Stoopid 50

1st Single Speed, 7th Overall

Full Results (coming soon)

Strava Datas

I woke up way earlier than I needed to.. as usual the morning of a race.  I just get so excited!  I love waking up in my own bed, traveling overnight to races is really not my thing, I need to remember that for future racing seasons.

For pre-race calorie intake here we go... 2 bowls of oatmeal piled high!  1 PROBAR (peanut butter), 1 bagel with jelly, 2 cups coffee, 1 GU with caffeine (on the start line).  Not quite as much as normal but my stomach was not feeling great for some reason so I held back a bit.

My dad drove to the race with me and while I raced he volunteered!  It was a great fathers day!

I started with 2 tubes, enough food to last the entire race (2x PROBAR, 2x PROBAR Fuel, 3x GU gel, 2 other granola type bars) 1 bottle water, 1 bottle Cerasport.

Starting line pic taken by my dad

I was not sure who would be my competition at this race.  My goal was to go for the overall win and get the SS win in the process.  I heard there was a guy named Chris who might be fast but other than that I really didn't know who was in the race.  Most races post a Confirmed Riders list on bikereg.com but this race did not have that.

From the start I stayed up front in 2nd or 3rd position for the 2 or so miles up the road/gravel hill that had only a slight incline.  Every year this is not very fast, but at the end everyone puts in a big effort to get into the single track 1st... after the first 5 or so people enter the single track there is always a huge bottle neck.

I was so happy that I was easily 3rd into the single track. I did not have to put in a huge effort and I felt very comfortable with my position.  In less than 1 mile I dropped my chain :( :(  This was super bad!  Not only did it take me 6 whole minutes to figure it out and get it back on but I was also now in about 100th place in the middle of 6 - 7 miles of SUPER skinny single track (trees brushing you on both sides) and no where to pass, but I also left my TULEBAG and flat fixing supplies... I will never see those again.

For the remainder of the single track I passed when I could but when I could was not very often.  I was nice and said pleaseeee and thank you but still I didn't get very far.  I was even behind a guy wearing sneakers and baggy shorts for about 10 minutes!  oh man... not good.

"Well maybe I can still win the Single Speed... Almost for sure I won't be able to catch the geared leaders but I am going to do my best!"

Soon after I left the single track there as a HUGE 20-30 minute climb up a mountain!  So fun!  After the climb on the descent I finally caught the 3rd place (finished 2nd) Single Speed racer by buddy Thom Parsons of DirtWire.tv!!!  Thom is the man and he has been getting faster every race he enters this year!  We chatted for a bit and he told me that Topher who as sitting in 1st SS was just a minute or so ahead.  I went ahead and caught him quickly on the next uphill.

Photo by Shenandoah Mountain Touring.. on one of the final climbs I think

Topher told me that he thought he was 1st SS but he was not sure.  So I put my head down and set it in my mind to catch the next SS guy.. if there was one.  Topher was riding with his hands off the handle bars on a flat section, while I was full out on the gas.  Haha.. he crushes the downhills but it was obvious that his heart is just not in it when the rocks turn to road and you have to Time Trial to the next section of super fun trails.  He is definitely his own guy.

(post race DirtWire.tv interview with Topher)

The rest of the race was full out Time Trial mode.  Head down.  Zone 5.  Push the pace and never ever let up.  In these situations I find that daydreaming helps.  There were so many times that I could not see anyone in front of me so I would daydream that the 1st place geared group was only right over the next hill... "just keep going and u will catch them"

This race is definitely one of the most fun races and I put it as an A priority race every year.  One day I will win this race!!!!  It is a life goal of mine :).  It will take some luck to not get any mechanicals or flats but one day I will win it.

After all the climbing and awesome single track was done I made it to 1st in Single Speed and 7th overall.  I could not believe it when I crossed the finish line and Dan Wolf had finished a few minutes ahead of me in 6th!!  Wow!  That guy had a super awesome race!  Congrats to him!

2nd place was Kevin Campbell who I beat by a hair at Michaux Maximus earlier this year... not that I could have beat him again but at least I could have been close!  ah what could have been....  NEXT TIME!!!

I highly recommend this race to anyone who wants a super challenging course that is well marked and well supported.  Chris Scott and Shenandoah Mountain Touring puts on the best races hands down.

 

(post race DirtWire.tv interview with Chris Scott)

Mohican 100

2nd Single Speed and 4th Overall
Full Results

Strava Data
DirtWire.tv Coverage

Cycling News Article

100 mile mountain bike races are really hard....  They are an epic adventure every time but man they take a toll on you (at least they take a toll on me).

I drove to the race with fellow friends/racers Jed Prentice, Mike Tabasko, and Danny Atkins.  We left on Friday and the race was on Saturday.  We arrived at the course at around 4pm and we did a short pre-ride and then had an awesome pizza dinner at a local spot.  Teammate Greg Rittler joined us!  It was so good to have a great meal before a big race.  Even after the meal I ate an additional PROBAR and a brownie!  I slept like a baby..

The next morning the race started off with a bang!  Once we leave the town there is a really steep climb up a road before we make a left onto the totally awesome 20-30miles of fantastic single track!  My plan was to go out hard and stay with the leaders.  At about 1/2 way up the climb I heard bike crashing hard behind me. I didn't look back because when something like that happens keeping your eyes forward and staying under control is the safest thing to do.  After the race was over I found out that Jed and Mike were both unfortunate enough to get caught up in the accident... luckily they both were still able to finish with great results.

Video of the crash

I avoided the accident and was into the single track with the leaders.  Ron Harding (one of the main single speed competitors) was with me but when someone crashed in front of him I scooted around the accident and avoided being slowed down.

After a few miles I found myself in a great group with Rob Spreng, Kevin Carter, and two of the 100k racers.  There were only 2 riders ahead of us Mike Simonson and another 100k racer.  Mike was about 3 minutes down the road.  I was feeling pretty good and on most of the climbs I would gap our group a bit, but they would always catch back up on the downhills.  It was great following Rob Spreng on the single track.. he is the undisputed champion of the most technical mountain bike races around (Michaux Series)!  I was probably going 5x faster by following his lines through the trails!

thanks to Butch Phillips for the photo 

Just before aid station 2, Spreng asked me how I was feeling.  I told him that I feel great and since I am basically with the fastest geared racers there is no way a single speed racer will be catching me.  As long as I keep good with my nutrition (1 PROBAR per hour + Cerasport + GU) I should be fine!  Then we hit some road climbs and I got a small gap, unintentionally, then out of no where Gerry Plug (single speed racer) shoots past me.  I immediately speed up and catch his wheel.  He is really moving and I can hardly believe that us two single speed racers are sitting in 2nd and 3rd overall with only one geared racer about 3 minutes ahead of us... that is not right.

I talk to him for a bit and he is definitely feeling good.  I figure this is going to be a really fun race between us!!  I stay with him until aid station 3 (he is doing all the work on the front and didn't seem to mind... that is a bad sign for me since if he was tired he would have asked me to pull).  At aid 2 I needed to get some air in my back tire, that gave him the few extra seconds he needed to escape the aid station with a 100k racer before I could leave.  Rob Spreng was back with us and he left the station with me about 30seconds or so behind Gerry and his 100k racer.

I figured that with Spreng working with me to catch back up that it would not be an issue ... that was not the case.  Gerry and his guy seemed to be increasing their gap ever so slowly and we were definitely not getting any closer.

At aid 3 Spreng and I could still see Gerry in the distance.  Aid 3 is the spot where the 100k racers turn back and we continue on so now Gerry would be by himself with Spreng and I working together (kinda).  However it didn't work out too well for me after that.  Leading up to aid 3 was a pretty good climb and after aid 3 was more climbing.  I left Spreng and was now chasing Gerry by myself.  Somehow just a bit after aid 3 I missed a turn!!  It was perfectly marked and there was no reason for me to miss it... it cost me 4-5 minutes and Spreng got ahead of me.  After the turn it was all road and rail trail so it was impossible for me to close the gap to catch back up to Spreng and even more impossible to catch Gerry (who was flying even on the flats with his single speed!!).

I finished the remainder of the race by myself.  It was tough... there was nearly 11k feet of climbing in total and a lot of the climbing was very very steep.  I was super tired at the end but I was able to ride hard the entire time!

I finished just a little behind Spreng for 2nd SS and 4th overall.  Just behind me Mike Tabasko who I carpooled with finished for a 4th place in the Open division and Ron Harding was only a few minutes behind me with a 3rd place in the SS!  He was closer than I thought!

Post race interview with Thom Parson of DirtWire.tv

I highly recommend this race/course to anyone who wants to try out 100mile racing... Ryan O'dell really puts on a great race at Mohican 100.