Monday, August 01, 2011

Wilderness 101 - July 30, 2011



The 11th annual Wilderness 101 is a mountain bike race covering 101 miles: 7 miles of roads, 10 miles of degraded forest roads, 56 miles of forest roads and 28 miles of trail. The race starts and end in Coburn, PA and is promoted by Shenandoah Mountain Touring (SMT).  Remind me to speak with an individual at SMT concerning pre-ride sanity checks.

This ride was hard, very hard, much harder than I had anticipated.  The multiple 5-6 mile ascents were too brutal.  The racing downhills were an exercise in trying to hold onto the handlebars and let the bike do the work.  The "level" areas were rock gardens that require a lot of effort to power through.  There was no where on this ride to relax and enjoy the scenery.  Overall, the ride took me 13 hours and 3 minutes. The professional first place rider finished in 6 1/2 hours, so he's only twice as fast as me.  Official results here, I'm #279 ... Official Results

Mom and I rolled into Coburn, PA Friday afternoon thinking this was going to be a fun little weekend getaway.  Mom's tasks for the weekend were to help with registration on Friday, and help cook a mighty fine meal on Saturday.  She really enjoyed helping with the event and I think would welcome coming back next year.  My weekend experience was going to be far different.


I have read many blogs about this ride.  Never in my readings did I feel that this ride was going to be ridiculously hard.  I think I should have read more blogs.

We were all woken up around 5:30am at the campsite.  Pre-ride talk at 6:45am, race starts at 7am.  Weather was comfortable, not too warm.  I thought there would be breakfast but I wasn't so lucky.  I did have a breakfast bar which needed to last me 40 miles to Aid #2 where food was served.  Aid #1 only had water/HEED.



You can see below that there's an ~5 mile climb which hits about 7:10am.  I don't know what everyone else is typically doing at this time, but I'm usually still in bed.  This was not an easy climb up a fire road.  Here it is, 15 minutes into the race and I'm already questioning what I'm doing.  I decided to let the better part of the ~380 racers pass me so I had some peace and quiet, and could enjoy the surroundings.  Honestly, I didn't feel well-oiled until 10am.  I reached Aid #2 after 3.5 hours.

Miles 1 - 40
I was famished rolling into Aid #2.  I was a kid in a cookie jar eyeballing the breakfast bars, PB&J sandwiches, M&M's, trail mix, peanuts, Pringle's and other food.  I camped here for about 15 minutes shoveling all of it in my mouth.  I totally took more than my share, but no big deal since I was bringing up the rear (or close to it).

I've heard through blogs that it's difficult to make it past the Aid station #3, 60 miles.  Right now, I was still trying to get to Aid #3.  The climbs below are absolute physical and mental crushers.  The mountain just goes on and on and on, switchback after switchback.  There were a few folks walking during the climbs, and I was happy to join them.

Mile 40 - 70
I shot a short video at Aid #3.  I was getting fairly worn out at this point.  I just had no idea that the mountains were going to be this difficult.  Even going down the single-track was very unpleasant because it just beats the tar out of your body banging down the slope.  Your hands are screaming for relief from gripping so tight.


The climb out of Aid #3 is another crusher.  More slogging up the mountain that even a Billy Goat wouldn't enjoy.  At the top of this climb, I started to think about Rob Carvajal.  Wondering if we would ever be able to play tennis together again.  Coach Carvajal told me ahead of time to stay mentally tough.  I'm thinking that he's never had to ride his bike in Coburn PA before.  The rock gardens at the top of this hill tossed me left and right.  I just didn't have the power to get up and over them.  After falling 3x I walked a bit on this surface.  These rocks were damn close to making me lose my mind and start boo-hoo'ing.  Then I lost my bike computer, so I couldn't tell where the heck I was.

The Wilderness 101 takes no prisoners and doesn't coddle the weak.  After the rock gardens comes the steepest unbelievable downhill on the Sassafras trail that one could imagine.  That close to vertical line between Aid #3 and #4 in the elevation chart above is downright close to it.  It's a narrow trail of loose rocks that is the scariest ride I could imagine.  I started riding down it and then just couldn't overcome the fear of what could adversely happen.  Plus, Michelle would have been so angry with me if I'd gotten hurt.  AND, how the heck would I get my busted up doof off that mountain?  As if anyone knew where I was!  I walked down it with my bike and even that was difficult to not fall.

Rolling down the hill into Aid #4 produced another nerve racking moment.  Apparently, I wasn't alone in the woods.  There are lots of things in the woods.  Check out this video of a mambo sized rattlesnake that blocked the trail.


Aid #4 was set up at a bridge under Route 322.  At this point I'm about 70 miles in and the first thoughts that "I may make it" started to creep into my head.  Oddly enough, I felt a lot better at this point than I did at any point from miles 40-60.  That mid-section is just too naughty.

The climb out of Aid #4 starts on a non-maintained rutted nightmare of a road.  Stronger riders than me are required to get up this ascent after putting 70+ miles on the legs already.


I would make Aid #5 and would keep feeling better, faster and stronger.  I know this makes no sense, but the course started to ease up a bit and I was getting very excited about finishing.  All that was left at this point was a few miles on a rail-trail and a couple mile ascent on Old Mingle Road.  Ha!  I laugh at 2 mile ascents at this point.  I went pretty darn fast over the final 12 miles to roll back into Coburn.

Mile 70 - 101
It was just after 8pm and daylight was waning when I rolled back to Coburn.  I was so happy to be done with this ride.  I got off the bike and banged that traditional gong as all finishing riders do.  I was also handed my Wilderness 101 pint glass that I later filled with Elk Creek Cafe home brew.  Finishing the ride, I'm thinking to myself, "Where did the time go?"  To be pedaling for over 12 hours is really not something I had aspired to do.  I'm very happy with being able to complete this ride, and would like to thank my sponsor A1 - Heating and Air Conditioning for the opportunity to represent their fine organization.  I'm not sure what the future holds for events like this again, this ride was just too tough.

Look to the right just before the finishing line for the lady in the blue shirt standing up with open arms ... that's my Mom!





0 comments:

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | Hot Sonakshi Sinha, Car Price in India