New Hampshire 100

[Jake]

At about mile 55 I came out of the woods onto a road with a  women standing and pointing me in the right direction. She said "some people have described this race as epic, what do you think?". I told her I I would describe it as "ouch".

Ouch was the story of the race, I'm not sure I felt good at any point. The start was miles of downhill that we pace lined. I quickly cramped up in my stomach on both sides and by the time we came down the ski area my breakfast had come back up. I went to take a drink from my Camelbak and it was plugged so I suffered by with water in my bottle until the rest area where I deemed the Camelbak useless and dumbed the contents since I didn't need any extra weight.

Francis had passed me while drafting some pro shortly after the start  and Tom came up after that. I stuck with Tom for a while and we passed Francis fixing a flat. I would loose Tom on the up and catch him on the flat. I took a wrong turn (the first of 2) and Francis caught back up and passed me. I figured that was the last I would see of him, it was actually the last I would see of anyone for about 15 miles. I chugged along at my own pace thinking to myself that gears sure makes things easy on the uphills, but they also make you slow. I was always more then willing to sit down, pop it into granny gear and spin my way up the hill. It was a luxury I hadn't experienced in a long time.

Miles 35 to 55 passed so SLOW. I would be thinking in my head that I had covered 7 or 8 miles and it would turn out to be 2 miles. It was so dejecting and at one point I convinced myself my brake must be rubbing, only to check and find it wasn't my brake it was my legs telling my brain that they were done peddling.

As I came up to the last aid station I couldn't believe what I saw; it was Francis just pulling out. I really needed water, but decided I wanted to catch up the Francis more. As I rode up a women asked what I wanted and I said "Gatorade on the go!" She handed me a small cup that I quickly dumped in my mouth and I started cranking away to close the gap. In a few hundred feet I caught up and we rode the rest of the race together. I think it was just what each of us needed because we pushed each other up the last few hills and to the finish. The last bit of the race was around a gravel 1/4 mile track. Francis had positioned himself well drafting on my rear wheel. I knew he would sit and wait to pull out just at the end so I just put it into the big ring and started cranking as hard as I could so he would have to work to pass me. as we hit the last 50 yards I could see his front tire creeping up on my left. It was getting closer and closer until we crossed the finish line with it about 1 inch behind my tire.

At 6:41 minutes it was the longest Mountain Bike race I have ever done. I finished in 7th in Expert Senior II, which was fine by me because after mile 30 all I wanted to do was finish.

[Tom]

The hype leading up to the race that is was lacking in singletrack and had a lot of flat rail road grade, dirt road and even some pavement. I took this to mean that it would be a fast, easy course - perhaps a nice cruise on some rolling dirt roads and trails through the rolling Southern New Hampshire countryside - don't believe the hype! The Hampshire 100 was one of the harder races I've done, Yes, there were some easy miles but the majority of them were on a loose sandy rail trail, there was also a ton of rutted, rocky, ugly, loose, branch in the face quad tracks. Within the context of a 62 mile race the sum of all those things are gonna wear on you.

The start of the race was hilarious. They sent all the single speeders off in the same wave and we were supposed to ride half way around a dirt track on the edge of the field and then exit out on to the road. What happened was there was no-one at the turn so we all made a big loop around the field and ended up back at the start behind the next wave of riders ready to go out. After some heckleling by the other riders someone figured out where we were supposed to go and we all rode across the field to the road. It was no big deal and I got a good laugh out of the situation.

The race started on some dirt roads just spinning along as fast as I could turn them over and then it hit some rail road grades with tracks still stuck in the ground. I managed to stay on the sliver of dirt between the tracks and the drop off from the embankment but did manage to whack my foot against one of the ties,  ouch. After a short climb about half way up Crotched mountain ski area I caught up to Jake and passed Francis fixing a flat. We rode together for a while and eventually caught Glen on yet another pancake flat sandy former rail road grade (this one had the tracks removed) It was good to be in with a group of riders on this part since it meant I could go pretty fast in their draft. After the rail road grade ended we hit some of that ugly double track I mentioned and I eventually I lost contact with Jake. I'm not sure when I last saw Glen, but it was after a major hike-a-bike up a big powerline cut. 

At this point in the race I wasn't sure of my place but I knew I was doing pretty well because I had gotten ahead of all the other single speeders I was riding with at the start. For a while there was another single speed guy riding with us and another one slighly behind that kept catching up to me whenever there was a hike a bike. Eventually I lost contact with the guy riding with us but I would see him later on.

The middle of the race was pretty uneventful. There were a few knee high water crossings through flooded out beaver ponds, I got stung (again) on the leg by a bee and I was chased by a herd of vicious miniature pinchers - standard stuff you come across everyday in New Hampshire. Actually I have not been up this way a whole lot and was surprised to see that this part of the state seems very remote despite being only a 45 minute drive from Nashua and North Suburban Boston. We passed by many attractive homes and farms but also a fair amount of shacks and seemingly abandoned homes deep in the woods or at the ends of badly eroded dirt roads. At times I could hear the banjos picking...

At mile 45 I knew there wasn't much more to go so I turned the jets on and was surprised to see three other single speeders a head on a dirt road.  I passed these three guys, and then was eventually passed again by one of them when the road turned back into a trail. I wasn't too concerned about the person in front of me because he was going pretty fast and honestly I didn't think I could do that pace, however I spent the rest of the race running thinking I was about to be caught any minute by one of the others. Although it was a little stressful this was probably a good thing for me.  I have a tendency to slow down when I end up riding alone and I need to remind myself to stay focused and keep putting in a maintainable effort. In addition to this I figured there was a good chance I was in second or third place, so that was motivation to keep riding hard too.

I was pretty much alone for the rest of the race with the exception of the very last mile where I mistakenly thought one of the other single speeders in a blue jersey had caught me. At that point I really poured it and figured if he was going to catch up it wouldn't be due to a lack of trying on my part. When I emerged from the woods and got back onto the same dirt track around the field we started out on I was surprised to see there was no one behind me as far as I could see. Turns out this dude was on geared bike...duh. I rolled into the finish in 3rd place single speed time of 6:06:29.

Overall the race went  pretty well. Couldn't have asked for better weather and hanging out with everyone camping, drinking beer, eating cookies and keeping warm by the red hot coals on my portable grill  was a lot of fun. I'm happy with my third place finish but at the same time realize that it's all about who shows up - I can think of several really fast guys if who were there would have easily  been ahead of me. That said you just do your best and let it work out however it does so I'll take it.

[francis]

The last bit of the race was around a gravel 1/4 mile track. Francis had positioned himself well drafting on my rear wheel. I knew he would sit and wait to pull out just at the end so I just put it into the big ring and started cranking as hard as I could so he would have to work to pass me. as we hit the last 50 yards I could see his front tire creeping up on my left. It was getting closer and closer until we crossed the finish line with it about 1 inch behind my tire.

Jake, I was laughing that whole time while you were pedaling like crazy. Since I had been drafting you that whole time, I felt that I could have passed you, but since you worked so hard, I tried to come as close as possible without passing you. It would have been a jerk move to try to pass you, but it was worth it for both of us because I think we beat some people in other age groups by a few seconds, and it was pretty funny for me too!

[francis]

I started in the fourth wave, and lucky for us, the two elite riders who were supposed to start in the first wave ended up starting with us. A bunch of us drafted the guy and we caught up to Jake, Glenn, and Tim's wave in no time. The trail soon started to go along a railroad track. We were riding along the between the ends of the railroad ties and a small drop off. Andy was in front of me when he clipped one of the ties with the pedal and went right over the side into the brush. A little scary.

Things were going well until I got a flat around mile 10. Jake, Glenn, and Tim passed me while I was fixing it, and Tom passed me. I only realized after the race that they had done an extra lap at the start. Pretty funny. I tried to catch up to everyone, and I caught a glimpse of Glenn leaving the the third aid station as I pulled in. I pulled off my long sleeve shirt and flatted tube and left them there. As I was leaving I thought I saw Jake, but I didn't remember passing him.

At the big hike up the power trails, I thought I saw Glenn, and I caught up to him and Tim sometime later. Glen dropped me and Tim for a moment, but I powered back and caught up to him, leaving Tim behind. I was riding pretty aggressively all day on the down hills and able to put a small gap on Glenn, which he would eliminate on the up hills. I guess I was a bit too aggressive, because I got another flat at mile 44. Luckily I had two tubes and extra CO2. Unfortunately, I left the inflater with my shirt! Tim caught up to me and left me his pump. I decided I was going to put as much air as possible into that rear tire. I probably got about 30psi when a good samaritan lent me his inflater and I put as much pressure as I dared.

After that, I was a bit dejected and was probably riding a bit slower than I could. I probably lost about 15 minutes fixing flats. At the last aid station I took a peanut butter and honey sandwich. That was the best food I had all day. I almost went back for another one. As I was about to head back into the trails, I hear "gatorade on the run." I thought, "who the heck is taking Gatorade on the run in a 100K race." Then I realized it was Jake who was just trying to catch up with me.

I was psyched to ride with Jake for the rest of the race. I definitely picked up the pace once we were riding together. Some of the last sections were pretty nice singletrack. I had a lot more fun than the previous section. I would definitely do this race again, maybe with tubeless tires or notubes and lots of pressure for the downhills.

[Scotty K]

Started out with about 15 other Sport Vet II's and was feeling really good.  The first 2-3 miles were a good warm up and 5 of us just paced everyone else.  Passed Frank at mile 4, which sent him into cursing fits about thinking it would be longer before I passed him.  Caught Michelle and Junko soon after.  Road with Reenie for awhile and let her draft off of me.  Was feeling loose, rested and energized and kept passing people.  About mile 15 was going down one of the torn up double track/fire road sections when Brian Nash passed me on the left, made a joke about "I'm going for the win!" and I looked up and laughed.  I look down and right in front of me is a 20 ft fallen branch at a 45 degree angle to the trail.  My front tire slid out and I went down, spraining my ankle.  Screamed and let out F-bombs like crazy.  GNasher road back and Reenie caught up not much afterward.  I walked around so knew it wasn't broken, and the crazy thing was I did not have a scratch on me.  Road to the next rest stop, took off my shoe and sock, and it was already swelling up.  Got an ice bag but my race was done.  Was somewhere in the top 5 when it happened.

At the rest stop, one of the Seven cycles guys was having back problems, so one of the volunteers helped us put our Ti bikes into the back of his beater pickup, drove us back to the start/finish area.  We reported in, packed up our stuff and drove back to Boston together, talking about bikes the whole time.

Still recovering from the ankle 2 weeks later

Was having fun before the accident, but it sounds like I missed some hellish sections, and camping out was fun the night before.  Will need to think about next year

[littlebyke]

I guess I forgot to post this earlier. Basically, it sucked. Besides the fact that I had just gotten over a stomach bug and not eaten for four days I could not believe how bad I felt after this race. I never ever want to feel like that again. The trails were so bad that at mile 59 I'd had enough. I asked how to get to the finish area by way of the road (hoping it was all downhill) and one of the kind female volunteers said she could give me a ride. I quickly said where's your car and pointed my bike in that direction. Yes, it would have been a good plug to come thru the finishline with yet another Blesso Consulting body flag but throwing in the towel seemed like the best option for me at the time. Apparently I missed the only sweet singletrack the course had to offer. Happily this won't be on my to do list next year.

Michelle