Wilderness 101-the end of my 100 era....

If I've said it 100 times, I'll say it again. The Wilderness 101 is just a classic PA route, and organized great by SMT. This year would be by 5th run at it (my 17th 100 overall), and I've already said this will be my last. Although, I hope to do a little better than my best time ever here (10 hrs), I know that impending stuff going on is probably going to halt my expectations although I have no idea how bad.

I know I need to keep light pressure on my feet these days, so I start off doing just that. This might sound all good and helpful but in reality it is meaning I put pressure elsewhere, namely my butt and hands....so now not only a few hours in are my feet hurting & burning so badly I can barely walk let alone pedal, my wrists are sore/numb and I just can't keep this much weight on my seat, it's killing, even the downhills are not fun this day....and this is some of PA best downhills!!

Along with my agonizing day, the route is also adjusted this year primarily due to the amount of people in the event, forest issues, overuse concerns. SMT is asked to divert 2 rather cool trail sections to gravel roads. One cool thing about the route in past years was the amount of trail vs road, and the super rough terrain of the rocky trails used. This year, the adjustments (albeit better for the forest) did not leave a good taste in my mouth. It was turning into a full on gravel grinder route, just not what I wanted here right now. All this combined and I was losing some time horribly on the last big climb, I got to the last aide (#5) in plenty of time to finish probably at ~11.5hrs, it just wasn't worth the effort now. I was nowhere near my best finish of 10, and the girls I should be near are well ahead. My feet are also at one of the worst points ever, I decide to bail here. I feel upset and wasteful, but I don't have a choice. I can't push through the foot pain anymore like I used to, it is just much worse and relentless. This time, it hurts for days afterwards, that is new. Usually it will go away just after I stop pushing on my feet.

I sag it back and it's still been a long day regardless so like usual I just get some food and bunk it up. Chris (SMT) is the first to give me a disappointed look, ugh, that makes me feel worse! He knows I'm not going to be up with the front girls, but he also knows what I am capable of, here and on other hard rides, even he expected me to beef it up and do better. Unfortunately, I am sticking with my gut feeling, this was my last 100 entry, and sadly my last Wilderness 101:-(

If I'm going to destroy my feet, it's going to be checking out some new adventures & with some much smaller crowds as I want to be IN the forest, not skirting around it due to trail overuse concerns. When things get THAT big (over 300 people??), I really think there is a deeper issue that needs to be addressed than merely impounding IMBA trail standards. There is no reason that 300+ souls need to be trapsing along the same route on the same day for the glory of doing a 'hard race' against the fast peeps w some beer at the end. I have some ideas that could skirt this issue, but that's another post:-)

6HOP-ellicotville, ny

So, once again, off to do a short lap event that I've done several times already in past years, this is my 5th time doing the 6HOP (6 Hours of Power), and like a lot of things I have been repeating...I think probably my last. I need a little more unknown and a little less peeps in my business:-)

I've done this in the past as a Wmn Duo, Solo, and then this is the 3rd time Coed Duo with JP. The past 2 years, we managed to snag the overall Coed Title and we are certainly hoping to keep it this year! They say a Duo comes down to the strongest person being able to make up for the weaker link, so whoever has the strongest weakest team link will have a better chance. Both time before, I felt my weaker half was not so weak, hence we did great. I didn't leave much of ANY time for JP to need to make up, in fact last year I kept quite a few minutes lead on any other women in the Duo category, leaving JP with NO time to make up...so all his time was strictly gain for us. So was mine actually. So while a lot of people might think we held the title for two years solely based on JP effort can bite it....this year though came a little different story. I truly sank to being a weak link....and weaker than the competitions. I did lose time, lots of time, unknowingly more than I even thought. I left JP with a 7 min gap on the last lap and the comp was fast. We ended up 2nd by 2 or 3 minutes, and this year due to my own self. That is a bad feeling to cause your team to lose.

Overall, the 6HOP is fun or I wouldn't have been there 5 times. The course is long enough to be a challenge, yet not so long you need to carry a lot of stuff. There are a million different categories to enter, and every cat gets some sort of reward(!). The only thing I wish they would add is a list of confirmed/pre-reg teams. In general due to the low pay out a lot of fast people do not return to this race year after year. It is really geared towards the recreational level and to have fun, which is all good because there are not a lot of races like that around too much.

Glacier & Badlands Trip-getting over wilderness fears!!

Hiking Swiftwater Lake Loop, Many Glacier Valley-Glacier National Park

Where better to head next than GRIZ territory.
Right of the bat, I will ruin this story by saying I saw NO GRIZ:-(
Did get a handful of excitement by being up and personal with wild/natural encounters of:
bison
moose w/baby
mule deer w/baby
several black bears
wild horses
HUGE rabbits --they look like turkeys(!)
and via binoculars: big horn sheep & babies, and mountain goat & babies

Although there were several spottings of mountain lions on trails I was on, I actually did not have THAT encounter....not really complaining.

In general, I tested out my wildlife encounter coping skills by doing 3 road rides alone, 2 around Glacier and 1 through the North Dakota southern tract of the Badlands. I could not get up the nuts to hike or mtb in the Badlands alone...although the meydahhay was RIGHT friggin there calling my name!! What a loss.
And for 6 days I did a series of all day hiking throughout several sections of Glacier frontcountry....yup that is right, we were not up to the backcountry GRIZ encounter on this trip w/just the 2 of us chix out here alone. Also, we camped in the National Parks section...again pretty wimpy of us, but that alone was pretty wiggy as about only 10% of the campers there are actually in tents....the rest are safely snuggled in their RVs.

It turns out just as we thought, the holiday weekend had the frontcountry well jam packed. But for noise and safety this was ah-okay with us! It also allowed us to each hike some different paces and lengths when we wanted to do some different things as there were plenty of folks out to join up with (you know for that fakey 'safe in a group' feeling!) Lots of great hiking here as we traveled from West Glacier to East Glacier, into the 2 Medicine and Many Glacier valley areas.

2 Medicine is an awesome less traveled section, much quieter & just as scenic w some great hikes to either elevation or on lower level loops. Many Glacier is much more populated as 2 lodges are present, and in general trails string out in more directions as the valley is a little larger. West Glacier (MacDonald) didn't get much attention from us as most of the trails were layered still in feet of snow and at the time a few were also closed due to an aggressive big cat caught stalking some poor souls.



Teddy R. National Park 40mi scenic route, North Dakota (southern tract) Badlands

On the drive out I hit the badlands but in a tourist way, it was over 100 degrees and I just got some info/maps and hoped to hit it up more on the drive home. This was possible as it was only 85 on the way back through so I toured Medora(cute little fake western town w/lots of options for lodging, eating, and shopping), entered the scenic Teddy Roosevelt National Park 40 mile scenic drive through the southern tract which houses free range/wild horses, bison, cats, and of course the chattering praire dogs! This was a rather scary ride, twisty turny roads on which animals could be on, I certainly did not want to kareen around a bend and see a big bison...luckily only 2 bison were near the road and I was able to get by as traffic was going so worked out. The wild horses weren't to keen on the bike either but I figured few people get tramped by a horse so in those areas I just pedaled faster!!!
I was a little sad to see no big desert snakes other than a dead one:-(

So, all the encounters on this trip worked out just okeydokey & nothing wanted to attack me. One motto was pounded into my head the whole time: DO NOT APPROACH THE WILDLIFE.  lol....

So, this has helped a lot. I feel a lot better w/ getting some plans for more bikepack trips even if I have to go alone, although I do have to say I might be avoiding GRIZ territory;-)

Michaux-Curse of Dark Hollow

Blah, another favorite event just blown apart and DNF this year. This is becoming a trend!! I do not like!! The Michaux Series is not for the faint hearted, but then again if you want a rocky off road adventure you won't find much to rival this in NE US.

I love Michaux, it's probably one of my favorite places in PA. Not just to ride, but the hiking is awesome there, the bike crowd is really cool as well. The AT passes through, so hiking shelters are around for use, along with just millions of other good trails.

So, I'm working in Johnstown right now and have all my race stuff with me as of Friday. So I just head straight out to the start line and car camp starting Friday night. Saturday AM, Donna Weiser meets me for a short MTB spin around the general Curse area. Mostly this is to chat and catch up as we both are doing the race and don't want to overdo it. We have a fun time and then the rest of the day I go for a long hike and get a lot of quiet time until peeps start showing up late day. The camping doesn't get TOO crowded here, so the night is fairly quiet.

Up early, the weather is hot this weekend, but the trails are dry so it's looking good. I have JUST gotten together a new bike and didn't really have time to try out new tires on it yet so had to just pick from the spares hanging in the garage, which all were not too perfect. The new bike is back to a 26, I knew most tires I liked were going to be way too soft for the rocks at Michaux yet I also know I have never flatted there & although I have slight sidewall scuffs in my 29er tires from there, I have never full on ripped a tire. So, I decide to risk it with the tread I like, albeit a super soft Panaracer rubber and I guess in getting my 'rock air pressure' just wasn't enough. On the way to check #2, I have passed a few girls with temporary bike issues and to keep a little gap on them I start to try to pick it up a little. I figure the tires have felt good until now, although I have been being a little cautious on the DH sections for fear of flatting. No sooner do I start to want to go faster, I hit a super rocky DH and the heart sinking sound of air hissing. The tire tread had a big chunk pulled loose. Darn! I get it changed fast enough and put a boot in, no girls come by yet.....but low and behold as I put the cartridge in it hisses right back out!! Check it out, there is a tear right by the valve....oh brother. I am screwed. A few passers by offer me tubes, but they are 29 anyway and I wouldn't really take a tube from anyone unless it was sort of really emergency or I was winning or something. It's my fault for getting it damaged somehow and only carrying one tube here.....and picking these dumb soft tires!! Larry Camps comes by and says well don't you have a patch kit, want mine? Gee Larry, you are too nice....thanks but I am not going to take your stuff leaving you without it and in my skimpy pack efforts NO I didn't bring one. My bad this day....just didn't think it would happen. Every girl begins to come by. So, I start walking....thinking I can get to the next check on time and snag a tube there. No such luck the moto guy sees me on the road....crap...he snags me down....NOPE you cannot continue here is a tube and you can ride the shortcut back. I try to tell him the last girl went by just minutes ago and I think I can catch back up to her at least?? He says no way, you are not going. Darn. ok, so i fix it and get to the reroute. From here, I decide on getting the miles in so I ride the remaining hour or so of the short course to the finish. haha, this day I arrive before JP. So it was a good day after all ;-)

Mohican 100

The Mohican is the Mohican. Although the course has come a long way since the first one I did in 2006, it still is in my mind just a long use of OH that would be like any other long use of OH terrain. It definitely takes me a bit to get through this one for some reason, and this year even halted at the 'far out' point just totally not even caring to finish. If there is one thing about me, that was never a fault of mine....not finishing....I mean duh...why would I even make the effort to go somewhere if I wasn't going to finish. But somehow, now, it's in my mind constantly....like since I can't do better than I did 5 years ago, what the crap is the entire point. I'd rather use my time to explore some new to me stuff and get some excitement again!! Cruising a long route you already did several times is kind of like a deja vu that I've already had.....and already know the ending. Kind of an adrenalin kill.

So anyway, at the 'far out' point, a few others I know are contemplating a dnf as well which doesn't help. Finally I peel myself off the bench, 'this is silly, there is NO reason to stop here other than I am just being lazy'...so I head back out and get done, trying to find that mental place that used to come so easy but now seems often MIA. And finishing a good few hours behind the bulk of the women's leaders.

So, if your lookin for a 100 route that is def challenging w punchy climbs, a little roady mixed w swoopy IMBA stuff, the Mohican could be a nice time for you to try. For me, this was my last....I am writing that to remind myself.

Huracan 300

finished-summary coming.

12 hrs Santos

Me & JPOK are getting sick of winter. Period. We are not weather worry warts, and we don't let weather keep us inside, and we've both lived in Pgh all our lives so the annual changes are no big surprise. But yet, somehow we keep talking about how nice it is elsewhere....we know that is not true (you know the other side of the fence thing...) but it's still on our minds....so with that thought and a lot of late fall riding still sitting under our belts we plan a road trip to the annual 12 hrs of Santos.

An alterior motive is that a portion of the following months Huracan 300 will traverse over Santos....I want to get a little test on western FL soil and see how it rides.

So, all goes well, for me anyway....and for the bro wayne who does a team w/some FL locals. But for JPOK and copilot Durb...not so well. As I wheel past the pit during lap #1, there they are.....huh??? I get the scoop later, a pile up happens at the lemans getting JPOK in a horrible jam & a loaner just doesn't cut it (thanks karl r!). Durb is feeling the heat....I guess we forgot to tell him FL has a rep for being a little warm. lol...

Without knowing it, I slowing creep up into a 2nd place solo spot out of over 10 girls, lose track of 1st place & end up not taking the last lap out. Turns out 1st did not take the lap either.....darn! Oh well, Sandra Tomlinson (jamis) gets me for lack of me knowing better. 

Santos is a small loop, but def worth checking out if in the area. Sections vary between smooth cruising packed dirt, hand built obstacles, exposed rock, the swirly technical 'vortex' with quick turns and ups/downs and lots of loose rock. Very surprising for FL, but due to an old dug out quarry left unattended.

Thanks to everyone in the pit that helped out for the day: karl r., durb, wayne, jpok, carol c.

The drive home from this bites.