Shenandoah 100 (XC Ultra Endurance) 2021

👉 Hey! SUBSCRIBE for free WATTS 👉    / @mi-xc  

This was a 100 mile race with 13,000 ft of climbing near the Shenandoah Campground in Virginia. Recorded the first 59 miles to Aid Station #4. Over the 100 miles grades varied from +26% to -33%.

I raced this with my Wheels In Motion teammates and the 4 of us said we would try to stay together as a team for as long as we could, then let the second half of the race determine who had how much remaining to push on at their own pace. We made an effort in the beginning to get ahead of the crowd to hopefully avoid the conga line. At the 10:35 mark, some dude decided to cross the pack and crash in front of me. I wasn’t able to stop so I ran into his back and landed in the bushes. It was a relatively soft landing but enough to tweak the muscle next to my shin bone. I was pretty annoyed since we had 97 miles still to go, but was able to quickly gather myself and get back with the group.

Past Aid #1 just over an hour and my teammate realized he had a puncture likely from the previous descent. We all stopped to help him fix it then continued on. Climb #2 is where it really sucked. I was prepared for hiking, but not this much. The hiking skyrocketed my heart rate. I hate, hate, hate forced long hike-a-bike. Not only do they beat me up (because I don’t train for it) but it really annoys me. I want to race/ride my bike, not push it up a hill. Not to mention it was a conga line of slow hiking with nowhere to pass. This was kinda the beginning of the end. I could tell my body didn’t like the hike. The second descent went fine but I could tell I was out of rhythm and couldn’t find the flow. I felt like I was fighting the trail and wasn’t able to settle in.

Making it to Aid# 2 took longer than expected (3:28:00), so I was a bit behind on water and nutrition since I only packed for 3 hours. The team had got separated on the hike then descent, but we regrouped at Aid#2. Our last team member was a bit further back but we all left as a group. I soon realized that my chain sounded horrible. Horrible like every bit of lube had been washed off and it was in jeopardy of snapping off my bike. We had no lube so I was lubing it with water from my buddy’s Camelbak.

We were separated on the next climb and this time the front 2 pushed through out of Aid #3. I ended up alone at #3. I had broke a Boa on my shoe (2 front tire washouts) and had to have a mechanic tape the shoe to my foot. I planned on skipping #3, but dealing with my shoe and a quick drink, my teammate caught back up. He arrived and wanted to refill bottles so I waited. We rolled out together towards the 4th hill. Now the team was 2 groups of 2. I was having an off day and was part of the second set as the front guys were pushing too fast. He and I were both struggling with cramps going into hill 4 but he was hurting more than me. He also noticed my rear wheel was wobbly. I pressed on and at some point lost him on the climb. There was plenty more hiking, ugh. I was in a bad mood and place mentally, not to mention my fitness either didn’t show up or I was cooked for the season.

I rolled into Aid #4 at around 7 hours and was already 1+ hours behind my expected pace. I was fighting cramps and in a bad mood. My rear wheel was wobbly, my chain was clunky and between the two I could feel weird vibrations through the pedals. In Aid #4 I asked the mechanic to try to fix my rear wheel. After about 10-15 mins he did what he could but said the issue was inside the hub. He said it was safe to ride so I just got ready to start the Death Climb. Since the mechanical took so long my teammate caught back up with me. I waited for him so we could do the Death Climb together. With me being in such a piss poor mood I dropped my GoPro in my drop bag (It only had an hour of battery remaining anyways). I was supposed to only take 2 bottles up the Death Climb but I packed 3 thinking it would take me longer than expected. At this point my attitude was what does it matter anyways.

The Death Climb was under 2 hours and I rolled out Aid #5 around the 9 hour mark. The Killing Fields were fine and as I approached the Shenduro decent I found myself sliding off the trail within the first 50 yards (too much front brake). I had to focus myself since I’d just been climbing for almost 3 hours, had 83+ miles and almost 10 hours already working against me. Once I refocused the descent went fine I guess but it was sketchy as hell in spots. Luckily I made it through safely and rode right through Aid #6.

I was alone again as I passed my buddy on the previous Shenduro descent. The end was near but unfortunately I had to reclimb that stupid gravel hill again. I couldn’t remember how long it took in the beginning of the race but I thought it was close to an hour. That affected my pace as I was surprised to finish it in half that time. Ugh, that sucked. Finished in 11:29:00.