Shenandoah Mountain 100

This was my third edition of this event and I've finished every time, and improved my time with each attempt.
Chris Scott and co do a fantastic job every year. I look forward to hitting most of the 6 aid stations for the friendly, helpful, and encouraging volunteers! This year, I give #3 my vote for best aid station. Even though my friends Silly Sally and Mike McMahon worked #2 and 6 all day! And seeing Mr. Russell at #5 was freakin awesome! I was a bit delusional at that point tho...
"This is my one, and only century of the year"!
"I do this to make the ironcross look tiny"!
A question I asked myself during the long climbs was "I don't know how, or why I do this" I mean, for some strange rason, I can't climb! I climb like I dance! I have the perfect body composition for climbing, but I defy the laws by being a sprinter of all things!
And then the trail descends and I'm like, "Ah yea"! I love the downhills. The Canondale Scalpel although a bit on the heavy side, is quite the descender! That Lefty fork is like something found on a motorcycle! And, on the dreaded climbs, she locks up tighter than a ticks ___!
I didn't know how it would be bringing my wife and daughter for the first time, but it was better than ever having them there! The Judster turned into a mtn girl and just played all day with the other kids, and was well behaved. And Sally needed a stress free long relaxing weekend in the mountains, and thats what she got. And she took great care of me! So, if they want to come again, I'd love to have them join me in this awesome weekend. We had quite the Tidewater campsite going on there!
The food is great the whole time! Pre race pasta and meatballs with salad and some beer, followed by fresh cut french fries, hot dogs, and burgers, and lots of beer!
There was a different feel this year at the start. you could almost feel the heat not only coming from the entire front row of the wide start line, but even the second row! It didn't really matter to me as my gameplan this time was to start conservatively. I suck so badly at climbing that I wanted to save a lot for the 15 mile climb at mile 60. The problem with a plan like that is---how conservative is conservative. You won't know till you finish. Evidently I saved too much, and finished way to strong. We'll try again next year!
Something very special happened, you know how you see people over and over again back and forth? Well Tim, a friend, and team mate and I have very opposing strongpoints on the mtb. He's a great climber, where i'm a great descender. So we saw eachother a lot! I thought I had a good gap before the big climb, and got pretty far up it on my own till I heard riders coming up, and sure enough, there's Tim. This was with about 5 miles to aid station #5. He asked how I was doing on fluids to which I said "im out"! Both camelback, and water bottle were done! He said he was out too. Did we both rush out of #4 too hastily?
A car had come down the fireroad and kindly informed me that there was 2 miles to go. I thamked him, but inside, I was in full on panick mode. I walked and grabbed some of my clif blocks, and jelly belly sport beans in search of moisture from the sweetness. That didn't work out so well, but it was worth a try. A fellow racer came by and asked what was wrong? I told him i had been out of fluids for awhile and I was hurtin. He said "i don't have much, but I can share what I have". I got half a water bottle which was all I needed. Thanx bro! I told him I'd buy him a slice of pizza at the aid station, and a beer at the finish!
I got up there and was welcomed by a very enthusiastic Mark Russell who took my bike and pointed me to the fluids and food! I saw Tim there fueling up. We spoke about us riding together but both agreed that with our strongpoints, there'd be no way! So he took off and asked me to give him 5 minutes. I didn't give him anything, I needed it! I chugged 3 cups of coke, 2 slices of pizza, twizzlers, and the sweddish fish! A full bottle of HEED, and a camelback of H20, and I was good to go! The combo of coke, and candy really kicked in and I felt like a rockstar! Suddenly I could climb. I found Tim, and told him to come with me, but I never saw him again. At aid station #6 I decided to play it safe and top off my HEED. Silly Sally helped me out, and I gave her a bunch of crap for moving very slowly. I shouted "don't you know I'm trying to keep Timmy at bay here"? Two more cokes and I was out. A lot more climbing, and I thought I'd get caught for sure but I had so much energy that I went really well up the hills, powered the flats, and let er loose on the downhills. I liked riding like that and I hope I can use a lot of what went down that day for future epics. Thanx Tim for making the SM-100 even more special. It was a good friendly battle! You made a big improvement from last year!
My time was 11:32 I felt like it was slower than last year, but it was faster by over 20 minutes! Next year my goal is to be in the 10's...
Good 2 C everyone out there! It was also good to see Floyd just sitting with all of us eating and drinking, and being merry!
Robert Maye asked me while we were climbing the big climb if we could ever get KJ out for this event? To which I said "aint no way! Will never happen"!

Took the DD-X out for her maiden voyage tonight for the Great Bridge Bully Ride! It was awesome! More on that later.