Fools Gold 100 Race Report

[xc62701]

It was a blast as expected and while not quite as hot as expected the afternoon sun was blazin! The humidity of Northern Georgia in August was perty thick though. Lets just say not everything went my way but I had a good race nonetheless.

Pros - no cramping, perfect hydration/nutrition

Cons - Doing some dirt surfing at mile 30 at 20+ mph into a tree. Scratching my thigh and tearing my bibs but no other ill effects somehow(maybe this should be a pro?) Then my fork blew at mile 40 and I had a rigid fork for 60 miles and throw on top that my front derailleur was giving me issues. Still not recovered fully from the Wilderness 101 as well.

All in all it was a tough race with 13500' of climbing and just a hot nice day. The results are posted here http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/national-ultra-endurance-nue-series-6-fools-gold-100-ne/results.

 

[Norm]

Am I reading those results right? Only 21 racers?

 

[xc62701]

Am I reading those results right? Only 21 racers?

Those are just the preliminary results. There were 46 in my field alone. So probably 70 all together in the 100 mile race. It was definitely one of the lowest attended 100 mile races this season.

 

[Norm]

So 10th place then. Good job man. That's still great.

I'm struggling with the idea of doing 1.5 more dh40 races. 1 was hard enough. How the heck do I go from 40 to 100?

 

[ArmyOfNone]

You sould have just kept going!!

 

[Glancing Aft]

Freaking Amazing dude! Congrats!
The humidity was bad enough on my 11 mile race this weekend. I couldn't imagine doing it 9 times more!

 

[6thElement]

Those are just the preliminary results. There were 46 in my field alone. So probably 70 all together in the 100 mile race. It was definitely one of the lowest attended 100 mile races this season.

Ouch at only 70 participants. What was the course terrain like compared to the others?

I'm still trying to decide what my racing will be next year and doing the other NUE's was a consideration. Cohutta, Mohican and Wilderness have been fun this year, but I always like riding somewhere new

 

[ryderX]

I'm amazed at the low turn out for this race. What's up with that? SM 100 will most likely be sellout this year. I wonder if the summer weather in Georgia had anything to do with it ?
http://www.55nine.com/sites/default/files/100_09.htm

 

[jbogner]

Southerners are soft.

 

[southernerinnj]

HEY HEY HEY now!

 

[jbogner]

HEY HEY HEY now!

I thought southerners had a better sense of humor? *

Looks like they had 250+ people total registered for the Fool's Gold (not bad), but the majority raced the 50 mile option so the 100 numbers were smaller than they otherwise might have been...





* note- I was born and raised in the South, went to college in the South, and am simply making self-deprecating jokes for humorous effect, even if that's not always apparent here on teh interwebz.

 

[southernerinnj]

Thats ok I was in your neck of the woods this weekend and figured you New Yorkers didn't know what a joke was? So I took it as such. *


If I was offended by southerner jokes I would be in a NJ jail by now.

I thought southerners had a better sense of humor? *

Looks like they had 250+ people total registered for the Fool's Gold (not bad), but the majority raced the 50 mile option so the 100 numbers were smaller than they otherwise might have been...





* note- I was born and raised in the South, went to college in the South, and am simply making self-deprecating jokes for humorous effect, even if that's not always apparent here on teh interwebz.

 

[xc62701]

Ouch at only 70 participants. What was the course terrain like compared to the others?

I'm still trying to decide what my racing will be next year and doing the other NUE's was a consideration. Cohutta, Mohican and Wilderness have been fun this year, but I always like riding somewhere new

The course was about half singletrack/half fireroad and a 10 mile fire road climb followed by another 10 mile singletrack climb and the remainder of the course was short ups and downs on rutted clay, hardpack dirt, loose sand and some wicked fast descents. It was pretty fun until you hit mile 50 and then realized you have to do it all over again.

 

[xc62701]

So 10th place then. Good job man. That's still great.

I'm struggling with the idea of doing 1.5 more dh40 races. 1 was hard enough. How the heck do I go from 40 to 100?

Close your eyes and pedal hard.

Actually I don't think it's as big of a leap as you may think. The best way to find out is to just jump in and give it a try. You basically have to race aid station to aid station and not worry about the whole race in one big chunk. Just many xc races in a row.

 

[Ron]

Congrats on a great day of riding saturday.

 

[RNG1]

Wow man this is hard to conceive after doing the 40. Great job. I had these thoughts of aiming for the Mohican next year, with my ass still sore from Sunday that is a tough thought right now. Coincidently I also had to do the race with a seized fork. How would you place the Mohican race against this course description you just did?

 

[6thElement]

Wow man this is hard to conceive after doing the 40. Great job. I had these thoughts of aiming for the Mohican next year, with my ass still sore from Sunday that is a tough thought right now. Coincidently I also had to do the race with a seized fork. How would you place the Mohican race against this course description you just did?

The Mohican is probably the best 100 course I've done, waiting to see what Shenandoah is like in a few weeks time.

 

[xc62701]

How would you place the Mohican race against this course description you just did?

The mohican is still by far my favorite. The singletrack is just so much more flowy and fun. The GA stuff was good but it was either descending really quickly or climbing some really eroded stuff. It wasn't that prolonged. There was a lot of good singletrack but not in any great length. The Mohican starts off with 25 miles of beautiful uninterupted singletrack and then has more peppered in after that. It's really an amazing course.

 

[RNG1]

So is it correct to assume that these 100s are not like H2h courses just tons longer? Is the singletrack that you describe on the Mohican like h2h techy singletrack for 25 miles?

 

[xc62701]

So is it correct to assume that these 100s are not like H2h courses just tons longer? Is the singletrack that you describe on the Mohican like h2h techy singletrack for 25 miles?

Well they are and they aren't. For the most part they are a good mix of fireroads and singletrack with some pavement thrown in(minimal). For example I'd say Mohican is about 50% single/doubletrack and 50% fireroad whereas Cohutta is 30% singletrack and 70% fireroad(gravel death). You'll hit sections in the Wilderness 101 where it's pretty much wawayanda or ringwood rock gardens for as long as a normal xc race, then you'll have to ride 70 or 80 miles of other terrain. And remember that most of the xc races gain somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000-3,000' of vert, whereas the 100 milers gain between 11,000 to 16,000' of vert. That's where the pain comes in. They are definitely a challenge to finish, nevermind actually race.

Oh and the singletrack at Mohican is comparable to 25 miles of KVSP terrain wise.