Mud in The Mid South
Tesi and I at the halfway point in Perkins
I knew I was in for a long day when I made it to Stillwater an hour before race start and there were streams flowing through the streets. Before long, lightning had started as well, which caused a half-hour delay in the start (to 8:30). No complaints from me. I sat in my warm car and took the time to meditate and get my head in a good place.
8:20 rolls around. Time to line up. It's cold. Garmin reports 36. Bobby gives an inspiring speech about change and inclusion plus some course tips.
We rolled at 8:35 am.
The start is typical with jockeying for position. The first couple of miles are paved and hardpack that is not yet saturated. Great way to start. It's fast, I embrace the adrenaline and take advantage of riding in a group while I can.
What I didn't realize at the time was that the rain is a great bike wash. Plus, as long as the mud is saturated, it's not that sticky. The rain stops a little before 10 when I'm somewhere around mile 32.
Around mile 38, we hit the first patch of thick stuff. I trudge through it until enough mud builds up on the chainstays and pushes my chain off the front chainring. The rear cassette is filling up at the same time. I pull off and use my scraper, a puddle, and one of my bottles to clean the drivetrain as well as I can. This burns 20 minutes or so and I walk for the first time to finish out the sludge.
Another mile down the road, a good Samaritan left a hose on for bike washes. I take advantage of that and refill my empty bottle. Then get back in it to make it to Perkins (halfway, mile 52). There's plenty more sludge along the way with a couple of short walks. But I was still feeling good and blew past a group of walking folks to slip and slide up the KOM climb at Brethren Hill.
When I roll into Perkins, a kind local is feeding quarters to the car wash so people can pressure wash their bikes. I roll in and clean the bike and shoes. Good as new.
When I roll into the main rest/support area, one of the first folks I see is my buddy, Tesi. This man had a brutal 50 with some mechanicals and is ready to throw in the towel. I'm still feeling great and tell him so. He hesitantly says "alright, let's do it". But we hung out in Perkins for a while. Got some goodies from Skratch and some fantastic espresso from the Rapha boys. When we went to leave, Tesi noticed he had a hole in his tire. So I hung out by a fire while he got that sorted. All told, this stop was 45 minutes to an hour for me. Too long. But now I had company.
The mud was still like peanut butter mixed with Play-Doh. It was nasty. But we powered on. To avoid more mechanicals, we started walking through the really thick stuff. Bike over shoulder, shoes with 5 lbs of mud each, folks slipping and sliding all over the place, bikes loaded with mud on the side of the road.
I've lost track of time but we agreed to stop around mile 70 for a stretch and a snack and then set our minds on mile 80. We kept hearing about an oasis there. It was slow going but we eventually made it to the oasis and were welcomed with loads of snacks (Skratch rice cakes are amazing), booze (passed, but it was tempting), and an excellent fire. We chowed down, got some face photos taken by a super nice photographer, and then hit the road.
We decided we would stop once more at mile 90 for another snack break. Other than that, it was just more of the same. Mud, bike on shoulder, scrape off bike, clean out shoes, mud, mud, repeat. It was brutal.
The river crossing somewhere before 90 was a welcome bike wash. Water was waist-deep at points. But my bike easily lost 10 lbs when it was totally clear of mud.
Made it to 90, snacked, only 13 mi to go. We didn't stop again. We walked some more. But just kept moving. Tesi was ready to get done and pulled away around mile 97. Pavement began right after mile 100 and I cranked it to the finish.
I was greeted with an elbow tap, kind words, and genuine friendliness from Bobby. Then promptly handed a patch and a beer. That was it. 11+ hours from start to finish. Brutal day. STD DLX 2019 was a cakewalk compared to the mudfest in Stillwater.Huge thanks to The Mid South crew and all the volunteers. This race was absolutely epic. I can’t imagine making the call to proceed/delay the race in the face of uncertainty related to the Coronavirus. Personally, I think they made the right call and am very happy I was able to be there. I’ll definitely try to race this thing again. Hopefully with just a little less mud next time.
What went well
Training. I mostly stuck to Jason’s 12-week plan for this race. It paid off! The plan contained a nice variety of workouts to keep things interesting. Plus the peak and taper worked out perfectly. My bike did really well. Aside from the one time I let mud get out of control, the drivetrain just kept working.
What would I do differently?
Different tires. I ran Rene Hearse Steilacoom 38s. They served me very well in Alabama mud. But they would not shed the Oklahoma mud. If I do it again, I’ll probably run WTB Riddlers or Terravail Cannonballs.
How did it feel?
Mentally, I was grateful for my meditation practice. There were some dark moments when trudging through mud. But there was never a point where I would have quit. My mind stayed focused on the next milestone and I just kept moving. Physically, aside from being cold at times, I felt awesome. I had some lower back and shoulder pain starting around 70. But nothing bad. Legs were strong all day.
Nutrition
I maintained 200-300 cal/hr. Mostly LaraBars plus some Skratch bars and gummies from the aid stations. Started with 300 cal coffee CarboRocket bottle plus 2 water bottles. Filled 300 cal cherry CarboRocket bottle in Perkins. Ate a banana and Skratch bar in Perkins + grabbed two Skratch bars and a bag of gummies for the road and ate both (bar ~200 cal, gummies ~70). Had a rice cake, a bag of chips, and ~¼ a coke at mile 80 oasis.
Reality vs Expectations
I had hoped for a 7-7.5 hr day with avg power around 180. Ended up with 8.5 hours moving, ~11 hours total at 205 W NP, 177 avg. So, fitness was better than expected. The day was a lot longer than planned. But it was awesome.