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