Finally it’s time to write a brief recap of the Shenandoah 100 that I completed over Labor Day weekend. Wow, I can’t believe it was that long ago! I’ve been really busy at school, but things are going so well and I am really enjoying my new position as the Beahvior Support Teacher (BST).

All I can say about the Shenandoah 100 is that is was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’ve never finished a ride/race and felt sore and tender to the touch EVERYWHERE. My arms, shoulders, neck, legs, fingers, toes, butt, core… you NAME it and it hurt. No lie.

My hands started to give out on me the last several miles of the ride. They would cramp up anytime I applied the brakes. I just thought to myself, “dear LORD, please just let me brake so I can survive this single track downhill… I’ll be finished soon, hands JUST WORK please!!!”

Yeah, it’s pretty bad when you start talking to your hands during a race.

And I was also thinking about the Seinfeld sketch where he talks about scubadiving and sings the song, “Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die… There’s a fish, there’s a rock, who cares! Don’t Die, don’t die, don’t die!!!” Yeah, all the rocks and descending had me thinking “don’t die”… HA!

The course was awesome though. I loved all the climbing and the singletrack was challenging. It was cool to crawl up those singletrack climbs and pass people walking. Just to be able to ride that stuff was an accomplishment for me.

There was a 20 mile gravel road climb at about mile 60 or so. This section does in most riders. Mentally it’s hard to keep pushing up this long climb, and there’s no singletrack to make it more interesting or anything like that. I love gravel road climbs. I don’t know why. I just keep looking ahead, keep pushing, and I can stay extremely focused. Which is odd. Oh well… who ever said that I was normal??

I started passing a lot of people on this climb, and one guy that I passed stayed with me for the majority of the climb. He ended up introducing himself to me at the top, and thanking me for helping him up the climb. I just told him that he did all the work himself, and he definitely helped keep me going too!! So it was nice to have a person to “help” me get to the top.

After finishing that climb, my legs were completely trashed. We still had 20 miles or so left to ride though! That was when everything started shutting down, and any little rise really hurt.

However, the cool thing was that I could still crawl up the steep climbs when everyone else was walking. I think that this endurance mountain bike thing could be my style, we’ll see. I plan on doing more next year. I think for whatever reason my body is designed to tolerate long endurance challenges and it takes punishment really well. I suppose I’m lucky?? HAHAHAHAHAAHA… oh jeez!

What have I gotten myself in to? Now I’m already looking at the NUE (National Ultra Endurace) Series and looking at what 100’s I can do next year.

Not to mention the Xterra’s and other mountain bike races I want to do. Agh, I’m going to be busy!

For now, I’ve got a couple more endurance mountain bike races I’m going to do and some cyclocross races. Fall is definitely here, and I’m loving it!!! This is my favorite time of the year…. cross country, mountain biking, cyclocross… can it get any better?