Shendoah Mountain 100

This is a late entry from a few weeks ago............

In 2007 I raced the SM 100 (http://www.mountaintouring.com/htm/shenandoah_mountain_100/page_sm100.htm) and gave some thought to it this year but opted out because I have done enough long rides this Summer that my motivation was more toward a fun weekend around the sport that included time with friends, food, and some great free beer.

So....................I decided to volunteer and work the kitchen ans sweep part of the trail on race day.

I arrived on Saturday afternoon and first stop after pitching my tent was check-in with Matt at the vol tent and then off to the kitchen to  help prep the pasta dinner.

Fat Free, Organic, Diet Meatballs

For those that do not know the SM 100 is a BIG DEAL in the endurance MTB world and has a great reputation for a challenging course and drawing some of the top flight pros in addition to about 600 other riders. The family atmosphere is superb and post-race party is awesome with kegs of free beer from Dogfish Head Ale House (http://www.dogfish.com/).

Trying to keep the pasta from sticking!

After serving hundreds of hungry athletes and having a few beverages I was off to my tent to relax and sleep...........well sort of  as it was about 85 degrees and humid so a distinct lack of comfort in the sleeping bag!!

Whitney and Mike B. just before the gun goes off

The next morning came early and I went to the starting line to see my PVC teammates Mike Bender and Milton Rojas head out on the course at about 6am or so............

Steve, Whitney, Leslie in camp

After the start of the race I was invited to coffee with Bailey's (http://www.the-baileys-lounge.baileys.com) with some of the big dogs from Dr. Kathy's PosiTeam (http://www.posichiro.com/endurance-coaching/annual-adventure-plan1.html) and it was wonderful when mixed with my Starbucks Via.

Milton lookin fast!!

After coffee I headed out on the course and took the above pic of Milton as he was cruising to aid station 2. I then had the joy of waiting for almost 2 hours in aid station one for the last rider to come through before I could go sweep the course between Aid Stn 2 and Aid Stn 3. This is the section that includes a long climb and while riding I came across the last rider. A guy named Al Picken from Columbus Georgia.


Al is a big guy that has a love of mtn biking but was not prepared for the demands of the SM 100 and was barely holding on. He said in his southern drawl, "I couldn't do these climbs if I trained 7 days a week.....maybe if I lost 100 lbs" and then he goes on to say "I was not expecting this humidity either" and my thought was Al, you are from Georgia and you have an issue with humidity?

Anyway, I rode with Al for the last hour or so and got him to Aid Stn 3 and he knew he was cooked and took a ride back to camp. Interesting note, while sweeping I was able to watch Christian Tanguy and Jeff Schalk battle it out for first and second respoctively. Man these guys can ride and they were cruising up a climb that I have to gut out in the granny!!

Flippin Burgers....hundreds of em!!

After my 3+ hour ride to sweep the course I headed back to camp to flip burgers and cook dogs..........and drink some more brew. I cooked, cooked, and cooked some more. I probably toasted several hundred buns, flipped bunches of burgers, a 200+ hot dogs, and was covered in smoke and grease.

The next morning it was raining so instead of going for an MTB ride I headed home........




JOCMO: Riding in the Shenendoah's. Some great trails and awesome singletrack.