2014 Shenandoah Mountain 100

Damn, I’m sweating already just getting my bike and my kit ready. It’s soooo humid. I’m fussing with the GoPro, but today it’s just not going to make it. I’ve had to make some last minute adjustments to my seat mounted tool bag and tube strategy and I burned up all my time. No warm up, but really, that’s probably just fine.

It’s always good to say hi to all my friends at the start line. Having a relaxing chat with good racing buddies is much better than being stressed out about strategy and the like. I forgot some of my food, Doh! No worries, no time to change right before the start.

We’re off! Alright everyone, let’s just get to the pavement with no dramatics.

Conditions were much drier this year, and when we started climbing festival this was evident. There are a few small rock sections that folks spun out on last year, but this time the climb was going a lot smoother. I settled in behind a few riders on Narrowback then had a lot of fun chasing another rider on the upper part of the tower trails. We were having fun hitting the sweet table top jumps and railing the corners.

I settled in with a pace line on Tillman and picked the pace up a bit as we headed for the paved road section leading to briery branch dam. I was getting some low back pain and wondered if I had set my saddle up correct when I swapped sea posts the other day.

Lynn trail was nice and dry, and in great shape after all the awesome trail wok to get it ready for the race. I was pleased, having managed to clean pretty much the whole climb. The secret to Lynn is to not push too hard in any one spot, but to take it at a light to moderate pace, and then crush the ridgeline and descent on Wolf Ridge.

I rode the majority of Tillman back to Aid 2 solo. I tried to pace line with another rider but he was just a bit stronger than I could go. So after a couple of pulls I popped off. However, I knew the pet cemetery area was coming up were Tillman heads mostly downhill back towards aid 2. Another pace line invited me to join and soon I was rolling into Aid 2 with a fast group.

I called out for my bag and the awesome volunteers had it to me in short order. They always take such great care of us racers!

The climb up Hankey was a sharp contrast to the first to two climbs. Basically an “easy” gravel climb instead of single track. I always find single track easier because it takes my mind off the toil. Another racer voiced some solid advice that I’ve also come to learn over the past few years. Ride the grass between the double track if it’s not too high. Usually it’s a bit smoother and less sandy than the mild double track ruts.

OK, so now my lower back was hurting more than it should, I backed off the pace a bit and that helped, but I needed to go a little slower than I wanted to.

Eventually Hankey Mountain’s rolling gravel gave way to a very steep grassy climb towards Dowels Draft. A super strong single speeder rode passed me in one spot laying down the Watts. The rest of Hankey went well and I rallied down Dowel’s Draft snagging a pass here and there and then ripped down to the final set of jumps into aid 3.

Ahhhh… 250… I always cramp up a bit on the road section of 250. Sure I play switch foot on Dowel’s but I always cramp a bit here. Nothing a little diesel fumes from a dually hauling ass a few feet off your left shoulder can’t cure. Get R Done!

OK, everyone needs to thank Bryan Wright for clearing a sweet line in the rocks that cross the creek just before the climb up Bridge Hollow. It’s super sweet to ride that bit!

Bridge Hollow is a tough climb, but if your patient, you can clean the whole thing. Definitely a case where a bit of tortoise works in your favor. I’ve seen a lot of rabbits charge this and then fall over on techy bits. Fortunately, I had a good run, with just a minor dab in one of the rock gardens.

The descent down Braley’s was fast, dry, and loose. Good stuff. One of my favorite descents in Virginia, just watch that last right.

 On the next bit of trail an unfortunate rider crashed a bit in front of me and I believe he broke his nose. He was walking along OK, in some pain no doubt, but he indicated he would be alright. So I rolled to aid 4 got my drops, and gave them a heads up about the injured rider.

Soon I passed some oncoming racers from aid 3 and set to knocking out the pavement and gravel leading to the death climb. A couple of guys on road bikes passed me, but declined to trade whips for this section.

I don’t think it’s the “death climb” that gets me. I always have trouble on the deceptive climb up the fire road leading to the death climb. It doesn’t look bad, but it always seems to punch me square in the nuts. This day was no different, and I felt awful as I got into the climb to aid 5. That’s when I knew something had to give.

If you can’t change the player, change the game.

So I stopped, took a break to eat some cliff blocks, and drank some water.

I knew I did not have in me what I needed to push the pace I wanted to...I wanted to stop.  

So I changed my goals away from a good finish time, got my mind into party pace, and shifted into ‘fahgettaboudit’.

The rest of the climb up to aid 5 was much more pleasant now. Sure, a steady parade of riders was passing me, and it was fine. I’ve done enough of these 100 milers not to get too serious. I mean, I still wanted to crush it, but I had a new reality to deal with, and going fast was just not in cards at that moment. I looked at wild flowers as I creeped up to aid 5 and dreamt of PBR hand-ups. I spent some time at aid 5 and got some much needed supplies. The rest of the endless double track climbs and grassy fields went by OK and I got my spirit and my legs back just as the Chesnutt descent began. I had a lot of fun attacking the loose and rocky turns and chutes. I crossed my fingers mentally a few times as I felt my rear rim ting off the off rock or three. Stan’s No Tubes baby, tube less is the only way to go!

Freshly invigorated, I skipped aid 6 and powered the pavement back for the second climb up Hankey. I made it up better than I thought I would, but not as fast as I wanted to. A fellow racer was holding my tail as we zoomed down Shaffer Hollow. I enjoyed having someone to keep me honest on the last descent and felt pretty good when he revealed that he was on a 6 six inch travel bike. That’s a lot of bike for 100 miles!

I rolled a section of the last bit of gravel with an SM100 legend, Ramponi. He was on his trip-cycle, and you know he was on it All Day!

Finally, the bomber section through the camp ground led way to the best finish of any hundred out there. It’s like rolling into heaven, with cheers all around, all your great friends, and a well-earned sense of self accomplishment and triumph.

Thank you so much to Chris Scott, everyone at Shenandoah Mountain Touring, and all the incredible volunteers!

Not my best finish time at the SM100, but not my worst either. I came in with a smile, and really that’s the only result that matters.

Cheers!

Oh Yeah, some highlights from the results:

Open Men

1          Jeremiah Bishop

2          Sam Koerber

3          Brian Schworm

4          Keck Baker

5          Cameron Cogburn

6          Gered Dunne

8          Ryan Steers

9          Lee Hauber

10        Joe Fish

Open Women

1          Selene Yeager

2          Laura Hamm

3          Kaysee Armstrong

4          Trish Koerber

5          Carla Williams

6          Linda Shin

7          Anne Pike

8          Misty Tilson

9          Simona Vincenciova

10        Denelle Grant

Single Speed

1          Gordon Wadsworth

2          Gerry Pflug

3          Ernesto Marenchin

4          Daniel Rapp

5          Donald Powers

6          Dennis Baldwin

7          Dwayne Goscinski

8          Watts Dixon

9          Todd Ace

10        Peat Henry

Masters Men

1          Roger Masse

2          Henry Loving

3          Alex Hawkins

4          Anthony Hergert

5          Michael Ramponi

6          Terry Blanchet

7          Michael Boyes

8          David Jolin

9          Jim Miller

10        Joseph Baremore

Clydesdale

1          Joshua Draper

2          John Lewis

3          Joel Kelly

4          Mark Bates

5          Chad Sexton

6          Sid Rappe

7          Robbe Smith

8          Brian Parr

9          Tim Kelley

10        Daniel Abate

2014 Wilderness 101 Race Report

This year’s Wilderness 101 was a tough one for me, but still loads of adventure.

 

For me, there seem to be 3 stages to any 100 miler.

“Stage 1”

Leaving early from work and racing from Richmond to Coburn. Getting registered, setting up camp, once over bike and drop bag prep, chow down, drink a couple of beers and tell questionable jokes. Whew, then try to settle down and sleep.

That evening, a few of our group chats about the forecast. Rain percentages for various times of the day are debated.One of my race buddies says I should run the 13 plate upside down, but I decide to mount it the way it's set up and not wory about superstition.

“Stage 2”

In the morning the next race starts. Get up just a bit before everyone else to eat, drink coffee, and bring systems online.

For me, I affectionately refer to it as the potty race. Yeah, that's right, the race to poop. 200+ people and maybe 12 porta potties... do the math. Now I'm not complaining, it's just a constrained resource, plain and simple. So if you can get it over with before demand exceeds supply, you are in good shape.

“Stage 3, the main event”

Ahemmm, with that out of the way, it's time to put on some kit, make sure the drop bags are complete, and well, dropped off. There has also been a light rain all morning and it’s chilly. I debate a base layer, but decide on arm warmers. I figured they gave me more thermal options.

Now onto the bike and check the tire pressure and last minute tweaks. As soon as Garth sees my number plate, he lends some sage advice in the soft way he often expresses himself... "Plassman, you got to run that shit upside down!" I don't have more zip ties, and don't want to mess with it so I defy cycling tradition and run it like I brung it.

The drizzling rain had pretty much stopped and we rolled out of the park onto the main road through town. Almost instantly, the real wetness for the day started as the peleton headed out of dodge on a soaked road with small standing puddles. It was like the road was rain up on us. Weird.

This year, I had decided to put in better effort on the 1st gravel climb and kept with the lead group for the 1st 2/3 of the climb and then just managed to keep them in sight for a while after. Following the initial climb, I put in a few hard efforts to settle in with the second main group. I worked toward the front and was trying to put some pulls in. 2 or 3 guys were pushing the pace fast, putting in hard pulls. I worked up to the front to contribute, and found it tough to pull hard enough to keep the hand full of riders setting the pace happy and got repassed. I'm not sure they realized the pace was intense enough to make it hard to get up there and take a turn. Oh well, I did manage to put in a few modest pulls, cranking near my limit.

We went under a tunnel to connect to more gravel and I was surprised to see us catching the A group. We had really been pushing a good pace. As our second group merged into the Peloton, we slowed to match the pace. I seized a rare opportunity to say hi to some folks I usually don't see after the first few miles.

Gordon asked me where my GoPro was and then I wished I had remembered to get it all set up before the race. Joe Fish said the pace was unusually chill and I agreed. I heard bits and pieces of a conversation about a bad crash that had occurred on the gravel a little while earlier.

When we hit Aid 1 I got a water hand up and was super stoked to hear that we were about 2 minutes back from the race leaders. Personally, I've never heard that in an NUE race before. It felt nice.

We hit the double track grass climb and I faded off the back of the main group. I was climbing the grass more aggressively than I normally do, but it was just not enough to keep them in sight. Still, I took out that climb faster than I think I have before and then bombed the downhill sections of double track, spun out in my 38/11 combo.

Eventually, the day's 1st single track was reached. I really liked this section because it's a nice mixture of flowing trail with some rocks and skinny bridges thrown in for fun. The morning's rain had for the most part left it nice and tacky. As always, Bob Popovich was on hand to grab some awesome photos of the racers on the last bridge before a pretty large rock garden.

Next up was what I consider the 'middle hump' part of this race. There are two combos of longish gravel climb + fall line descent. Sort of like the humps in a camel’s back. I could tell I had burned 1 too many matches on the first big climb and then discovered, my tire pressure was a bit high on the 1st descent. I made my way pass a few riders, but was having trouble really pinning it. I felt like I was getting knocked around a bit. Later I noticed my fork was only using about 60 of its 100mm. I stopped at the base of the next gravel climb and let some air out of both tires.

There was a nice rolling gravel section with some periods of pavement through a very scenic park. A large group of Amish were enjoying a nice Saturday morning. I caught a glimpse of all their horses and carriages in a grove of trees. That was a pretty cool alternate scene of transportation in this age of packed parking lots in the city.

As I made it to the top of the second climb, it was nice to enter the trail after dowsing my head with a water splash hand up. Whoever you were up there... Thanks!

This descent was a good bit steeper, but I felt the trail had a more agreeable soil to rock ratio. Plus, my tires were now tracking much better. Too bad my motor was still playing catch-up.

Aid 3 was a welcome sight and I got some much needed hand ups from my drop bag. Onto the next big climb!

At the top of the climb, I was all alone as I rolled into the rocky mountain top single track that for me marks the point where this race gets really fun. At first I was struggling a bit to keep my momentum, so I dropped my seat post an inch to force myself into a more attack focused position and started charging out of the saddle. Things were picking up and I was pleased to be riding all the rock features with a bit of grace and a lot of mojo. My core was starting to get tired just as the warp speed downhill section started.

Then after zooming down the fire road that followed, I turned left onto the rolling double track section. I was motoring along when all of a sudden my drive train just seized. Damn! I surveyed the damage and cursed loudly when I saw the two foot branch section with one end jammed into my cassette by the upper part of the derailleur, the other end of the stick was stuck between my big chain ring and chain. WTF? It took all the strength I had to pull it out of the cassette. Luckily it shifted halfway decent. Amazing, but quite annoying to have wasted 5 minutes.

I hammered my way to my favorite single track in the race. The fern floored forest trail is second to none and a welcome contrast to the rock fest from the top of the mountain. I rolled through this section well and had just passed a rider when I found myself Tarzanning off my bike and grabbing a tree with my left arm just in time to stop my fall from grace. It still hurts pretty go to launch off your bike and hug a tree. I guess I'm an aggressive tree hugger.

Following that awesome trail section is a pretty moderate gravel climb to the last long rocky trail. The flattish rock strewn single track that leads to the descent was beating me up more than usual and I finally realized I had all my bike’s squish locked out. Duh! Freshman move Plassman. I caught a rider on the descent, but was glad to slow down a touch because it's some damn rocky. Nearing the end, I eagerly anticipated the gravel/pavement section that leads to Aid 4, the last stop I usually make.

Once again the awesome force of aid station volunteers hooked me up and helped me on my way to the last major climb of the day.

At the base of this climb, there is a house just off the road that always seems to be burning trash when we ride by it. The climb is very long, has a rough road surface, and just when you think it's over... keeps on going. But at the top awaits a short section of sandy trail on the aptly named Sand Mountain. In the parking lot I spied a local rider laying on his back beside his car. I assumed he was taking in a nice relaxing break after his ride. I was so jealous!

Now, I knew there was my least favorite part of the race coming up. Panther mother fucking road. It starts out fine enough, but just gets progressively steeper and rockier as it wears on. Unlike an actual Panther, this predator slowly beats you into submission. I always find myself cussing this descent quite loudly. Panther run and I have a hate/hate relationship. You might as well hate the Panther road, because trust me...Panther Run Road already hates you.

The gravel road up to and past aid 5 is a blessing after the Panther. Even the goat path hiking is not as bad because it's over with pretty soon and turns into a really cool section of single track that leads to the infamous Fisherman's path.

The key to the fisherman's path is to know it. Here is where a pre-ride of this section comes in handy. It shows you where you can get back on your bike so you don't get lured into re-mounting to soon. The other key is to get your bike off the ground and just power hike through it. Not so easy with 95 miles or so on the body!

Once on the rails to trail, I spun out in the 38/11 combo and got passed by a rider just before the final narrow trestle bridge and tunnel. If you know the line to take in the old abandoned tunnel, it's cake. Again, this is a key pre-ride spot. I exited the tunnel with no dramatics and decided not to chase the other rider too much, though I did look over my shoulder more than once as I raced to the finish line.

I was a little disappointed with my 8:46 finish, but I was glad I could ride my bike all day!

2014 Iron Mountain 100k

I’ll let you in on a secret. The Iron Mountain 100k, despite its tough as nails name, is a cast iron darling. It's Grand, that's the way I see it.

Yeah, there is a lot of elevation, +10k feet in 55 or so miles. Yeah there is a lot of single track, up and down, with rocks and roots. There is some Gnar, some flow, and… there is a ridiculous amount of single track. It’s like riding a ‘friendly’ Pisgah. Or maybe Squamish BC without all the free ride double black and log skinnies. It’s Grand.

I arrived in trail town of Damascus where the Appalachian trail, Virginia Creeper rails to trail, and Iron Mountain trail converge to form a trinity of recreation and adventure. My good friend Mike and I set up a sweet camping spot next to the river with a dam/waterfall providing some nice white noise, oh yeah there was a pretty decent shower facility too. A local gaggle of geese greeted us and tentatively spot checked us for food.

We met up with a solid group of the Stauntonian off road cyclist militia hailing from Black Dog Bikes and North Mountain Woodworks. Our pre ride revealed a nice technical single track climb with lots of fun slippery rocks and roots encrusted into a sandy soil, flanked by rhododendron occasionally flowering in white and pink blooms. At the top, we turned left to check out the final descent of the race, a wide track covered in what I’ll dub loose 'rock granola' made of golf ball and fist sized chunks. Fast, loose, and exciting!

For race night fuel and shenanigans, a trio of us headed over to the Blue Blaze restaurant. We sampled a smooth local IPA and veggie pizza. After the 1st round, we got a free 2/3 pitcher on the house because the keg kicked while they were filling it. Nice.

I tried to doze to sleep with the muffled sounds of a band playing at another riverside restaurant. The greatest hits of Skynyrd and Bad Company seemed an appropriate lullaby for a Southwest Virginia summer night.

I woke up multiple times in the wee hours of the morning to the sound of pouring rain that seemed to last a couple of hours. In the morning I had the Jet Boil cranking out the morning mud cup-o-coffee like my own little java still.

The racers gathered in the Damascus town park and paced out with the familiar smell of diesel I have grown accustomed to when following the SMT white whale replacement super duty. Soon enough we dropped into the Virginia Creeper rails to trail for a few miles and must have been an intimidating sight to the small group of runners we passed. There was a near incident further down the trail as someone in the lead peloton swerved a bit, but all dramatics abated as we crossed the road and started the day's 1st single track climb.

Moderately steep, sandy soil with wet rocks and roots made for a good challenge. Riders fumbled here and there and I gained some positions. At the top I was rolling with strong single speeders and geared riders alike for the undulating ridge of Iron Mountain. Several steep ups were just too slick to ride and hiking proved to be just as fast.

Once I got a sense the trail was about to head down, I lowered my dropper post an inch, and started hammer rolling like my single speed companions. The downhill was fast and entertaining with the wet conditions. Eventually we popped out and were soon dispatching a gravel road section. Then another single track section from an old road bed turned into a big ring, pedal hard, super-fast descent… watch the drift in the wet apexes! Man that was fun!

Next up was a brief road segment on 301. I was all alone until another geared ride caught me and I managed a draft off him for a bit. Then we each traded a pull, and were so focused on rolling we almost blew by the next turn onto single track.

Another single track climb greeted us. I love single track climbs. Especially if they have a bit of technical challenge, because you are so consumed with riding, the pain and effort get pushed out of your mind. You see for me, on a gravel climb, the discomfort of high output leg commotion from my short running sticks is front and center in my consciousness, like an annoying sound. But climbing technical single track is like cranking up the high fi over the noise of the engine clanking away.

Eventually this gave way to some long gravel road followed by an extended squirming descent decorated lots of fun little features that finally then dropped out at aid 2. Mark Prater was manning the aid and hooked me up with bottle exchanges, and brother, the bottles were nice and cold too! I made my own a critical mistake and did not grab any of the food from that aid... I should have brought more food for the ride between aid 2 and 3. There was plenty there, but in my haste I left it right there on the table.

More long stretches of gravel climbing awaited, but it was not really all that bad because the grade was never very steep, it was just loooong. I noticed a ways into it how I was running out of energy. I had just eaten the last bit of cliff blocks I had, and had used all my Perpetuem up before aid 2. While I rolled the climb losing energy and watching a few riders promenade by, I fantasized of a bowl of cliff bars... or even better, a stack of waffles! Finally the gravel led to ridge line single track that undulated up and down. This helped take my mind off my dwindling energy and I got back on task with a less than cooperative motor but now I had the high fi cranking.

A long fun descent eventually dropped me off at aid 3 where I was so happy to see the volunteers! They helped me with my drop bag. Yes! Energy drink. Oh yeah, I scored some coke… the fizzy kind. One volunteer encouraged me and said "your awesome" to which I replied "y’all are AWESOME!" So great to have those wonderful volunteers helping and cheering.

Just as I was rolling onto the single track out of the aid, I heard the volunteers welcoming the first female rider to roll into aid 3. I knew I had to kick it up a notch, because she was wicked fast!

As I headed back onto the trail, I realized this was the same Iron Mountain trail I had descended earlier, but it looked quite different. Different like any trail does when you ride it in reverse. Sort of like a sweet Hendrix reverse solo. I was pleased to clean a particularly steep and slippery section, but there would soon be stretches requiring a hike.

The ridge line trail in the Iron Mountains is equally fun in either direction. I started to real another rider in and dropped in behind as we folded into the high speed turns at the top of the day’s most technical descent. He was riding well and we zoomed down the wet leaf covered bench cut. Near the bottom there was a switch back that turned sharp right, on top of a very slick looking rock into damp loam. I sensed a hesitation in the rider in front of me so I jumped on it, dropped the post, and bombed the last bit. I had a bit of speed coming into aid 4 and managed to save a small front end slide rally style. Braaap!


Finally there was only one long jeep trail / double track climb that eventually took us to the Iron Mountain trail again. I started feeling good when I recognized I was descending down the steep stuff on top that I had hiked up much earlier in the day. The final bit was soon to be under tread.

I reached trail that I recognized from the pre-ride and attacked with a new vigor as a taste of the final descent hovered just off the tip of my tongue. I swear I could smell it, that sweet ‘rock granola’ from the pre-ride.

When I race XC, spectators sometimes comment when they see me. They say things like “Look at that guy. He’s smiling!” I must admit that in those races, I’m not really smiling. It's my unconscious game face produced by gasping air through a wince that is sometimes mistaken for smiling.

However, in this case there were no spectators to make a mistaken observation. But  no one could have mistaken the huge smile I was gulping air through as I rallied down the last descent of what is now my favorite back country course in Virginia.

2013 Shenandoah Mountain 100

Wow, 15 years of the Shenandoah Mountain 100!

I remember when I was a freshly minted mountain biker in 2004 and took my first ‘big’ mountain bike ride in the GW forest

I had just sketched out a sample route using my trusty National Geographic - George Washington National Forest map. It had topo and everything! Luckily, I met some friendly mountain bikers from Harrisonburg and Churchville and embarked on the first mountain bike ride that pushed me to the edge.

It was a lot more than I had bargained for. I was used to 10 to 15 mile cross country mountain biking in central Virginia. My cheap K-2 Attack bicycle probably weighed 35lbs and I was rocking out an athletic shirt, swim trunks (with the liner removed), and a pair of sneakers. The only thing greener than my appearance was my optimism.

About 15 miles or so into the ride we were ascending the fire road climb to the radio tower. I was running low on water, food, and general fitness… Right at the last steep pitch of that fire-road, I cracked...I got off my bike and hoofed the next 50 yards, which felt like a mile.

After passing the radio tower, we rode the ‘Cookie’ and descended down the Festival trail to a fire road. Finally we made it back to the paved road and I just made it back to the Car. Wow, 25 mountain biking miles with lots of elevation. I was smashed… and I was instantly in love with riding in the GW.


In 2007/2008 I got pretty serious about mountain biking and took on two major events. The BC Bike Race followed with a big season finally at the SM100. Now, to give you an idea of how intimidating the SM100 can be to a 1st timer, I was not sure if I could finish it well, maybe not finish at all? That same year I had completed a 7 day stage race in British Columbia and ridden the hardest trails I’ve ever encountered, but the SM was a lot longer than any single day in the BC Bike Race.

So long ride … err… story short, I finished my 1st SM100 exhausted, destroyed, and completely exhilarated. I made a lot of new friends that day and got hooked on 100 mile mountain bike races.


Fast forward to the present.

This is my 5th year racing in the NUE series, and finally I’m starting to figure these things out. My goal still remains to race a sub 8 hour 100 miler and this year I’ve come my closest with a PBR (personal best record) of 8:18 at the Wilderness 101. The road to get here has been long and there have been plenty of potholes and roadblocks. I’ve also made a bunch of great friends and had some awesome adventures.

So as I got ready for this year’s 15th annual SM 100 I tried to figure out what emotion I was feeling while cutting through the pre-dawn fog hanging in the Shenandoah Valley as I approached Stokesville. It was something I’ve not really experienced before starting any of the hundred milers I’ve raced. Was it nerves? Excitement? Trepidation? No.

It was a strange feeling… Overwhelming anticipation of doing exactly what I want to be doing. Like a hammer just before it strikes a nail.

Bang! And the race is on.

The race rolled out of the observatory campground and onto the pavement. We crossed the old train bridge and turned right. There was an immediate acceleration and the riders were packing in tight. I think there was an extra sense of urgency for everyone who knew the course re-route. There would be no long sustained fire-road climb to separate riders.

Suddenly somebody’s handle bar jabbed into my ass and started to knock me off course. I turned slightly into it to keep from getting knocked over. The rider behind also seemed to be getting sucked in. Just when it seemed to be stopping, it jabbed back in and almost knocked me off again.

We turned left and started a tough climb up festival. It’s normally not that bad, but when you are racing, there is one steep pitch that hurts pretty good. It soon eased up and we were rolling on the new trails on Narrowback. What an awesome set of trails! I gained a position on the up and down bench cut trail punctuated with a bunch of really awesome rock features. Then I rolled the super sweet downhill that follows, hitting a double or two for good measure. I also noticed a lot folks shooting pictures or video of us rolling along. Sweet! Looking good!

The transition from Tillman RD over to Briery Branch Dam is always an essential spot to hydrate and refuel. I found a group to pace line with and stuffed some homemade rice cakes into my mouth. These are great when you are on a training ride, but I was finding them difficult to get down while working a pace.

The climb up Lynn trail seemed a bit harder than usual. Then I realized I was doing this climb for the 1st time with a 2x10. My other 29er’s got a 24 small ring and those 2 teeth seem to make all the difference for me. I just never could quite get enough of a reprieve to ride most of Lynn like I usually do. That was very frustrating. Oh yeah, the wet rocks were a bit tricky too. The descent down Wolf Ridge was awesome as usual. The dirt was damp and had incredible traction. Soooo much fun!

Rolling the other direction on Tillman RD, I noticed there was some ‘snap’ missing from my legs. OK, I’ll just eat some more food. I hoped my remixed nutrition strategy would work well, but feeling it this early was not a good sign.

I made a pretty good pace up the 1st part of the Hankey mountain climb. I worked on more nutrition and hydration while rolling out the climb to the gate where the old double track really gets steep. Now I definitely noticed a bit of a problem with my energy level. Oh well, just focus on grinding out the last of this green monster of a climb.

Finally the climb was over and bombing down Dowells Draft was made even more exhilarating by a rain shower that had just started to move in. I rode the 1st half of the pavement on Rt. 250 solo. Then another rider passed me and waved to my GoPro. Too bad I had to let him know the battery was toast. We formed a two man pace-line and traded pulls till the next single track section.

The climb was slick and the roots were tricky. The rock gardens on this climb are no piece of cake when it’s dry! I made good time to the top and had a rocking descent on the way down. I’ve ridden this trail down to Braley Pond plenty of times, and it’s really interesting when it’s a bit wet. It was awesome!

Then there was a lot of wet grass and muddy trail to get to Aid 4. Luckily the awesome volunteers were ready for each one of us and made the transition back to gravel a seamless one. Thanks so much to all the volunteers!

Back on the road, I headed towards West Virginia. I was joined by a couple of riders who helped pull me along this psychologically challenging section of gravel I call ‘sh*t road’ because it just seems to go on and on and on…

When I got to the bottom of the ‘death climb’ I knew I was in trouble. I decided to stop for a moment. I normally never stop, but I was running low on juice. After a minute I was back on the bike, but turning a much lower gear than usual. That’s when I really knew I had blown my nutrition. At this point getting to Aid 5 was going to be hard. Blowing up is really frustrating, you started getting passed a lot when you normally might not. I felt like I was inching my way up when I got within striking distance of Aid 5.

At Aid 5 I took longer than usual and stuffed a bunch of food into my mouth. I stood around for a moment but got on my bike as soon as I felt like the guy that folks were looking at like “hey, are you alright?”

I struggled to ride with any sense of competition as I made my way through meadow after meadow of the grassy double track that heads up to the Chestnut Ridge descent.

I stopped, sat on a rock. I had stopped racing an hour ago, now I was wondering about finishing. I took a couple of minutes to consume a gel shot and was soon overwhelmed with nats and such. Grrrr, no rest….

OK. Let’s finish this one out. I got back on my bike and got back too it.

Soon, I heard lots of familiar voices asking me if I was OK and encouraging me to soldier through. I told some I was felt like I was falling apart. Everyone encouraged me to keep going. These were friends, competitors, and fellow soldiers in the fray. Thanks so much to everyone for willing me on.

The first half of the Chestnut descent I was trying to not lose my cookies. All that food and gel I consumed to get my blood sugar up was getting jostled quite a bit and for a minute I thought I might spew. Gross!

Finally nausea subsided and shredding commenced. I started to feel a lot better and even had some energy by the sharp right turn in the middle of the Chestnut downhill. My speed and my spirits picked up as I flew down to Aid 6.

I ground out the last section of the race with a steady, albeit slow pace. It was not too much longer before I bombed through the campground and made the final grass turn towards the finish, the food, and kegs.

Lots of friends greeted me at the finish and we all had a lot of fresh war stories to tell.

I started the day looking for a new personal best at the Shenandoah Mountain 100. This year it didn’t turn out that way. But that’s just the way it goes sometimes.

However, I did spend the day and night with friends at the best 100 miles in VA.

Thanks so much to Shenandoah Mountain Touring for making the SM100 best event ever.

2013 Wilderness 101

 

Descending down Spencer Trail was the 1^st taste of some new single track sections added to the Wilderness 101 this year. The initial lead in section of single track from the road seemed very similar to the day’s 1^st major technical descent on Croyle trail.

Soon however, the trail pitched downward more than I had expected… but in a good way! There were less rough sections of baby head rocks and more loam than the 1^st rough and tumble plunge. The trail surface allowed me to carry more speed because I could spot ahead and find good sections of loam to scrub speed before letting off the brakes and rolling through the next rough and rocky section.

As I pulled into Aid 3 I had a feeling the rest of the re-routes in this year’s course would be fun. How could trails named Sassafras, SassaPig, and PigPile not be?

Earlier that morning I woke up at the crack of dawn and shared in the prerace rituals all the racers undertake to saddle up and dish out the watts for the better part of a day. The temps were great and the forecast seemed in our favor. I lined up at the start with my crew of Design Physics racers. I've competed in many ultra-endurance races with my team mates Tom Haines, Joe Fish, and David Reid. These guys are all fierce competitors and it’s always nice to toe up the start line rocking out a strong team presence.

 

Climbing back up to the top of Rag Hollow Road for the next sections of re-routed single track I began to think back to some of the experiences from the 3 hours of riding before bombing down Spencer Trail to Aid 3…

Chris Scott was a welcome face filming riders near the entrance of the day’s first single track section. I really enjoyed this section of flowing single track that gives way to a nice technical section punctuated by three narrow plank bridges, a cool rock garden, and bunch of cheering race fans. As usual, Bob Popovich was there taking some awesome photos capturing the whole spectrum of rider’s expressions. Faces of triumph were mixed with surrender. Technical trails demand the truth in everyone’s mountain bike skills.

Soon after this section we rode through a beautiful section of PA forest. Morning sunlight washed through the high forest canopy and lit the emerald carpet of ferns covering the ground. Stunning.

As I started the next major climb, two more race fans cheered us on. One of them was rocking out Iron Man on the kazoo. Classic! There was also the traditional, yet unofficial beer station. Complete with color coded cups for beer or water.

My cramping quads would soon drag me back to reality as I worked my way back up the mountain on the gravel grind out of Aid 3. Near the top I stepped up to a tougher gear and charged into the long and rocky single track. This type of trail really suites me and I was able to gain a number of positions before starting the fast descent down to Barrville Road. The re-routed trails rock! Figuratively and literally.

A long section of double track finally yielded to my favorite trail in the race. Sasser X flows down through a section of forest where the ground is covered in ferns. The curve of the smile on my face probably matched the arcs of the dirt slalom my tires consumed. Then the trail tightened up into a very twisty section of trails over loam and roots.

As I popped out onto the fire road, I felt pretty confident I had put a solid gap on every one I passed in the re-routed section of trails. Fortunately, the earlier leg cramps had subsided and were now getting replaced by nutrition from all manner of gels and high octane goop. Tasty.

Up and up some gravel to the last long section of trail. The single track at Beautiful trail is fairly rocky and has a couple of spots that take a power move or two. I bobbled a bit on one as my legs transitioned from taught attack mode to spaghetti dinner. Oops, bad a foot and drag the bike over that one. Good, nobody was here to see it :)

The downhill that followed on Kikapoo trail is very rocky and fairly steep with only a modest bench cut. I think it’s fun, but this late in a 100 mile race it hurts a bit, even on a full squish 29er. Where’s my trail bike when I need it eh? I was glad to see the road.

Aid 4 was a welcome stop and I swapped supplies out of my drop bag for the remaining 23 miles. The climb right after this aid station is long and fairly steep. Fortunately it was not that hot. Also fortunate was not rolling over that yellow and brown rattle snack slithering off the road. The climb eased up at the top and continued on gravel to Sand Mountain. The sandy single track felt like it went up more than it went down and I knew I was ready to wrap up a big boy day of riding.

I rolled the final downhill on the now primitive road called Panther Run. It’s not that technical, but it is super rough and very, annoyingly long. I would describe my relationship with this section as ‘abusive’. It beat the hell out of me physically and I verbally assaulted it back.

As flew past Aid 5 I prepared myself for the day’s last reroute. The Goat Path. It was very rocky and I was soon bobbling across the rocks as I made my way to the Fisherman’s path. Soon the rocks gave way to a fun and tight trail that delivered me to the last of the day’s gnarl. The Fisherman’s Path is always a challenge to hike / ride with 95 miles under your belt. I had checked this section out the night before and recognized the decayed tree stump that marked the point where I could ride out the rest of the path.

The rail to trail grade clicked by nicely and I gingerly rode across the last bridge before entering the old spooky train tunnel. I rode through the tunnel with no dramatics and soon was rolling into Coburn with nobody on my tail. Nice.

I crossed the line and was excited to see 8:18 on the big digital clock. Hell Yeah!

What an awesome day of racing! Thanks so much Shenandoah Mountain Touring!!