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!
