What do people know about this race? Anyone interested?

Looks like it happens on Labor Day Weekend in Stokesville VA. Last years pre-reg was $135 and included 3 days stay at Stokesville Campground where the race starts/finishes, pre and post race meal and the race has fully stocked aid stations every 20 miles.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

I don't know anything about it but I think you should do it and tell us what it's like.

Ken,
I think I am in, was thinking about it this past year but never committed.

I think Greg B. had done it once in the past, maybe he will see this or you could im him.

Tim

I'm in 100% if your in. Already have the signed permission slip.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Looks like 70s and sunny all weekend in Stokesville.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

It was a beautiful weekend. Couldn't have asked for better weather. Tim and I made it safely down, both finished and a safe ride back. Success!!

Much longer report coming, but right now I am tired.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Preliminary SM100 Overall Results

[url]http://shenandoahmountaintouring.blogspot.com/2010/09/preliminary-sm100-overall-results.html[/url]
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Great effort guys.....you all look ready for Leadville.

Tim and I headed out on our long trek on Friday around 11am. The drive didn?t feel nearly as long as it actually took. After a few stop along the way to eat and gas up, we made it to Stokesville around 11pm. We setup camp and went to bed. Day 1 out of the way.

Saturday morning we woke up and were finally able to see what the place looked like. Stokesville Campground appears to have been a campground at some point but was shutdown. There are site numbers, old rusty water hookups, ect?. The day was already warming up, the sun was out and we were stress free realizing we had an entire day with almost nothing to do. We sat around a bit, rode our bikes around a bit, went to Harrisonburg to get some supplies and just made sure everything was good to go in the morning. At 4pm, Tim and I went over, got our numbers, Hammer Gel flasks and drop bags. After much discussion, Tim and I both decided that there is no way we will need lights because we will both finish before then, so no need to leave lights in the drop bags. Then we were told there is really nothing else needed at aid stations because they are ?top notch?. Great, no need to drop bags at all, one less thing to worry about. Dinner was a little while later and consisted of spaghetti and meatballs, with salad and a roll. The beverage was DogFishHead Alehouse beer which turns out is very tasty. We ate dinner, had a couple beers, sat around for a while longer and then went to sleep. Day 2 out of the way.

5am Sunday morning rolled around pretty quick. The leadout dirtbike was driving all around the campground honking his horn and the race director was on his loud speaker yelling to us all telling us to wake up. It was about 40 degrees, very cold. Tim and I walked around the campground a bit to warm up, got dressed, ate some food and then it was time to lineup. Knowing our goal was about 10hrs, we decided to lineup at the end of the 9hr group. After a few minutes of standing there, it was time to go, then stop, then go, then, well you get the idea. It took awhile for the train to get rolling, but it finally did and we were out on the open road which continues for about 8 miles before you start heading out into the woods. The first bit of climbing wasn?t too technical, it was just steadily going up. Tim and I were warned about the climb around mile 15. It is rocky, not too steep, but unfortunately not many people ride it, so be ready to walk. Sure enough, next thing you know there is a long rocky climb and just a line of people walking. I jumped off my bike and started walking with everyone else. Finally we made it to the top and people started riding again. I think it would have been fun to watch the pros fly up that thing. I don?t remember exactly, but I think the downhill from this section was one of the nastier downhill sections. It was either this section or the downhill leading to Aid station 4. Either way, there was one loose, rocky downhill section that had lots of steep drops. It was very fast only because your breaks couldn?t really slow you down much once your momentum was up. There was one short section of downhill that was just lined with people that had flats from all the sharp rocks. Glad I didn?t have to deal with that. There was also a few people sitting at the bottom with a FIRST AID sign and I?m assuming stuff to cleanup people after they crash down that section. There were a few downhill sections where I felt like I was going faster than what was safe, but I was having so much fun that I just kept the pace up.

Finally, I roll into station 2 not knowing what to expect. I am hungry and out of liquid completely. As soon as I roll in, a guy comes up to me ?Ken, anything I can get for you, water, Gatorade, lube your chain, ??? I?m surprised at first that he knows my name, but then remember my name is on my number plate. I say sure, water and Gatorade. They ask if I can drop my bottles and I say yes. They take my bike away and I start eating. Pringles, skittles, bananas, PB&J, ect?.. All kinds of stuff. When I am done, there is the same guy holding my bike, brand new water bottles, one with water, the other with Gatorade. I look down and my chain is cleaned and lubed. WOW, IMPRESSIVE!!! And every aid station was exactly the same, except for the types of food they had.

After Aid Station 2 is the first of the big climbs. It is carriage road most of the way and then turns to single track. I won?t go into any details about the climb other than it goes on for awhile. What I found at the top was a thing of beauty, and a great view also. I felt like I was on top of the world, then the trail turned downhill. The trail was smooth, flowing, fast and very long. I felt like I was going downhill for close to 30 minutes. There were multiple jumps along the way also. This was also the point where I discovered there are a lot of people that don?t know how to go downhill. I would be flying downhill enjoying the scenery as it was going by, getting some nice air and then come up on someone crawling along. Most people were kind enough to just move out of the way immediately, others moved when they had a moment, but none were jerks about it which was nice. It was very disappointing when I reached the bottom of the trail, but man it was a blast.

Next I was on to Aid Station 3, same deal. Water, Gatorade, food, chain lube, OFF!! It was very dry and dusty, so having chain lube at every station was awesome. I never heard a single squeak from the drivetrain. The next section of the course was a long ride on a paved road. I was slowly picking people off still and making good time. There was one person that took me awhile to catch, but I finally did and we started working together. This helped pick up both our paces. Finally we made it to some more single track, crossed a dry riverbed and then uphill again. The first part of the climb was probably un-rideable. It was a steep uphill section of rock stairs on a skinny single track with a bit of a cliff on the downhill side. We both walked that section and then started riding again. There were a few sections on the climb that had rock beds made up of a bunch of sharp, square cut rocks. It really looked like someone took a huge rock, cut it up into a bunch of tiny square rocks and just dumped it there. I was very surprised how much of a pain it was to ride over the beds. It kept throwing my bike off the trail. I hate to admit that it pissed me off enough that I just jumped off and ran across a couple and jumped back on. The downhill from here was a blast also. Actually, all the downhills in this place were a blast. I was having short term memory loss all day, because every time I got to a downhill, I completely forgot how much it hurt to get there and was just concentrating on how much fun it was to go down. The downhills varied from screaming fast smooth downhill all the way to ?hold onto your butts? fast, bumpy, just let the bike go where its going to go downhill. Every time I think about it I just can?t wait to get back down there next year. Anyway, onto Aid Station 4.

When I rolled into Aid Station 4, I was still with the guy I met just after 3. He told me the key to this race is killing this 20 mile hill climb. He offered to work with me if I was interested. I agreed and we were off. We took turns pulling and just picked people off till the beginning of the climb and beyond. The climb starts out pretty gradual so we were still taking advantage of the draft. Finally, the climb makes a sharp turn to the right and uphill. At this point it went from drafting to strictly pacing. I would sit on his wheel till he started to lose it mentally, then I would take over. It was almost as if we had been riding together for years. It seemed like every time he was dying, I was just starting to come back and vice-versa. The climb to Aid Station 5 took awhile, but we made it there together. After that, I don?t know where he ended up, I never saw him again. I don?t know if he made it out of Aid Station 5 before or after me, but it didn?t really matter.

After Aid Station 5, the riding is a lot of up/down/up/down. None of the climbs are that long, there are just a lot of little ones. Fortunately, the trails are still a lot of fun and I had a couple people just ahead of me that I was using to pace my ride with. I managed to keep them in site until the downhill to Aid Station 6. Neither rider was great at going downhill, so they let me ahead of them and I was off. I just can?t repeat enough how fun all the downhill sections at this race are. Finally, I made it to Aid Station 6 and finally had a good idea of my time. It was about 8hrs into the race and the website said that the faster riders will be able to make it from 6 to the finish in under an hour. SWEET, I am definitely going to make my 10 hr goal. This is unfortunately where my short term memory bit me in the butt. When I left Aid Station 6 I remembered that we ride some of the same course that we did when leaving Aid Station 2 ( they are the same station), I just forgot how long the climb was. I knew I didn?t have much more riding to do, but man that uphill just sucked. It was only a couple miles, but it just felt like it went on FOREVER. I was happy to still be catching people though. It did kind of suck to be passed by a single speeder like I was standing still, but oh well. FINALLY, I make it to the top and start the final descent. I pop out onto the final carriage road before dropping down into the campground and I see that I am still under the 9hr mark. WHAT!!!! That gave me just that last ounce of energy I had, I put the bike into a heavier gear and start sprinting to get my speed up. I sit down and just keep the hammer down as much as I could and I start seeing the yellow tape indicating the finishing shoot. I?m winding in and around corners, flying through the campground and come out into the field. I make the last corner, go through the finish and see 8:57 and realize I just rode out of my mind. The next few minutes were a bit of a blur. I was having a hard time walking, not from cramps but just from pushing so hard for so long. I know they handed me a pint glass with ?Shenandoah Mountain 100? on one side and ?Dogfishhead Alehouse? on the other. Within a few minutes the glass was full and I was sitting. I also got to see Tim finish and got a picture. SWEET!!! We both completed SM100.

We both got to eat our dinner and continued drinking until we finally went to bed. We woke up around 4:30 Monday morning, jumped in the car and headed home. We made a few stops to eat and stretch the legs and then were home. GREAT WEEKEND!!

Thanks Tim for driving. The weekend was a blast. Hopefully we can do it again next year. Next time I will drive.
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Great report Ken. Congratulations.

Official results

[url]http://www.mtntouring.com/mountain/htm/shenandoah_mountain_100/2010-results-sm100/SM100%20Final%20Results_2010.xls[/url]

Some photo albums

[url]http://www.bobs-photogallery.com/?q=gallery&g2_itemId=58671[/url]
[url]http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/DUALRESPONSE1731/SM100%20PICS%202010/[/url]

I'm on the last page of the second album.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Great job guys! Thanks for the full report Ken. I have grabbed the 3 images of you, you mentioned. If you see any more pics of you or of Tim, let me know, I am going to add them to an album here.

Ryan

Ken and I awoke to a motorbike riding around honking its horn at 5am, it was cold, probably in the mid 40s. We lined up by the 10 hour banner, and shortly there after we were off--- the road out of the campground was incredibly dusty, wish I had goggles and a face mask? After getting on a flat road for a while we began to move up. Many folks were settling in behind singlespeed racers and slowing things down, so we got around many of those along the road. 15mi was the first singletrack climb, its was thinned out a bit and I don?t know where Ken is at this point except ahead of me. The climb started out on the bike but turned quickly turned into a hike, easily rideable but so many people would bobble and walk that it was just faster push. By the 30mi point my knee started aching with the same experience I had 2 weeks prior at the 40 mile mark of the Hampshire 100. So coming up on rest station #2, I was considering throwing in the towel. But, instead I got food and water, kept going but a much slower pace, not sure if I was doing the right thing I remember a discussion from the night before with one of my former teammates and he was saying ?you know you could probably push all the uphills and ride the downhills and still finish by dark?. That?s what I ended up doing. Ken and I discussed dropping lights at the following stations---
The rules:
Station #5 (75mi) no light cut-off 4:20,
Station#6 (88mi) no lights cut-off 8:30,
We opted to not leave lights b/c if we were still riding at that point we would want a shuttle ride back.
I stopped briefly at each station following, and realized my goal quickly became getting to station #5 before I got pulled. After mile 40 or so, I picked up some Tylenol at a first aid station following a knarly downhill section with loose rocks and steep drops. This didn?t allow me to pedal uphills, but did help with the knee pain. I kept slogging away, and by the way pushing up some of those climbs were worth the 8-10-15 mile descents that followed (10-15 minutes and super fun singletrack). So its 3pm at mile 65, I have 10mi to (Station#5 cut-off 4:20pm) all of which is up. No way!! so riding some pushing more I get to Station#5 its 4:45, some riders are asking about lights, I overhear one of the volunteers say its ok to keep going, and that the time at the next station is more critical, so I grabbed some pizza and jumped on my bike for another 5mi of uphill before a long descent down the mountain, to aid station#6. Its now 6:30, the race official says that I can continue without lights and I only have 12mi to go. What beautiful sunset that greets me as I descend the final pump-track-like descent into the campground. As I round the corner to the finish I see Ken with a DogfishAle in hand cheering me in (7:45pm, 13hrs13min24sec) WOW! Lots of rest, ice, and ibuprofen now.

I would like to do that again next time riding more pushing less. Thanks for the company on the drive Ken nice riding!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45147603@N04/sets/72157624814385835/show/

Good job hanging in there Tim, it sounds like an extremely challenging event. I am thinking that for me 2 - 4 hour events are the most fun.

Way to go Ken and Tim. You guys put a lot of hours into this race both on the road and in the woods. I know I would have needed lights to finish this one. I'm with Dan, I'll stick to the shorter races. You'll have to shoot for Armstrong at Leadville.

Good job sticking with it Tim, it's very tough to do with pain like that for so far. Congrats for finishing.

Ryan

[img:2e5bf245ef]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_VDc2Yophn3Y/TIpOn_HXfvI/AAAAAAAAKqk/j9l57DqKvxs/s912/DSC_1866.JPG[/img:2e5bf245ef]

Some of the Bike-Zoo folks, Ed to the left and Gary to the right. The bike on the right is a S-Works Carbon Single Speed. I think it weighed about 16lbs. Super light.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini