Wednesday, August 18, 2010
New Terrain
So on Friday my dad and I are flying out to Durango for the Telluride - Durango ride from Western Spirit. After a few days hanging out and riding around Durango, we'll shuttle out to Telluride and ride the gondola up to the top of the mountain, where our five day singletrack epic begins. Western Spirit shuttles all your gear in their van and you camp at different spots each night. But during the day you ride on all unsupported singletrack. I have no clue what to expect, other than some fun riding and crazy long descents and climbs. I'm taking a whole bunch of batteries, so hopefully there will be some helmet cam video from each day.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Wilderness 101
Being a mountain biker in State College, you are always surrounded by the Wilderness 101. People talk times and training all year round and for people who only do one or two races a year, this is their time to throw down a good race and have some friendly competition with the other local riders. On the last Saturday in July (sometimes first in August), almost everyone in the area that rides a bike will either be racing, watching, or working any one of the five well stocked aid stations. That being said, July 31st, 2010 was a day that I have thought about for most of my life.
I started riding at a very young age and my dad was always there for support. One year (2002 or 2003?) he told me about this all-day race through the rocks and over the mountains called the "Wilderness 101." Later he showed me this picture, and immediatly I knew that I wanted to do this race. So I set a goal for myself that I wanted to finish this race before I was 18.
It's six or seven years later, and I'm laying in bed the night before the race. Everything is racing around my mind. Bike is spotless, dinner was healthy and filling enough to get me through the race, my aid station bags are ready to go, clothes are clean, so it should be a good day. At around midnight I'm starting to get worried, and I finally fall asleep at 2. Oh, a 9+ hour race on three hours of sleep? No big deal. What was re-assuring was that it turns out that not many people actually do sleep much before this race. So before I knew it, it was 6:30 the morning of the race and it was cold. Got a short warm up in with Bill Nagel and Jake Davidson and headed back to the Coburn park for the start of the race. The neutral paced start was led by the local Purple Lizard mapmaker, who also led out this year's Stoopid 50. Turned left and across the bridge and started climbing. I found myself in a group with Jake, Dustin, locals Clay Chiles and Peter Buckland, and others. We stayed behind the singlespeeders into aid station 1. The group split a bit as some of us stopped for water before the second climb of the day. This is the hot, sunny climb in the Stoopid 50 that everyone hates, but it was cool and shaded today. The whole day I stayed focused on riding all the trails smoothly and paying attention to whatever my body told me it needed. You have to race smart to get through this stuff. Rather than give a 100 mile course description, I'll just give you a link to a good video from the course.
Jump ahead to 6:00 later
Coming into Aid 5, there is one rocky singletrack. At this point I was freaking out because I wasn't sure if I'd break my goal of 9 hours. So I figured that I'd need to average 10-12mph into the finish to make it. Cranked the rock gardens as hard as I could and came into Aid 5 like I was breaking away in a XC race. After a quick refueling and a glance at the Garmin, I was safe. Just keep it steady to the finish and don't get bit by any snakes. Up the Mingle climb, which isn't bad by itself but is a real pain over 90 miles into this race. On the other side is the infamous Fisherman's Path. It's makeable, and I came close to riding it. So now I guess my next goal for this race is to clean it. Anyway, it's some technical boulders on the side of the river and a couple short climbs and drops. Once you're across it, there's a bit more rail-trail to the next tunnel. This is your last chance to get a flat, cause there's glass in this one. But if you make it out of the tunnel fine, it's all pavement back to the park. You can smell the food and you can catch a glimpse of the finish before you loop through the town of Coburn. At this point I was so pumped, because I sprinted into the finish with an 8:25. The Centre Daily Times was there covering the event, which is cool because it's a race that's been going on here for so long and not too many people know about it. Here's the article.
It feels good to have that one behind me. What's cool about this event is that you get everyone from the top racers, to those that are just here to finish all starting at once and everything is very relaxed, but serious at the same time. And no matter where you finish, everyone has the same thoughts at the end of the day.
The climbs are hard
The descents chew you up and spit you out
The rocks will make your hands black and blue
It's the 101
I started riding at a very young age and my dad was always there for support. One year (2002 or 2003?) he told me about this all-day race through the rocks and over the mountains called the "Wilderness 101." Later he showed me this picture, and immediatly I knew that I wanted to do this race. So I set a goal for myself that I wanted to finish this race before I was 18.
It's six or seven years later, and I'm laying in bed the night before the race. Everything is racing around my mind. Bike is spotless, dinner was healthy and filling enough to get me through the race, my aid station bags are ready to go, clothes are clean, so it should be a good day. At around midnight I'm starting to get worried, and I finally fall asleep at 2. Oh, a 9+ hour race on three hours of sleep? No big deal. What was re-assuring was that it turns out that not many people actually do sleep much before this race. So before I knew it, it was 6:30 the morning of the race and it was cold. Got a short warm up in with Bill Nagel and Jake Davidson and headed back to the Coburn park for the start of the race. The neutral paced start was led by the local Purple Lizard mapmaker, who also led out this year's Stoopid 50. Turned left and across the bridge and started climbing. I found myself in a group with Jake, Dustin, locals Clay Chiles and Peter Buckland, and others. We stayed behind the singlespeeders into aid station 1. The group split a bit as some of us stopped for water before the second climb of the day. This is the hot, sunny climb in the Stoopid 50 that everyone hates, but it was cool and shaded today. The whole day I stayed focused on riding all the trails smoothly and paying attention to whatever my body told me it needed. You have to race smart to get through this stuff. Rather than give a 100 mile course description, I'll just give you a link to a good video from the course.
Jump ahead to 6:00 later
Coming into Aid 5, there is one rocky singletrack. At this point I was freaking out because I wasn't sure if I'd break my goal of 9 hours. So I figured that I'd need to average 10-12mph into the finish to make it. Cranked the rock gardens as hard as I could and came into Aid 5 like I was breaking away in a XC race. After a quick refueling and a glance at the Garmin, I was safe. Just keep it steady to the finish and don't get bit by any snakes. Up the Mingle climb, which isn't bad by itself but is a real pain over 90 miles into this race. On the other side is the infamous Fisherman's Path. It's makeable, and I came close to riding it. So now I guess my next goal for this race is to clean it. Anyway, it's some technical boulders on the side of the river and a couple short climbs and drops. Once you're across it, there's a bit more rail-trail to the next tunnel. This is your last chance to get a flat, cause there's glass in this one. But if you make it out of the tunnel fine, it's all pavement back to the park. You can smell the food and you can catch a glimpse of the finish before you loop through the town of Coburn. At this point I was so pumped, because I sprinted into the finish with an 8:25. The Centre Daily Times was there covering the event, which is cool because it's a race that's been going on here for so long and not too many people know about it. Here's the article.
It feels good to have that one behind me. What's cool about this event is that you get everyone from the top racers, to those that are just here to finish all starting at once and everything is very relaxed, but serious at the same time. And no matter where you finish, everyone has the same thoughts at the end of the day.
The climbs are hard
The descents chew you up and spit you out
The rocks will make your hands black and blue
It's the 101
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