2014 Shenandoah 100

Time to bring this Blog back to life with my annual Shenandoah report!

Saturday morning my dad came up and we hit the road to the Stokesville campground to setup the camper in the awesome spot our friends had saved for us on Friday.  This year due to having our new  baby along for the ride Me and my wife also had a hotel room in Bridgewater. The plan was for me to stay at the hotel  Friday night and stay and party at the campground post race.

I felt good about my training this year and was fairly relax unlike usual the day before the race. It had been hard to get the training hours in with a baby but I had managed to make it happen with lots of early morning and solo riding.  Saturday was hot and I was sweating just sitting outside not a good sign for things to come on Sunday. Sean wanted to see the end of the course and I wanted to get a little bit of riding in to wake the legs up. So we head backwards of the course out of the campground. Thank god this section is downhill on race day going up it sucks!

Didn't hang out at camp to late since we had the baby and needed to get to the hotel. The next morning after a so so night of sleep we were up at 5am and off to the campground.  No matter how organized and prepared I am before a big race I always get frantic right before the start this year was no different with me losing the keys to the car and searching everywhere.  Finally they were found and a quick and frantic team photo was taken before heading down to the start corral area.  I was hoping to beat 9 hours this year but lined up right at the 8 hour sign. Why? well because everyone lines up ahead of the time they should.  Probably over 100 people were ahead of me including a tandem. Come on people be more realistic getting to the single track first isn't going to make that much of a difference unless you are gunning for a podium.

Blackwater team

Unlike previous years it wasn't cool feeling in the morning not a good sign when you plan to ride 100 miles.  After a quick speech from Chris Scott we were off! With me being forced straight at the pole I hadn't seen earlier and then having to brake like crazy due to the traffic jam in the first corner. Finally manage to get out of the campground with out being run over by any of the other riders and down to the road to be greeted by my wonderful wife and baby as they course marshaled for us! Off to the first fire road at a pace that seemed a little on the fast side of things for a endurance race.  Davy caught me at the start of the fire road and joked he had already put an 1hr on me since he lined up with the 9 hour group. So much for lining up ahead of the crowds!

Highlight video with Karoline and Dylan course marshaling and me swimming at the end.

dirtwire.tv Shenandoah mountain highlights 

I caught up to fellow Blackwater rider Robbie Bruce and rode with him for a while. He had similar time goals as mine so I figured it was a good place to be granted it all felt a little fast paced.  We hit the first singletrack surprisingly with no traffic jam.  The first rock garden forced us to  stop like the previous year it's all ride able but all it takes is one person to mess it up and everyone is walking. A none eventful ride up Narrowback with no major delays and down the super fun Tilman west trail spitting us back out on a fire road. At this point I was sweating a ton and had already gone thru a full bottle of water. I should have grabbed a new one at Aid 1 but since usually you never need water at this point my plan was to not grab one so I didn't.  This is probably one of my flaws in racing I always stick to my plan even if its not the the right choices anymore.  A big pace line was ahead lead by Robbie Bruce. I hung on with them until the turn up the pavement. At that point they seem to keep hammering at a pace I wasn't willing to match and so I got dropped back by myself. Somehow only 15miles into a race off 500+ people I couldn't see a single person ahead or behind me. This would seem to be the trend of the day anytime there would be a road section were a group would be helpful I was all alone.  I at least had the silver lining that I could ride Lynn trail at my pace instead of having to follow someone else up it. Except about 50 feet from going into the single track and big group of rider caught and passed me. O well guess I have to match whatever pace they set.  Overall it was slower going then I wanted but at least everyone was riding. I got to my preset point of this is now to steep to be worth grinding up and jumped off and started walking. I was actually walking faster then the riders ahead still grinding up the climb so I passed a couple of them. Eventually catching back up with Robbie.  Not sure who but one of my friends 4 or 5 riders back yelled I needed to practice my hike a bike because they were catching me.  My joking reply of can't go faster someone is in my way made Robbie pull over to let me past.  Finished up Lynn hike-o-rama and ripped down wolf ridge passing multiple riders fixing flats.

Over to Aid2 where I was completely out of water I grabbed new bottles from the volunteers mixed one with Infinit  mix and head out.  They gave me two smaller sized bottles but I figured this would be fine to Aid3. Note this was the first year running bottles before I had always used a camelbak but usually didn't drink much water.  I went to drink from one of the bottles and found the value was busted and chewed out looking guess that's the gamble with the bottle exchange.  I lost probably half that bottle due to the broken top.  By the time I got to Hankey my legs were already starting to cramp not what you want only 30miles in. I try to down some endurolytes capsules and eat some mustard and the cramps go from terrible to I can deal.  This goes on the rest of the day. I know its because I'm dehydrated since I'm not sweating as much but I can't seem to make up for the lost water.  I make it up to the top and get down to Aid3 without incident.

At Aid3 I grab new bottles and down some coke. About to grab something from the food table and go but a volunteer insists they need to take my bike because they are "backing up". No one is behind me and I'm not sure why they did this another racer had the same comment. I grab some food and pretty much follow the volunteer 50 feet down the road to the bike hanging area to immediately grab my bike after he hangs it up.  I try to find someone to work with on the road section but can't seem to get a group working together everyone seem to be splitting off instead of forming pace lines. I get to Brailey and start the climb. This is one of the shorter climbs and isn't to steep but it still seemed to kill me this year. I even had to walk a couple rock gardens. On the plus side when I got to the bottom for the first time I've done this race everything was dry instead of being mud. I pass one rider waling who stays he broke his nose. I offer to send a medic up to help him out but he says he thinks he will be fine on his own.

I hit Aid 4 grab my drink mix and shot bloks from my drop bag and then go down to the Blackwater tent to see my friends, wife and baby.  It's always a boost to see them at the aid station and I pose for a couple quick shots with the baby before rolling out to tackle the death climb. My legs, hands, feet, arms basically everything is cramping on and off but I just try to change positions and keep them to a manageable level. I feel like I'm doing a pretty good pace up the climb until about mile 70 where I'm out of water. At this point I just keep looking at the Garmin and praying to see aid station 5 and the miles drag on. Finally I see the turn to aid 5 and down some coke and eat a slice of pizza. It gives me a big boost and I hit the part of the death climb people hate the "killing fields". The thing is I don't mind this section the short downs give me a boost to keep going and before I know it I'm actually at the sign marking the top and the turn to the single track descent.  I love the chestnut descent when I actually have the hand strength to brake. I'm not sure if its just lack of hand strength or how I have my brakes setup but always at the point I can't seem to stop and have to start going to two fingers to use the brakes. Since I usually don't brake with two fingers it really throws me off and I pretty much was out of control going down. But I survived without any crashes into aid station 6.

I grab just a new bottle and hit the road just wanting to get the race done. I feel OK getting over to the Hankey climb for the second time but once the road turns up I can tell I have nothing left. I also can tell by the time I won't be breaking 9 hours but should easily set a new personal record. It's not very motivating to push myself. I see Laura Hamm and catch up to her.  Me and her were together at this point last year and I know she is a strong climber.  I make it a point to at least keep her in my sights so I at least have some type of pacing. I manage to do that to the final double track. I yell that's it's beer time as I pass her standing a mashing like always on this section since I know if you build momentum the small uphills aren't bad on this final stretch.

Coming into the finish

I reach the final descent into the campground and fly to the finish for a time of 9hour and 9min. 17 minutes faster then the year before not bad considering I had a child to train with this year. It was a great race and dry for the first time I've been there. I had thoughts of not going back next year but I've already been talked into it so I can beat the 9hour mark. Hopefully next year will be cooler without all the humidity. Overall many Blackwater riders got there first finishes at Shenandoah many were just happy to finish with the humidity.  It was fun hanging out post race and enjoying the food and beer

My Attempt at smiling post race with Dylan. 

2013 Shenandoah 100 part 2

This is part 2 of my race report see part 1 here:
http://dmcpickle.blogspot.com/2013/09/2013-shenandoah-100-part-1.html

Aid 4 to aid 5
      I was greeted at aid four with cheering from my wife who was writing down racer numbers as they came in.  I think she was a little surprised to see me so early. At some point someone grabbed my bike to lube the chain and a volunteer handed me my drop bag.  I had planned to stay a little longer at the station since all my friends were volunteering but probably less then a minute after I got there someone asked if I needed anything.  Hmmm Camelbak and bottle full, plenty of shot bloks, and chain lubed, guess not, better get back to pedaling.  My wife gave me a kiss and I was off to face the death climb. I hit the road and before very long another rider pulled up and started drafting off me. Cool, someone that I can work with on the flatter section leading up to the death climb. After pulling for a while I pulled off to the side and slowed to take a drink said drafting rider refused to take over giving me some excuse about being to tired.  Guess there goes that team work. He did, of course, have the energy to latch onto a faster pace line when it came by, I guess that is racing.  Once the hill turned up I passed by said rider and started making my way up.  I started for the first time during the race to not feel great. I tried to eat some more and drink more water but I felt like I was bonking and overheating. I kept pushing forward knowing that it started to flatten back out after the steeper sections.  Last year I actually had to walk part of this fire road climb so I was at least happy that I was riding this year.

Aid 5 to aid 6
    I was so glad to get to aid 5 and immediately headed for the pizza and coke.  So far I hadn't eaten much from the aid stations but at this point wanted something solid.  I downed three cups of coke and a couple slices of pizza before rolling out.  In past years the fire road after aid five had huge mud puddles but this year the forest service had done a great job regrading the drainage.   After five the road becomes more of a jeep trail with more up and down steep sections. Every hill looks like the top with a pretty meadow but I know better.  At this point my legs started to feel the miles and I started to get cramps but I pressed on knowing that the chestnut descent was worth the effort.  Finally I got to the top and had no one ahead of me meaning I got to bomb down. I always love the chestnut descent even with my arms tired and 80miles on my legs. It's got the perfect mix of technical, steep and all out fast sections. I caught a couple riders on the way down and passed by them making it down to aid six at the bottom of the mountain.

Aid 6 to Finish!!
   I got to aid six and had them top my bottle off with water. I had planned to make it a quick stop and not get any food but then someone said something about fries. Wait you have french fries! and with that I stood around eating fries and drinking a couple cups of coke.  At this point I knew roughly how long it should take to the finish and had started to do the math.  I knew I would easily beat my 10 hour goal I had set and a sub 9.5hr time seemed possible.  Off I went once on the Hankey climb I got passed by a few of the riders I had passed on the Chestnut descent. My legs were starting to cramp worse and I couldn't make much power going uphill but at least I was riding. I went into the second to last single track section and let the bike fly over the water bars.  Once I hit the old fire road I knew I was so close to the finish.  I had ridden this the day before and knew it wasn't all downhill but I was ready to be done so I shifted into the big ring and started mashing gears. I passed a few riders and was letting the bike fly on the downhills.  For the first time in a race I started getting emotional. I started thinking about my wonderful wife and our child on the way. I actually started to tear up a little for joy and hoping they would be proud of me.  After a minute I shook it off and told myself there was no crying in mountain biking and that I better pay attention. Finally I saw it the entrance to the last little section of single track from here it truly was all downhill! Into the campground I went flying past my group of friends cheering me on. I was greeted at the finish line by my wife and a amazing time for me of 9hr 27mins.

 

 

I knocked over an hour and fifteen minutes off my time from last year. Next year I may not have the time to train with a newborn the way I did this year. But I realized it doesn't really matter. I do love the race even if I'm not setting new personal records.

All the Blackwater team that race had great days. Congrats to Chad of making it onto the Clydales podium!

Davy breaking the 10hr mark!

Allen crushing his personal best.

Thanks to all the great volunteers especially the Lynchburg gang at aid 4.

2013 Shenandoah 100 part 1

Pop up style!

The Shenandoah 100 is my favorite race of all time and what all my training centers around. Last year was my first time doing it with a tropical storm dumping water on us so I had to give it one more go in better weather. I tired to go to bed early the night before the race but think I only slept for about 2hrs.

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!

Beford Fat Tire frenzy and 5hr race!

I started this blog post right after the races but then somehow got side track and neglected my blog. I figured I might as well come back around and finish writing something about these races since Kenny does such a good job putting them on. 

Fat tire frenzy!
    Not sure what to say about this race. I went real fast on the start, probably to fast. Kept making little technical mistakes got tired of racing 3/4 into the first lap. Mentally gave up and decided to make it a spirited ride instead of a race. Lap three got back into a grove and picked it up a little to at least stay ahead of the people that had flat tires. Didn't have a grand race but it was at least a fun day on the bike.

5hr Bedford endurance race!
  A couple weeks later was the endurance race which seems to suit me better then short courses. Before the race began I looked at my rear tire and noticed a small cut on the sidewall of the tire. I thought about patching it but it was holding air and figured I would get at least thru the race on it..... That was a bad idea.  I lined up in the front and we were off I dropped back to 4th place and was holding on good and figured I would be able to jump to 3rd as the race went on. After about 2hrs I noticed my rear tire was low doh! I quickly jumped off and added a little air thinking I could get back around to my pit area with a floor pump to add more.  When I got around to my pit I figured I could just over inflate the tire to get me to the end of the race since it was only slowly leaking.  Pumped it up to 40psi and was about to head off when boom it blew the cut open.  Ok, no big deal grabbed a tube and tire levers and started changing the flat. The only problem was all the Stans goop and wet hands I couldn't get the tire back on to save my life.  I wasted about 25mins on just changing the tire as riders passed by. I knew my place in the race was over but finished it out strong after getting the tire changed just for the training.  In the end I actually placed 9th out of about 45 riders which isn't bad considering all the time lost.

Wintergreen Cliff Hanger Challenge

Mountain biking returned to Wintergreen ski resort for the first time in years last weekend at the cliffhanger challenge. Right off the bat by looking at the map below I could tell that there would be a boat load of climbing. What you couldn't tell was that there was big chunks of technical rock gardens between all the climbing. Goal for the day not crash and at least don't be dead last. Originally they only had experts doing three laps but decided to add an extra lap after finding the distance of each lap was only four miles. Majority of the trails were brand new with only a few small sections being from the old downhill trials from back in the day.

Me and Allen got there early enough to do a slower paced test lap. Our test lap took almost 40mins to complete and I wasn't really feeling like racing this course. I headed down to the tunnels and lined up with the experts for our uphill prologue start. I guess the $300 cash prize for the fastest rider had got the attention of some of the Pros with Jeremiah Bishop and some other crazy fast riders signing up at the last minute.  Off the start in my usual fashion I fell to the back with only a handful of riders behind me. I never have been one to push off the start probably something I should work on.  After the uphill prologue I passed 3 riders on the next uphill before heading into the woods for the A-corn downhill. I managed to pass one other expert rider who pulled over once he realized I was willing to push faster downhill then him.

Wintergreen Resort by Miguel  Diaz Hansen

The rest of lap 1 was fairly uneventful with more bouncing over rocks and a big switchback uphill climb up the ski slope.  Lap two was going well and I could see on some of the open sections that I was putting a bigger gap between me and the next expert rider.  I started to enjoy the course and little better and get more into the racing spirit. At the end of the lap I noticed the main pivot bolt on my bike was working it's way out yet again.  Crap, I knew I should have checked it before the race but didn't get a chance.  I pulled over and grab my multi tool and tightened it as quick as I could.  I thought for sure riders would pass me but apparently I had made a big enough gap that no one caught me!

Untitled by Miguel Diaz Hansen

Lap three was going well and on the last climb I saw my teammate Allen catching up.  This was his last lap since the SS class only had to do three laps. Allen couldn't resist the chance to pass me and went by me at the last 500 feet of the climb. I congratulated him on his SS win as I turned off to complete my last lap.  He would be the only person all day to pass me. On lap 4 there was a fair amount of sport/beginner traffic to pass and plenty of carnage out on the course. One woman had gone down breaking multiple bones and was unsure where she was, one person had a large cut and was limping out, and I watched a few riders hit rocks and fly over the handle bars.  Medics were busy that day with such a demanding course.  I finished in  2hr 10mins and 9th out of 15 expert riders. Not the best placing ever but there was some serious talent and I did meet my goal of not crashing!

Elliot's Knob

http://app.strava.com/activities/53953556

On Sunday the crew headed out for an epic ride or should I say hike in the Shenandoah area.

The gang rolling down the road.

The ride starts with a nice flat road ride down the valley to Deerfield, VA.  Once you turn off the pavement you start the climbing with a roughly 6 miles long climb. It is at least a gradual climb with plenty of beauty to see.

 At the top you turn to the left and just keep on climbing. Now its grassy double track with some flat sections and some steep near hike a bike sections.

The view from the top

Finally you reach the top at 4,463 feet one of the highest mountains in Virginia. It's also one of the only places  this far south that you will find spruce trees.  At the top is an old fire tower which now houses some telecom equipment.  The wind was howling and the temperature only 60 degrees so we didn't stay to long.

The bikes hanging out

Me chillin at the top.

From the fire tower we turned down Chimney hollow trail. Finally we got a descent after 20miles of pedaling with the next 4 miles being mainly downhill. Of course this single track was full of rocks so by no means was it an easy. Once we hit the next road we crossed straight across and the climbing began once more. It was 2.5miles of grassy double track with three super steep climbs called "The bitches". These climbs were 15-20% grades and went on for what seemed like miles. I managed to make it 3/4 of the way up the first two before walking but couldn't clear any of them.  Most in the group just started hiking at the bottom since it was more effective then trying to ride.

A picture of "bitch" #3. Pictures never show how steep things are!

Finally after all this climbing we got the reward we were after with a three mile single track downhill back to the road. We all agree that while a beautiful ride with some fun sections it's a once a year ride due to all the hike a bike.

Curtis Loop

http://app.strava.com/activities/52190848

Last Friday I ducted out of work early and meet up with Kelly and do one of the classic road loops in Lynchburg. It's 48 miles long taking you out into the county with great views of the mountains and beautiful meadows.

Rolling down the road enjoying the mountain views

Hanging out on the old wood bridge over the creek in Curtis