1st Place OVERALL
Pro Women
SUE HAYWOOD
TREK/VW

Monster of Michaux
April 21, 2002
Sami Fournier

"I kicked your butt," I suddenly remarked to Jon as we're cozy again on the couch at our home in DC after a day in rain and mud on April 21 at the "Monster of Michaux" race in Pennsylvania's Michaux state forest.

"I double-flatted!"

"I warned you about pinching and carrying extra tubes. I didn't flat."

"It's hard to flat when you're walking."

"I was NOT walking….much."

I can't really beat Jon, but it's fun to pretend I can. In reality, we wandered in together after about four hours of mountain biking, tired and happy to be done with the race that kicked both our butts-the marvelous miracle that is Michaux.

Riding the rocks is a mixture of pleasure and pain, even when we get all the practice we can on this kind of technical course. Michaux just always wants to beat you senseless, regardless of how boingy your bike or how powerful your legs and lungs. It had been 90 degrees in DC, and the 50 degree weather in PA was a shock to my system. Starting the 25-mile race, I vowed to set and keep my own steady pace, no matter how tempting it was to chase faster riders, or how much I wanted to drop out. And boy did I want to drop out.

At the start line Karen Henry and I looked around and realized we were the only women in our veteran women's class. I seemed to recall many a race where Karen flatted 2 times or more and still caught and passed me and won by a significant margin. Up the road with the group of vet men she charged, spinning her legs warm at high cadence. At that point I conceded to her, and settled back into a comfortable trudge, happy to have the trail mostly to myself. This gave me a pick of good lines among the rocks, until Sport racers who had started behind me started catching and passing me. Even then I felt ok, moving along in my little groove, recognizing that not sleeping well and not adhering to my training schedule were going to keep me in back of the pack for the day. And it was going to be a long one.

I haven't been on my mountain bike much, and my hands were getting tired. This caused me to get lazy with shifting, and I found myself in a bigger gear than I thought I could push on some of the shorter climbs. This apparently worked, though. I stood up to stretch my back while powering through the climbs and had a little extra momentum to get over the rocks. Have I mentioned the rocks? There were lots of them, all sizes, mostly with good traction--not too slimy. Working your way through them gives you a satisfying sense of accomplishment. Especially when everyone is standing atop a ridge, waiting with a camera for you to dump it. It hadn't started raining yet, but it was threatening.

The stream of men and boys coming from behind me tapered off, and I got lonely and dejected, and started looking around for an exit. Nothing like a long grassy climb to focus the mind. I took a gu and some deep breaths and set my cadence and kept it there, concentrating on my breathing, looking up the road. Soon I had overtaken 3 guys on the climb. I had a really bad disco song from Saturday night fever stuck in my head, but otherwise I felt pretty good.

Back in the singletrack I descended happily, recognizing that I better not start celebrating yet. I might be 2 hours into the race, but I was not nearly done. This section was the site of a major mental breakdown last year, and I tried not to repeat it. There was a race on for 6th or 7th place last year, and I had blown it mightily. This year, solidly in 2nd, I was able to relax and chill. Until a voice behind me said, "Sami! Do you want some company?"

"No," I said, joking, "I'm miserable. But wait-misery loves company!" Jon told me how he had double-flatted, stopped to help Paul who had cracked his helmet, and waited with Larkin to help fix his flat after some guy gave him a road tube. "I gave Larkin my pump," I said. "Good thing you guys came along, 'cause I have no pump."

"Neither do we," said Jon. What a team. Poor Paul told about his wreck, and how it made his head hurt, and he was now resigned to a nice slow endurance workout for the day. It seemed I was in no danger of getting left behind by these guys, and I was elated to have companions for the last harrowing leg of the day.

By the time we came to the super-fun off-camber downhill, we were in a full drizzle, and the slickness forced all three of us off our bikes. Jon just moved here from Southern California. He has mad skills, and I was deeply disappointed not to be able to watch him rage on the downhill in his usual form. None of us were exactly poetry in motion, as we flailed in our fatigue. I guess we missed the funnest part of the day by having to walk there, but at least we prevented any further injuries.

Jon was singing in his loveliest falsetto when we happened upon another woman, who said, "I think I've ridden this part before. Didn't you pass me once already?" and I said, "No, that must have been my teammate," and we all felt sort of bad for her, contemplating the futility of circling around endlessly lost on this course.

When we hit the road , we caught another guy, and Paul said, "Cool, we have a grupetto," and we worked our way up, while Paul fretted about what Meghan would say. "She's going to say, 'What happened to you? Did you TRY? Why didn't you try harder?'" Which made me laugh, and then I attacked, and Paul and Jon sat back and considered chasing me

"We better go get her," said Paul. "No, it's ok. We're a minute up on her," rationalized Jon. Paul thought about it, then said, "No, we started one minute ahead of her. She's a minute up on us. We better chase now," said Paul in mock seriousness. Turns out that while we were goofing around, Meghan was battling her way into 3rd place among the senior expert women, despite a scarey wreck. She was feeling badly about the fact that Susan Musante, who had been in front of her, had taken a wrong turn and ended up chasing her.

As Jon and Paul and I pressed on, we met a course marshal who bummed us all out by saying, "Less than four more miles," without telling us exactly how much less. I mentioned that I thought it might be four miles uphill, and that didn't exactly sit well with my tired compadres. Having ridden so slowly myself all day, it was ok with me.

On the last rocky fire road, I knew I was close to fading, but I kept spinning, hoping that the clearcut section would appear, because we would be close to the finish line after that.
And indeed, like all of life's wonderful rainy mud-fests, it ended. I inadvertently went into the wrong shute at the finish, then through the tape of the shute, and Rich Winkelman, who painstaking put the race together, yelled at me for wrecking up the place. During the awards ceremony, a few more people bravely finished the race, but the whole finish line had been torn down. Don't you hate it when that happens? A tired Dee Lanahan met this fate, and we all cheered for her.

Debacles are inevitable on the trail, in a cold rain, and those who finished the whole 25 miles of the expert race all had to come through some lonely hell and pain-the kind of struggle that really makes us appreciate our warm couches and our trusted friends. Sue Haywood-women's pro short-track national champion-had blitzed the women's field, and most of the men too, in her ego-crushing fashion. Chatting after the race, she politely pointed out that I still had mud-balls hanging from my nose. In fact, I still had mud all over me. Not wanting it to end, I waited until much later to bathe, basking in the delicious dirt of Michaux.

Michaux Rocks, PA
Chris Eatough
April 21, 2001

Michaux lived up to its reputation this past weekend, and offered up a can-a-wuppass to all that dared race. The rocks were slick, the temperatures were low, and the drizzle added to the challenge, but the Trek/VW team was prepared and motivated, taking the top 2 places in each of the men's and women's pro/expert races.

In the men's race, my Michaux curse continued, as I fell victim to a large tire sidewall slice, and subsequently 2 flat tires. Although Michaux is one of my favorite places to ride and race, I have never won on this course (previously called the "Ironmasters"), and have always been plagued with mechanicals. Of course, the nature of the terrain is a big reason for this, and riding getting around cleanly is just as important as doing it quickly.

The first 2/3 of the 25 mile loop went smoothly; off the front with my teammate, Jeremiah Bishop, building a lead of 5 minutes over the next riders. The tension was building as Jeremiah and I tested each other, and it was looking like another tight race to the end.

That was until my tire misfortunes, which started in the infamous "Three Mile Trail" area. I retained 2nd place whilst fixing the flat, but 5 miles later the innertube blew through the sidewall cut and exploded. This left me with 5 miles to the finish, mostly uphill, during which I alternated between riding the rear flat on the relatively smooth sections and running up the steep climbs and rock gardens.

At one point, I lost a place to Nick Waite, but he was fading on the last steep climb, and I was able to run by him and hold onto 2nd till the end. I was relieved to maintain the Trek 1-2, and also happy that Jeremiah had won the race (for the 4th year in a row - incredible!).

In the women's race, Sue Haywood was back in the area, and displaying awesome fitness to win the women's race (despite admitting to being a bit "rusty" on the technical elements). Kristine Oesterling rode to a strong 2nd place (which many people think could be counted as 1st since Sue is so good she should be racing in the men's class!)

The tough course and cold rain will provide another years worth of stories of struggles and successes, but it couldn't dampen the spirits of the Michaux faithful. Congratulations to all finishers!

Race notes:
Sorry to have missed the Beginners and Sport riders in action out on the trail. Hope to have some help covering the other two races in the Michaux Extreme Series-
Bill Deputy-mountainbikeRACER.com

Sue Haywood - TREK/VW made a surprise appearance. She is a true mountain bike racer and loves East Coast gnarly courses. She is a member of the TREK/VW World Cup Team and National Short Track Champion. After hitting a tree and doing an endo she still placed first while not even breaking a sweat. Check out her interview.

Jeremiah Bishop - TREK East Coast Factory Team had his FOURTH consecutive win on what may be the toughest XC race course in the country............. read his interview.

Chris Eatough - TREK East Coast Factory Team sliced a sidewall, fixed it while maintaining second place, flatted again and was passed by one rider..... then WITH A FLAT REAR TIRE overtook the rider running in over the rocks for an amazing 2nd Place finish!! Read his interview.

This guy I saw on the Three Mile Trail and he didn't know he was NOT on the SPORT course - he missed the turnoff - (guess it's time for him to move up to Expert!)

Excerpt from Rich Winkelmann's email:
"We had a kid lost on the course who actually decided to take a siesta down at the campground store without telling anyone. His poor grandfather was waiting at the finish, pretty nervous and making us all freaked. Finally found him only to discover a poor lady locked out of her car and turning seven shades of blue while waiting for roadside help for hours. They never did come.

Ever try to smash a car window? About 20-25 whacks with a three pound sledge finally did the trick. I'm not kidding....whacked it a bunch of times, then tried a large phillips screwdriver as a punch and the sledge...nope....then busted out the Dewalt cordless and tried to drill the bastard....broke the drill bit...got pissed and took a Braveheart running battle charge approach with 3 lb sledge...that worked! A promoters work is never done...."

Julian Hine
Gearsracing.com
Knobscorcher Rhyme

THANK YOU
JESS STITH
RICH WINKELMANN
for keeping this
EPIC EVENT
ALIVE AND WELL