H2H Mooch Madness 4/17/2016

jimvreeland said:
Anyone know if that dirt road is slammed GTI friendly? I'll just park out on the road if not.
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fidodie said:
park at sussex branch trailhead, and come in via the trail (yellow i think? first climb on the left, down other side)
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@jimvreeland I Think it would be a lot easier to park at other Camp - as I recall your slammer GTI made it there for Short Track 2015, and ride from there - especially seeing as you are doing 4 hour endurance class.
 
Had a great time today!!! Kudos to MTBNJ and AC Daughtry for putting this race on and keeping time. Kudos to every racer who participated, its a tough course and a accomplishment. Double Kudos to all CAT 1 Single speeders, thanks for the butt kicking I have alot of work to do!!!
 
Ok, this was fun. The course was badass, genuine hero dirt, and as advertised nice and clean. Except some of the lines I rode, but ain't nobody supposed to be over dere. And another prop to MTBNJ, a guy in endurance asked if he crossed scoring one minute before cutoff could he go out another lap, Norm said "yeah man, have fun!" No muss no fuss, just have a blast.

Even though my plan is to race cat2 this year scheduling issues today had me seeking an alternative at Mooch. Cat3 started earlier but that's not cool since I did that last year. However endurance started at 8:30, I could ride as long as I liked and it would be timed and scored so I could compare my times to Cat2. Good enough. So I gets there, say hi to errybody, glom some parts off @jmanic without recompense, and get ready. I rolled in with @gtluke for a sec and he asked if I had a new bike. He'd bought my 26" Trance, and I reminded him how clean that bike was. Yes, I do have a problem.

Endurance (at least on the dull end with me!) has a pretty casual vibe. Norm tells everybody to just chill and have fun, then fires off the STARTING HORN OF DOOM. Amusingly a lady was standing two feet away from it with her dog, which probably would not have gone well if she hadn't moved. So we take off, and there's plenty of goofing and jawing, which of course includes me. Passes are casual and polite, it's like a slightly aggro group ride. Fun!

I wind up riding with Liong (foreshadowing) who takes the steep rock line just after Luke's spot which I blindly follow even though I'm stuck between gears. Well, it worked. Liong clears off and I'm riding with a pretty cool girl who takes a minor tumble in one of the many rock gardens. She's fine and I keep going but mostly solo now. After the "F' off and die climb" I catch sight of a rider and with nothing better to do I bomb after him. Guy's name is Jeff (I think?) and we end up riding together for quite a while. He has a cheering section and knows Utah (I found this out when he stopped to say hi to Utah and I almost ass-packed him, which was pretty funny), so must be a chill dude.

Laps Uno and Dos are pretty similar. Die a slow painful death on the ups, party on the downs. Passed a dude on the sideline who didn't look happy, when I asked he said "rocks, elbow." Welcome to Mooch, my friend. There were quite a few smashed bikes too. Anyway, Jeff gapped me bad on the second lap but I went into hero mode going down and closed it up. When we hit the lake near the end of lap 2 he says he's feeling good and getting warmed up. Err, me not so much. The tech before the MTBNJ Party Zone is really disheartening. You relax after the DH and get ready for the next lap only to smash rocks some more.

So lap 3. It was a slog. I bonked pretty hard. Maybe some food or energy drink would have helped, but I think I was just tired. I had some gels and shots but just didn't feel like stopping. I crossed start/finish at 9:50 and wanted to get as much gap as possible before the fast guys came along. This was harder than I'd hoped. At this point I'm totally solo so nobody to chase. I clear a really techy climb and see a downed Lionger. I thought it was a mechanical problem but he shows me scraped knees and elbows and it looks gnarly. In true racer fashion he says "go, Vreeland is just up there!". I've got as good a chance of catching Jim as I do the daily double, but ok. I'm also tired enough to be riding poorly which could lead to major pain here.

Now the cat1 guys come through, maybe a half mile before the top which works for me. Liong has struggled to get rolling and was kinda staggering along behind me. The fast guys gave him some inspiration and he jams onto their tail. Sweet! I pull over for most of them because I'm not going anywhere fast. Guy comes up and says "endurance, leader!" I replied, "endurance, follower!" but I don't think he got the funny. Only dude who wasn't so cool was a white and green jersey who I moved over for but he kept asking for more room, on double track. Eh.

I'm really beat now and ramble my way through the last tech, slog my way up to start/finish and plan to die immediately after. There's the scoring team, Carson, and a group of hikers calling for another lap. No way, I'm fried. Some pizza and cold caffeine make a big dent in my funk so maybe I need to work on the nutrition idea.

Thanks to everyone for a really great event. The course was so perfectly NJ gnar but fun too. MTBNJ really makes it a party vibe and the BSA deserves a mention as host. Kudos also to the title sponsor AC Daughtry, it's cool to see them support the sport.
Thanks!
 
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