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| Me and Allen ready to roll. |
Start to Aid 1
This year the course was changed to add in the new Narrowback west descent which meant there would no longer be much climbing before the first single track up festival trail. Also added a few miles making the race closer to a true 100miles. I had ridden festival and the remodeled Narrowback a good bit the past year and knew is was all easily ride-able, but when you have 600+ riders half of which are more roadie you know someone going to mess it up. Once one person dabs it's a chain reaction on down the line. So this year I did what everyone does and lined up with my teammates ahead of the time I thought I might do. Before I knew it we were off, or not? It's always hard to tell at SM100 if the race has actually started since there is no start horn or gun. People started moving so I followed and assumed the race was on.
Out of the campground we went as a massive group with people already crashing into mud puddles and the line surging and slowing randomly to keep everyone on there toes. Once we hit the fire road people had started to calm down a bit and I settled into a pace passing a few people here and there. One guy did manage to try running me over by winning the award for crashing on the first rock he could find on the fire road. Before I knew it we were at the first ascent, up Festival trail, with only a few seconds backup of people to get onto the single track. One guy didn't want to wait the few seconds and cut the corner thru the woods which was meet with some choice words from the rider in front of me that he cut off. I was going to let it go until I heard his response quote "It doesn't matter it's going to be hike a bike in a minute anyway". My response was if he planned on walking he better get to the back of the line. Of course he messed up the first rocks on the trail and started the chain of walking but at least it was only for about 10 feet before we got around him and got back to pedaling. Up Narrowback was uneventful, a fat bike tried the log skinny and fell off, someone dabbed on a slick rock causing a backup. Overall lining up early was working with much less of a backup compared to the previous year so I actually got to ride 99% of the first single track. The descent down Narrowback west was awesome as always. The rider in front of me did somehow seem to deify physics by slowing on top of the table tops. He would be fast all the way up to the point where I would be airborne yet somehow he would slow and I would almost hit him. Fortunately after a few calls for a pass I was able to get around him and enjoy the rest of this awesome trail. Did I mention how great this trail is? Everyone should go ride it!!
Aid 1 to Aid 2
Once we hit the fire road I was kind of alone, but fortunately some riders caught up and we formed at least a small pace line on over to Lynn climb. I drank some of my over concentrated infiniti mix and some plain water from my Camelbak trying to stay ahead on food and water. The joy of Lynn I climbed roughly half before hitting the point where riding wasn't worth the effort and I joined the line hiking our way up. The hike a bike always seems to take forever and the slick rocks from the rain the day before didn't make it any better. Finally I could see the sign post signalling the fun part was about to begin. Of course don't let the Shenandoah fool you, it's never all downhill. There are still a few steep hike a bike sections on the way down. Unlike the previous year I was actually calm on the downhills and felt like I really had my DH grove going. I blasted down passing a few people and watching a few crash right in front of me, said hi to Mikey and his blow up friend, and hit the road over to Aid 2. I caught my teammates Davy and Allen at the Aid station. I filled my bottle and Camelbak and grabbed some apples off the table. When I was about to get on the bike I felt something hit me and looked around seeing nothing. I would find out later Allen had thrown a banana at me but I was already to into race mode to figure that out.
Aid 2 to Aid 4
Together the three of us left as a group actually riding together for a little bit. Once on the fire road Hankey climb, me and Allen started to leave Davy behind. Allen wasn't amused by my mentioning that we could just turn left and head on to the campground which would be much easier. After a while I started to pull in front of Allen which was greeted by a middle finger and silent stare. As I headed up the climb I started to wonder if I was going too hard Allen had been riding strong all year and I had never beaten Davy. I put that thought out of my mind and figured if I blew up later I could at least say I gave it my best effort. Before I knew it I was at the top and the two riders I had been following to the top pulled over. I had all the Dowell's draft downhill in front of me with no rider ahead and no one pressuring me from behind. It was great! I hit the corner with the big rock which had worried me but when I got there with an open course I realized it was nothing. Dropping over the rock and making the corner like a pro I continued to bomb down the rocky/rooty section below like it was nothing too. At the bottom I hit aid station three but a quick check showed I had plenty of water and shot bloks, so I just went straight thru. I always try to only stop if I need something figuring for every minute I stop I have to pedal that much harder to make up for it.
I hit the road and the rain started to come down! There goes my hopes of a perfect weather SM100 but at least it was a cooling rain. My strategy of not stopping at aid three had gotten me ahead of a lot of riders but also backfired in that I was alone at the start of the longest road section. I saw the fat bike from the start of the race ahead and gave it a little gas to catch up. I thought he would be rolling fairly slow on the road and that I would just fly past but once I got behind him I realized he was keeping a good pace so I settled in behind. I felt bad of drafting off a fat bike but at the time he was rolling pretty quick. After a while he started to slow down so I pulled ahead and was back alone until the last mile where a group of five riders in a pace line came up. Now we hit the single track near the start is a fairly deep and wide creek. Last year it was easily ride able. When we got there I saw one rider walking it but figured I could still ride it. I got about half way thru and not being able to see the bottom slammed into a big rock and went for a over the bars dunking in the river. I banged my right knee a little and something jabbed into my chest but overall it was more embarrassing than painful. I had to straighten out my bars on the other side of the creek and headed up the rock staircase. Where I almost fell trying to climb up them as quickly as possible. The rider behind me told me to take a deep breath and stop for a few seconds which was good advice. I was getting to flustered after the creek incident and was too much into race mode. After taking a short break I headed up the single track climb passing a bunch of riders that didn't have the technical skill to ride the now wet and slick rocks. Down the other side the rain had started to let up but the bottom of was a swamp. The mud was getting in my eyes and it made for slow going but I knew aid four was close and my pregnant wife and Blackwater crew would be waiting for me.
to be continued!
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