Note: I apologize for
the lack of race pictures. I’ll add them
in as the event posts them.
The Wildcat 100 is an endurance mountain bike race festival
that takes place in Wawarsing, NY. There
are 50K, 100K, 100 mile options for racers to choose from. This race made sense for me this year because I had a work trip in Washington, DC the week before the race, so I could drive down with my bike and catch the race on the way home. By driving down, it would also allow me to check out the course on my trip down, which is something that I would not do otherwise. So… I packed up the car with work costumes, bike
stuff, dogs, and other essentials and took off for Washington, DC with a quick stop planned for Wawarsing, NY.
Nano is helping navigate through traffic
While the countryside in that part of NY state was absolutely beautiful, I've never seen anything quite like Wawarsing, NY. I say this becasue nestled in the beauty of hills and open pastures... there are establishments that double (triple?) as
Chinese restaurants/acupuncture/massage parlors, “convenience stores”/gas
stations that do not accept credit cards, farm stands that do not
sell vegetables (they seem to only carry breads, pies, and flowers), and lots of sketchy motels.
I've never seen this before
The motels was of particular interest to me
because I needed a place to keep the dogs while I was racing… and with projected
daytime high temperatures in the upper 80s…
the back of my car was not an option.
Furthermore, upon my arrival to the Lippman Park, I learned that dogs are
not welcome at the race venue… so I had to scrap the preride. With the main reason for the Wawarsing stop being squashed, I diverted
my focus to finding dog friendly lodging for race weekend.
I walked into the front office of the least sketchy looking of the motels and had the following conversation with the woman working at the front desk:
Me: Good afternoon! Do you allow dogs?
Her: Yes, for a fee.
Me: Fantastic … I’d like a room for next Friday
and Saturday nights please.
Her: Roommate?
Me: No ma’am… it’s just going to be me… and the
dogs
Her: But would you like a roommate?
(Was she asking me if I wanted a prostitute? I must find out!)
Me: How much does the room cost?
Her: 40 dollars per night, plus the 10 dollars per
night for the dogs
Me: And with a roommate?
Her: 35 dollars per night, plus 10 for the dogs.
(Nope… not offering a prostitute… just offering an opportunity to save 5 bucks by sharing
a room with a total stranger… )
Me: Uh… I think I’ll just stay there alone… with
the dogs
I had a feeling that this was
going to be a special race!
Tell me... exactly where would the roommate sleep?
OK… Fast forward to race day: After a 1 AM arrival to Wawarsing, I peeled
myself out of bed at 0530, which gave me just enough time to get to the venue, pick up my race
packet, eat a bit of breakfast, build my bike, pack my drop bags, and fill my
water bottles before the 0645 start time.
The race started with a 1.5 mile escorted rolling convoy led by a man (we'll call him "convoy man") who was screaming and driving a truck that eats Jeeps as snacks. Because I had no interest in getting
bleary eyed early on to keep up with the skinny fast guys, I used this as
an opportunity to warm up a bit, and I fell back into the second pack of
riders. The first 6 or so miles were a
pretty steady climb on dirt/camp roads before we hit some pretty gnarly
singletrack sections. Racing a single speed,
this meant a lot of standing efforts, which allowed me to pick off quite a few
geared riders, but forced me to reach into “the tank” a bit more than I should
have. We were then rewarded with an
awesome, gnarly, technical descent (think UMaine race loop roots on the side of
a 1.5 mile long hill). Having never ridden these trails before, I was
a bit cautious on the descent, but I was still able to keep it moving pretty well.
From there, we were dumped into a 7 mile section of purpose built
singletrack, which kept me grinning like an idiot for about an hour.
As I rolled through the aid station, convoy man was getting the riders fired up for the next climb… it turns out… he
wasn’t kidding. The next 15 miles were uphill. Parts were smooth and
easy(ish), other parts were washed out and traction was hard to come by. It was also getting hot. I had no choice but to keep grinding along,
and hope that it ended soon (though it
was pretty satisfying to pass riders that had downshifted and were
spinning easy). At some point, my focus
broke when I realized that I was on the verge of passing out… a quick
glance at my heart rate monitor showed that I was bouncing between 188 and 192
bpm, which is pretty close to "red line" for me... and certainly not where I want to be in a 62 mile race. Crap. This was not good! I hopped off my bike and started hiking in an
attempt to catch my breath and suck down fluids.
Some short time later, I reached the top of the course, where I refilled
my bottles and kept rolling. The descent
was through a relatively new and raw trail system, which included rough snowmobile trails and even rougher
streambeds. During this descent, there were several racers (mostly "fast skinny guys") pulled off the trail resting/stretching
their forearms.... It seems to me that their situation could be avoiding by eating a couple of cheeseburgers and adding some pushups to their training regimen. It was also worth
pointing out that convoy man had found his way into the the woods where he was screaming at riders to “get
some” during some of the sketchier sections.
(Who is this guy? He seems to be everywhere! Is he a motivational figment of my imagination? Regardless, he was fantastic and always a welcome sight).
I’ll be honest… at this point, I was 50 miles
in… and I don’t remember much about the last 12, except that I remember being overly paranoid that someone was
going to pass me… and that in the moment it was very important
that I didn't let it happen...so I was pedaling my brains out. I also
remember that the race ended on the same purpose built single track that we had
ridden on in an earlier part of the race… and that I seemed to be riding it much faster (almost
recklessly so) this second time around. The
race ended with about a 100 meter section of gravel, and I was greeted by
spectators and volunteers who were quick to get me anything I needed (I’m
pretty sure that I looked like hell).
Roached
Overall, the race was a success. I ended up getting 11th
place overall for the 100k race, and 1st place in the single speed
class. It is my understanding that a lot
of people blew up on the climb and bailed when the temperature started rising. 62 miles, 7700 feet of climbing, gnarly
descents, and a daytime high of 91
degrees … this race was no joke
General Notes:
This was a well-organized event. Aid stations were stocked, technical support
was arranged for. Post race beer/bbq was
plentiful… everyone had a great time. By
having the event in a public park… park goers because spectators. Well done!
My hat goes off to crazy convoy guy… it turns out that he is
the head of the local mountain bike chapter, and he has been spending MONTHS in
the woods with a chainsaw just to rid of the blowdowns for this event. I think he expended as much energy screaming at the racers as I did pedaling. His post race beers were well deserved!
Hot races are hard.
People dropped like flies… and NOBODY made the checkpoint cutoffs for
the 100 mile race… including a multiple time winner of the Mt. Washington Hill
Climb.
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