The 101

The Wilderness 101, which starts and ends in Coburn, PA, is one of the better ultra endurance mtb races around. I think this is true because of the promoter, Chris Scott, and the amount of work that he and all of his volunteers do to prepare the course and everything they also do to help all of the racers during the race. The support they all provide is unmatched. Additionally, the terrain of the race is both beautiful and challenging. There is some gnarly rocky single track on the course, but primarily many fire roads and jeep trails that take the racers on one big loop in the mountains east of State College, PA.
Since the 101 is one of the longest standing 100 mile mtb races around and because it also has such good support, the race usually has a really good turnout and also a strong field of fast riders show up. This year 280 riders started the event, with pretty much all of the NUE Series Point Leaders in attendance, too. My goal, was to finish in the top five, especially after how good I felt at Nationals the weekend prior to this race. Not much time had elapsed after the start, though, when I knew that my goal would not be achieved.
The race has a controlled start out of Coburn to the first major climb of the day, about 2 miles into the race. A funny note about the controlled roll out was that SteveO was yelled at by some mountain biker chick for not riding smoothly in the large pack of racers. I was riding next to him at this time and had to chuckle, knowing that Steve has probably more current pack riding experience than most of the riders in there and because what the girl was yelling about made no sense. So, anyway, we get to the first climb and like last year, Gorski and I go to the front to set tempo up the climb. I like to do this early because it does help get rid of my I’ve gotta pee feeling that I typically have at the start of many races.
It was probably about part way up the climb that Christian Tanguy decided to take control of the pace that Andy and I were riding. The speed increased from like 11mph to over 15mph on the climb real quick. Soon after Tanguy’s move, Jeff Shalk made the decision to throw his horsepower into the front of the pack also. I did my best to hang-on to the pace, but it was way too much way too early and so I backed off to watch these two riders along with about 6 others ride away. I ended-up in the next group over the mountain, which contained about 10 racers. We all worked pretty good together and at about ten miles into the race, I actually saw a glimpse of the lead group ahead and had hope that maybe we could catch them. Unfortunately, our group of ten started to splinter pretty quickly in the single track and on the climbs that followed, so catching the leaders would never occur.
Then, to make matters worse, I noticed that my rear tire was going flat as I rode into check point two. It was definitely a convenient place for the tire to go low, but the repair still cost me valuable time and also the ability to work with other riders. After the repair, I left check point two alone and started to chase down riders in front of me. Unfortunately, it was probably less than 10 miles after the check point that my rear tire went flat again and this time required a slower in the woods tube change. The repair was definitely made easier, though, by a nice concrete patio at a camping cabin that I found along the course to use for my change. I figured that by doing this that I would not lose any parts and that it would also give me a convenient step to hold up my bike while the wheel was off. Strangely enough, after changing my second flat, my legs started to feel like they finally wanted to race and so one by one I started catching riders before check point three. I did, however, have to stop one more time before the third check point to fix another mechanical….a loose bottle cage. Luckily, the bolts that had completely come unscrewed did not fall out all together along the trail someplace.
Soon after leaving check point three, I caught my friend and the Bronze Medal Winner at the US Cycling MTB Nationals for the Master Men 35-39 Age Class from Mt Snow, Justin Pokrivka. After that, it was not until check point four that I saw another rider, Steve Cummings. Disappointingly, my friend Steve did not hang on to the pace very long and so I was left alone again. It was not until right before check point five that I was able to catch another rider, Andy Gorski. Since Andy is my teammate, we worked together for a little while after check point five. We were told that another rider was about two minutes up on us, so we put the hammer down to catch him. The next rider we caught was another NUE Series Contender, Michael Simonson, at the base of the last major climb. I ended-up getting to the top of the last climb alone, did the final descent and then rode into the finish in 10th place overall and 9th in the open men’s class, finishing in 7 hours and 37 minutes.
I was definitely a little bummed about my flats and bottle cage mechanical, but in reality the repairs probably only cost me about 10-15 minutes of race time…not enough to achieve my top 5 goal anyway. I soon forgot about my race problems when the post race cookout started and the conversation with many of my friends at the race starting flowing. It is always interesting to hear everyone’s personal battles and race stories, especially for such a demanding course like the 101.
I am going to the beach this weekend with my family and probably will not be racing again very soon because of my work schedule, but I will be sure to post some stories on the blog anyway. In the meantime, happy trails to everyone. - Gerry

I'm going to Disneyland....

Like a MVP of a winning Super Bowl Team, I feel like I should be smiling at a nationally televised audience and telling them these same words. But, Disneyland does not give free trips to USA Cycling National Champions and instead of a national audience, I have you guys. So, to all who know me well and not so well....I did what I have wanted to do for a long time; win a national championship. Let me tell you it does feel good, even without the trip to Disneyland.

It seemed as if everything went perfectly the day of the race. First off, the dry conditions that I was not too psyched about on Friday disappeared on Friday Night with a thunderstorm that came through while I was sleeping. When I saw that everything was wet outside, I immediately knew it was going to be a good day. My focused warm-up and my front row starting line-up had me feeling confident of the task ahead.

I took the hole-shot from the gun, pedaled like a possessed man into the first hard left turn, which immediately goes straight up the ski slope. I then looked back to see who was on my wheel and was shocked to see that there was nobody there. With my fast start, I began the first climb with about a 50 foot gap over everyone else and decided at that point I would not look back again. I maintained the first position during the rest of the first lap and was never challenged by another rider in my age group throughout the race. To keep my intensity high, I focused on the younger age class riders that started in front of me and one by one would chase them down. By the end of the race, I finished about three minutes ahead of second place in my race class and actually had the third fastest overall expert time of the day.

Gunnar, Chris McGill, and Justin all tried their best to get me to race in WV today, but I have decided to pass. My next racing goal is the Wilderness 101 this coming Saturday, so I am going to put my focus towards this race. I am switching back to my Bontrager MTB Tri-bars for the race because of all the long flat hammering sections on the course. To get used to the bars and keep my endurance high, I have decided to do at least a four hour ride today instead of racing a XC race.

I need to say thank you to some people for helping me with my victory at Mt Snow. Obviously, there is Speedgoat Bicycles for all that they have done, The Law firm of SPK for their assistance, Salsa Cycles for the ride, the Shimano Tech Tent at Mt Snow for getting my front XTR Disc Caliper to work perfectly in a pinch and also to Alan Neveu of Aline Footbeds. I put these new foot beds in my cycling shoes on Friday, after talking to Alan, and could immediately feel the difference. Check them out at www.aline.com

Way to go Ruthie and Henry Jr.

As expected the weather is super nice up at Mt Snow. I arrived last night and spent the night in a hotel with J.Pok and Ruthie. The Spreng family is a few doors down, so we all went out to dinner at the Silo, a descent local place. With it being very dry, the course is as fast as I thought that it would be, but I am still crossing my finger for some rain to fall...with a 30% chance of showers, it doesn't look good, though. The course has change a bit from the last few times that I have race here. They took out some of the technical stuff on the prologue loop and re-route some of the upper loop also. All in all, nothing too dramatic. The descent is as tricky as always, but with it being dry it is going to be scary fast.
I saw many regional riders up here today, which I thought was cool. Many of the local/regional riders that saw up here did pretty well. Henry Spreng, Jr. was second in the Junior Men 15-16 year old class. Remember this name because he is certainly an up and coming young rider. Then in the semi-pro me, Wes Shempf won, Ryan Leech was fourth, Benn Ortt was eighth, and Dave Walker was 13th. My roomie for the weekend, Ruth Cunningham was third in the 40+ sport women class....which is not too bad, but she still thinks that she is a loser anyway, or maybe that was what I called her after some lady that looked like a grandmother beat her for second place. All of the other local expert racers, including myself, will be racing tomorrow. It is going to be interesting...that is all that I will say for now.
Well, I will post another update by Sunday or Monday. Justin is trying to talk me into racing on Sunday at a WVMBA Race, so I just might be reporting on two races with my next post.
Later - Gerry

The Forecast Looks Good.

Well, the countdown is quickly coming to an end. There are only 4 days left until the US Cycling MTB National Championship XC Race. For almost every race that I do, I like to start looking at the predicted weather outlook a week in advance of the race, trying to guess what to expect for the day. As of now, the forecast is for a high of 84 degrees with sunny skies. Admittedly at 8am in the morning, at starting time, it will not be close to 84, but this forecast at least does give me an idea of what to expect weather wise for the day. Quite honestly, I was hoping for rain, though. This might sound strange to some of you guys, but here is my thinking about rain and the mud that typically comes with it.
In general, I believe that east coast riders tend to do better than west coast riders on a muddy course. Typically, east coasters have more experience racing in the mud and because of this have better technique when it comes to riding in it. On the other hand, I would certainly say that on a fast dry course that west coast riders have the upper hand. I kind of find myself in between these two stereotypes, though. If I am doing a big race on the east coast, I would much rather have a faster, less technical race because it suites my old school roadie riding style better against other pure mtb racers from this area. I usually do better at a race anywhere else in the country if it is more technical, or at least wet and muddy.

So, when I say the forecast looks good, it is actually not the best of weather conditions for me or for any other east coasters for that matter. But, I will say that I am feeling pretty confident in my conditioning and bike right now. I have trained very hard this past month and I am now in my tapering phase of preparation for the big race. I did have some major issues with my bike last week, but everything is fitting and working smoothly with it now. Hopefully, this will all add up to a victory against what is looking to be a very strong field of racers in my 40-44 expert man age class.
If there is any internet service at the lodge where I am staying in Mt Snow, I will try to do an update about the course conditions before the race. I will also try to have my complete race report posted by Monday and I do hope to be giving it from a winning perspective. Until then happy trails! Gerry

My Hiatus from Racing...

So, the last race I did was the Lumberjack. Due to work circumstances, I will not be doing another race until the USA Cycling MTB Nationals at Mt Snow Vermont. This is an uncommon occurrence for me. Typically, I race just about every weekend. I do races whenever I get a chance not only because I enjoy it, but also because I think it is an excellent way to keep ones fitness near peak all season. I am sure many will argue that it is also a good way to burnout, but it does seem to work for me. Since I have this one month hiatus from racing, I am now in uncharted territory and I am not sure if I will be either flat or fast by the time I head to nationals.

I have developed a pretty specific training plan, though, to keep my fitness high and to hopefully reach my peak by nationals, but without testing myself out at the races I think that it will be hard to actually gauge my progress. I have also included two elements into my training that I do not usually do at this time of the year, or at least not at the amount that I am currently doing. Over the past few weeks, I have added core body strengthening and running into my training program. Almost daily I do sit-ups, push-ups and other calisthenics to build my core strength. In addition to this, I have been running a few miles about every other day.

Last year at the MTB Nat’s I was third and truly believe that it was because of my lack of preparation for all the running that was required at the race. Mt snow, when it is muddy, does require a lot of running and if you are not prepared for it, then a win there is not possible. Additionally, I believe that Mt Snow requires a strong upper body because of the long and technical descents there. Basically the course consists of climbing for three miles and then descending for three miles. Overall, I definitely think it will pick the strongest overall mountain biker because of the demands it makes on both a riders fitness and bike handling skills.

In addition to my preparing for a full-on 2 hour mtb race, I am also preparing for the next 100 mile NUE Series Race, the Wilderness 101, which is held near Penn State. Chris Scott is the promoter of this race and in my opinion does one of the best jobs at putting on a 100 mile race. I think this is because he is also a racer and understands what the proper support of an endurance race needs to be. The aid stations at his race are the best around. But, even with all of the good support, the 101 is not made any easier. It is tough course with a combination of long climbs, fire roads, technical single track and long climbs…I know I already said long climbs, but they seem almost to be never ending here. To help prepare for this race, I have been doing one longer ride every week since the Lumberjack. I consider a long ride as being anything over 4 hours.

Speaking of long rides, I celebrated the sending in of my entry fee for 101 this past Tuesday by doing a 5 hour single speed ride on a combination of trails, roads and rails to trails. I ended-up with 75 miles for the ride by pounding my 36x16 single speed gear for the day. This Tuesday, on my one day off from work this week, I am planning to do about 5-7 hours of riding…but with gears this time. I consider my single speed to be a weapon that must be used cautiously and wisely.

Well, that is my update to the blog for now…sorry I did not have any good race details to provide this time. - Gerry

Another Suffer Fest - The Lumberjack 100

This past weekend I traveled up to the northern part of Michigan to compete in the third race of the NUE Series, the Lumberjack 100. This course is different than all of the others in the series because it is all single track, well except for the first 1 mile of paved road section which leads the riders to the single track. Yes, that's right 99 miles of single track. In addition to being different by it's enormous amount of single track, this race is also a multi-lap race instead of being a one big loop race. At the Lumberjack, there is an inner loop that connects to an outer loop, which then forms one big 25 mile loop of trail. Riders then do 4 loops of this big 25 mile long loop to make the race 100 mile.
I think that having a predominantly single track course does make this 100 mile race tougher mentally than the others. Most of the 100 mile races out there provide a mental break by giving some road or fire road sections which do allow a rider to stretch out, eat, and just put the hammer down without having to worry about any unknown technical sections of trail ahead. At the Lumberjack, it is very important to stay focused on the trail during the entire race. Taking your eyes off the trail for even a split second could definitely cause an up and close visit with one of the many waiting trees which tightly line each side of the trail. The Lumberjack Course also wears on a rider physically by having many short steep climbs and fast descents added to the tight, twisty and sandy single track. The race information sheet says that a total of 13,000 feet of climbing is completed over the 100 mile course. In the end, it all just adds up to one tough race course.
Last year the Lumberjack was made difficult by the extreme heat that the area was experiencing at the time. Well, this year we did not have the heat wave, but we did get hammered by the biggest rain storm that the area has seen in 30 years. The storm dropped about 11 inches of rain on the area. Now, in Western PA and most place in the Mid-Atlantic Region, 11 inches of rain would create a complete quagmire of mud. In Michigan, this amount of rain did cause for some flash flooding and road closures, but no real muddy trail conditions overall due to the very sandy soil. The rain actually made the sand, at least initially in the race, more predictable. The rain, however, also created three long and deep water/sandy-mud holes at about the mid section of the course, which there was no way to avoid. These holes seemed very similar to the mud-bogs of the Blackwater Race in Canaan, WV. I found it to be faster to ride through these holes, but most riders were running/walking their bikes though these bike swallowing course hazards.
Why so much talk about the course in this blog writing??? Well, because I think that the course was the biggest battle of the day for me. I had probably had one of my best and longest sustained starts at this race. I started real fast, probably way too fast, riding with all of the big guns of the series, Schalk, Eatough, Price, Plews, Simonson and Tanguy. I was able to hold the fast pace for almost the complete first lap, until one of those big guns decided to attach up one of the bigger climbs on the course a few miles before starting the second lap. My legs and body said if you try to hang with that attack you will not be around at the finish. So, as hard as it was to do, I watched the group ride away from me. I was then left in no-man's land, with nobody insight, left only to do battle with my own demons on the course. And, that is exactly what I did for next eighty miles, other than catching some lapped riders and trying to pass them. So, it was basically just me and thanks to Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 22 (Firstwave) a bunch of old alternative tunes from the 80's dancing around in my head that kept me rolling towards the finish.
Not until the last lap, with about 15 miles to go, did I actually catch a rider on my lap. The rider that I caught was Trek Pro Michael Simonson. The interesting thing to me about catching Mike is that at the last three 100 mile races that we have done together, I have caught Mike every time in the last quarter of the race or so. He always starts off super fast, but for some reason has faded at the end of the race and has not been able to hang-on for the finish. This time when I caught him he said out loud to me "not you again, Mother F#*ker!" I knew he was saying it in kind of a joking/humorous way and so I just laughed and said back to him "No, I really don't know your mother in that kind of way." He then pushed on the gas and really started hammering the single track again. I was hurting, but managed to hold his wheel, until we hit the three deep mud-bogs. I did like I had done before and stayed on the bike. Mike, on the other hand, decided to run them. I picked-up time by staying on the bike and then heard Mike scream out something from behind. I knew that this might be my only opportunity to get a gap, so I dug deep and rode the next 9 miles to the finish as hard as I could manage. I did not see Mike again until the finish, with him about 4 minutes off my pace. This finish put me in 6th place overall out of 250 racers. Another suffer fest completed! -Gerry

Sprints, Manayunk and Pigeon Poop

Most people who know me know that I am not much of a sprinter. I like to do longer races and let things sort out that way, instead of in the last 200 meters or so. Well, this was a week of change for me for many reasons, which also included doing a short race, a very short race.

So, I changed some things up this week to help my shoulder heal. First, I took off my my rigid fork and put my Reba on my Mamasita. I probably should have done this before the Mohican 100 because I could instantly feel a difference in how my shoulder felt when on rough terrain. Secondly, I took off my Bontrager Satelite Mountain Bike "triathlon handlebars" and then installed my nice and wide carbon Salsa Pro Moto Bars with a 17 degree bend. I think these bars should give me more control over steering and a wider base to support of my upper body. These changes combined with the regiment of PT given to me by Fotia Physical Therapy has really seemed to help my shoulder to recover quite nicely so far. It certainly is not a 100%, but is coming along much quicker than I thought that it would.

I had to work this past weekend, so doing a long MTB race was not an option for me. But, since everyone I work with knows that I am an avid racer, I was volunteered to do a law enforcement only bicycle race competition, which was a part of an event known as the Delaware County Hero's Challenge. Not only did I get volunteered into doing the race, but also into setting up the race course. I did not have much terrain to work with in designing the course because it was all to be held on the athletic grounds of Widner University in Delaware County, PA. After, checking out the area on a few training rides, I was able to create about a three mile loop that included some natural and man-made obstacles on it, to make it at least a little fun to do. At the time I designed it, I thought that 3 loops (9 total miles) of the course would be good for a law enforcement only race.

So, after spending two hours marking out the course on the day of the event, I took the 20 competitors around the loop to make sure that everyone understood where to go during the race. It was amazing to me that most of the riders were barely able to make it around the course at a very slow warm-up speed with many catch-up and wait stops. I mean granted it was 95 degrees at the time, but these guys were suffering before we even did one mile on the course. By the time we finished the warm-up loop, I could tell that this was not going to be much of a race. Most of the riders then approached me and the event organizer before the race started to request that the race only consist of one 3 mile loop instead of 3 that I had initially planned to do. I didn't argue with their choice, even though I did not agree with it, because I really did not want to be responsible for rescuing one of the guys from a myocardial infarction during the race.

As I expected, it was not much of a race.... I won the race, about two minutes later another trooper from my station came in second, in about another two minutes another local PD officer finished, two minutes after that a female officer finished and then the rest of the male officers limped across the finishing line. At the end, you would have thought that these guys had just finished one of the 100 mile races that I do instead of a 3 mile race by the look of exhaustion on their faces.

After seeing me win the bike race event, the other troopers from my station then requested that I be apart of their 1 mile running relay team. I was a little hesitant at first because I have not really done any running, especially sprinting and because I was not certain of how my shoulder would take the running. But, I did agree to do the run for the team anyway. So, I started my second sprint race of the day and surprisingly enough actually won my lap. The other troopers on my team also won their relays, so we were the overall winning relay team. I still find it hard to believe that I was able to win a sprint, not to mention while I was running. I was also happy that I had no discomfort in my shoulder during the run, or afterwards.

Well, after my day of sprints on Saturday, I decided to do a nice long ride. To make the ride more interesting, I decided to ride from where I am living in West Chester, PA down to Manayunk to see a lap of the Commerce Bank Philadelphia International Pro Road Race come through town. I arrived in Manayunk about ten minutes before the pack was to arrive, thanks to the guided help of a rider named Tom that I met while on my ride. Once in Manayunk, I found a nice shaded spot under the SEPA Train Bridge, next to another guy that seemed to me like he might of been homeless. Anyway, this guy, like many others in Manayunk at the time already had a nice beer buzz going and was heckling just about every girl that walked near him. I really did not pay much attention, though, because I just wanted to make sure my camera phone was ready to take a picture of the riders when they came. Suddenly, I heard and felt a big splash on my left shoulder, you know the injured one. Well, I look down to my shoulder to find a big pile of pigeon poop sitting there. I then looked up to see the actor of this crime perched above me, almost as if he was laughing at my misfortune. The drunk, heckling, homeless guy seeing my bad situation then pulls out the largest wad of fast food napkins that I have ever seen one person possess and offers me one to clean-up. I accept his kind offer and then ask for another because one napkin is not enough to handle the pile on my shoulder. From what I understand, it is good luck to have a bird poop on your shoulder...maybe it was meant to be a sign from above that my shoulder is healing. I don't know either way, but I will say that I am thankful to the man carrying an endless supply of napkins with him.

So, even though I did not get to do any epic races this weekend, I did still have some interesting times and observations. Before I end this blog, let me say nice job to Ernesto for his second place at Big Bear and to all the others that did the race. From what I have read so far, it does sound like it was quite the death march. I will be going out to Wellston, MI this Saturday for the third leg of the NUE Series, The Lumberjack 100. I will be sure to update the blog after the race. Until then, Happy Trails. - Gerry