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