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!!

 

 

 

 

 

What Bee the odds?

A few days ago I was riding solo at a local park in Richmond. Powhite park has some great tight single track that’s not as heavily used as the main JRPS loop down by the river. Near the end of the ride, I was zooming along the lowest connecting trail when I got smacked on the nose. It felt like a rock hit me, but I knew better…

Normal Jeff

Last August I was stung by a wasp or hornet right between the eyes on the top of the bridge of my nose. I did not pay much mind to it and rode around for another 40 minutes. When I got back to my car I knew I had a pretty big problem, major swelling that was just blowing up.

To make a long story short, I ended up at an emergency care place with an IV of fluids, an adrenaline shot, steroid pills… and a huge swollen face. I was diagnosed as allergic to all manner of wasp, hornets, and the like and underwent 10 weeks of ‘venom therapy’. Now, every six weeks I get maintenance shots equivalent to 2 full stings of about 4 different types of stinging bee/wasp type things.

The venom therapy is my armor, it desensitizes me to my own immune systems potential overwhelming response. An allergic reaction of shock and awe could be unleashed on my body’s own critical systems, such as breathing and blood pressure and respiration on an almost cellular level. Anaphylactic shock and awe.

So, I’ve not really wanted to test out my new armor too much.

After learning of my condition, I set about gathering as much knowledge and preparation as possible. When you really research what happens with anaphylactic shock, you find out it’s some serious shit. Like dead in 5 minutes if it’s bad type of shit.

Fast forward almost a year later. I’ve been riding and racing with 2 EpiPens at all times. Part of race and ride preparation is researching where emergency care is available and how long it might take to get off a mountain. I get ‘stung’ with shots every 6 weeks and that usually results in a bit of swelling, but no dramatics.

Still, I’ve not really wanted to test out my new armor too much.

So a few days ago when I felt like a rock hit my face, I knew it was test time. God damn it! Right on the nose again! What are the odds?

Zooming out of the trail, I began riding home, on high alert. I stopped and asked a lady to see if there was a stinger in my nose. Then I checked my face in her car mirror. Everything looked fine. My face had good sting and a burning sensation that gave me a flashback to last years episode. I popped two Benadryl and washed it down with water.

Bee Sting on nose Jeff

About 15 minutes into my ride home I had a good sense of the swelling in my face. Also, I observed I felt OK otherwise and did not have any difficulty breathing or any hives, etc… Alright, I’ve got the EpiPens but I think this is going to be OK.

Another 10 minutes later and I’m getting closer to home, maybe 10 more minutes. My eyes are swelling enough to affect my vision a little. I try not to freak out and remember to tell myself that I think my body feels OK otherwise. Cresting a hill, I feel a bit winded, but I have to remind myself that this type of felling is normal on the bike. I ride around a corner and as the wind hits me I feel chilled…

 Is that light-headedness, did the wind make me feel numb just then?! For a few moments I debate pulling the rip cord and stabbing that epi pen in my leg, busting out the bat phone and calling 911.

Stay calm I tell myself, it’s going to be OK. Just focus on riding and relax. I have to keep my mind from inducing shock. It’s going to be OK I tell myself. Just relax and ride.

There is my house, everything is still OK besides my swollen face.
I’m lucky, there was no severe reaction and that’s a good sign.

Off to the emergency care place just to make sure it’s OK.
Half an hour later I’m home with knowledge that I experienced a strong local reaction.

Bees 2 / Jeff 0

Rediscovering the Hard-tail

I’ve been a big fan of full suspension mountain bikes since I started riding. I’ve always thought they offered me the most control and a very efficient ride. On my trail bikes, full squish allows me an amazing amount of capability on all types of terrain.

So, as I got ready for this season I figured I should finally suck it up and try getting used to a hard-tail 29er for gravel grinders and mostly smooth rides like the Cohutta 100
.
I built up a used carbon Giant XTC 29er frame I purchased from a friend. Then for the inaugural ride/race, I rode it in the 2013 Monster Cross and Mountain Bike race. Things felt good right from the start, but then a deer hit me. That’s another story. So I got back on the bike and finished my 1st race on a hard-tail. I really enjoyed the efficiency during the gravel race.

Next up, I decided to do a trail ride on the relatively smooth trails of Pocahontas State Park. I found the ride to be a rude surprise. I was not used to so much punishment coming up through the seat. Additionally, having a super stiff rear, I felt like every root and rock was overdriving the fork and translating all the work the rear suspension used to the front. I was pretty disappointed. The bike sat for a while as I rode my full squishy bikes. I have a lot of those.

So fast forward a few months and I decided to give the hard-tail another whirl in the GW forest mountains on the new lookout mountain trail and sections of the SM 100 including the long descent down Dowels Draft. I was surprised at just how well it climbed on the ascent up Hankey mountain. Soon, I was riding the new trail on Lookout mountain. I rode it all OK, but was quickly adjusting to the riding style of “negotiating” rather than “shredding”. I got down the hill just fine, but my hands were killing me. Maybe too much air in the fork? For long gravel roads and such the hard-tail was great, but not so much for trails that are less than smooth.

The next weekend, I would be racing the Mohican 100.

Now I had a tough choice. I’ve got an awesome Giant Anthem X 29er Advanced and this is my primary race bike and it’s pretty light at 25lbs with pedals. Or I could try riding my hard-tail which I had just measured at 23.5lbs with pedals. I figured the weight difference was not that big of a deal. I’ve probably got an extra 3-5 pound on my body. The main focus would be on efficiency.
So, I got the stiffy ready. Softened the front fork up a bit, and ran a little less air in my tires. A quick test ride at Powhite Park here on Richmond confirmed my suspicions that  my  rough mountain ride was partly due to the fork and tire settings.

Now, which one to bring to the race…? I’ll bring them both!

Once at the Mohican Wilderness I made my decision to pre-ride on the hard-tail. I noticed how well the bike flowed on the mostly smooth single track, and I noticed that I could not hang it out and ride as aggressive as I usually do. Compromise.

So long story short on my 1st 100 mile race on a hard-tail… It went very well. Mohican is a fairly smooth race, but there are a lot of roots and a few techy bits. On the road sections the Mr. Stiffy kills it. Also, I noticed on rolling/flowing single track how pumping anything gave me immediate acceleration. I felt like the bike was picking up speed better on rolling transitions better than my full squishy bike. However I did loose time and momentum on the rougher sections. But, when you think about it, hundred miler’s are mostly smooth-ish trail and a lot of gravel/road. Hmm, a new weapon in my quiver.

On the way back to Richmond, my teammate and I stopped at Douthat State Park for a “recovery” ride. Once again I was surprised. Now that I was focused on shredding for fun, I realized how easily bunny hopping was. Subconscious. So trails I had ridden many times before became a different version of the same puzzle to solve. Short rough rock section…shit, just jump it. That corners a bit slow…just jump off that rock at the entrance and bypass the turn. Here comes that rock garden I always blast through…slow down a bit and survive it. And so it went, the stiffy gives and the stiffy takes away.

I love my full squish and definitely have more control on full suspension, but the hard-tail rocks for gravel and smoother trails. Either way, I’ve discovered another tool and another way to keep my riding skills evolving.

Some people are looking for a “Quiver Killer” but I’d rather have a Killer Quiver.

2013 Mohican 100 Race Experience

Facebook buzzed with a few comments about racing at Mohican in the rain and mud. At Cohutta, it rained on and off all day. It was a long drawn out fight with the weather and the awful trail conditions for me. In 2010 I raced Mohican and it was extraordinarily rainy and muddy. In 2012 Mohican was sunny and awesome.
 

 

 

Sometimes it's sunny and sometimes it's raining. Let's race.

 

For me the Mohican 100 race weekend always starts Thursday after work with a drive to Marietta, Ohio. Some how, just crossing the Ohio River makes me feel that much closer for the remaining morning drive to Loudonville on Friday.

 

My team mate Frank and I arrived about midday on Friday and headed out for a pre-ride of the Mohican State Park trails. This was a good introduction for Frank as he has never ridden in Ohio before. All the trails and markings were in excellent condition and the trails proved as fun as I always remember them to be. At the end of the ride we got thoroughly soaked by a pop-up rainstorm as we headed back to the car.
 

 

 

Shortly after a late lunch, we were driving out of town and up the road climb that would start the race on Saturday. We checked into our room at the Mohican Lodge and prepared all of the items for our drop bags.

 

Registration was a very smooth affair and soon our drop bags were placed and we settling in for a good night's rest with a uncertain forecast looming over head. There was a cold front moving in and I was alarmed by all the tornado coverage that weather reports were broadcasting from Oklahoma City. Yikes! We dosed off with hopes for dry race conditions.

 

For me, the night before the race, sleep would not come easy.

 

At about 10:30pm it became clear my sinus headache was going migraine. I hesitated on taking Excedrin because of the caffeine.

Hesitation was a critical mistake.

 

I wrestled with intense pain in my sinuses and crippling headache. Soon I began a repetitive cycle of unrelenting pressure and pain, punctuated by vomiting from the pain, followed by attempts to relieve sinus pressure using a washcloth soaked in hot water on my face. I could not get relief from Excedrin now. I knew I would just throw it up 20 minutes later.

 

After about 2 hours of this, I had evacuated all fluids from my digestive track and only dry heaves remained. I paused, took an Excedrin with a minimal amount of water... Then In another 15 minutes I had to fight back dry heaves with a renewed determination. Wow, if this does not stop, there is no way I'm racing, much less leaving the room.

 

Finally, at 2:30am the pain relented and some sleep occurred.

4:30am arrived and Frank and I both got up to prepare for the race.

 

I did not want to ride my bike. I really did not feel like riding 100 miles. A steady rain washed away hope outside.

 

Oatmeal, coffee, bathroom, gear up in my race kit.

Check the radar, load the bikes, and get ready for a long day.

The rain has stopped. My body is not fighting me anymore.

A beautiful sunrise smiles on the rolling hills as we drive into town.

 

I don't feel like racing. My body is tired and I'm working on about 3 hours of sleep. The weather looks iffy. Right now, so many things are less than ideal...It would be easy to...

 

Shit, I came here to race... And that's exactly what I'm going to do.

 

Frank and I set out from the car and rolled a nice easy warm up pace from Mohican Adventures to the start line in downtown Loudonville. After a last minute bathroom stop, we lined up just on the side of the already packed start under the Mohican 100 race banner spanning over Main Street. A strong, nervous energy, was present amongst the throngs of riders. Many of them seemed self seeded in the start order with no particular regard to race ability or experience. I warned Frank about the typical small wrecks that happen with a large nervous start group like this.

 

Soon, we were off! As the huge peloton accelerated I carefully picked up speed and scouted for problems. Then, all of a sudden, a big slow down and shouts of carnage. I flowed around a wreck and watched as another rider rode straight into a crash and started to endo. Crazy stuff. Lots of unnecessary risk and downright stupid riding for the start of a race day this long.
 

 

 

 

The paved climb is fairly long and steep, but it was dispatched without any further drama. Once into the single track I gradually worked my way past some riders. I was steadily gaining position here and then and was in a good overall spot on the 1st really steep pitch of muddy double track. I accidentally dropped the chain past my small ring up front and had to run up the hill with my bike. Then a bit later I had to fiddle with it some more and I lost most of the gains I had made. Oh, well...just have to try and regain them in the single track.

  

I rode the next 20 miles of single track in the Mohican State Park with subdued aggression, making passes when it made sense. I got held up a bit in the 1st 5 miles or so, but soon I was rolling a good pace with a few guys up ahead and some a little ways behind. Now that things were stretched out appropriately I could really focus on motoring through the remaining 10 miles of single track. My hard tail was riding well, though I noticed I could not hang it out as much as I do on my full squish.

 

By the time I got to the horse trail, I was glad there had not been any more rain since the early morning. Many sections were very muddy, but not nearly as bad as 2010.

 

I had told Frank that getting to the end of the initial single track was going to be nice. Mohican is like a 25mile XC race followed by 75 miles of country roads and private single track. It was very nice to get to the country roads and be able to focus on re-fueling and pedaling.
 

 

 

Aid 2 was a welcome sight and it was nice to spray a pound of mud off of my bike. I got a quick refill and grabbed some coke (cola) and then hopped back on the bike and focused on making good time to my next waypoint. The lady who helped me with refills joked that she was getting muddy just from handling stuff to and from the riders. We were all pretty dirty!

  

Near Aid 3, I heard hooping and hollering in the woods adjacent to the single track I was riding. I though it was other riders dropping into a descent, but I realized there was a zip line course overhead. Soon I popped out onto a gravel climb and thought the course was a bit different here. I remembered there used to be a wall of a climb right after a stream crossing. Today I was steadily grinding up a gravel road and realized I was heading to the relocated Aid 3. It was in the shade at the top of the single track section. Very nice, and a big improvement over having this aid station in the sun. Dropping back in to the trail, I took the split for the 100 mile course and was soon heading down. Then a longish grassy climb led up to a mostly climbing section of single track. Finally, back on the road motoring into some serious headwinds.

 

My next mental waypoint in this race was the single track section that is right after passing by a Frisbee golf course and some horse riding areas and stables. I looked forward to finishing the single track and popping out onto a nice moderate road... I was mistaken. I did pop out onto a road, but it was a gravel affair up a seemingly ridiculous pitch.

 

Finally I made it to the rails to trail section and set in to a good motoring pace. I usually suffer through this section, but today I found I was able to power through without the knee pain it usually brings. I caught a few riders in this section and said hello to a horse and buggy picnic group. I thought it odd that one of the women was burning trash right there in the open. Looked like a glossy cardboard box for Saltines or something. Weird.

  

Soon I was at aid 4 and made a quick pit stop. I've got to say that the volunteers at all the aid stations were really wonderful.

 

Only 25% of the race is in front of me now and that is a beautiful thing. I roll out of Aid 4 with a couple of other riders. One of them is trying to hold the gap he has on his rival from Michigan. I though his rival was cracking on the rails to trail, but was proven wrong when he caught the 3 of us. I just don't have quite enough steam to keep up. A little later on, Kevin Carter said hello to me as he rode by and I was like "Hey Kevin, what are you doing back here?". He mentioned he had a broke wheel and had to walk / hitch a way back to the campground to get his other wheel and then come back out on the course. What a trooper! I was in awe of how easily he passed by me.

 

I was very happy to finally make my way to the suspension bridge, and was reminded how it has a sketchy, clap trap, off camber decking. I grabbed some water right after the ramp and got back on task riding the road and gravel to the final 4 miles or so that remained in the Mohican State Park. I could almost taste the beer...
 

 

 

I blew by Aid 5 and started getting to work on the remaining trails. Last year I had enough energy to storm through this section. This year, I was pretty well spent and let go of one position when a slightly faster 100 miler caught me. Together we diced through the 65 mile riders that were still finishing and I rallied to try and catch him in the last mile or so. I just did not have enough juice to close the gap with authority. We finished less than a minute apart and I heard my finish time announced as 8:38 as I received my growler and found a nice shady place to take a seat and collect myself.

 

Frank rolled in a little bit later, but under 9 hours as well. An awesome finish.

 

I got cleaned up, fed, and filled up the growler. Then I proceeded to catch up with all my friends that had also finished the race and swap a few war stories.

 
 

What seemed like a terrible day for me to race turned into one of my best days on a bike. I finished with my personal best 100 mile MTB race time of 8:38 and in 21st place. I was very glad to be done with my 16th 100 miler in the books.

 

In 100 mile mountain bike races, the experience is more than just the event. It's the sum of the before, the during, and the after. You can't pick all the cards, but you always get to choose how you play your hand.
 

Cheers!

 

 

Camp Hilbert Mountain Bike Race - Movie and re-cap

I've been meaning to produce a race video for Run Ride Race's Camp Hilbert Mountain Bike Race series for a while now.

I finally was able to get enough free time to edit through my roughly 2 hours of footage and create a short energetic movie based on one of these races from 2012. I think you will find that the results are pretty cool.

Crank up the settings to HD and crank up the sound.

This was my second time racing in the expert class at Hilbert and it was a real learning experience for me. I traded a lot of paint in the 1st 2 laps and found it much more difficult to capitalize on my strengths in descending and fast trail work. All of the expert racers are very fast and I found myself fading back a bit on the climbs and then re-catching the group in the fast sections and having to back off. It's tough to make a pass stick when everyone is so strong at climbing. I would catch up and pass on a descent only to get re-passed on a climb. I think I'll need to try and get closer to hole shot next time and work on my climbing strength.

All in all this was a great race for me an I got my first expert podium spot with a 3rd place finish.

Make sure to check out more racing at www.runriderace.com

Prepare to enter the dragon

The 2013 Dragons Tale race by Shenandoah Mountain Touring is about 24 hours away!

As I prepare for my 1st Big Day race of the season, my thoughts go back to last years attempt which left me bruised and busted, but not broken. It was a long tough day, I ended up getting stitches that evening... and then, I could barely wait to race this event again!

Taming this beast has eluded me the on my1st and second attempts. My 1st attempt in 2011 was plagued by dehydration, cramping, and a general ass whooping by the many steep hike a bike sections. However, I also remember what a devilishly fun course it was. Lots of great rock features and some screaming descents made for a intense and memorable way to kick off mountain racing.

During my second attempt in 2012, the 1st part of the race went better for me, but I still managed to underestimate the amount of fluids I needed to intake and was fighting cramps for the second year in a row. Also, I made a bike handling mistake and wrecked very hard, just barely missing a tree that caught my leg as I plowed into the trail. I ended up with a pretty bloody elbow laceration. I got home a bit late that day because of my visit to the emergency care facility, where I got stitched up.

So as I look forward to tomorrow, I keep in mind lessons from the past. Bring more fluids that you plan on. Bring more enduralites than you think you need. Don't get too cocky on the descents when you are exhausted. Get ready to have a blast!

Road rage from a couple of cyclists struck me today

I was having a real nice road ride after work today.

 

I passed a group riding on the road on my typical route in Goochland and didn’t call out on your left. Half the time I call out “on your left” when I go to pass a meandering peloton of road riders, especially when they have a slower group, someone will look left and drift right in front of me. So a habit, and maybe arguably a bad one, is to just pass on the left close to the center line.

I stopped to fix one of my cleats and that group re-passed me. No big deal, I’ll just pass them again later.

So, on a rolling section of a back road, I caught two riders who were basically not staying tight and often meandered and took up the whole lane from time to time.

I was coming down off a roller and hammering up the front of a hill when I passed these two guys, one at a time, basically all the way over towards the center line. The second guy yelled at me about “on your left” and I raised my hand in a “like, really?” kind of gesture.

I guess that was just too much for this jerk and he had to chase me down and tell me I “scared the sh!t out of him” and was an a-hole and a whole host of other insults. I said “dude” the road is plenty wide for us both and that the only one being an a-hole was him. He lobbed some FU’s and other crap before dropping back.

So, when I stopped to cross route 250, this jerk made a point to pull in front of me in a mock cut off move. I stopped on the other side and basically said WTF. I was getting a bit hot at this point, so I told him he had a serious problem and added some FU’s and you’re an a-hole of my own. Then I was like “So you wanna go buddy?”

It was a bit silly in hind sight, it’s never worth it to pick a fight. But I don’t like bullies and jerks who way overreact in a stupid a-hole manner. He bantered back “you don’t want to mess with me” and then, someone more sensible in his group was like, “alright guys, let’s bring it down a notch.”

Then the second guy showed up and it was a rinse and repeat with the two of them cussing me and telling me how dangerous and scary it was for them. Seriously? If someone not calling out on your left scares you that bad, you should stick to a tricycle in the park.

Whatever, two real Class A jerks who think they are the only people on the road.

So listen up, if you’re going to come at me like that, I’m coming right back motherfucker.