Shenandoah Mountain 100

[sizlinseagulsoup]

Has anyone ever done this race? Is the course any good? I would think it would be mostly fireroads, but am I wrong?

[Zeena]

Never done it, but I hear it's a lot of fireroad. I'm registered to do it this year (eek!), so I'll let ya know when I get back.

[sizlinseagulsoup]

I'm tempted to do it this year but I have a feeling it's full.

[pk]

I've always heard that this race was amazing. Gracious hosts, good spirit and lots of climbing! A couple of year's ago Jennifer Miller of Seven Cycles wrote a short description of the race for SingleTracks.

Tired of Short Races? The Shenandoah 100 Miler is for You by Jennifer Miller, Seven Cycles

How much do you love mountain biking? Enough to drive ten hours, sleep on the ground, then when a maniac in a pickup truck roars through your camp site at 5:15 am, blasting his horn incessantly, could you shed your warm sleeping bag in the cold and dark to go out and race 100 hilly miles through the Virginia backcountry?

On October 2, 1999, the strength of my love was revealed to me during the first annual Shenandoah Mountain 100, which was put on by the kind folks at the Shenandoah Mountain Touring Center of Harrisonburg, Virginia. These guys really know what they’re doing. Imagine the logistics associated with putting on a 100 mile, single-lap mountain bike race through endless national forest, with over 12,000 feet of climbing, more than forty miles of technical single track, about a dozen river crossings, and six well-stocked aid-stations supported by some of the friendliest and most helpful people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting. Imagine having the time of your life, too.

One hundred and twenty mountain bike junkies gathered for roll call in a dewy field, with only the vaguest hint of a sunrise on the horizon. All present and accounted for, we rolled out into the chilly dawn, fueled by anticipation of the slow unveiling of the unknown.

I kept telling myself that I wasn’t really racing: just fixed on finishing and enjoying the spectacular scenery. But when a well-timed Coke at about mile 60 gave me a boost strong enough to get away from the third place women, who I had just overcome, everything changed. Though I never saw her again, the thought of her behind me fueled the last forty miles.

We all know that the mountain bike is a great way to explore this wonderful planet. But sit on the bike long enough, say eight to twelve hours, and you may discover some remote, uncharted corner of your being. (Don’t look away, though you may not like what you see.)

Some time after check point 5, which sat atop a 9-mile climb at mile 75, I started to convince myself that I took a wrong turn and was now lost. At first the thought just pissed me off because my hopes of a strong finish would be threatened. I thought of backtracking, but that went against the race mentality I had recently adopted. My anger turned into mild panic.

Just then, a voice coming from one of those remote places whispered, "This is all part of the test. " I continued to ride along, contemplating these words. What if I were really lost? What if it got dark and cold and I had to spend the night in the mountains without food, shelter or warm clothing? Would I perish, weak and alone, or would I be one of those miraculous survival stories and emerge stronger than before?
Okay, so I’ll never know. In a few minutes I came upon a fellow racer resting against a tree, which was donned by a bright orange trail marker. I greeted the racer zealously, and he waved me on saying, " Just taking in the view."

The race finished right back where it started. There was a gong at the line, which racers were expected to sound upon their arrival. After 11 hours, I banged it good and hard. The sight of a barbecue and four kegs appeared before me like an oasis.

Throughout the evening and well into the night, the gong announced the arrival of other finishers. Everyone would cheer at the sight of them, all blurry eyed and smiling. The last racer came in at day break, I hear. He was smiling, too.

[Zeena]

So I did it. Everything they say is true - great organization and really nice people. There was a lot of fireroad, but there was lots of excellent singletrack too, and these people have been to the Bill Boles school of route design - go up on fireroads and down on singletrack.

It was long (12 hours for me, which was smack dab in the middle of the pack), with a lot of climbing (14K feet) but the course was basically six long, long, climbs, followed by six long, long descents w/ stretches easy spinning in-between. So it wasn't as gruelling as, say, two back-to-back VT50s.