Variety & The Hampshire 100

I decided to change things up for the Hampshire 100 and race in the singlespeed class, instead of racing my geared bike in the open class.  Not racing my singlespeed since the Cohutta 100 has been an interesting change for me, but I've got to admit that I felt more at home racing on a SS bike again.  In addition to my change back to a SS bike, the 2014 edition of the Hampshire 100 had some of its own changes in store for the racers this year.

I've done the Hampshire 100 the past two years and it is always a hard 100 mile race, but the new course layout made this race even tougher than it was in previous years.  Most of the 100 mile racers had finishing times about an hour slower than previous years.  The slower times were due to a few issues including: the removal of about 10 miles of rail-to-trail, the addition of some very freshly cut trail, and the course receiving over 3 inches of rain a couple of days before the event.

At the beginning of the race, Dan Rapp was able to get into the single track a head of me and put a little time between himself and the rest of the SS field.   I was eventually able to catch him after exiting the first section of new trail with the help of another singlespeed racer, Will Crissman.  From that point, the three of us worked together until we were caught by a group of geared riders that also contained singlespeed rider Ernesto Marenchin.  This occurred at the end of a long rail-to-trail section and before heading up a steep and loose climb about 20 miles into the race.

Upon getting caught by this group, Dan Rapp and I increased the pace by running and fast-walking up the climb and only Crissman followed.  The next split in the singlespeed race came on the powerline climb, which was mostly another hike-a-bike section.  On this part of the course, Crissman was not able to run/walk as fast as us up the hill and he fell from the pace Dan and I were setting.  From that point, Dan and I rode together at a fairly steady pace until the aid station at around mile 50.  I was able to leave the aid station a bit quicker than he was, which gave me an opportunity to put distance between my fast singlespeeding competitor and friend.

I was certain Dan was going to bridge back up to me, so I kept my speed high as possible, which quickly moved me past three other open class riders and into fourth place overall.  I never saw any other singlespeed racers after leaving Dan and managed to hold-on to my lead for the rest of the race to take the win.  After doing the past five NUE Series Races on a geared bike, it felt good to be back on a singlespeed again.  It has been said that variety is the spice of life and this has certainly been true for my 2014 NUE Series race season!

It always feels good to give a victory salute!

Even though the course was much tougher and finishing times were significantly slower than previous years, it was still a fun race and definitely interesting to ride.  The cool thing about doing these 100 mile NUE Series Races is that each course is a little different and has its own feel.  They have different ways of making a rider suffer: some with long climbs, others with high altitude, and others with soft, freshly cut trail, like at the Hampshire 100.  The challenge is to do your best at the race no matter how the conditions happen to be.

I can't end this post without saying a big thank you to the race promoter, Randi Whitney, and all her help for making the Hampshire 100 run so smoothly and be a great 100 mile race experience!  To see how awesome this race was, check out The Hampshire 100 Video by Thom Parsons of Dirtwire.tv.

Happy Trails... Gerry

The 101

I simply named this post the 101 for two reason.  First, and most obviously,  it is about the Wilderness 101 NUE Series race I did on July 26, 2014, in Coburn, PA. Secondly, this post was named the 101 because it is the 101st post I've written for my Pfun with Pflug Blog Page. And, really, the Wilderness 101 back country mtb race can be recognized with just the use of 101 because it is one of the original 100 mile mtb races in the country and a true east coast epic!

It's hard for me to believe that I've written 101 posts about my racing experiences just for this blog page.  In addition to this page, I also used to relay my racing experiences on another blog called Two Mountain Goats and I wrote 65 posts for that blog. One day, when I'm not racing any longer, I'm sure it will be interesting to read over all of the old posts to remember the racing I once did.  Looking back at my 34 years of racing now, I kind of wish my blog writing would have started before 2007.  With that said, I can only recommend to other racers to start writing about your experiences, even if it something you write privately for yourself.

So, I've written enough about my past blog posts and it's time now to write my current race report about how the Wilderness 101 went for me this year.  The initial pace of the race seemed to be slower this year due to the pack being on Jeremiah Bishop watch. Rob Spreng and I were riding at the front of the pack and I told him to roll off the front to see if he could get a gap. My plan worked and Rob was able to get a nice little gap.  Soon after this gap was created I bridged up to him and then we were joined by Keck Baker, Andy Gorski and Anthony Grinnell a few seconds later. Our group worked well together and stayed clear until the top of the rocky climb after aid station #1, about 20 miles into the race.

Riding the Three Bridges Trail with Anthony Grinnell

Once we made it to the top of that climb, we were joined by Christian Tanguy, Bishop and Gordon Wadsworth. Our newly formed lead group stayed together from that point until we hit the big climb between aid station two and three, at about mile 42. Christian splinted the small group with his power and speed up that climb and only Baker and Bishop followed him. I rode alone in the race from that point until aid station #5, where I caught Grinnell, which moved me into fifth place.

Overall, I had no issues during the race.  I had no crashes, my Specialized Epic and the Lauf Fork work very well over all the rocky terrain and up all the long climbs.  Before the start, and even during the first half of the race, I was certain my finishing time would be seven hours or less this year, considering my 2013 time on a SS bike was 7:14.  I did notice during the race that my legs were still tired and sore from doing the High Cascades 100 only a week earlier.  I've raced back-to-back hundies many times over the last five years, but it seems like my body just isn't recovering as quickly as it used to do from these hard efforts.  Interestingly enough, my open class finishing time from this year was 12 minutes slower than my W101 singlespeed race time from last year. My guess is that my slower time was either due to still being tired from doing the High Cascades 100 the weekend before the W101, or maybe because I'm just faster on a SS bike.

The Open Mens Podium

At the end, it was very cool to see team Rare Disease Cycling taking three of the top five positions on the podium with Christian in third, Rob in fourth and me in fifth.  No words can describe how awesome the Wilderness 101 race is.  Chris Scott does a fantastic job with his races and the W101 is no exception.  There is not a race promoter out there that does a better job with his course layout, course markings and aid stations than Chris does with his races.  The W101 has always been one of my favorite 100 mile mtb races and this year was a great experience as well.  Many thanks also need to be given to all the volunteers that help Chris make this race a top notch event!

Happy Trails...  Gerry