FORD #2

FORD #2 was awesome this year.  The weather finally cooperated, and the trails were in great condition.  Seems like this is rare as it is the norm for the trails to be wet and/or muddy.

Two of the DP crew rolled into the Quarry trails with high hopes of bringing in some VORS points.  I was not aware that Matt Juaneza was going to make the event, but decided at the last minute to participate in the beginner field after missing the Stamped the day before.  We discussed before the event that neither of us had really done much running this season, but I assured Matt that this race is usually won on the mountain bike.  This proved to be a normal FORD with Konrad really mixing in some tough climbs with the mountain bike portion of the event.  Matt and I both felt pretty good as he was rocking the Giant Anthem and I on my Stijl.

Matt and I took full advantage of the mountain bike portion allowing us to win both of our races.  Matt won the beginner course and I took the advanced distance win.  I have been close to winning before, but this was the first time I was able to snatch victory!  It felt good.

SM100 : Part 2

The 2011 SM100 provided me the chance to test my senior year skills in my 4th annual ride in this awesome event.

While racing the Wilderness 101 was about a month ago and I was able to take an hour off my previous best 100 miler time (9:53) with a finish time of 8:48. Naturally I was anxious to see how well I would do in this year's SM100 where my best time so far has been 10:07. I've been having a break though season racing the local XC circuits so I was equally curious to see how everything would pay off...

Mix it up
-----------
I switched up a few of standard tactics this year and I think most of them paid off.

1) Riding my awesome Anthem 29er cross country race bike instead of a lightweight trail bike (Big thanks to Giant Bicycles and Rowletts for their team support)
2) Sleeping in a bed the night before the race, good quality sleep
3) Made a point to focus on eating some solid fuel along with Perpetuem and Enduralytes
4) Run a consistent pace, but grab on and rotate in pace lines whenever possible

How it all panned out
---------------------
I was able to start with the lead group and hang on to Joe Fish's wheel (and dust) for the pavement and 1st fire road. Then I was able to power a good strong pace up the climb to the radio tower. One thing I noticed was that pretty much everyone was riding the rocks, not as fast as I wanted, but not giving up and hiking right off the bat either. I was able to gain a lot of places here, but made a point to keep things a bit moderated to avoid a sidewall tear as well as risking a sketchy pass on the riders through the last section.

I got on Tillman and tried to find a pace line to hook onto. Soon, a train passed me and I spun up to speed to find my place in the line. The train rolled strong all the way to the Lynn trail climb and I was in a good position riding behind the top 2 pro women as we started the ascent. I was able to keep it rolling well and gain a lot of positions up the entire climb. I was really stoked that the conga line I’ve experienced in previous years was not present with the ~9 hour group I was hanging with. On Wolf Ridge I was able to real in many of the folks who left me on the first climb. I can't say enough about how fast the Anthem 29er lets me rip the down hills. Near the bottom I caught up with Eric Schofield and we ripped down the rest of wolf ridge. Eric and I popped out on Tillman. One of the volunteers said there were about 17 riders in front of us, it was really cool to hear.

After Aid 2, I hung onto a group Eric was leading up the climb of Hanky mountain. Then, I focused on fueling and motoring along the fire road up the climb to the summit of Hankey. I was really glad to get to the top and started attacking the rollers leading to Dowels Draft. Once at Dowels, I gained about ten spots on the loose descent and short rocky climb that begins Dowels Draft. At Aid 3 at the bottom I fumbled my plastic bag containing my Perpetuem and realized I need a better system as about 1/4 of it coated my bike and right leg, yuck.

As I started the road section on Rt. 250, I noticed my right leg cramping and was glad I could form a 2 person pace line with Vicki Barclay, the top women’s finisher at the Wilderness 101. We each took turns with some pretty tough pulls and then picked up about 3 more riders as we made our way to the climb at Bridge Hollow. As I climbed up, the fueling I did on the road section really paid off and I gained a lot of positions on this tricky climb. Then I dropped into my favorite descent in the race and continued gaining a lot of ground until I nicked my sidewall. Dang! I tried to fix the tubeless and then tossed in a tube and lamented the 10 minutes or so I had jut lost.

On the next stretch from Aid 4 to Aid 5 I was able to work with more riders all the way to the death climb. I was relieved when I finally saw Woody Elliot welcoming us to Aid 5. A quick gulp of coke an water exchange and I was on my way. I downed 1/2 of my gel flask and was pleasantly surprised with the energy I had working my way to the drop in for Chestnut Ridge. I believe I was able to regain position on everyone who passed me during the climb. Chestnut is always thrilling to descend and I pushed my body to keep up with appetite for speed on the way down. Near the bottom I had to sneak around an ATV where a medical team was hauling somebody out on a back board, Yikes! I hope that rider is OK.

Aid 6 gave me the opportunity to get some more coke and gels for the final assault on Hankey Mtn. I struggled to put on a smile as I passed a group of Red Bull girls who were cheering us on. Relief is what I felt when I finished the final descent to the fire road leading back into the finish. When I ran into Eric Schofield on the final gravel section I was glad to have some good company on the way home. Eric grabbed onto my wheel and we steamrolled all the way to the finish!

At the finish, I was happy to see 9:10 on the board. I banged the gong and realized I had taken about an hour of my best SM100 time.

SM100: Part 1

It all seems like such a blur looking back on the race, and most of the week leading up to the race.  The race was stressful for me since I really designed my entire season to peak at the SM100 and this was my first time attempting a 100 mile race.  Of course, all the stress drifted away as soon as I left the Stokesville Campground.  I found myself jockeying for position trying to keep the wheel of my team mates Plassman and Fish.

Seemed like as soon as we hit the first gravel climb things quickly started to change.  The peloton that was the asphalt and fire road dissipated quickly to a select few.  It was at this time that I said goodbye to Plassman and set my sights on getting up this climb quick enough to ride the entire cookie trail, and more importantly the Lynne trail.  Fortunately I had pre-ridden this section many times and knew exactly what was coming and how hard I could go.  I made it up the Lynne and down Wolf Ridge pretty quickly, just like the pre-rides, in fact I may have done it a bit to quickly.  When I finally reached Tillman fire road, one of the volunteers told me I was 16 minutes back from the leader, that was way faster then I planned on!  Unfortunately I had also lost my bottle of Infinit Nutrition that was to be the basis of my nutrition for the event.  Fish was kind enough to give me some of his water after our group caught him coming down Tillman.

Once into Aid 2, I quickly downed a bottle of Heed and took the next bottle of Infinit from my drop bag in hopes this would somewhat offset the bottle I had lost.  Next up was Hankey mountain and one of the sweetest downhills in the state, Dowels Draft.  Aid 3 came and went and I was able to find another awesome train of guys to get to Ramsey's Draft.  I downed half of my ProBar on this road section which really helped to make me feel better.  The climb up Bridge Hollow was very difficult for me this day.  I bobbled several sections I had never had issues with before and even fell down the hill after my rear tire slipped on some of the slick roots.  Aid 4 could not have come soon enough.  I was cramping after the climb so I found some endurolytes, downed another bottle of Heed, and headed down "shit road" to the base of the death climb.  Fish was talking about dropping, but I convinced him to carry on.  Fish and I road mainly by ourselves down shit road where I was able to take down the rest of my ProBar.  Favorite quote of the day came on this road when a guy we passed said "how much longer is the climb?"  Hahaha...the climb had not yet even started as he would quickly find out once we go to West Virginia.

Aid 5 was like a mirage.  It really is the best aid station.  I downed several brownies, grabbed a handful of M&M's, had my chain lubed by the awesome mechanics, then headed out to finish the climb.  This was by far my longest stop.  Chestnut was tough but I did manage to pass several people on the downhill.  This has always been the weakest part of my riding so it felt good to pass a few guys.  Again, the pre-rides really paid off here along with the guidance offered by Fish and Plassman of course.  Aid 6 was an even nicer site.  For some reason I thought I would have to climb the road a bit to get to it, but the new location of this aid is just as your coming out of the woods.  I snapped a spoke on the death climb, so I had it clipped off before hitting the road for the final 12 miles.  It was while I was waiting for the mechanic that I realized I had not had a bike issue all day.  I had been stressed all week about getting a flat (as I flatted during my last pre-ride) and the Stijl bike was awesome soaking up far more bumps then a hardtail should having spot on geometry leaving my back pain free.! 

The final climb up Hankey went well.  I managed to stay out of my granny gear and was really making some time.  The campground seemed so close that I could taste the beer by this point.  We pre-rode this section the day before to spin out the legs so I knew exactly what was coming.  It was an awesome feeling to drop into the camp ground, something you really have to experience to know.

At the beginning of the season my goal was a sub 11 hour.  After a few races, I set a new goal of sub 10 hours.  I don't carry a clock or any kind of electronics so I really had no idea what my time was, so I found it hard to believe when I turned the corner and saw the clock reading 8:59:33.  This totally blew away my expectations.  This time was good enough to finish 42nd, again blowing away my goal of top 100.

I can't thank my team mates enough.  I could not have performed this well without the training partners Fish and Plassman.  I also came to the realization during this race that I wasn't a terrible descender, it is just the Fish and Plassman have incredible skill heading down those super rocky technical descents that make up so much of this course.  What a great day on the trails!!  Everybody raves about how great the volunteers are at this event and they are not joking, these volunteers make the event!!

The team posted some strong results in this race on a day when many didn't finish due to the heat and humidity:

Joe Fish- 8:46
David Reid: 8:59
Jeff Plassman: 9:10
Paul Leeger: 12:15