The 2024 H2H mountain bike series kicked off last weekend with the Aistriu Mayhem race in Medford, NJ. TBD sent a small, and somewhat motley crew, down to the race to fulfill a little of their appetite for dirt while the potentially more sane among us opted for a shorter bout of racing on the road.

Getting MTB season started…aggressively early in the morning

With a scheduled race start of 8am, our crew of three (Greg, James, and myself) were all treated to a fairly early wakeup for a Saturday morning. However, this may be one of those rare instances where being a teacher feels beneficial to bike racing ambitions as I only lost out on 20 minutes of sleep relative to a normal weekday. Coffee brewed and cats fed, I set out on the long drive south in the dark and arrived at the venue shortly after sunrise. While staging, another rider mentioned that he booked a local hotel for the night before the race; upon reflection, that might’ve been the smartest thing I heard that morning.

The race was held at the YMCA of the Pines camping area in Medford, NJ. After somehow missing the turn into the camp the first time, I was then treated to a bumpy drive on the long dirt road to parking and registration that tested my car’s suspension and the security of my bike rack. Both passed. Check in was a smooth affair and, thankfully, there were real bathrooms available for a bit of pre-race weight-shedding. Then it was time to hastily prep my bike and body for 4 hours of pedaling on a loop through the woods.

The race

Let’s jump back a few months before this event for a moment. When Greg first mentioned interest in this race, I was fairly keen on giving the event a shot. I’ve ridden precisely one other mountain bike race in the past, but I acquired a mountain bike in the time since then and have ridden it entirely not enough. In my mind, I was set on getting out a few weekends as the winter wound down and developing some skills that could help me in this event and potentially more of them. But a combination of obligations, weather, and a bit of malaise meant bailing on each opportunity to get out and do some turns in the dirt. Leading up to the event, Greg registered for the 4 hour race, James registered for the 2.5 hour race, and I, with a bit of stubbornness and foolhardiness, somehow told myself that 4 hours of racing was a good idea. We’ve been here before.

Flashforward to staging for the endurance race kick off a little before 8am and I was surprisingly excited, while also completely unaware of how things were going to go. At staging, the promoter made some welcome comments about respecting others out on course and and being mindful about passing others. These comments made sense given that our race start featured 3 different fields, with other races starting on the course throughout the morning.

Our race started surprisingly full gas for an event that would see us pedaling around the trails of the YMCA camp for a few hours. I started quickly, and immediately found myself out of my depth in terms of ability to turn a bike I’ve scarcely ridden on a course I’ve never seen before. I let others pass until I found myself in a group of racers who seemed like a decent match. Each lap was roughly 6.5 miles long, and it took until midway through the second lap for me to start to feel better about my ability to maintain speed through some of the tighter parts of the course.

On that second lap, however, a deer sprinting across the trail came within inches of ruining my day. Luckily, I spotted it in time and was able to carry on. And carry on I did for the next few laps until I started to feel the wheels coming off. Hands going periodically numb from the unfamiliar position. Lower back calling it quits as payback for the temerity of daring venture off road. Knee joining in with my other striking body parts in a show of union solidarity.

In the end, I soldiered on for 3.5 hours (one hour longer than my aching body would have preferred) before calling it quits at the end of my 6th lap. The pains I felt started distracting my focus from the course, and I started making a lot more mistakes over the last lap and a half. It was better to retire for the day than risk a crash or more serious injury. That was “good” enough for 20th on the day in a field that had 30 preregistered riders. Greg toughed it out through 8 laps to finish in a solid 10th. And James managed to take 11th in the 2.5 hour race.

The aftermath

After nearly 4 hours of racing, my body was done. It took longer than it should have to get out of my kit, packed up, and on the road back home. I spent the rest of that afternoon and part of the next day struggling to walk properly and getting made fun of for it. Greg was happy after the race at having been able to hang with the leaders over the course of the first lap, even though his knee also had some post-race complaints. James reported being content with surviving 2 laps on a fully rigid MTB, but he’s now in the market for a full squish whip. My bike still bears the dirt, hydration mix, and exploded gels from that day. And I would completely do it again. Maybe sooner than 5 years this time.

Mission Statement of the H2H Mountain Bike Race Series

“The Hudson-to-Highlands (H2H) Race Series exists to help keep the sport of mountain bike racing alive and growing in the New Jersey and New York area. By working together as a series, we can help to cross-promote each others’ events, better promote our sponsors, maintain continuity, keep the sport as fair as possible, and give the racers additional incentive by competing for the overall title or best possible finish.” - From the Race Series Website