slow, partly as a result of pedal fumbling and partly out of trepidation. I tucked in about 8^th wheel and eventually moved up to get on Matt Gersib’s wheel. The leadout train was moving quickly, and Matt didn’t seem overly concerned with catching them, but at the same time wasn’t riding slow either. I debated trying to get around or just settling in. In my mind I was worried that an overzealous start would result in a very unpleasant death march to the finish on lap 4. When the majority of your races are barely more than an hour in Cat. 2, riding for 2 hours or more is a bit intimidating. So I hung back. After bogging down on a steep pitch behind Matt I went around and decided to set off on my own. I couldn’t even see the top guys anymore and just sort of resigned myself to riding alone for most of the race.

I tried to keep an even hard tempo and ride as smooth as possible with hopes of maybe picking up a straggler or two. I hated the idea of getting beat by Ryan, who although a far better bike handler than me had spent most of his time since Dakota 5-0 training minimally and eating fried food (by his own admission). At this point though Ryan was out of sight and I figured it wasn’t worth worrying about at the moment. I was pleased to find that the backside of the course which we had not been able to ride during the warm-up had some challenging climbs on it. I like hills.

After two laps my bottle was empty and I stopped briefly at the start/finish to pick up a fresh bottle. It wasn’t long after getting going again that Gersib showed up and promptly went around me. I hadn’t realized that he was still relatively close when I stopped for a bottle change and that I had effectively erased any gap I had by stopping. It was then that I regretted not starting the race with both bottle cages full. Matt was wearing a camelbak under his jersey and thus didn’t need to stop for a bottle change. I let Matt tow me around for a while, dutifully scrambling to make up the ground I lost on the descents or fast corners. With my recent shoulder injury still fresh in my mind I was perhaps still a bit afraid to fully let it rip on the fast and loose sections of the course. After swooping around on Matt’s wheel for a while and making a few sketchy passes of lapped riders we all of a sudden came upon Jed Clampet (errr…Ryan Feagan) poking along in his denim and flannel cut off kit. Ryan let out an audible sound of disappointment as we caught him, but nonetheless he kicked up the pace so that we had a three man NE train going! It was kind’a fun.

A little while later the NE train came rolling up on the familiar orange Powerade/Indy Fab jersey of Jay Chesterman. Chomp. Jay was absorbed by the train and we continued to roll. Knowing that we were headed into another section of the course with some significant climbing followed by some fast descents, I decided it was tactically in my best interests to try to get some breathing room on the climbs. As we approached a left turn going into a prolonged moderate climb I whipped around and threw down the attack. I knew that someone had taken up the chase behind me, but I didn’t look back to see who. I just put my head down and tried to build a gap. Not long after that we picked up and subsequently dropped Nenninger. From that point on I built a lead, although I don’t know how big it got at it’s largest point. About midway through lap 4 I realized that I had company, and as we hit the prolonged climb this time it was Gersib throwing down the well-timed attack. After getting the gap on the climb he kept the pressure on in the downhill sections and put some time into me. I tried my best to keep him in my sights, even slamming it into the big ring for the long flat section by the lake. By the time we hit the steep grinding asphalt climb I had made up a little ground, but he was still far enough ahead that catching him would have taken something pretty heroic. I stayed strong for the final climb on the course but wasn’t making up any ground and the gap remained to the finish. After all was said and done Matt was able to put about 30 seconds into me. We finished in just under 2 hours and averaged about 13 mph, which is totally ridiculous for a mountain bike race.

After the race we stuck around for the food and beer and waited for Roxy and Todd to finish the marathon race. When the results were posted it turned out that Gersib and I were battling for the final podium spot. Doh! I wish I had known that during the race. There’s always a little extra motivation to be found when you know you’re in contention for glory and/or cash! I don’t know that I could have caught Matt, but perhaps I would have had a little more motivation to turn myself inside out trying. After an hour or so of eating drinking and socializing we finally loaded up and hit the road. A good time was had by all, and I’m already thinking about where we can get a Camaro with a bike rack for the road trip to next year’s race.