Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
That's what I was going to do but kind of want to finish the six hours. I can do that next year however so maybe team it is @Riggedfmx ? I know another strong team that may be there too.
Turbo's Tales
- Thread starter Dave Taylor
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Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
Well I decided to have some fun yesterday. I have been ki da crunched for time lately and with Shenandoah a week away I wanted to get a hard race effort in. I chose something out of my comfort zone as a training race.
I came in pretty exhausted, a heavy work and training week combined with arriving in md at 11:30 friday didn't help and our friends locked themselves out of our house so I ended up bein. Up until 1:30 sat morning and waking up at 5:30am to drive 1.5 hours north to Harrisburg.
I ended up going to frederick, MD for the weekend so the Mass Final(Dirty Dirty at the farm) was my choice. I like change, I like challenges so I decided to race my ss in Elite 40+. This turned out to be great! So much fun! I preroad a lap with 32/18 and decided on 32/19 as it ended up bei g very tight and twisty...sort of like if LewMo and six mile had a baby. Hero dirt and smooth roots. Lots of log overs and split lines.
On the start I got smoked but tried to hang on. It was uphill grass for 1/2 mile including a smooth jeep trail. I passed one guy. Eforr the single track and put in a pretty hard first lap. I saw @BrianGT3 coming towards the end of first lap(he started 1 or 2 min behind?). Anyways I was in good form and held the geared cat 1 guys off until half way through the second lap. I listened to @Rigidnsingle 's advice and practiced my race technique. I stuck on the wheel of the first geared guy when he went by but truthfully burned a fee matches. It was good to try however. The problem was now that @BrianGT3 was close I wasn't recovered enough and those three guys gapped me a bit. I survived that lap and rode a very smart and atrong third lap. I made PRs and some great segments on the last lap which I never do.I was able to hammer out the climbs and spin over the top rather than peteri g out 100' from the top. I continued to hold a nice pace and hammered to the finish. Maybe I would have paced better if I raced the SS class but I did this to learn. I want a challenge. I made acouple bucks and didn't finish DFL. Immediately went to the car and headed back to frederick for my nephew's bday partys. These tight and twisty courses are not my strength so I'm very happy with my result.
Now on to Shen next week where I shall suck and suffer on the climbs, in hopes of bettering my times year over year.
I came in pretty exhausted, a heavy work and training week combined with arriving in md at 11:30 friday didn't help and our friends locked themselves out of our house so I ended up bein. Up until 1:30 sat morning and waking up at 5:30am to drive 1.5 hours north to Harrisburg.
I ended up going to frederick, MD for the weekend so the Mass Final(Dirty Dirty at the farm) was my choice. I like change, I like challenges so I decided to race my ss in Elite 40+. This turned out to be great! So much fun! I preroad a lap with 32/18 and decided on 32/19 as it ended up bei g very tight and twisty...sort of like if LewMo and six mile had a baby. Hero dirt and smooth roots. Lots of log overs and split lines.
On the start I got smoked but tried to hang on. It was uphill grass for 1/2 mile including a smooth jeep trail. I passed one guy. Eforr the single track and put in a pretty hard first lap. I saw @BrianGT3 coming towards the end of first lap(he started 1 or 2 min behind?). Anyways I was in good form and held the geared cat 1 guys off until half way through the second lap. I listened to @Rigidnsingle 's advice and practiced my race technique. I stuck on the wheel of the first geared guy when he went by but truthfully burned a fee matches. It was good to try however. The problem was now that @BrianGT3 was close I wasn't recovered enough and those three guys gapped me a bit. I survived that lap and rode a very smart and atrong third lap. I made PRs and some great segments on the last lap which I never do.I was able to hammer out the climbs and spin over the top rather than peteri g out 100' from the top. I continued to hold a nice pace and hammered to the finish. Maybe I would have paced better if I raced the SS class but I did this to learn. I want a challenge. I made acouple bucks and didn't finish DFL. Immediately went to the car and headed back to frederick for my nephew's bday partys. These tight and twisty courses are not my strength so I'm very happy with my result.
Now on to Shen next week where I shall suck and suffer on the climbs, in hopes of bettering my times year over year.
JDurk
Well-Known Member
Great job @David Taylor and nice meeting you in person.
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
Hold up.. Wait a minute.... You raced a singlespeed in the geared Cat1 40-49 class? You still have that super sick Trek you just built with suspension and gears?
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
Nice meeting you too! Wish I could have stayed for a beer. I think my race ended at 10:51 and I was on 81 south by 11:15!
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
Nope, I raced in the elite 40+(pro? Cat 1 open? Not sure what you call it). Basically went off with all the pros and then the cat 1 guys started a minute later. I wish I pushed harder on the start but happy with trying something new. I raced that super sick trek but set up as a singlespeed. It will go back to gears soon as I am building up a carbon ss hardtail frame next.
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Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
Thx. Was purely for fun. Training gets tough sometimes and Cranks Around the Campfire was supposed to be my "fun" training. My wife's uncle passed so I had to change plans. I got about 5 hours training in this weekend but sleep deprivation and a shitty diet the last week sucks heading into shen. In may I wanted to be 20lbs lighter than I am now. Oh well. This week will be discipline and hopefully torch off 7-10 lb before sunday.
i kinda thought the same thing - then i though
Badass......
WTG DT.
1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Nice job out there, DT. Those 40+ elite guys are a tough bunch to run with - some may think, "oh they're older so it's easier than the elite open" but that's not really true: the guys who are still running in that class at +40 are doing it because they can. So they move. That start was merciless, BTW. If you were to ask me for my least favorite way to start a race, it would probably be "anythign involving a grass field". Everyone wanted to be the first to the woods (even in the endurance class) so it was an all-out sprint through a winding grass field. And of course, being a moron, I fell right in with them. I spent half the first lap coughing my lungs up from the first three minutes of effort. Even as I was doing it I was saying to myself, "For fuck-sake, you idiot, you've got four hours - why are you doing this?"
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
Thanks @1speed ! You kicked ass! See tou saturday.
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
Shenandoah Mountain 100 post race:
Wow! A hell of a weekend! I have been in an exhausted coma like state since the race ended. That was tough but at the same time an experience I will not soon forget.
I have to thank my wife first and foremost as saturday was our anniversary but she allowed us to celebrate friday so I could drive to the race saturday. I haven't been sleeping too well lately but I had a good, alcohol free week leading up to Shen. I left early saturday morning and arrived around 1pm where I met up with @Rigidnsingle, Gordon Davies and their buddy Gerry Gilsinger. We set up camp and prerode the 8 miles of road to the first single track and back(16 miles total). It was an overcast and misty day. The fire road was wet and power sobbing. Anyways, we all race the same course. After we got back to camp we went and got dinner, our packets and dropped off our aid station supplies. Was able to meet and chat with @Bizarro , @soundz and @1speed for a bit. It was a bit cold and Rovb Campbell and crew were the only ones able to start a fire so we sat with them for a bit. I went back and slept in the back of my minivan, lights out at 8pm.
Ah, now it's race day. Chris wakes the crew with the progressive gong tap. I make my breakfast and we all head to the start line. It's pretty crazy as you have 500 people going down a camp entrance road to the paved road for the start. I manage to stay with the lead pack til after the iron bridge but being ss I went back a bit. I ended up passing the 2nd group which I was with before the single track and got some good riding in in the opening singletrack. I followed Gordon Davies who is now a local down there and he had great line choice. After this section it's around 5 miles or so of road before you get to the Lynn climb. What a bitch! Very tech and when you have a conga line no one is riding it. I rode maybe the first 1/2 mile and walked the last mile. This lead into the wolf downhill which is gnarly, fall off the side of a cliff switchback stuff. Scary and fun. I had a hamstring twitch at 25 miles or so and at around 45 miles actualluy had a one time charlie horse which quickly went away. I stayed on my nutrition all day and despite going hard in the beginning I told myself to be recovered for hanky. I climbed Hanky slow and steady(47 minutes and it's sort of equivelent to going up the steeper part of the hartshorne fire road for that long. After the top you have miles and miles of super vertical allaire type flowy trails. Fast but you can never let off the brakes. My strong point on the day was the steady climbing and I descended well. Full suspension SS worked awesome. So now we have lots of road before the death climb. This sucker is a fire road that starts off easy and progressively gets steeper. I was able to climb the whole thing but it mentally punishes you as you climb for an hour and a half straight. At the top is an aid station followed by endless meadows. These are about 5 miles of falses summits that drop down in pits and you climb out of them. They are a bitch. After that is the Brailey's pond descent. Crazy fast, off camber technical downhill that goes on forever. You can easily lose your shit here. There is also one techy climb I missed in the middle but basically a hike a bike up the side of a steep river bed. I get to the last aid station and realize I burped my tire. I fumbled a few minutes but added some air. I finished out the last road climb before they send you half way up Hanky a second time! The red bull in my drop bag did wonders here as I finish this climb, the last descent and the final fire road section full gas. 97 miles and 9 hours and 47 minutes later I completed my 4th hundred miler. The mud made the course a little slower from what others said but it didn't seem too bad in my opinion.
After the race I had two beers and some food while we waited for others to finish. It was great hanging with everyone and thanks to @Rigidnsingle , @1speed and Jeff Mandell for all the pointers and tips.I think next time I will run one tooth stiffer on gearing and go a bit easier off the start. I drove to my inlaws in frederick, MD, woke up at 5;30am and drove back to jersey where I have been in a comatose like state ever since.
Wow! A hell of a weekend! I have been in an exhausted coma like state since the race ended. That was tough but at the same time an experience I will not soon forget.
I have to thank my wife first and foremost as saturday was our anniversary but she allowed us to celebrate friday so I could drive to the race saturday. I haven't been sleeping too well lately but I had a good, alcohol free week leading up to Shen. I left early saturday morning and arrived around 1pm where I met up with @Rigidnsingle, Gordon Davies and their buddy Gerry Gilsinger. We set up camp and prerode the 8 miles of road to the first single track and back(16 miles total). It was an overcast and misty day. The fire road was wet and power sobbing. Anyways, we all race the same course. After we got back to camp we went and got dinner, our packets and dropped off our aid station supplies. Was able to meet and chat with @Bizarro , @soundz and @1speed for a bit. It was a bit cold and Rovb Campbell and crew were the only ones able to start a fire so we sat with them for a bit. I went back and slept in the back of my minivan, lights out at 8pm.
Ah, now it's race day. Chris wakes the crew with the progressive gong tap. I make my breakfast and we all head to the start line. It's pretty crazy as you have 500 people going down a camp entrance road to the paved road for the start. I manage to stay with the lead pack til after the iron bridge but being ss I went back a bit. I ended up passing the 2nd group which I was with before the single track and got some good riding in in the opening singletrack. I followed Gordon Davies who is now a local down there and he had great line choice. After this section it's around 5 miles or so of road before you get to the Lynn climb. What a bitch! Very tech and when you have a conga line no one is riding it. I rode maybe the first 1/2 mile and walked the last mile. This lead into the wolf downhill which is gnarly, fall off the side of a cliff switchback stuff. Scary and fun. I had a hamstring twitch at 25 miles or so and at around 45 miles actualluy had a one time charlie horse which quickly went away. I stayed on my nutrition all day and despite going hard in the beginning I told myself to be recovered for hanky. I climbed Hanky slow and steady(47 minutes and it's sort of equivelent to going up the steeper part of the hartshorne fire road for that long. After the top you have miles and miles of super vertical allaire type flowy trails. Fast but you can never let off the brakes. My strong point on the day was the steady climbing and I descended well. Full suspension SS worked awesome. So now we have lots of road before the death climb. This sucker is a fire road that starts off easy and progressively gets steeper. I was able to climb the whole thing but it mentally punishes you as you climb for an hour and a half straight. At the top is an aid station followed by endless meadows. These are about 5 miles of falses summits that drop down in pits and you climb out of them. They are a bitch. After that is the Brailey's pond descent. Crazy fast, off camber technical downhill that goes on forever. You can easily lose your shit here. There is also one techy climb I missed in the middle but basically a hike a bike up the side of a steep river bed. I get to the last aid station and realize I burped my tire. I fumbled a few minutes but added some air. I finished out the last road climb before they send you half way up Hanky a second time! The red bull in my drop bag did wonders here as I finish this climb, the last descent and the final fire road section full gas. 97 miles and 9 hours and 47 minutes later I completed my 4th hundred miler. The mud made the course a little slower from what others said but it didn't seem too bad in my opinion.
After the race I had two beers and some food while we waited for others to finish. It was great hanging with everyone and thanks to @Rigidnsingle , @1speed and Jeff Mandell for all the pointers and tips.I think next time I will run one tooth stiffer on gearing and go a bit easier off the start. I drove to my inlaws in frederick, MD, woke up at 5;30am and drove back to jersey where I have been in a comatose like state ever since.
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
You totally should! The most fun event and they have a great atmosphere. Any 100 sucks at some point but it's the accomplishment and the views where you wish you brought your phone.
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
32/20. In hind sight 32/18 would have been good. You know you get to these climbs and it doesn't matter what gear you have. You still get off at the same point. Bigger gear is easier to go faster where u need to. U will suffer on climbs if you have an 18 vs a 22
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
On a side note, with biking being my vise, life has thrown some curve balls. I have elderly parents(father had some ministrokes, cancer and stress and basically can’t handle anything mentally. Mom has had MS for 40 years and is basically at the point where she can’t walk more than a step ir two with a walker and everything and I mean everything is a struggle) and daily life is becoming difficult for them. It seems no mater what you do they combat your advice. My nother needs atleast two people to do daily life and she rfuses and just says she needs to be home. It’s a lose lose situation as she ends up back in the hospital very often and ultimately will have no choice where she goes. On top if this my younger brother, after around 8 years sober from heroin, relapsed and tried to off himself. It sucks seeing a 37 YO with three kids(two different mothers) with a great job and family not be able to figure life out. For fucks sake people don’t do drugs.
I am in colorado for a week and really just hanging out and doing some hiking solo and with the wife. Did I mention #3 is on the way? Anyways, life is good and totally what you make of it. I try to combat my negatives with the positives and although difficult at times I am thankful for friends, family and bikes. See you all at the Erie 80, Monmouth world championships and Cathedral Pines.
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