tl;dr version: Great race, things went well.
Yesterday I raced the Wilderness 101 in State College PA. This race was important to me because it was my last chance this year to do a 100 in under 8 hours. The other two that I'm doing have slower courses so this was it. I came into it pretty nervous after what was a disastrous race at Michaux last weekend. I never really felt particularly well all week, and on Friday I just felt super tired.
On Saturday morning I got ready and got my drop bag situation handled. The plan was this: Start with two full bottles of Infinit (the best stuff in the world, go buy a truckload) and grab a third bottle at the aid station 1 hand off. At aid 2 I would restock from my drop bag, aid 3 just use plain water, aid 4 restock from 2nd drop bag, and at aid 5 I would pound as much coke as possible. My plan was set.
At 7am, the whistle blew, but the first 2 miles are neutral until we make the left hand turn up the first climb. I tried to make my way towards the front-ish to avoid needing to pass them all later on. Up the first climb I was in the B group if you will. The super fast guys were already hammering for sure, but I just wanted to ride a strong but not insane pace. Up and over the first major climb and into some rolling hills. The first 30-40 miles are super important because there's not a whole lot of singletrack, mostly rolling hills so it really helps to get into a group that wants to work together. I was in a group that was maybe 20-30 deep, but they were working terribly together. I took my turns on the front and mostly just tried to stay out of trouble while doing as little work as possible.
By aid station 2, the group had thinned out a bit and I was riding with Cheryl Sorenson (last year's women's winner) and 2 others. We rotated very well taking strong pulls...it was nice to ride with others who actually know how to work together. In and out of aid 2 and we start the next major climb. One rider blows past me, but I catch him by the top and never see him again. I dropped everyone that I was riding with earlier, but my legs still didn't feel very good. I was getting a little nervous. 20 minutes later I top out and hit the super fun, rocky descent and see Chris Beck on the side of the trail looking at his bike. I offer no help. A few rolling miles of gravel road and we're onto what I think is the second worse climb of the race. Really long, plenty steep in places and exposed. But this year something was different, my legs weren't protesting. They were actually moving me forward at a reasonable pace without feeling awful. I pull in several riders, Roger Masse, the men's masters leader being one. He's 50 years old, but still fast as hell.
We get to the top and hit aid station 3, I grab new bottles and get rolling. Roger doesn't stop, but I catch back up quickly. We ride together into the singletrack and I begin to pull away. The trail is pretty flat, but it's loamy with lots of rocks, so it still takes a lot of energy to ride through quickly. I catch a few more riders and then we hit a crazy steep loose descent. I catch another rider and I can smell his brake pads burning up. He overshoots a corner and I get by..it gets less crazy but Roger catches me. He's ripping on his full suspension while I'm getting beat up on the hardtail. Up the next climb and I drop Roger for the final time. I also catch Justin Pokrivka and he looks terrible. Looks like he won't be winning the SS class this year. At the top we drop into some more singletrack that is shared with the Stoopid 50 race, but we eventually bust a left instead and drop down the other side of the ridge. At this point I've caught the women's leader (Vicki Barclay) and at the corner she says in her Scottish accent "This trail is serious shit!". And it was. I start descending behind her but my tube that is strapped to my seatpost falls off and wedges between my tire and the chainstays, so I have to stop and waste a minute or so pulling it out and getting situated. I never did catch back up to her, but could see her up ahead several times.
Into aid 4 and I'm ~15 minutes ahead of last year. For me, the climb out of aid 4 is the worst. It's long, sorta steep and rocky. It's hard to get into a good rhythm but my legs still feel ok so I do what I can to make the most of it. Up and over and we hit some rolling snowmobile and dirtbike trails that are really sandy and slow. Fortunately there wasn't much of this and I was back onto fireroad soon enough. Down another ridiculously rocky downhill that surely devoured tire sidewalls and into aid 5. They have cold Coke at this one, and man it is delicious. I drink as much as I can in 30 seconds and get the heck out. 12 miles to go with an 1:15 left to reach my sub 8 goal. Things were looking good. Hit some rail trail, and maintain a steady high zone 2/low zone 3 pace. Off the trail onto some gravel road and onto the last climb of the day. It's sort of a false flat to start, but then you make a sharp left and it gets sort of steep. My plan this year was to stay on the big ring and grind it out. There's no reason not to, I don't need to conserve energy any more. I do manage to stay in the big ring and the climb is over...I rip down the other side to the Fisherman trail and then quickly onto the flat stuff that leads back to the start/finish area. Checking the clock I know that I'll be in under 8, but I pedal hard anyway. I round the last few corners dragging a singlespeeder behind me and we roll in together at 7:46. 19th Open, and I think 23rd overall out of ~350. I felt so good during the second half and that was really rewarding.
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