Sunday’s OMBC opener at Mohican Wilderness in Loudenville, Ohio was with out a doubt the best and worse race I have ever done.
The morning started off with some light drizzle and the trails were tacky but very ride able shape. Then with less then an hour prior to the start the skies darkened and opened up with a deluge off rain, snow and ice for about 30 minutes. This cold front not only brought the precipitation but also dropped the temperature from a chilly 46 to a cold 37.
This caused many participants to pack up their cars and return home…not me. I am not sure if it was the fact the wife and I drove 3 hours to get there or that I already paid the $25 entry fee.
I have raced this 9.5 mile course several times and the longest it has ever taken to complete a lap was an hour – twenty minutes. So I assumed that the mud and rain would add 20 minutes tops. WRONG! Try over 40 additional minutes for the and an hour longer for the second when the mud turned to what could only be described as peanut butter.
I was not having any fun so when I came around for the start of the second lap Mrs. Averett brought me some dry gloves and said “…you can do it.”. There were several opportunities to quite…but I could hear my wife’s voice in my head saying “I am proud of you for finishing.” That was all it took to ride through cramps, cold, snow, rain, ice the course and mud.
So with what will be a time of over 4:40 I did not DNF. Thanks to everyone who stuck it and waited for me to finish especially my wife. See you at Vultures Knob on the April 18th.
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