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Wiley Mosley's Journal
Ouchamuchy
posted by Wiley at 11:49 AM on August 27, 2007
I just competed in the 24 hours of Allamuchy this weekend in Byram, NY. I was partnered up with Laura Hanlon in the Duo co-ed category. We were hoping to challenage last years winners, but they were unable to make it down due to prior commitments (lucky them).
On Friday, we ran demos during the afternoon, getting some folk on the new Stumpys and epics. This was definetly a Stumpjumper course, all five inches would be used for sure!!!
It was beautiful weather at the start. The race began with the four person teams followed by our category one minute later (traffic). When we were off myself and another duo rider (Kurt)pulled away up the climb, as we caught the fours pack Kurt pulled right threw them, while I got jammed up (no biggie, plenty of time to catch up). After a mile or so of climbing the fire road we hit the trail. To my surprise it was some of the most knarly, rocky terrain I have ever seen!!! Oh and there was a good inch or so of mud covering most of the course. After the ten and a half mile loop I came to the transition area where Laura was sporting the Rider's club jersey and rearing to go! I scanned in and she took off like a bat out of hell. Quick change of subject here, what heck does "bat out of hell really mean", and who came up with that? Kind of a stupid saying, never the less... Laura ended up turning a super quick lap and the race was on. The exchanges carried on for some time. Than it got icky... While I was out of the last lap before nightfall a storm rolled in, lots of lighting and a whole bunch of rain. As I got in she was still pumped to get out, and away she rode. When I headed out again the course was getting pretty rough, it was pretty entertaining though. There were bodies strewn about the trail like some kind of WWII movie. As I came back in I stopped Laura and mentioned she might wanna hang a little before going out, being the course was pretty trashed and a bit dangerous given the rocks, mud, and lighting. Thats when the mistakes began.
We both decided it may be a good idea to nap while we waited on the weather, to recover a bit. I was having some fairly serious stomach issues, and well I don't think anything was really fazing her (darn tough lady). I set my alarm for 12:45, but it never went off, OH OH. Well we ended up getting up, Laura headed out first. I eventually awoke and headed out around 6:30am or so. I felt super refreshed. As I hit the trail I was stunned by the condition of the course. Never in the history of the earth has there been as much mud as there was that morning on Mt. Allamuchy. But damn was it fun!!! There were only a few riders I saw on course and I believe all of them were cursing the trail in some way or another as I passed. I believe I actually heard one gentleman, well lets not call him that; say "fargin' skiving, scabbing...." and so on as he kicked the mud and his bike. It was quite hard not to laugh, wait I think I did laugh but upon my laughter he broke into a bit of a muddy smile also. As I pedaled through the muck I was glad on the bike I had choosen for that lap. I had swithed over to the Epic. That bike carves a friggin' turn like aaaahhhh well something that turns really really well.
If your still reading by this point I am amazed, I am carring on about pretty much nothing. But after laura heading heading out for our last lap and looking at the standings, my joy began to grow (which is fairly crazy given the good mood I was already in). We were ahead by two laps and the nearest team was not even on course!!! So the race ended, and it was awesome to see all the beat up riders with big smiles on their faces even though many were bloodied and wrapped in some sort of gauze and or Ace bandage.
Our goal of the race was to be the overall winners, but we did not achieve that, probably our little nap was at fault for that. We did however win our division and come in third in the mens duo category. But a race like this really is not all about the win, it is about the expirence and testing of one's will. I met and talked to all kinds of cool and odd people which made this event a blast, even though I probably will not be able to sit comfortably for a week or so.
And special thanks to Laura Hanlon for coming up from Maryland to ride with me.
Later ya' all.
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Comments (2)
10:49 AM on August 28, 2007 UTC id* wrote:
damn dude. that is some sweet mud action. nice thing you have a trailer full of bikes to choose from!
i like the action shot...
09:00 AM on August 30, 2007 UTC Alli Eddy wrote:
I think your journals make for great bedtime stories! Whenever I feel low, I can read about your lows and feel a little better. And when you always come out on top, well gee, I feel AWESOME!