Wilderness 101

Every year, one of the biggest challenges of the W101 is the weather. It is always hot and humid, but this year seemed to be different. We got a lot of rain the days before the race, and a little the morning of the race. It was a bit chilly, and very cloudy and foggy. But the fog burned off around 10:00, and everything cleared out to a hot and humid day. After watching the start, I made a quick stop by Three Bridges to watch a good section of trail. The trail gets it's name from the three skinny bridges that cross a stream about halfway through the trail. Usually a lot of people who don't know the trails walk this section when they are dry. But that day was really slippery, and almost everyone walked the bridges. Some people tried to ride their bikes through the stream, which is very hard since there isn't any trail. One person actually did it and got back on the course. After the bridges is a big rock garden. It is easier the direction that the 101 does it, but it's still hard, especially for people who have never seen it. I was able to see my dad and Stu Hess come through this section, and they were doing better than I thought they would be. After the trail is a climb up a dirt road. It's not one of the hardest in the race, but it still picks up a lot of elevation. This is where the Stoopid 50 finished, and right at the intersection of Three Bridges and the road is Old Laurel trail - the last downhill in the Stoopid. John Williams and some others accidentally turned up this trail, hiked to the top, and then rode back down. If you're familiar with the trail, you know that it's a big mistake. After watching Three Bridges, I went over to Aid Station 3 to help out. By that point, it was really hot. We had a lot of help at the station, but everything was really rushed to try to help people and get them on their way. My dad and Stu were together still, and they both were riding pretty good. Bill Gardner came by a few minutes later, and was also feeling good. After aid 3 is another nasty climb. This one is the only major singletrack climb in the race. One singlespeeder got to the top of the climb, but then his chain snapped. So he rode 3 miles back down to the aid station to get another chain...and then climbed back up. Around 4:30, it started getting cloudy as another storm rolled in. Just a little rain though. My dad finished under 10 hours, which seems to be the benchmark for the 101. Stu ended up pulling away from him at the last climb, but my dad kept it close and only lost about 4 minutes. Everyone had a good race, and my dad ended up getting 2nd in the Masters category, behind Bill Nagel from Guy's Racing, who stayed with us the night before the race. I took some pictures from the race, some are decent, but most are pretty bad, so I'll just give you a link to some professional ones taken before the race.

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