Another quality Wilderness 101 has come and gone. The week prior my body decided it did not like 95-100degF heat and quit on me while trying to navigate through the rough and rocky 50mile course for Michaux's Curse of Dark Hollow in southeast PA. 25miles in just about 5hours I called it quits. Always a decision not worth following through with but my legs had nothing and I was looking out for the W101.
Fast forward a week (of resting) to this past weekend. A few persuasive words and I'm out of work on Friday to travel out to central PA. Tim Dougherty and I got there early. So early the only vehicles we saw in Coburn park were the race promoter's (Chris Scott & Co) and DEJAY & FUZZY'S caravan. A nice relaxing afternoon was met with a 1hr bike ride, good food and early to bed.
All the top guns came out to play on Saturday (Fuzzy, DeJay, Gunner, Wes Schempf, Topher, Matt Ferrari, ommi, Tim, etc..). The SS field was stacked and pushing 50 deep. Last year I opted for a 32x20 but this year I wanted to gain some time on the flats early on so I dropped down to a 32x19. Felt good in the first few climbs out through aid station 2 (mile 30/35ish). I was on a pace for about a 9hr race which would have been awesome in my book (even though the winners were really far ahead of me). One can't really get a good gauge of how fast they are by the first 50miles. The second 50miles are really where the race starts. Lots and lots of climbing. My legs were so used to spinning at such high cadences that when the first big climb came at mile 40 my body was confused. As a result, I slowed down a bit but regained partway up the mountain. The singletrack descent saw me passing just about everyone that passed me near the top of the climb. I somehow forgot about the next big climb at mile 50 thinking aid station 3 was before it. Needless to say all 3 of my bottles were empty and the muscle cramps began to set in. The bottom of this climb was painful but somehow I recovered and caught back up. Classic game of leap frog with the other singlespeeders and geared guys around me. I'd blow past them on the descent, blow up on the bottom of the next climb, recover and catch back up [and pass] near the top of that next climb.
Trying to catch up on hydration and food at aid station 3 was met with dire consequences. My stomach twisted into a nice knot and I walked the better part of the bottom of Sassafras trail which lead straight up and out of aid station 3 (mile 58/60). I lost some ground here but kind of held my own and enjoyed the singletrack to the best of my ability. Aid station 4 was a beautiful sight (mile 68ish). I dreaded the next climb but forced myself back on the bike and on up the next mountain. A few minutes in I rode past a huge rattlesnake and it freaked me out (not a snake fan). My demise for the day was the upper portion of this climb. My legs were twitching bad so I backed of on intensity (ie: walked a bit). This brought my pace to a nice crawl. I should have paid more attention to hydration and fueling during this race but for some reason I wasn't. It brought about some stomach aches which brought about the urge to not eat which brings muscle fatigue. Damn.
My walking did help for once I was near the top I had quite a bit of strength back in my legs. Bombed yet another descent setting pace for a few geared riders. Out of courtesy they insisted I pick up their draft and they towed me down a few fire roads into aid station 5. From here on out was some [flat] carriage roads and one good sized climb up and down a gravel fire road. As I got dropped by a few geared guys I left aid 5 with and mindlessly spun my ass off down the carriage road I was dreading the last climb. Did I have enough energy? Would I crack? Going into that last climb I stood up and kept on pedaling. Ignored the pain and kept telling myself "just around the bend". Passed all those geared guys like they were standing still (one of the beauties of climbing with a hard gear) and was able to hold off quite a few of them in the final [flat] miles to the finish. The last mile (out of this tunnel down a paved road into Coburn) was more or less a mad sprint at the fastest cadence I could pedal. My watch was closing in on 10hrs and I wanted to be under 10. Last turn I caught up to Ben Yoder (only SS I saw from aid 4 to the finish) but my enthusiasm couldn't get him to pick up his pace. He was done and just surviving the last few pedal strokes to the finish. My time: 9hr 58mins (27th SS) with no mechanicals. Turns out it was the same time as last year but I've been riding [and racing] a whole lot less this year. I am stoked. I felt pretty good. Rode a harder gear than last year and still got the same time despite not preparing much for this event.
Fuzzy destroyed everyone by beating Wes' course record by 13minutes (7hr 36min to be exact). Tim was hanging with Wes and Fuzzy early on (and felt fresh) until he realized his stem faceplate was cracked in half and his handlebars were moving around. He had to bail around mile 25 and was not happy. We speculate the crack was a result of his nasty tumble down a ravine in day 5 of the BC bike race earlier in the month. It also separated his shoulder (which is healed) and damaged his frame pretty good.
If I paid attention to my nutrition I could have probably moved up 30mins. Does it matter? Not really. I gave it everything I had at the time and am pleased with my performance. Had I been training and preparing a shitload for this then I'd probably be upset. All in all, it was an enjoyable weekend and I recovered fairly quickly.
