Mount Vernon News

LOUDONVILLE — A record number of riders turned out for the sixth annual Mohican Mountain Bike 100 on Saturday. In the end, however, it was a two-man race to the finish.

Trek Volkswagen teammates Jeff Schalk and Chris Eatough left the competition in their tracks and battled for the lead in the 100-mile event. Schalk led Eatough for much of the race, and a late climb put him over the top for the victory. Schalk finished in 7:09:37, just 40 seconds off Eatough’s record time set a year ago.

“It honestly isn’t a very good course for me,” said Schalk. “I am really good at extensive climbs and not so much on the twists and turns of singletrack. It was a really lucky, surprising win for me. The rain made the singletrack a little tougher for me, but I was able to get through it.”

Eatough couldn’t match Schalk’s ability on the late climb and settled for second place, finishing in 7:11:36. Sam Koerber took third with a time of 7:22:11.

“I really enjoyed it,” said Eatough. “It was quite close until the last climb and I couldn’t pull him back to me. ... I pretty much knew the course, but I also knew the competition was much tougher than last year. I don’t know if I was more comfortable during the race because we were racing much faster this year.”

The Mohican 100 was two races in one. The 100-mile event was Round 2 of the National Ultra Endurance Series, while the 100k (62 mile) event was an open race.

Schalk also won the NUE opening race — the Cohutta 100 — on April 19 in Ocoee, Tenn. Schalk, who had never raced at Mohican, wasn’t so sure of himself this time around.

“Honestly, coming in, I was thinking this was a great course for Chris,” Schalk said. “I was kind of racing for second place, damage control. I figured as long as I kept with him for as long as possible, I would be OK. I really didn’t think I could beat him because of the lack of extended climbs I needed to pull away from him.

“With like 20 miles to go, there was one last climb. I looked up and it looked like the biggest climb I had seen all day, so I just made my move. It is difficult to come into the race blind because you don’t know where the climbs are.”

Eatough spent a little time after the race second-guessing himself, but came to no real conclusions.

“I really think I had a solid race plan,” said Eatough. “Jeff and I were real tight until he got away with 20 miles to go. He is better at the uphill than I am, but if I ride really well and really smart, I can usually pull him back. I wasn’t able to do that the last climb. I’m not sure if that’s really where he pulled away, but I wish I could have stayed closer to him. Those last five or six miles, I think I was actually gaining time, but not enough. He had a big enough gap.”

Ohio native Betsy Shogren returned to the Buckeye state and picked up a win in the elite women’s race. Shogren, who now lives in Morgantown, W.Va., finished the course in 9:08:32. She edged Rebecca Rusch, who ran the course in 9:09:38. Michelle Stoppard was third in 9:36:46. Defending champion Carey Lowery finished sixth.

“One of the cool things about it is that you never know who is coming out on top,” said NUE Series race director Ryan O’Dell. “Just because somebody is strong doesn’t mean they will necessarily win, like you saw today. It is a combination of being strong, having your equipment work and not having bad luck.”

Not knowing the course caused problems for Schalk, despite his first-place finish.

“It was frustrating that I didn’t know what the course profile was. It was frustrating that I hadn’t seen the course before. It was frustrating knowing that it wasn’t my style of course, but when you add it all up, you just have to give it your best and see what happens,” said Schalk. “I just had to see how it played out and it played out in my favor. It was a hard race.”

Overnight rain also caused some problems for the riders. Storms that rolled through early Saturday morning left the course sloppy, especially early in the race.

“It wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” said Eatough. “It didn’t rain during the race and that helped. Some of the course was quite muddy.”

“It actually didn’t affect me too badly,” said Schalk of the overnight rain. “I haven’t raced here before, but my overall impression is whoever built these trails did an incredible job. The singletrack held up really good with the rain.”

The level of competition was much improved this season, thanks in part to the NUE’s involvement. Now in its third season, the NUE continues to attract top talent as does the Mohican 100.

“The competition was really good,” Schalk said. “The competition for these 100-milers is getting better and better. That made it tough. The rain overnight made it that much slower, going through the muddy areas. It was a real tough day.

“(The win) was pretty helpful. I want to try and win the series, so I needed this. I won at Tennessee and now this one. Two wins put me in real good position for the rest of the year and takes the pressure off.”

With the turnout for this year’s race nearly doubling once again, O’Dell is pleased and excited for its future.

“We’ve got record numbers,” said O’Dell. “The numbers for this race have doubled every year, and this year, they didn’t double, but we went from almost 200 last year to almost 350 this year. That’s pretty good growth.

“This race has changed every year, but we’ve tried to add changes where we think it will make it more fun or present more challenges,” continued O’Dell. “This year, moving the start to Loudonville was a safety issue, being able to close off the town. We want to make it challenging, but still fun.”

After experiencing the course firsthand, Schalk agreed with O’Dell.

“This is a great course. The trails are beautifully built,” said Schalk. “The course overall was really challenging, really fun. It is a good event. ... I will definitely be back.”