Lumberjack 100 08 Race Report

Lumberjack 100 6/14/2008

This week started off with no power at the house for almost 4 days and it was getting to the point I was not sure I was going to make it up to the race. This is a big race for me personally and the site since I had built a new bike and actually trained and we sponsor the race. We also had maybe the largest team turnout with 10 teamates racing plus support making the trek north, some for the first time and some this was a rematch one gear against the big mf'er.

We arrived on Friday night for packet pickup met up with a few teammates purple helmet, m.y.r.o.o, michmtb, hozeman. I still was stressing a little on the ez-up delivery and placement the area was already pretty full when we got there and L.C. was bringing up a new one from Terry's Cycle. Later on I got a call from L.C saying he was there and had it setup and we were ready to rock out with are socks out.

As the race got started I tried to find someone to pace me, I had been working on it for weeks but had little confidence in a race of this distance. Somewhere early on I found a women (Noreen Greene 1st Place) on a singlespeed that was running smooth and consistent so I settled in behind her. I road with her for over 2 laps then about 65 mile mark my survival instincts kicked in and I decided to try and conserve for the forth lap. Then towards the end of the lap I started worrying about the cut off time wasn't really sure what time it was and was given a couple different answers on the trail so I picked up my pace to make sure.

When I arrived in the pits I decided to sit 5 minutes this was the first extended stop. Then I had to face that last lap alone and didn't like it a bit. Then someone said purple helmet would be in shortly and knew there was no quit in him that we could ride the last lap together. That lap may NOT have been the fastest but it went by the fastest and I got my first dirty century finish.
100miles, 10,500ft+, 12.5hrs

Of the 10 teammates that started the race we had 6 that finished and 4 that gave it there all but came up a little short this time, its been a honor serving on the battlefield with you.

I have some things to sort out like why my time was so slow when I felt strong most of the day. I am starting to think it was my fear of popping that held me back. My nutrition was excellent thanks to HammerNut for the sanity check and all the help. Thanks to LyndaW for her 100 mile training plan. Thanks to napper at Terry's Cycle for all he does, I don't say it enough but he is a excellent taint greaser. Thanks to L.C. for bringing up the new ez-up. Thanks to Wayne for being the calm one. Thanks to abbeytrails for coming up and spending his weekend doing support and the photos. Thanks to Noreen for the pacing even after I crashed into her in the mud pit. Thanks to Rick for putting on another great race.

I want to thank all my teammates we really have a great group of singlespeeders it was good times.

Duke

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After signing up for this race last year the day of the race, having only ridden may 20 trail miles at once before hand, and not knowing what I was getting into, I decided to make it my goal this year to just finish. I lined up at the start somewhere in the middle, with another group of mysinglespeed.com'ers and we were off. Walked the first half of the big hill and riding the second I found myself in a pack of about 30 people where I would remain until the mud, where it thinned out to about 10. As people were trying to go around, and seeing there was no way around it I followed the lead of the guy in front and plowed in. Made it through but spent alot of energy. Even so my first lap was decent time wise, a quick fill of the camelback and a I was off for lap 2. Finished the first 2 laps with pit times that I kept short in around 5 hours. Then it got a little tougher. After the water on my 3rd lap my left foot was hurting more and more. At the end of the lap I had little motivation to go out, except the desire to finish and if I quit I would hate myself until next year, so I loaded up and headed out. Rode with a cannondale midwest guy Ryan I believe his name was, who seemed just as tired as I and finished the last lap in 10 hours and 46 minutes. I was happy just to finish, especially since the most prior to this race I had ever done on a bike was 65 miles at Addison. I learned alot of what to do different, and hope to be closer to 9, 9 and a half hours next year. Aim high!

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