On Sunday I took part in the Shenandoah 100 - the third NUE series race I have done this year. Tho others being the Mohican and the Lumberjack.
Brief stats:
100 miles
12,400 feet of climbing
11,380 calories burned
12 hours of riding
Garmin Link
I headed down Friday morning - an 11 hour beautiful drive through NY, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Arriving on Friday night for a Sunday race was the right thing to do. This is a camping event and 600 riders with families were there. Wish I had pictures - amazing a whole community appears for a few days.
Saturday fellow Canadian Chris arrived, along with his girlfriend Tara. They showed really nice Westphalia.
Cool. No not cool, very very warm and humidity much higher than we get in Ontario.
First thing, Sat afternoon Chris is tweaking his bike when he notices a crack in the top tube - yep, his Fisher is not going to be ridden in this race. Amazing thing is, the fellow in the next campsite has two tallboys and offers Chris one to ride! Hat's off to Jody! Thank you.
So the plan now is Chris is going to not so much race, as ride the course.
Sunday 6.20am race start - just getting light and we are off.
After a bit of flat asphalt, we start climbing, and it quickly turns to dirt road, and we start a 7k climb, gaining about 250m of elevation. I am feeling strong - passing quite a few riders - and perhaps working just a little too hard, no problem though, I will back off once we hit the first bit of singletrack. Well we hit this single track - rock gardens. It takes me no time to realize I don't have enough air in my rear tire, and I have a good chance of pinch flatting. Ssssssssssssssssssssssssss. And there it is, a flat 14k into the ride.
Quickly pull over - and this is where it gets funny (well frustrating at first, funny after a while)...this really happened...
I start remove the tube, Chris stops and joins me, I add my spare - it won't hold air, the valve is busted. Chris passes me his spare, and patches my original tube, Chris's tube won't hold air, I remove that tube, and pass it back to Chris (he finds a hole in it :( ) I take the tube he has patched, and put it in the tire - pump it, and it won't hold air ARRRGH. I remove it, pass it to Chris he finds a second hole in it. I take his spare that he has patched and put it in the tire - pump it up,and it holds air. All this takes almost 40 minutes. Chris has stayed with me the entire time (thank you Chris!)
We are now in 595 & 596th place of 600 - yep only 3 people behind us. No way to make up 40 minutes, so I think, well I am going to "ride" this rather than kill myself racing it. Simple change, and I am feeling great - we have the whole mountain to our selves - we don't catch the first rider for 20 minutes - sweet downhill and we are into aid station 1 - (no spare tubes until aid station 2)
Chris & I are pretty compatible - I'm faster on the downhills, but he is just faster on the flats and inclines - so I draft him for a while, as we start catching and passing riders, and just having a good time riding - until we get to a climb not long after aid station 2 - it is steep, a rocky rough bench cut that goes for miles. It is in the trees, but it is hot and very humid. People are calling it stupid. People are walking their bikes. People are sitting by the side of the trail trying to cool down. It's a 10km climb that gains 500 meters of elevation. Chris takes a sit down, I decide to continue walking, climbing and decide I will take a break at the top - but once I get to the top, I see many people recovering before the downhill - did you say downhill? Yes no break for me - what an amazing downhill, 10km long! For those that know the area this is Hankey mountain.
What a change - 10 minutes earlier I was pushing out of my mind the idea of quitting, now I am loving it.
Chris and I meet up at the aid station again and head out on to some flat paved road - a nice change, being in the open air, and with the downhill, I am feeling better, my core temperature has cooled off somewhat.
The flat's don't last for long - they never do, and we are into another 10k climb - this one is all a blur...climb hot hot hot, we are still passing riders, so many riders we pass. Then another super sweet downhill - the best of the day. Speaking of day, at this point we have now been riding for more that 7 hours, and we are at aid station 4. We are at the beginning of the biggest climb of the day, they call it soul crusher. From the bottom of the climb to the peak it is 30 km. Not the steepest climb, just relentless. There will be an aid station 22km into the climb, and following that a nice little decent, before you resume climbing.
We continue to climb passing riders, some riding, some walking, some stopped dealing with cramps. Chris and I continue to ride, a nice easy pace (well not so easy for me, I am running a 1x8 ..with a 12-30 cassette, wish I had a 34).
An hour and 40 min later we make it to the aid station 5, and refuel - oh yeah the aid stations are packed with coca cola, PB&J, smarties, bananas, potato chips, nuts etc. Chris has brilliantly arranged for a drop bag at this station, and it has a ham and cheese sandwich that he devours, and gets some energy back, then we are off again....wow,....this little descent is so much fun 5 foot water bars that you launch off off...this goes for say 2k, then we are into the final 5km of climbing, or as someone called it..the 13 meadows of mind f*ck! It never seems to end.
It does end and we have a few smaller descents followed by climbs as we ride the ridge - then we are into the big downhill - possibly the best downhill I have been lucky enough to ride. 700 meter drop over 10km! Balls to the wall hold on for life, trust your bike and trust your complex to keep you on the trail right side up! YeeHaw!!!! Most fun of the day.
I want to mention, any of these long climbs followed by a downhill would be a great one day ride.
Final aid station, a bitch, yes a bitch of a climb - the same climb we started the day on, and one final fast downhill and the finish line 11 hours and 55 minutes after we started. What a great day on the bike. The beer after was amazing ---mmmmh. Cheesebuger for dinner. Sleep. Rain comes. Coffee in the morning and the long drive back home.
Loved it. Great company with Tara & Chris.
End of the day I was 307th of 519 men that started - not that it matters. I know that not "racing" it, not having the pressure of beating the next guy allowed me to really have fun on this.
Edit:
I usually ride a SS 29 Rigid, however I did this on a 29r hardtail 1x8 - glad for it.
I got bit and stung. I don't know what they are called - gnats - blackflies? Either way I must have 30 itching bites from these things, and I also managed to get a wasp stuck in my jersey on the final descent, and was stung multiple times. F*($@*# I am still itching!!
