YOU GOT UP AT 4:00AM FOR WHAT? (Part II)
by Bryan on August 14th, 2007
YOU GOT UP AT 4:00AM FOR WHAT? (Part II): The Wilderness 101
by Jake Davidson, Evomo Sponsored Rider
Many of you may know about, or at least have heard of the Wilderness 101 (wikipedia entry). Most likely, though, if you are from the West Coast and do not follow ultra endurance mountain bike racing, you have not. Here is a primer: the Wilderness 101 is the original Pennsylvannia 100 mile mountain bike race. It started in the early 90s (1992 I think) before long distance events were fashionable, then disappeared for a while and was brought back in this century by Shenandoah Mountain Touring in Virginia (they also run the Shenandoah Mountian 100). The race starts and finishes in historic Coburn, PA and winds through some of the most beautiful Pennsylvannia dirt roads and singletrack in existence. Now, when I say Coburn is historic, I don’t mean that some great battle or important event happened there. The town is in the middle of nowhere. Its population is 126 people. It is historic because none of the buildings have been touched in probably 50 or 60 years. There is one store, a craft store on the small main street. There is a park by the river. This is where the race started.
When I arrived at Coburn Park on the night of August 3rd, I found it abuzz with activity. Bikes everywhere. It was truly a beautiful sight. I walked around the venue and took in the sights. The first thing I noticed: I had never been at a race with this many people I didn’t recognize. People from Michigan, Colorado, and various other states had driven in to race the 101. I headed over towards the Cannondale Trailer and checked out their new Super Six road bike. Mmmmmm carbon… lots of carbon. Then I saw a decked out Taurine hard tail with the name Tinker Juarez on it. I felt like I was in almost royal company. I had known that the fastest endurance racers in the country would be at this event, but this still made me take a few steps back.
I decided to go do a little warmup spin on the road. I road five miles of the most beautiful roads I have ever seen. When I got back to the park my parents were talking to the woman who was coordinating the 5 aid stations that were placed throughout the course. My parents were working Aid #3 so I would have all of my stuff there. That was good. I decided to go out for another ride when I saw Jeremiah Bishop fly by me. My attempt to catch him was futile. He was just too darn fast…
The next day I awoke at 4:00AM. That’s right. 4:00AM. I had slept at my first cousins house in nearby State College (home of Penn State University’s main campus), and we had a half hour drive to Coburn for the race, which started at 7:00AM. After eating my oatmeal, and attempting to wake myself up, I passed out in the car and woke up in Coburn. People were just starting to move about. Grogy faces in bib shorts shuffled from their tents, to the Port-a-Potties, and back to their tents. More and more cars rolled in as the hours passed, eventually filling up the entire field and one above it. The population of Coburn had just tripled, at least until 7:00.
Around 7:00 people started massing at the starting line for the pre-race speech by organizer Chris. We got the whole “don’t be stupid, all the roads are still open to traffic†speech as well as the “this is what course markings will look like†speech. The usual. At 7:00AM on the dot the group of 250 riders rolled out of Coburn Park and onto the open road. The road was flat for a mile or two. Then turned uphill for the day’s first (5 mile) climb. The long day had officially begun.
The first 40 miles of the race went by comparatively quickly as there were no singletrack sections. 40 miles of road climbs and descents. Once we pulled into Aid #2, we knew the fun was just about to begin. The courses two largest climbs were next. From Aid #2 we dropped down to 976ft, then proceeded up the day’s largest climb, a massive 9 mile climb to some pass whose name escapes me. Then we dropped down the mountain, back to the elevation we started at, and hit up a 7 mile climb to another pass. Most of this time I was riding with super-fast endurance racer Rob Lichtenwalner who was on a tandem with his wife (talk about dedication). This meant that I was climbing slowly. I felt steady though, and I was on pace for an 8hr finish (13 mph average). Overall though, my legs felt good, and I was in good spirits which helps a lot when you look at your computer and realize that you have just ridden 50 some miles, and still have 40 some to go.
Things dramatically changed after Aid #3; unfortunately for the worse. I met my parents, who had been there for an hour or two, there, and they had all the necessary food items that a food allergy-ridden endurance racer could ever want (I am allergic to dairy, eggs, and nuts, the latter of which excludes all energy bars, as well as PB&Js from my diet. I have to make my own.). I refueled on bananas, a soy-nut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and a cold towel on my neck and set off up the road. The road though, was no longer the docile graded dirt road that it had been for the majority of the last 60 miles. It was more like wide singletrack. Wide, rocky, moderatly steep singletrack. It was at this point, mile 60 of a 101 mile race that I begin loosing memory to massive amounts of fatigue.
The next thing I remember is descending the Sassafras Trail, a trail which in a previous race (the Stoopid 50) was a mandatory hike-a-bike going up. The grade on the trail bottoms out at 36%, which for those of you who do not know what grade means is ridiculously steep. Like ass-on-the-rear-tire-riding-breaks-all-the-way-down steep. It was fun, until the guy in front of my slammed on his breaks to avoid a rock or something, causing me to do the same, loose control and slide out in the middle of the trail. Fortunately, all that came of it was a minor scrape on my knee. On I went, down some more trails that I had ridden in the Stoopid, then… well quite frankly I don’t remember.
My memory skips to some technical singletrack, where just in sight of a photographer I dabbed on a rock, and had to dismount and walk. I was about to tell the photographer not to take a picture of me, but he made no attempt to reach for his camera, simply looked at me and said, “Don’t feel bad, Tinker walked it.†That brought a smile to my face for some reason I don’t remember anymore. What it really did, though was bring my mind out of the funk that the brutal singletrack had created; at least temporarily. After that there was a really, really, really rough singletrack descent down what seemed to be a fall line scree field. Or maybe it was just a long trail with a lot of rocks on it. I rallied down this trail. But man was it painful. This was one of the trails where you just hold on for dear life and hope that your bike does its job. Fortunately, it did, and I made it down to the road in no time, although I had to pry my hands of the bars to shift. Fortunately, this was then end of the singletrack for the most part, and it was just smooth roads until Aid #4.
Aid #4 was under a bridge on a paved road. I sat there for a while, collecting myself after the last 12 miles of singletrack. When I left, I set out on the last major climb of the day. I don’t remember much of it, but it was long steep and rocky. There was some descending, and soon enough I found myself at Aid #5; the final aid station and only 12 miles from the finish. When I realized what time it was (5:05PM), I scoffed the last bit of food I had down and set out hammering down the road. It was flat, which was good if I was to cover the last 12 miles before 6:00. I knew that there was a climb between me and the finish, and I figured that if I push hard on the flats I would be able to ride within my limits on the climb. So I pushed really hard on the flat rail trail. I caught about 6 people before the climb. Unfortunately for me, the climb up Old Mingle was a lot longer than I had thought; about a mile longer, and a lot rockier than I thought. I bombed down the other side and was thrown into a technical singletrack section along a river. I was also not expecting this, and I ended up walking the really technical parts. After that, I knew I was home free. It was just a long flat rail trail, then a road to the finish. Oh, and a tunnel. And of course, in the spirit of Pennsylvania riding, the tunnel concealed a rock garden. Now let me tell you, riding a rock garden that you can’t see is interesting. You really have to just put faith in your bike, get out of the saddle, get back, and pedal. That’s just what I did, and too my fatigued surprise, I cleaned it. Now there was two miles of road left for me to hammer. As soon as I hit the pavement I was off, quickly dropping the two guys I was with, and catching one guy in front of me. I turned into Coburn Park in a full sprint. I made the line in 11:04:58, which although was a few minutes over the 10hr and change finish that I wanted, was very gratifying. I had just completed a 101 mile mountain bike race, and I was alive, in good spirits, and had no major mechanical or personal difficulties. A pretty good day on a bike wouldn’t you say? This race will definitely be on my calendar for many years to come. Hopefully I will be adding more 100 mile events next year, as I had so much fun racing this one. The 101 was undoubtedly the best day I have ever had on a bike. I had the best legs, and didn’t finish at the back, even though I was 4:12 behind Jeremiah Bishop’s record breaking 6:52 win. Maybe someday right? So what did I do last Saturday? Rode 101 miles in 11:04, climbed 10,656ft, rode down a 36% grade, and had a whole lot of fun doing it.
I would like to take a moment to thank all of my sponsors for making this race so enjoyable. I’d first like to thank Intense Cycles for hooking me up so quickly with a new swingarm which was injured during my last race. You guys are awesome, and you make a fantastic bike. Maybe 29er next year? I’d like to thank ODI for providing comfy grips, and giving me a place to rest my tired hands. I’d like to thank Evomo for making me at least feel cool pre and post race. And finally I’d like to thank Hayes Disc Brakes for sponsoring me even though the brakes I ordered didn’t arrive in time for the 101. They will see plenty of action in September though, I promise. As far as September goes, here is what I am doing: Labor Day weekend (September 1-2)- either 24 hrs of 7 Springs (if I can get a team together) or the Shenandoah Mountain 100 in Virginia (if I can’t get a 24hr team together), September 9th- Rocktober Challenge Marathon (50 miles), September 16th- Terror of Teabury (50 miles), September 22-23 Bear Creek Summer Showdown XC and STXC (Mid Atlantic Super Series XC, STXC and Team Cup finals), October 6th- God’s Country Marathon (50 miles- Mid Atlantic Super Series Endurance finals… I’m currently in 3rd in that series!!! I want to win!). That is the rest of my season. Now at the risk of boring you any further, good bye, good night, and good luck!
Peace, and Ride On!
Jake Davidson
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