Sub-9 Death March recap

The "death rig" aftermath:I have been trying to figure out how to recap a race that had no set course, no real pictures of racing action, and was 5 hours long. Well, some people took longer. Much longer. And may have cost our team beers in our little inter team wager with the Bio Wheels/Reece Campbell teams, but I digress...

We raced in teams of two around the Hoosier National Forest looking for 10 checkpoints. 9 were historic cemeteries and 1 was a fire lookout tower. We were armed with a bike of our choice and any maps we could procure. A total of 11 Rogue Racing Project teams toed the start line. My partner, Jason Cox, and I were side by side. The whistle blew. The start was not that hectic so we inched forward, finally reaching the road. I look around and about 7 of the 11 RRP teams are all with me. Except my partner. I soft pedal and everyone else heads out to the first checkpoint. I still soft pedal. We hit the first gravel road section, finally Jason catches on. Turns out he had a mechanical; his rear wheel slipped in the dropouts. We begin to hammer the gravel road as fast as we could. This was no regular gravel road though. Fresh gravel about 2 inches deep. Downhill felt as if you were skating, uphill or flats was just soul and energy sucking. We catch most of the Rogues as we leave the gravel and enter Combs "road". And road is being generous. This is a 4 wheeler trail at best. Brutal climbs, muddy downhills, at least 10 little streams to cross. Basically as much fun as you can have on a bike fearing for your life. We reach the first cemetery and we all regroup. Pictures taken and we are off. Notice how I look like this is fun still? Back the way we came down Combs "road". On one particularly fast section of the double track Dave, who is new to the team, learned a valuable RRP team rule: Don't follow Butch's line! Ever. High speed endo, bike and rider are good. Let's roll. At the next checkpoint on our route, Robertson Cemetery, we are a group of 6. Me, Jason, Dave, Evan, Stephen, and Butch. Notice Jason still looks happy...We roll to the Fire tower next. Gotta climb it to get the bonus time. Its about 200 feet tall. Built in 1941. It's a windy day. We were wearing MTB shoes. It was "fun" to say the least. Jason enjoying the view. Out to Todd cemetery, and then finally a paved road! Hammer down to Mitchell. Over to Hickory Grove church. We are starting to have less fun... Roll on to the singletrack we need to ride to hit Callahan Cemetary. At this point we are close to 40 miles and 3000 feet of climbing in. The singletrack is impossibly steep in sections. Hike a Bike. Checkpoint found. Definitely less fun...Ride the trail to the road on the other side. Best part of the race. A huge pine forest section with hundred feet tall trees. Smelled like a Christmas tree store! Looked like Washington state. Just gorgeous. Worth the pain. At this point I hit a giant mud hole a a good rate of speed. Ass over tea kettle I go. Elbow deep mud. No broken bones, lets roll. Back on pavement we hit Hanner, Cornett, and Fleetwood cemeteries before we head in. All in all, 5 hours in total, 4 hours of riding time, all 10 checkpoints, 1,000 grins, 1,000 grimaces, 2 endos, 1 powerbar, 5 GU packets, and one hell of a good time.

The Sub 9 Productions folks set the bar early and high for best race of the year. It is gonna take something pretty outstanding to top this. This race has a permanent home on my schedule from now on.

http://www.sub-9.com/ for more info on Sub 9 Productions events.
http://www.2pedalsphotography.com was the official photog for the race.

I am sure Brian will have his view of the race up later on too. Stay tuned.

Jason