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
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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
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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.