I drive up morning of with my neighbor George and my wife Joyce who’s still undecided about if she’s doing the full distance or the 50K distance that’s new for this year. George is doing the 50K. I’m planning on racing in the single speed category. I’ve got my Superfly Single Speed set up with a ridged fork and Bontrager XR1 1.9 29er tires set up tubeless. Yes, a mountain bike. I had a decent ride here last year on it running a 2-to-1 gearing setup, placing 2nd to Harlan Price. I’m going with that ratio again this year running 34×17. My ride is 17 pounds on the dot.

Trek Superfly Single Speed - 17 pounds

With both Harlan and Bernie Shaio absent due to conflicts, there’s a bit more room at the top in single speed. However, my long time rival Gunnar Shogren is here as well as my 29er Crew teammate Dustin Manotti who soundly beat me last weekend at the Terror of Teaberry.

Slightly shorter route for 2011

We’re at a new venue this year in Pine Grove Furnace State Park. My understanding is that after completing one lap of a taped off cross course, we’ll head north on 233 towards the usual starting point at Camp Thompson, bang a right on the hiker-biker trail and pass right by the new starting area right after we ride through the sandy section of Pine Grove Furnace State Park beach.

Bang! We’re off. With no call-ups, huge rows of 50 people across are funneled down to a 15 foot wide lane. I’m lucky my friend Daniel Rapp let me slide in beside him in the first row. I’m through the funnel in 5th or 6th place. I see 29er Crew teammate Mike Keefer driving the pace at the front on his SuperFly 100. I’m two wheels behind Gunnar heart rate already approaching red.

Pine Grove Furnace

I hadn’t pre-ridden this section so I’m really unsure with the direction changes. I’m just following wheels. As we come back down near the start-finish area, I notice that we’re all rolling over course tape that’s on the ground. Is this right? I keep going, but I’m looking around for some confirmation that we’re all not off-course. I look up at the leaders and they are yelling at spectators to get out of the way as we pass the Pine Grove Funace and head out of the park. Is this right? I look back and see a line of riders behind us following. If we’re off course, at least we’re all doing the same thing. I can’t help but think we’ve possibly just executed a 4 mile shortcut.

As we start up the shallow grade of Slate Quarry, the pace is geared-bike high and the guy in front of me has let a gap open up with Gunnar. I’m really too cross-eyed to do anything about it. I’ve got to get my act together and settle down in a group that I can manage. Several geared riders fly by me on the flat pavement and a 12-rider lead group forms that includes Keefer and Gunnar. I’m reasonably certain Gunnar is the only single speeder in that group. He’s known for being a fast starter and is running a slightly bigger gear than I am. For the moment, I settle in with a slightly smaller chase group.

In a stroke of bad luck for him and good luck for me, I soon see Gunnar on the side of the road pulling over to fix a flat. It’s very early but that’s maybe bought me 4 or 5 minutes of head-start. Now in the lead, with an eye on the heart-rate, I keep the press on.

Iron Cross has a decent amount of climbing

By Wenksville Road before the KOM climb, Daniel catches me and I get in behind him on the fast rolling pavement. I gap him a little bit up the climb, but he’s soon back on on the gravel road rollers after the KOM and the 50K split.

Daniel lets me by for the turn into Lippencote Trail. Finally in my element, I pass 4 or 5 guys on cross bikes before the bottom. Back out on the pavement, I’m able to draft a geared rider all the way down Chambersburg Rd. I take a long pull after we go right on Rt 233 since the grade starts to climb and I’m not so spun out. As we make the left on the Gravel towards Long Pine Lake, geared rider asks me if I think a 180 BPM heart rate is too high… ! I tell him that the 3 part WigWam run-up is coming up soon and that he should maybe back off a bit. He does and soon he’s gapped but he’s replaced by 3 of the riders I passed in Lippencote as we ride by the lake.

Left onto the dirt road that has a short steep loose climb up to the grassy field before WigWam. One of the geared guys is encouraging me as I’m able to clean it.

Who says mountain bikes can't be shouldered

I feel surprisingly nimble hiking up the WigWam run-up. It the top I glance down to see all the riders just behind me. No sign of Gunnar. He beat me three weeks ago at Revenge of the Rattlesnake by 12 minutes in an event of this duration. One flat does not take 12 minutes to fix.

I’m out of fluids and so stop to fill my bottles at Aid2. It seems to take forever. I’m thinking bottle drops would have been smart.

The miles between Aid2 and Aid4 go by in a blur. Miraculously, no sign of Gunnar. I’m not comfortable, recalling the last minute pass Gunnar laid down on me at the Hilly Billy Robaix to steal away a 2nd place finish.

All damn day!… As if on queue: All damn day, I’ve been chasing you..

We’ve just started into the single track past Aid4 and Gunnar’s made the catch and is on my wheel. I pick up the pace to see if he can really hang with me on his cross bike in single track. I’m able to open up a couple of decent gaps, but he closes them down. I’m breathing hard as my bike gets momentarily turned sideways crossing a slippery root. Gunnar is right there to respond. He rides through the passing lane and takes the lead.

By the time we hit the pavement he’s got maybe a 20 foot gap. He drills it. I’m pretty anaerobic already and feeling the twinges of some approaching leg cramps. I’ve got no response.

By the time we go right into the last gravel road that leads to the final single track and run up, Gunnar’s got maybe 100 yards on me. I continue to chase, but in the limited way that you can only do when cramping is near. In the back of my mind, I’m starting to accept that I’m likely to finish 2nd today.

What? Again?

As gravel turns to single track with a slight pitch down, my speed is high, my tires are bigger and I’m on the mountain bike. I must have the advantage in this situation. Gunnar must have thought that too and been taking risks, because there he was on the side of the trail starting to take off his rear wheel. He’d flatted again. You better hurry up, because I’m not waiting around!  …and just like that, with 5 miles to go, I’m in the lead again.

Just 4 minutes in front of Gunnar, I cross the line in 4:06 for the single speed win! My teammate Dustin rounded out the single speed top-3 at 4:28. A lucky outcome for me and a good showing for the Crew. I’ll take it!

CyclingDirt post-race interview by Thom Parsons

Cycling Dirt’s Thom Parsons shot more video of Iron Cross 2011.

Iron Cross Single Speed Podium - photo Zachary Repp

Former triathlete Dereck Treadwell took the Senior Men and overall win at 3:53. Gerry Pflug was 2nd overall at 3:54 which was also good enough for the 40+ win. Sure glad he wasn’t racing single speed. Teammate Mike the King of Michaux Keefer and his mountain bike managed to hang onto 3rd overall and 2nd in the Seniors. My rockstar friend Vicki Barclay won the Woman in 4:24 with Gunnar’s wife Betsy Shogren 2nd at 4:35. Wife-unit Joyce managed to squeak onto the Woman’s podium in 5th at 4:58 after deciding on the full distance race this morning at the registration table. Yay honey!

Hat’s off to Mike Kuhn, Zach Adams and the rest of the High Speed Cycling crew… and especially all the volunteers who were out on the course helping us stay upright. This is a great event because of you. Thank you!

When my friend and frequent travel companion Jed Prentice saw the results, he asked: Could Roger and Joyce be the new Gunnar and Betsy?
Hah! Probably not… but thanks for the thought.

I drive up to the race venue with my frequent travel partner Jed Prentice. I finished just ahead of Jed last weekend at Revenge of the Rattlesnake which he doesn’t like very much since he’s the better rider. As we line up at the start, the only Masters racer I see that I care about is Paul Wojack from New York. Paul is just over 4 minutes ahead of me in the series, but if I beat him by the same amount I did in the Summer race, I’ll win the Master’s series.

Bang! We’re off in a rare mass start. Thinking the Master’s will be started in the 3rd or 4th wave which is typical, we’re all off together. I’m lined up way in the back so I spend the first several minutes trying to work my way up into the top 30% It’s at times pointless since the early single track is narrow. Finally we spend 10 minutes or so on a double track section with lots of passing room. I’m finally able to establish the position I’m after and so settle down a bit. No sign of Paul… but his typical MO is to mark who he thinks is the rider who’s the biggest threat and attack at the first sign of weakness.

Be Terrified

My first mistake of the day was to participate in Cross Practice the day before the race on my sweet new Cronus CX. Bad idea. Even though the total mileage of the practice was something like 12, the drills involve lots of high energy movements: dismounts, remounts,
shouldering, running… all at high speed. It was a good practice, but not the thing to be doing the day before the hardest mountain bike race in my world. At the time, it didn’t seem to hard, but the leg soreness when I woke up Sunday morning told a different story. Now that I’d been on the gas for 20 minutes, I could tell I wasn’t 100%.

As we finally dive into the first tricky single track, I’m having difficulty seeing through my fogged glasses. It feels pretty close to 100% humidity in the forest. After several rounds of dicey one handed riding trying to clear the fog with swipes from the glove of my other hand, I give up and stuff the glasses in a pocket. This maneuver is usually a last resort since my glasses are prescription. Being near-sighted tends to make me look less up the trail and more down directly in front of me without my glasses since I can’t see as clearly without them. Strike two.

It’s not raining but the rocks are pretty greasy from the humidity. My third strike was to mount some barely 2.0 mud tires that I’d never ridden before on my Superfly 100 in anticipation of a wet and muddy outing. Despite all the rain in the week leading up to Teaberry, A) It was not really muddy and B) Mud tires don’t work on rocks! Those prominent knobs don’t sink into rock. Instead they just slide off. And because a 2.0 tire requires more pressure than say a 2.3 tire, you do a lot of bouncing off of those rocks. My conclusion is my setup is downright dangerous… The normally awesome Superfly was stunted like a football player wearing flop-flops. I was trying to ride my bike down a luge track without studded tires. I’m not riding well.

We pop out onto some smoother double track for a short while. As if on queue, Paul motors by. The race has barely started, but I’ve already checked out. I don’t chase. I’m worried about surviving this outing unhurt. My pace is already reduced to a slower and safer level.

The boulder fields and ridge riding don’t disappoint. I’m riding even less of them than last year. I pass crew teammate Gordon Davies fixing a flat. Twenty minutes later I see Jed at Aid Station 3 with a broken saddle. He’s trying to reattach it to the post with zip-ties. Michaux can be rough on equipment. Duct tape and bailing wire would probably also be helpful to have along except for the extra weight and bulk.

Soon Gordon passes and I’m briefly motivated to stay on his wheel as if my precarious tire situation would somehow magically go away. I’m able to stay with Gordon for a mile or so, but he slips away as my hap-hazard trajectory forces first a pedal strike then a near endo. I settle down again.

With five miles to go Jed finally gets by me after a very long repair stop. He’s riding strong trying to hang onto his series lead even though he knows he’ll be lucky to podium today.

I finally finish at 5:14 exactly a half hour slower than Paul. Not my best showing but good enough for 2nd behind Paul in the Master’s class in the Series. Jed and Gordon finished 3rd and 2nd in the Vet class behind Bike Line’s Mike Stevens. Despite all the problems today, Jed managed to snag the Series win in the Vet class. Congrats to Jed and Paul for their Series wins!

Crew teammate Mike Keefer managed to snag the Men’s open series win despite being beaten the currently flying Robbie Spreng. Nipping at the tail of Keefer were Harlan Price and Justin Pokrivka both on single speeds finishing 1st and 2nd in that category. Amazing! Frequent travel companion Churtle, the queen of Michaux, rode uncontested into 1st place on the day and for the series. Nice way to end your season my fast friend!

Hat’s off to the folks at Gettysburg Bikes and all the Cupcake volunteers that tirelessly put on this fantastic series year after year. These are the best races around. Always challenging. Always humbling.

Stop #4 in West Virginia Mountain Bike Association‘s Ultra series, Revenge of the Rattlesnake usually starts and ends at Blackwater Bikes in Davis WV. Davis is an east-coast mountain biking mecca. There are so many miles of mountain bike trails accessible from town, race promoter Todd Romero continues the long tradition of a different gnarly course each year.

I love Davis and so decided to make a weekend of it with my friend and Bike Doctor rider Jed Prentice. Mike and Dianna Buchness invited us to join them for the weekend in their house at the base of the Timberline ski resort, eight miles from Davis. Their vacation spot is awesome!

Chez Buchness

As we line up for the start along side the Black Water River I see Mike Capraro, a Masters winner of past Michaux races. I also see Mike Boyes who races Masters on single speed and who finished just minutes ahead of me last year. Gunnar Shogren’s here, but he’s racing in the single speed category. I’m chatting with Robbie Spreng who has a super trick Superfly 100 with a Cannondale lefty fork. I’ve got my Superfly 100 also. We’re comparing notes.

Weapon of choice

Bang! We’re off down the River Road Trail towards Blackwater Falls State Park officially County Rd 29/1. It starts out tame enough but quickly develops into a road that’s not really maintained with lots of big puddles and sink holes. It hasn’t rained in a few days, but it’s wet here. It’s like spring time wet. I’m trying to steer around the puddles, but it’s pointless.

After two miles we’re in Blackwater Falls State Park. This year’s course has an 8 mile prolog loop in the Dobbin House trail system which borders the Monongahela National Forest land just north of the Park. We bang a hard right on the pavement heading toward the trailhead at the Northern most part of the park. As we scream down the hill that crosses the Blackwater and start to climb up the other side, Gunnar passes me spinning like 140 RPMs on his Single Speed. There are only 4 or 5 riders in front of us including Robbie Spreng, Jed and now Gunnar. My heart rate is really high. I’ve got to settle down.

2011 Revenge of the Rattlesnake

As I dive into the first single track at the Dobbin House trails, I’m aware there’s another rider who’s with me. I’ve also caught who I think is Joey Riddle. I’m flying through the pine grove section with confidence. I’ve ridden these trails many times before including with Jed as our warmup the day before. Joey Riddle is flying through here and the mystery rider is still on my tail.

As we start climbing up a semi-technical section that is really the only sustained climb in Dobbin house, I goof up a section and have to dab… The rider behind me asks to get by. As I let him go, I realize it’s Mike Capraro. He drills it going by and within a few minutes the new Masters leader is out of sight.

Roots Rock at it's West Virginia best

The Dobbin House prolog loop is actually a figure eight layout, at some point in the middle, we cross back over part of the course we’ve already done. I know the race promoter was planning on changing the course tape after the first time through, but when I arrived to find a confused Capraro, I saw that it had not yet happened. I knew to cross over the 4-way intersection and continue through after stopping long enough to convince Mike to follow.

I managed to stay in contact with Mike though the rest of the Dobbin House. We get by Joey as he over shoots a hard left turn that I had overshot the day before in the warmup. Mike’s got a small gap that I close back down the pavement towards the Yellow Birch trail. With a nod to his technical riding skills, I let him by to lead us through.

Yellow Birch trail is a rock minefield with some slippery roots thrown in. There isn’t really always a line to follow. Often there are several. About half way through, I’m so focused on staying in contact, I don’t notice that Mike has veered off course. As we’re hiking out to return to the trail, a train of 3 riders including Joey Riddle motors by. Somehow Mike is suddenly on their wheels and I’m gapped.

Riding alone, the rest of the Blackwater falls trails go by in a blur. Red Spruce Trail, Balanced Rock Trail, Cherry Lane Trail are capped off with a blazing descent down Sledd Run underneath the Rope Town Tower Line rope tow for cross country skiers in the winter.

Rope Town Tower Line

With a left turn at the warming hut onto the southern end of the Canaan Loop Road, I take some time to catch up on hydration. The technical trails in the Park demand vigilant attention making the reach for bottles feel like a Cirque Du Soleil audition.

Just before the left onto Railroad Grade Trail, I pass Jed on the side of the road fixing a flat. Like his tire, he looks deflated. He’s fast, he’ll be back.

Railroad grade, despite the fact that much of it is under water, is relatively fast. The technical demands of the single track are gradually increasing. The magic of Revenge of the Rattlesnake is the racing opponent inevitably becomes the course. By the end of Railroad Grade and half way through the course, I’m pretty wet.

I merge with the Loop Road again and ride a few miles to the Aid station. The Aid station volunteers are the first humans I’ve seen in nearly an hour. Right turn onto Pointy Knob Trail, the most difficult section of the race.

Pointy Knob Trail starts out with 6 or 7 stream crossings which are not ridable. To make matters worse, I loose my footing on the slippery rocks of one of them and suddenly I’m chest deep. Laughing at myself out loud to no one, I’m struck with how ridiculous this race is. The stream crossings are replaced by rock gardens that are made more difficult by the gradient of a climb.

One hour later, after what must have been 20 dismounts and over a thousand feet of elevation gain, the trail banks around to the left and we start descending. The descent off of Pointy Knob is the best part of the course. The trail is a combination of rock gardens and rock bridges. As difficult as it is, it seems easy compared to the climb. I rider who I think is John Martin, whom I passed on the climb, dances by me during a brief moment of confusion. He’s an awesome descender.

Left on the Loop Road after a very wet finish to Pointy Knob Trail then right onto Lindy. Right on Plantation Trail and Left on Davis Trail. Nothing exciting to report except a pretty spectacular wipeout on the last real feature at the bottom of Davis Trail… right in front of a photographer. I’m surprised to see another person in what seems like my personal Amazon rain forest. It’s weird how few racers I’ve seen since about mile 12.

Back onto Yellow Birch Trail heading in the other direction and finally the backtrack on River Road Trail to the finish at Blackwater Bikes. I cross the line at 4:03 which is good enough for 2nd in the Masters, 10 minutes behind Mike Capraro. Mike Boyes crossed 12 minutes later for 3rd. Nice race fellas!

Masters podium - Your's truly, Mike Capraro and Mike Boyes

Gunnar was 3rd overall and easily won the single speed in 3:51. Nice work young man. The overall goes to Robbie Spreng on the trick Superfly. Joey Riddle ended up 3rd in the open. Well done! Jed finished at 4:14, never really recovering mentally from the flat tire delay. Mike Capraro’s wife Susan Musante took advantage of a too-big gear on Betsy Shogren’s single speed to finish 2nd in what can be called a nice upset. Great job Susan!

Single Speed winner Gunnar Shogren

Huge shout out to Todd Romero and all of the volunteers that made this year’s Revenge so awesome. In what’s becoming a tradition, I donated my awesome, handmade by Thomas local Ben Nelson, coffee mug trophy to Hypnocoffee, the local Davis coffee shop to be included in their regular rotation.

Can’t wait till next year!

Shortly after the Wilderness 101, Doug the Hulk Andrews, one of my NUE Masters rivals, already had 4 wins.  I was mathematically eliminated from a possible series win. It was looking like Doug would not even have to make the trip to the final race, baring one possible scenario…  With a win at the Fools Gold, the 2010 NUE Masters champion and my 29er Crew teammate Robert Herriman still threatened. If Robert won there, he would have 3 wins. Those combined with a tie breaking win at Shenandoah would make him the series winner again. I wanted the strongest riders in attendance at the final race so that I could punctuate a less-than-perfect season with a win. And if I couldn’t do that, maybe I could somehow help my teammate win the series.

It turns out Robert did win the Fools Gold Masters race and this did force Doug to travel 3000 miles to defend his series lead. Mission accomplished.

Bang! We roll out of the Stokeville Campground over the Iron Bridge and down the pavement on Rt 730 I see both Robert and then Doug near me. We’re near the front of the field that forms a huge peloton rolling at a surprisingly comfortable pace. Left on SR764 then left on Narrow Back a rolling gravel road that climbs up over our first climb towards Tillman and Aid Station 1. As we near the top, Doug is leading followed by Robert and I. Doug and Robert are both strong climbers. I’m reminded that there’s a reason why I’m sitting in 3rd place in the series. We’re all pretty close but I’m having to put out some effort to stay in contact.

2010 NUE Masters winner Robert Herriman at the rollout

Right at the top Doug has to get off to adjust his front derailleur. I would learn later that he couldn’t get his chain into the big ring. Robert and I go by and are soon into single track. As Robert struggles a bit riding on the first of my precious home-turf rocks, I realize the technical parts of this race are where I might have a slight advantage. I ride by and hit it hard to try and get a gap.  By the bottom of the tricky descent at Tillman road, they are both gone. So far, so good.

Past Aid station 1, I drop a bottle and grab a bottle. With the one in my pocket plus two full ones in my cages, I think I’ve got enough fluids to make it to Aid 3 at mile 45. I find myself in a group of other riders and we’re making good headway on the gravel of Tillman road. At the bottom, we go left onto the paved SR924. We’re in a paceline and as I’m taking my turn at the front, I hear Robert right behind me say You don’t need to pull so long. He was right behind me and he was right. Even though I wasn’t really drilling it, I should be conserving more. As we rode the last bit of pavement before the left onto Lynn trail. Doug and a couple of other fast guys catch our group. We’re all together again.

I take the lead at the base of Lynn knowing it’s a technical steep climb and there’s likely going to be some dabbing by the others. I think I can clean it, so I take my shot. Doug rides around me after a minute or two. He’s hitting it hard now. I stay right on his wheel for awhile but decide to ride my own pace once I’m in the red zone. I’m pretty cross-eyed by the top but only 30 feet or so behind Doug. Robert is back, how far I’m not sure.

At the top of Lynn, we go left on Wolf Ridge trail one of the best single track sections of the race. It’s rocky, slightly downhill and has decent flow. Within a minute or two, I’m back on Doug’s wheel. We’re 25 miles in and I’m riding with the leader so for the moment I’m content to stay there. Excellent! My luck, however,  was about to change.

Clunk. Was that my rear rim contacting rock? Clunk. Yes, crap… flat, rear tire. I immediately commit to a change rather than spending time with an analysis. Four, maybe five minutes goes by and probably 10-12 riders as well… including my friend and Bike Doctor rider Jed Prentice who must of had a bad start. Robert goes by as well.

When I finally get down to Tillman Rd I’m alone. I had only one tube when I flatted, relying on taking tubes I’d left in my drop bags at Aid 3 and Aid 5. I’m not even to mile 30 yet. Aid 3 isn’t until mile 45 and I’m not feeling that lucky. When I pass by Aid 1 on the way back, I stop and ask for a tube. A confused volunteer wanted my bad tube in exchange. As I try to explain that there is no tube to exchange, someone else who was volunteering ran to his bag and got me one from his personal stash. Thank you who ever you are. It turns out you would save my race. I owe you a tube.

I ride alone to Aid 2 and blow through the new horse-shoe alignment without stopping. Just before Hankey Mountain climb #1, Team CF rider and my frequent travel companion Churtle catches me. She’s the woman’s leader and working pretty hard. I bridge up to a strong rider and Cheryl stays with the larger group.  I ride strong up Hankey in pursuit of my tall teammate. On the rollers towards Dowell’s, I finally catch Robert in a rocky section. Always the gentlemen, he lets me by.

Churtle riding strong

I hit the Dowell’s descent pretty aggressively. I’m pretty familiar with this trail having ridden it in the spring on the SDS weekend. The descent down Dowell’s Draft is a relatively smooth flowey, high-speed roller-coaster ride punctuated with the occasional rock garden. It was in one of these rock gardens that I hear the dreaded psssst, pssst, pssst of a Stan’s spray emitting from a turning wheel. I had just gotten my wheel off when Robert comes by. Here we go again I say as he passes.

Using my gift tube from the unknown Aid 1 good samaritan and the rest of my Big Air to fill it, I manage to repair my second flat and finish out the rest of the Dowell’s descent without incident. The good news is I now have a bad tube that I might be able to use as currency in any future negotiations for a good one! The bad news is I’m very much in third place.

At mile 45, I pull into Aid 3 and start emptying my pockets like I’m next up in the airport security line. Three bottles, the now empty Big Air, and the bad tube hit the ground. I remember to retrieve the nozzle off the Big Air. The woman helping me at Aid 3 was awesome: putting bottles in my cages and the spare tube with CO2 cartridge in my back pocket. What was a pretty major pit stop really only took a minute or so to complete thanks to you… Thank you!

I start out alone into a headwind up Rt 250. Uggg. After several miles, I’m caught by a medium sized group that includes my 29er Crew teammate Dan Kotwicki. Dan gives me some encouraging words and proceeds to get on the front and up the pace of the train. Dan lets me by at the turnoff for Ramsey’s Draft and is on my wheel for the technical climb up Bald Ridge. This climb is steep, off-camber and technical, much like the climb up Lynn. I’m feeling pretty good here and get a gap on Dan and eventually catch Robert again who again let’s me by without me even having to ask. I joke that I’ll probably see him again soon. Too bad that will turn out to be true.

I fly down to Aid 4 trying to put as much time into Robert as I can in the single track. I stop at Aid 4 for 20 seconds, just long enough to fill one of my empty bottles. Between Aid 4 and to 5 miles beyond Aid 5 is a 20 mile section of mostly gravel road climbing. Known as the Soul Crusher climb, it’s where many a Shenandoah Mountain 100 can be decided. My heartrate is decidedly low. I’m starting to feel a bit broken.

It takes awhile, but Robert catches me within the first 5 miles with another guy. Happy to be riding with someone, I’m re-energized. Maybe we can work together and catch Doug? It’s a dream that doesn’t last long. After trading pulls a few times. I realize, I’m really falling apart. I don’t have the goods to keep this up. For a long while, I just try to stay on the back. I hang until it starts to get a bit steeper and eventually have to let them both go. I’m in a bad place feeling worthless. I’m no longer racing, trying to survive.

Just before Aid 5, 2009 SM100 single speed winner Mike Montalbano, who was also having a tough day, catches me and we exchange war stories. He’s currently in 2nd or 3rd place. When young phenom Dylan Johnson tries to sneak by, Mike politely excuses himself and gives chase. I’m powerless to respond.

The remaining miles to the top of Little Bald Knob went by agonizingly slowly. Dan finally catches me. He’s super encouraging when he rides by. Thank you my friend.  Sorry I couldn’t hang.

I’m actually woozy by the time the descending starts. It’s technical and I have to tell myself to slow down and be careful… I’m not riding too well. I’m so out-if-it, I don’t even notice that Mike Simonson is off to the side, bloodied following a bad crash, awaiting a helicopter ride off the mountain. Miraculously, everything would be Ok with Mike. There were no flats or mishaps for me to the bottom and Aid Station 6. Almost home.

Half way up the Hankey Mountain climb for the 2nd time, in a moment of de-ja-vous, Cheryl catches and passes me. She’s still the woman’s leader and still working hard. Wow! We exchange words of encouragement and inspired, I manage to dangle 50 feet off of her wheel all the way to the top… but she’s on a mission!

I catch Cheryl on the descent leading up to the campground just a mile or two from the finish. I tell her I didn’t see any woman anywhere near her by the top of Hankey. She finally relaxes, getting comfortable with the fact that she’s about to win the 2011 SM100! Awesome job Mutant Ninja Churtle!

Churtle wins the 2011 SM100!

I cross the line in 8:49, 12 minutes behind Robert and 42 minutes behind Doug. Doug was flying! I would have had to have the race of my life to match that pace. Between changing flats and having a pretty weak soul crusher climb, I feel pretty fortunate to finish in under 9 hours. My dreams of spoiling Doug’s party or even helping Robert gain the win he needed were to remain just that… dreams. Congratulations to both of my rivals on a fine result and a great season. The journey was awesome!

Your's truly crossing the line

Robert, unfortunately missed the awards ceremony, choosing instead to tend to his injured riding partner Mike Simonson who was in the ER.

2011 SM100 Masters Podium - Doug Andrews on the top box

In the open, Team CF rider Christian Tanguy managed to ride the king of the hundreds, Trek rider Jeff Schalk off his wheel on soul crusher padding a nice 16 minute lead by the finish. Crew teammate Sam Koerber finished 3rd. Nice.

2011 Open Men NUE Series Podium

Jeff, who has been a frequent travel companion to both Cheryl and I over the years, announced before the race that the 2011 SM100 will be his last. Jeff has had a stunning career, making a mark for himself as the King of the hundreds by winning the NUE series two years in a row and having 16 NUE wins in throughout his career. Jeff is a great friend and has been a role model for me. While we will miss him at the races, he’s already embarked on the next phase of life with a baby on the way and a reborn structural engineering career in Washington DC. I look forward to the day when he actually slows down enough so that I can actually ride comfortably with him! Hats off to you my friend.

2011 SM100 Single Speed Podium

In the single speed, the Pflug continued his complete domination of the field and was the only single speed rider to finish in under 8 hours. Big time! Young Dylan Johnson going for broke, managed to drop Mike Montalbano, who didn’t want to flat again, on the descent off of Little Bald Knob to take 2nd. Mike finished 3rd after a long day of mishaps. The ever present Matt Ferrari had an off day and limped across the line for 4th.

The celebrations and telling of war stories continued over numerous beers and the cookout dinner that followed. The Shenandoah 100 weekend is where the whole season comes to a climax and you can finally unwind and really enjoy the company of friends and rivals. Chris Scott and the folks at Shenandoah Mountain Touring have this event so dialed in now, I can’t imagine not doing it next year. They work so hard to make every moment of this racing weekend as good as it can be. The course, the food, the aid stations, the volunteers, the new shower truck… all excellent, amazing and appreciated. Thank you!

SM100 is my top pick from must do races. See you here next year!

Bang!  We’re off on the short road section before a long three mile double-track climb to the top of the ridge.  Since this is a mass-start with 100 riders and there’s a gate at the beginning of the double-track climb that forces riders down to single file, I gunned it on the road. When we get to the gate, to my surprise it’s open this year.  I pass through the gate in 3rd place about 10 feet behind the elite Team CF duo of Chris Beck and Brandon Draugelis.  We stay close for a short while, but I’m out of my league and need to settle down. The leaders slip away.  Several more riders go by including Bike Doctor rider and my traveling companion Jed Prentice I do not chase.  I glance back down the hill and see the long line of followers.

We’re almost at the top of the first and really only sustained climb of the race, when Freeze Thaw rider Vicki Barclay passes. Vicki’s riding great right now having just come off of a win at the Wilderness 101 two weeks ago. I get on her wheel.

At the top of the climb, we dump out on a paved section that’s still climbing but the gradient is not that steep. I know the first single track is less than a mile away so I drill it again passing Vicki and several other riders. I’m banking on the fact that my Superfly 100 29er with front and rear suspension will be really in it’s element once we hit the rocks.

When we finally hit the single track, at first the rocks are pretty manageable. There’s great flow and my Superfly 100 damps the jolt of the impacts with the familiar kisss sound of the shock pneumatics. After awhile, in some sections the rock density increases to the point where the rocks are actually a formation that is best described as a bridge. There’s no dirt on these rock bridges… just rock. Pretty Awesome!

The 15 miles of flowey Weiser style rock riding between the start and the first aid station went by in a blur. The volunteers at aid-1 were ticking like a well oiled machine when I came through. There was a woman holding my replacement bottles in her hand before I even stopped! Ten seconds later I was off.

The remaining details of my race are not really that interesting. I felt pretty freakin’ awesome all day. I never saw Jay Dodge or Mike Laub. I crossed the line at 4:24, a good bit faster than last year and good enough for the Masters win… but still 24 minutes behind the winner, my rock star friend, Chris Beck. Jay finished 2nd Masters 7 minutes back. Mike crossed 2 minutes after that.

Chris Beck attacked his teammate Brandon on really the last gravel road uphill before the final downhill. It stuck. Brandon finished 2nd. Up-and-comer Patrick Miller had a solid ride finishing 3rd and my friend Jed Prentice had an improved ride over last year to finish 4th overall. Nice work fellas.

Vicki, despite having a less-than-stellar day won the woman in 4:40. I’m sure Vicki will be ready for Shenandoah. DC Velo rider Pam Frentzel-Beyme had a solid ride for 3rd place. Nice work Pam!

In the single speed, Mike Montalbano, one of the strongest single speeders in the country I think, won in 4:14. Smokin’ time. He’ll be challenging for the win at Shenandoah no doubt. Topher Valenti, whom I rode with for many miles during this race finished 3rd SS in 4:30. This, despite going off course late. Topher’s a Michaux mountain bike legend.

The Rattling 50 is east-coast rock riding at it’s best. The trail system in Weiser State Forest has great flow with plenty of rock gardens to challenge even the most technically accomplished riders. I like the fact that the 50 mile format attracts UltraEndurance athletes to race short and Cross Country athletes to race long. Mike “KuhnDog” Kuhn and his band of “tick” brothers and sisters at High Speed Cycling really know how to put on a well organized, well marked, and well supported race. This is a professional operation with a “grass roots” feel. The food and beverage afterwards is just icing on the cake. Thank you Momma KuhnDog for the delicious homemade cookies!

Next up the Shenandoah Mountain 100 with 400 of my closest friends. I can’t wait!

I’m racing Masters this year. In the NUE, that means I race against other 50+ guys. As we line up, I’m looking around for who might be my competition. The west-coast super star and likely leader of the NUE next week, Doug Andrews was an extremely unlikely show. Last year’s NUE Masters champion and my 29er Crew teammate Robert Herriman was also a no-show because of crew member (Tim Finkel’s) wedding. Congratulations Tim!

From the pre-race hype, I know that Independent Fabrications rider Mike Ramponi, who finished 3rd at the SM100 last year on single speed, is here and I suspect racing in the Masters category. Mike doesn’t even own a geared bike, so maybe this is my race to win?

My thoughts are quickly re-calibrated when I look to my left and see reigning US Masters 55+ National cyclocross champion Kevin Hines on the line. What? Who else is here? Steve Tilford? Maybe Ned Overand? Oh well, I can’t worry about that now.

Bang, we’re off! Actually, that’s not accurate. There is no bang, no starting official or starting ceremony at the 101. This is grass roots racing at it’s east coast best. At 7am, the entire 350 person field simply starts following the lead pace vehicle down the gravel road out of Park and out on the pavement away from Coburn towards the first climb. So it begins.

Once on the climb, things start to string out. I quickly realize, I’m not feeling so hot… not horrible, but not 100% either. This, most likely from the hard effort last weekend at the Curse of Dark Hollow. Because of my relative success last week on the Superfly 100, I’m back riding the identical setup. With my pseudo uncooperative legs, I was now wishing for the light weight of my Superfly Elite Hardtail. Oh well, I can’t worry about that now either.

It takes awhile, but I finally find my legs just a little bit. On the rolling climbs up to Aid 1, I catch the group with Mike Ramponi. He’s on rigid single speed running 32×18 a pretty big gear considering all the climbing that’s in store. I chat with him a bit and can tell he is putting out some effort cause we are MOVING. As we ride on the pavement briefly through the tunnel under Rt 322, he stays with a big group of relatively fresh geared riders without any trouble. He’s come to race.

Race leader Jeff Schalk trailed by a Team CF trio through 3 Bridges

Mike Ramponi in the Masters lead at 3 Bridges Trail

At mile 25 we turn left into the single track combo of Longberger Path, Spruce Gap Trail and 3 Bridges Trail, the first real single track of the race, I quickly close in on and begin to pick off riders from a large group that’s led by Freeze Thaw Cycles rider Vicki Barclay and Team CF rider Cheryl Recchia Sornson. With some effort, on the climb up Laurel Run Rd, I close the gap on Vicki and Cheryl. They are both riding strong. Cheryl’s glued to Vicki’s wheel. I’m just about on the rivet.

As we go around the big left hand switchback, the pitch gets steeper and it becomes clear that Vicki is in charge here. Cheryl starts to loose contact. Despite my words of encouragement, she’s gapped and Vicki’s riding off into first place. Sensing blood, Vicki seems to step it up just a bit, enough so I’m doing everything I can to hang on. Impressive.

Vicki Barclay puts the hammer down

At mile 30, we turn left into Little Shingletown Road Trail and begin a gradual primitive double track descent. I’m on the wheel of Freeze Thaw Cycles rider Rich Straub who’s really a fast descender. By the bottom, we’d passed several riders from the Vicki group including Vicki.

At the bottom, it turns out working to get the lead on the fast descent doesn’t really pay since with 5 flat pavement miles to go to Aid2, we collectively sit up and regroup in order to work together on the road. It pays off.

Aid Station 2 was really busy when we arrive. The Aid2 volunteers were ON IT. I and the others in our group had our bottles in no time flat and were off. Thank you people!

Your's Truly in the Wilderness 101 Backcountry

After Aid2 we go left on Greentree, a long fire road climb that takes us up roughly 1400 feet in elevation gain. Less than half way up, the Vicki group is thinning. Rich is gone right away and soon after I realize, I’ve also got to let her go. I just don’t have the goods to climb with the cute red-haired PhD from Scotland. She’s riding great!

At the top, we make a right on Croyle Trail, the first of several really rocky technical descents. At this point, the Superfly 100 is loving the change in difficulty. I’m flying down the trail in search of an IF rider on a rigid single speed. Despite having over 4 inches of travel on each end and 29 inch wheels, my teeth are chattering but I’m on a mission.

One disadvantage of riding rigid is your tires and your body are your only suspension. As aggressive as Mike Ramponi is on descents, he surely pushes the limits of his rubber. Sure enough, less than half way down, I see my fast Indy Fab friend changing a flat. With two thirds of the race remaining, I feel certain this is only a temporary setback for the fast Ramponi from Massachusetts, so I press on.

Not one minute later, my chain derails and I can’t seem to get it back on by pedaling. Doh! I’m forced to stop, realizing that the chain is actually in a knot that will have to be undone by hand. I pull over just past my friend and Team CF rider Christopher Beck. He’s fixing a flat too. He runs over to me holding out an inflator of some sort asking me if I know how to use it. I look at it briefly. It’s not familiar and I’m not really in a position to take time to try and figure it out. I tell him no and he sends me on my way. Sorry my friend. I was really just too stupid at that point to help!

By the bottom of Croyle at mile 52, the technical prowess of the Superfly 100 has allowed me to put some time into Daniel and certainly IF Ramponi. By half way up the climb towards Aid3, Daniel is back and seems to have really found his legs. Climbing strong, he rides by me.

I catch Daniel when he stops to get bottles at Aid3 but he drops me again on the new single track climb called Pigpile. I finally catch him when we start the drop off the mountain on Sassafras Trail. Always the gentleman, my young teammate lets me by, sensing my groove with a fun descent on a full suspension 29er. In this single track between Aid3 and Aid4, I’m at my finest. The Superfly 100 is on cruise control with me along for the ride bearing a very large grin. At the bottom of Sassafras, I nearly regain contact with the Vicki group which is now just Vicki and another rider. Daniel eventually passes me again on the short climb up to Beautiful and No Name Trail. It’s GO time for Mr. Atkins.

Mike Ramponi nears the finish

I get bottles at Aid4 and begin the long soul crushing climb that starts with Stillhouse Hollow and finishes with Sand Mountain. I start out feeling ok with Daniel still in sight, but realize as I near the top by mile 80 that my matchbook is just about empty. When the grade finally points downhill again, as if to add insult to injury, the new course takes us left on a super rocky double track descent called Panther Run Road. This is no road. It’s a rock strewn minefield. It’s really hard to go fast here despite the slight downhill trajectory. My form is on thin ice.

I stop at Aid5 even though I have enough fluids to finish. I need something. Three dixie cups of Coke later, I’m a new man and back on my bike toward the finish. Just before the last climb up Old Mingle, my rock star friend Chris Beck passes me with a guy I was riding with earlier. He yells at me to finish strong. They are not going that fast, but there’s no way I can ride with them.

The last 5 miles took an eternity. I’m so spent by Fisherman’s path, I can only ride a small fraction of it. I keep looking over my shoulder for Ramponi. I’m suffering and I know he’s going to pass me at any minute. Where’s the finishing line?

Finally, I cross the line at 7:58, good enough for the Masters win and my first NUE win ever after 15 tries!

Nine minutes later, the 55+ superstar Kevin Hines finishes. It turns out he was riding in the Open and not the Masters even though he’s old enough. I hadn’t seen him all day. Mike Ramponi finished at 8:21 and had apparently suffered two flats. Bad luck my friend, you were certainly the stronger man in the beginning. Hammer Nutrition rider Mark Virello rounded out the Masters top-3 at 8:39.

Enjoying the fruits of my labor

In the Open, my friend and fellow Trek team rider Jeff Schalk somehow managed to get a several minute late gap on super strong Team CF rider Christian Tanguy for the win at 6:26. That is incomprehensibly fast. Well done sir. RBS Trek MTB Team rider Mike Simonson had a great ride at 6:49 to finish 3rd. Superstar cyclocrosser, Roger Aspholm finished 4th at 7:05. My crew teammate Daniel Atkins finished strong at 7:46.

Vickistar crushed the woman’s field with a 7:42 finish time. Are you kidding me? There’s a tremor in the NUE woman’s universe! Way to go. Motor Mile Racing’s Brenda Simrill was 2nd at 8:17 and MTBRacenews.com‘s Karen Potter finished 3rd at 8:41. Nice work ladies!

In the single speed, Salsa Cycles rider The Pflug continued his winning ways with an incredible time of 7:19, good enough for 8th overall! That’s a fantastic ride Gerry. The ever present local Freeze Thaw Cycles Matt Ferrari finished 2nd at 7:40. Matt is probably the best single speed rider never to win an NUE. Keep trying my friend. It will happen. Next was Jordan Wakeley who came back from a bad crash early to take 3rd.

Full Results here.

A huge thanks to the tiny Appalachian town of Coburn PA for letting hundreds of mountain bikers call your little park home for a weekend. Thank you all the race volunteers who worked in the hot sun all day to keep us on our way… especially that guy at mile 90 who kept me from steering off course after I somehow missed the left turn to start the Old Mingle climb. Thank you sponsors of the Wilderness 101. Finally, huge thank you to Chris Scott and the rest of the Shenandoah Mountain Touring crew who in concert with Jessica and Peter Buckland and the Freeze Thaw gang, once again put on a great edition of this race. You all rock!

The 101 is a celebration of back country mountain bike racing in the Bald Eagle and Rothrock State Forests of Pennsylvania. What makes this race so awesome is festival atmosphere that’s alive and well at Coburn Park all weekend. This is a must do race.

See you here next year.

As we line up in the Masters wave, I see several-time Masters winner Jay Dodge; fast starter and always a threat, Michael Funk; newcomer and winner of the 2011 Michaux spring race, Paul Wojciak; and on single speed, my friend Bernie Shaio, whom I just edged out last time we raced in Michaux.  To have any shot at the series title, I need to put some time into Paul and Jay and at least hold even with Bernie and Mike. I’m going to have my hands full today.

Bang!

We’re off up the 1/2 mile 4% grade gravel road climb to string things out. Nobody seems to want to go that hard. It’s going to be a long hot day and it’s already close to 80 degrees. Jay takes over at the front with me on his wheel. We come through the start-finish area, dive into the woods briefly, and then back out to gravel. About 2 miles in we make a hard left up a super steep technical climb. I follow Jay and he looses traction and has to dab. Paul and I are off too since we’re right behind him. Mike chose a better route off to the left and stays on his bike. It’s so steep that re-starting seems daunting, so we hike. By the time we get to the top, Mike Funk is gone… up the trail in first position.

The first twenty miles were surprisingly enjoyable! The terrain was awesome and the effort was very controlled. Paul, Jay and I rode much of it together at a just-below-tempo pace chatting and sharing the front. Nobody was attacking. However, with half the race gone, it’s starting to seem unlikely we’ll catch Mike without some changes. Besides, Bernie can’t be far behind and I’ve got to try and get rid of my companions at some point… it is a race after all.

Drafting Paul Wojciak - photo Ralph Brandt

Just after the 2nd rest area, there’s a long gravel road climb. With both front and rear shocks locked out, mostly standing in the big ring, I burn some matches by laying down about 15-20 minutes just above threshold. At the top of the climb I glance back, Paul is dangling, but Jay is gone. I’m feeling pretty good today!

We’re back in single track now and the elevated pace has us catching and passing riders. This is one of the best parts of the course; bumpy rocky single track with bermed sweepers created by moto tires ripping out of corners. It’s not buff, but with the right groove, it’s got flow in a raw Michaux sort of way. My Trek Superfly 100 is loving this trail and it’s making me a better rider than I actually am. Big wheels, light weight and full suspension; this bike goes down hill fast. After about 15 minutes of descending bliss, my arms are tired and Paul is gone.

When's it going to be over? - photo Ralph Brandt

At mile 28 or so, I catch Michaux local Travis Coldsmith and bearded single speed mountain bike legend Topher. I am having a good day! We ride together for awhile, but after a steep hike-a-bike, Topher is gapped. Travis and I exchange positions several times.  He schools me twice on technical Michaux rock features.  I’m getting tired.

I fill my bottle at the last aid station and try to summon some enthusiasm for a strong finish.  It’s pretty hot now and and I’m just trying to ride steady.  We’re passing riders from the 20 mile loop.  On the final set of gravel road climbs I pass Jim Wilson the director of Team CF, and later a guy who says he reads this blog!  Sorry I don’t have more time to chat, but I need to try and put some time into my rivals.

I cross the line 5 minutes ahead of Paul and 6 minutes ahead of Bernie in 4:23, good enough for the Masters win!

Paul Wojciak, Roger Masse, and Bernie Shaio

Congratulations to Brandon Draugelis or Team CF for the overall win in the men’s open at 3:48. 29er Crew Teammate Mike Keefer finished 2 minutes later for 2nd and my rock star friend Chris Beck apparently nipped fellow Crew member Travis Saeler for third. Congratulations to you all.

In the single speed, Harlan continued his series winning streak at 3:52, with Justin Pokrivka getting 2nd at 3:59. Travis Coldsmith hung on for 3rd at 4:22 less than a minute in front of me. Single speed rocks!  Those are fast times.

In the women, the queen of Michaux, Cheryl Sornson, won at 4:30 with Team CF teammate Carolyn Popovic taking 2nd. Well done!

Finally, in the vet, my friend and travel companion Jed Prentice shook off some mid season funk to take the win at just under 4 hours. Nice ride.

Next up, the Wilderness 101 in Coburn PA.

See you there.

Ok, let’s do it!

I’m entered in the single speed category with 12 others, riding my Trek Superfly Single Speed running Bontrager 29-0 1.9 Team Issue tires which at 400 grams/tire bring by bike weight in at under 20 pounds; definitely competitive with most cross bikes. I’m running a big gear by MTB standards; 34×17. I’m more worried about the pavement than the climbs. I look back and see my wife Joyce chatting with one of the other woman. I realize we’ve never lined up together in the same race. Cool.

As we do a neutral rollout to the main road from the finish line towards the start area, we immediately descend what will be the last climb of the race. That’s going to hurt after 72 hilly billy miles. Most people are on cross bikes with cross tires. I see a few mountain bikes and even a couple of road bikes. This is weird.

2011 Hilly Billy Roubaix

Bang! A mass start of over 100 riders descends down pavement for a few miles before diving into a narrow gravel road. This is probably the most prevalent surface for the race. We immediately start hitting some rollers and it’s already getting strung out. Got to stay on the gas to try and establish a position. Single speed climbing on the loose gravel in the huge gear is tough; my rear wheel seems constantly on the edge of traction.

I see fellow single speeder LSV/Kelly rider Bernie Shaio just a couple riders in front of me and make the effort to get on his wheel. I’m thinking he might be out for redemption after I passed him on the final climb at this year’s Michaux Maximus. Also on single speed is Gunnar Shogren, who with a great start is quickly disappearing with the front group. I don’t see any of the other single speeders.

With some effort, I ride with Bernie for awhile. He’s going hard and I really need to settle down. My heart rate is really high. At one point both Bernie and I are super spun out trying to stay on the wheels of a group of geared bikes on a slightly downhill section. As I give up, I see that somehow Bernie was able to stick. He’s gone for now.

About 10 miles in the “road” is actually just a series of Volkswagen sized pot holes filled with water. Some are shallow enough to ride through, some however are not. Our moto pace ridden by Morgantown local Ryan Post managed to get his moto stuck in one of the deeper ones. Haw!

Ryan Post wondering how to get the bike started again

The “pot hole” section finishes with a shallow steam crossing. While he was getting his moto back in action Ryan managed to catch some of the tail end of the race riding (and running) through the stream. He was particularly amused by a woman who took off her shoes to keep them dry before the stream. While she was putting them back on, she was heard to say “Don’t take a picture, my husband will kill me!”… Yes, it’s my wife-unit Joyce.

Back in my race, Bernie’s got a little gap through the puddles and the stream which I’m only able to close after he’s alone and I’ve hitched a ride on the back of a geared bike on a paved section. As soon as I catch him, he slips away again when the geared rider starts to really drill it. Nice.

Soon I pass by Chris Mcgill fixing a flat on the side of the road. He’s riding some old vintage steel cross bike that belongs to Gunnar. He looks downtrodden. Ten minutes later I see Gunnar fixing a flat too. Gunnar is riding strong right now. A flat shouldn’t really change the outcome. He’ll be back. I’m not so sure about Chris.

Gunnar Shogren

Sure enough, ten miles later Gunnar passes me and I latch on. We ride together for a bit trading pulls and blow by aid station 1. We hit a big climb and he starts to pull away. I tell him to go catch Bernie.

Up over the top and down the other side we’re on a gravel road again. Gunnar is out of site. I see Mike Birner on the side of the trail with a flat. Shortly after that I see last year’s overall winner Gerry Pflug fixing a flat. This course is brutal! I’m thinking the relatively humongous 1.9 tires were a good choice.

The Pflug would catch and pass me twice more after a disastrous day of fixing flats. I rode with a Freddy Fu guy on a geared bike for a long while who I think was Brian Wieczorek though aid station 3. The rest of the race was fairly uneventful; that is, until the final climb…

The race finishes by backtracking on the paved road climbing up what we descended. At the top where the start was, we turn left to back track the section that had us in a neutral rollout in the beginning. As I make the turn, I glance over my shoulder and see a rider coming up the hill about 250 feet back. Crap, is that Gunnar? When did I get by him again?

With a surge of adrenaline, I’m pedaling with all I have left. Down the descent and out of the saddle up the other side. The final climb. I’m cross eyed afraid to look back. About half way up I hear “Hi Roger”. It’s Gunnar and he’s past me in an instant. Doh!

I crossed the line at 4:43 less than a minute back from Gunnar and two minutes behind Bernie. It’s both awesome and crappy to get 3rd by such a small margin… so I’ll stick with awesome! Congratulations to Bernie for the win and to Gunnar for schooling me at the end.

Single Speed Podium - Roger Masse, Bernie Shaio, Gunnar Shogren

In the woman, Betsy Shogren won in 5:02, Nicole Dorinzi 2nd, Stephanie Swan 3rd, Kristy Lanier 4th and my dry shoe wife rounded out the podium in 5th. Nice honey!

Woman's open - Kristy Lanier, Stephanie Swan, Betsy Shogren, Nicole Dorinzi, Joyce Gearhart

Hat’s off to J. R. Petsko for putting on such a fun event. The road marking and marshaling was top-notch. The prizes were fun and the beer was tasty. Joyce and I had fun and will definitely be back next year!

I decided on the Superfly 100 since the course is a bit bumpy and the climbing is on the low side for a 100 mile mountain bike race.

Bang! I manage to hold decent position on the pavement as we complete the first two miles and dive into single track. Everyone’s fresh. I’m soon in the red zone as we begin a long gradual climb at high speed. After 5 or 6 miles I begin to settle down satisfied that I’ve managed a decent start. I’m pretty confident my biggest competitor, Crew Teammate and 2010 NUE Masters champion Robert Herriman is behind me.

It doesn’t take too long after I settle down and suddenly Robert is on my wheel. We’re on one of the few wide dirt road sections and he taps me as he goes by to come with him. I mean why not? We’ve got over ninety miles of racing to go. We may as well work together. I follow.

Robert seems to be riding quite strong and doesn’t seem to be trying too hard. I’m able to stay on his wheel and bridge little gaps while maintaining a tempo pace. I’m satisfied to be on his wheel.

Back into single track while descending this particularly messy section, a stick gets caught in my back wheel. I Hear it snap but still have to stop for a second to extract the remnants. I’m back on and Robert’s only slightly ahead. I’m still hearing something in my back wheel. I stop again to visually inspect it and see nothing. Again I start riding on the gas now to not get dropped by the reigning champion. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be for long…

At probably 15 MPH my drivetrain locks up. It takes awhile to figure out what has happened, but I had apparently broken a spoke with the first incident. The broken end of the spoke was bent somehow into a nice hook. The hook has perfectly snagged my chain and everything was locked up. I eventually had to resort to removing the rear wheel to unhook the chain. I wrapped the broken spoke around some others to keep it out of trouble. Fortunately nothing else seemed wrong. It’s amazing my derailleur hanger was still intact!

It seemed like forever, but I’m sure it was only a 3 or 4 minute delay so I started burning some matches to try and catch Robert. Things were going well for the rest of the first lap. I caught and passed back a bunch of people who rode by me while I was stopped, including Crew teammate Jason Pruitt, and two woman’s leaders Amanda Carey and my friend and travel companion Cheryl Sornson. So far so good.

I made it about 50 miles before I started feeling some chinks in my armor. It was getting hot and I felt like I was starting to get behind a bit in hydration. Half way through the lap is a short run-up. Amanda hikes by me and I don’t have the energy or motivation to hang.

By the time I start the 3rd and final lap of the 33 mile loop, I’m feeling pretty lame. I’m riding slower… quite a bit slower. Jason rolls past like I’m standing still. He’s riding great. I encourage him.

The remainder of the last lap was an internal struggle to just finish.  I was digging deep just to keep moving slowly. I crossed the line at 7:50, 20 minutes slower than my goal time, but good enough for 2nd. Robert finished in 7:25.  Awesome ride my friend. You crushed me today.

Hats off to Christian Tanguy of Team CF for the overall win in 6:30. My travel companion Jeff Schalk went back and forth for 2nd with 3rd place finisher Mike Simonson right to the line in what was probably the most painful and exciting battle of the day.

Open Men - Jeff Schalk, Christian Tanguy, Mike Simonson

Amanda Carey continued her winning streak with Karen Potter finishing 2nd passing Cheryl on the last lap.

Woman - Keren Potter, Amanda Carey, Cheryl Sornson

The single speed was also exciting with The Pflug actually having to battle for a change with the super-strong Mike Montalbano. Robert Spreng from PA took 3rd, Jordan Wakeley 4th and teammate Jason Pruitt rounding out the podium in 5th.

Single Speed - Jordan Wakeley, Mike Montalbano, Gerry Pflug, Robert Spreng, Jason Pruitt

Masters - John Williams, Roger Masse, Robert Herriman, Jim Jordan, Ray Fulkerson

Next up The Hilly Billy Roubaix on single speed. See you there!

In the Pre-race cyclingnews.com preview, travel companions Trek rider Jeff Schalk and Team CF rider Cheryl Sornson were favored to win their respective categories. I was considered a threat to reigning Masters NUE champion and 29er Crew teammate Robert Herriman since I finished 2nd to his 3rd in the NUE opener Cohutta 100 last month.

Bang! The start in downtown Loudonville is a drag race down the main street then up a 500 foot elevation gain on the hill out of town. The pace is fast, exacerbated by the fact that there’s a $200 preem to the rider first to the top. I’m not feeling so hot.

Masters rider and 29er Crew Teammate Robert Herriman

Masters Rider Doug Andrews

My Trek Superfly Elite 29er hardtail is dialed.  I’m running Bontrager 29-2 tires. Despite this, both Robert and Doug have a better start than I. I see Doug riding away up the climb out of sight towards the preem. He’s flying. My travel companion Cheryl rides by me too. After a couple of miles of red-zone riding, we dive into single track, which is what we’ll be riding for the next 30 miles or so.

During a steep climb which I had ridden in the warmup the day before, everyone’s off. It’s a hike-a-bike due to traffic.  I hike past Cheryl and a few others.

Soon I find myself right on the wheel of Crew teammate Jason Pruitt riding single speed. On a slightly off-camber descent, Jason goes down. He responds that he’s OK and I continue on. While I was going backwards for most of the first few miles, things are settling down enough where I’m starting to pass people back. I pass a rider on the side of the trail at about mile 8. Hey, that was Doug! I would find out later that he had crashed pretty hard.

I settle in with DC MTB team rider Ian Spivack and Champion-System-Cannondale rider Andy Applegate. Andy’s riding conservatively so Ian and I ride past.

Ian and I eventually are riding behind single speed rider Mike Ramponi who had to stop for a mechanical. He’s riding the single track super-fast and gaps us several times. I finally take over the lead after he over-cooks a turn. I turn up the heat a bit and get a little gap on Ian. Past aid station 1 and several miles later I hear a rider slowly closing the gap behind me. It’s Jason Pruitt.

Just as Jason gains contact, we catch the Masters leader and fellow crew teammate Robert Herriman in the single track around mile 25. We three ride together chatting for a bit. I get around Robert when he dabs on a sharp uphill turn. I guess I was descending faster because I opened up a small gap before an extensive pavement section. It appears that Jason and Robert are sticking together. As appealing as it might have been to ride some more with teammates, I’m now sitting in the first place spot, so I drill it for a bit to try and make it stick. It takes awhile, but I finally see no sign of them. I pretty much ride solo through mile 72 to aid 4. So far so good… but I have burned some matches and my luck is about to change.

As I’m cruising into aid 4, I’m scanning the layout of the aid station looking for where my bottles might be.  It’s a grassy lawn just 30 feet before the aid 4 pavilion. Suddenly, I’m on the ground. In spectacular form, I’d ridden into a large gopher hole obscured in the grass that I didn’t even see. I’m sure it was hilarious, but I got a nice shiner on my left eye and seemed to have a right hand sprain.

The folks at aid 4 were great. They got me on my way as quickly as I could, but I was pretty rattled. I was also becoming dehydrated. The next 15 miles showed a slow but steady deterioration of my form.

Robert caught me right after aid 5 during a bad moment on the climb up to the final single track section at mile 90. I was moving pretty slow by then. I tried to stay in contact but I just didn’t have it. I finished just a minute behind him in just under 8 hours. Chris Irving of Red Ant Racing finished 3rd. Doug Andrews was apparently still in the mix too, but got off course late, so I think I dodged a bullet there.

2011 Mohican 100 Masters Podium

Cheryl celebrating her win

Congratulations to my travel companions Cheryl who won the woman and Jeff who won the open. Mike Simonson had a great ride to finish 2nd with Team CF riders Brandon Draugelis and Christian Tanguy finishing 3rd and 4th. Bach Builders rider Josh Tostado finished 5th rounding out the open.

Salsa/SPK rider Gerry Pflug continued his dominance in the single speed with the win. Freeze Thaw Cycles Matt Ferrari was 2nd and teammate Jason Pruitt hung on for 3rd. Mike Ramponi finished 4th. Well done gentlemen.

2011 Mohican 100 Open podium

2011 Mohican 100 Single Speed podium

It’s early in the series, but after two races I’m tied for the series lead in the Masters with Robert Herriman. Next up the Lumberjack 100 in Robert’s home turf of Michigan in two weeks.

Things are heating up!