Mohican in the mud

I too this past weekend subjected my gorgeous Superfly to a very long day of extreme weather at race #2 of the NUE series, the Mohican 100. Rain, mud, hail, power outages, thunderstorms… Loudonville Ohio had it all.

The results weren’t pretty. A lackluster day left me in 10th place single speed and the brutal conditions left me needing to replace a bunch of parts on my beloved including two sets of brake pads, a bottom bracket and headset bearings. Despite all of the slow gritty part destruction discovered well after the fact, my bike performed perfectly.

I ran Bontrager front-specific 29-3 tires both front and rear (with the rear one mounted backwards for improved climbing traction). Seem crazy? While a mud tire like the Mud-X 29 would have surely been better in the single track, the 29-3’s really roll on the pavement and fireroads… and I was amazed at how well they held in the varieties of mud encountered during my long day.

I must acknowledge the superior results from some of my crew teammates, including Simonster for his 2nd place mens open finish… sweet, Travis Mullen for squeaking on the open podium in 5th, Dave Wood who just missed the men’s open podium in 6th, Robert Herriman for destroying the Masters field and to Jason Pruitt with a great ride to finish 5th in single speed. You guys are awesome!