Let’s just say that when Broussard and myself arrived at the
Elk River Touring Center last Friday the scene was quite chill and instead of doing the logical thing and going for a quick spin to warm the legs up and get familiar with the terrain I opted for the illogical option and had a few beers while tuning up my bike.
Bikeways had come through in time with my wheel and I made a few minor brake adjustments and Zach fiddled with his fancy gears. Before I knew it a few beers had turned into many and as midnight rolled around the pile of empties was staggering. Somewhere along the way we had enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the inn’s restaurant so we at least had a little nutrition.
My alarm went off at six and all I could think was perhaps the festivities might have been better saved for the night after the race. Half a bagel and a Redbull later and I was ready to race. A little hurry up and wait and then we were given our maps and I heard Zach say the first checkpoint was up Props Run. A group of fast looking guys immediately took off up the trail and I quickly followed suit. Props is an eight mile trail that gains 1900′. For the most part it was gradual and the only problems I was having was dealing with all the mud - it had been awhile since I’d ridden a wet trail. After an hour and a quarter I reached checkpoint one and was thinking it wasn’t so bad and feeling pretty good about the day. I stopped for a second at the checkpoint and took a first glance at the map, located checkpoint two and figured my best option would be to follow someone who looked like they knew what they were doing.
Checkpoint two was on Tea Creek and on the gravel road on the way to the trail I caught a rider and we chatted for a bit. He said that it was his fourth year doing the race and he seemed confident that he knew his way around. I did my best to hold his wheel but once the trail got technical and tricky he pulled ahead. A short while later I encountered Zach and a group of riders who were all looking decidedly lost. After weighing our options I backtracked with Zach and we found a somewhat hidden turn and then quickly hit checkpoint two. Zach pulled ahead of me on the climb back out to the road and I settled in for what was sure to be a long day in the saddle.
Checkpoint three was Gay Sharp Knob. Zach had warned me about this one and had provided me with specific directions on how to bushwhack/navigate my way to it as the trail is hard to find and/or follow. My navigation problems began on Crooked Fork trail when there were a few unexpected turns that were not marked on the map. I slowly made my way down to the road and then across the highway to the road that lead to Gay Sharp. It was at this point I decided to pull out my compass and put it around my neck even though I really don’t know how to use it. At the beginning of the road a coed team caught me and told me they did the race last year and knew their way to the checkpoint and I decided to follow them instead of Zach’s directions. Well, they knew where the trail started and then after a short bit seemed confused and we proceeded to bushwhack our way across an impossible cow path for way too long. We were nowhere near where we should have been and instead of backtracking I kept following them. This was a mistake of epic proportions and easily cost me over an hour and took a whole lot more energy than it should have. We eventually made the checkpoint and I immediately left - I wanted nothing more to do with Gay Sharp Knob.
Checkpoint four was back in the Tea Creek Canyon and to get there we would have to take two separate trails that crisscrossed highway 150. On the climb up 150 I passed a road on the right thinking it might be the trail and started to turn down it but then a car came driving out of it and I turned around and continued climbing 150 figuring that it couldn’t have been the trail. 150 was a good climb but paved and I was feeling good and ready to get back on track after Gay Sharp and I had my map spread out on the handlebars studying where I was going for the first time and trying to guess where Checkpoint six was going to be. After awhile I reached the Little Laurel Overlook and realized that I missed the trail by a long way! Shit! I couldn’t believe it. A lot more lost time and an unnecessary big climb taboot! A rider had been following me and I told him of our mistake as I passed him but he said he wasn’t turning around. I don’t know if he decided to quit the race or if he went on out of bounds and don’t really care. I wanted to finish by the rules so I turned back and made my way to Red Spruce Trail.
On Red Spruce I really started to feel bad. The long paved climb had been hot and left me with a headache and I realized I’d hardly been eating all day. I was at the point in the race where if I could have quit I would have but first I had to get to a good spot to quit so I had no choice but to push on. After entirely too long but not as long as it could have been I hit 150 again and then crossed over onto the next trail. I caught back up to the coed team I had met on the way to Gay Sharp and told them of my mistake of climbing 150. It was nice to have some company so I fell in behind them and tried to take it easy and get over the headache and the doubts I’d been having. We quickly hit Gauley Mountain and I was feeling good again and took off as fast as my singlespeed would let me.
Checkpoint four was on Red Run - a very technical trail that took every bit of concentration not to crash on. I actually managed to ride most of the trail and only had to dismount for a few of the nastiest stretches. Somewhere along the way I met a rider climbing it and he recognized me from the local bike club. He wasn’t racing, just visiting, and we chatted for a bit before I quickly pushed on. Somewhere along this trail my bike started making some really bad noises but I decided my best option was to ignore it and pushed on into checkpoint four. Once I got to the checkpoint I talked to the guys there about the different trail options I had: I could either climb Right Fork to Tea Creek Mountain and then get a killer descent down to the next checkpoint or I could take Tea Creek would would pretty much be a wet hike. After much deliberation and with the help of the guys manning the checkpoint I figured my fastest option was to stomp my way through the creek.
I got down to the first trail intersection and changed my mind. I decided I had to hit the Tea Creek Mountain downhill even if it took longer than Tea Creek would. It turned out that Right Fork was ridable and I made fast work up to the top of the mountain. Tea Creek Mountain was everything I had remembered it to be. It drops 1600′ in just a couple of miles. Fast Fast Fast! My bike was still making bad noises and I was still ignoring them and simply bombing the downhill. I had to stop a few times briefly to shake out my hands but made it to checkpoint five in just about a hour after leaving checkpoint four.
I spent a little time at checkpoint five. I knew I wasn’t winning the race by any stretch and wanted to make sure I was prepared to hit checkpoint six which they informed me was the same as one - the top of Props Run. After a few gatorades and sodas I pulled out and up Bannock Shoals. On this long climb I noticed that my bike seemed to have stopped making its noises and also admired how much travel my rigid fork had. After a long while the trail spit me out onto a gravel road where I spent a long time spinning very slowly past many mines and all types of other stuff we don’t have here in WNC. I eventually made my way down to a crossroads where the people getting five checkpoints turned right and all the six checkpoint folks turned left. Gil, the race promoter was hanging out there with some water and stuff and we chatted for a bit. As I was getting ready to pull out he took a look at my bike and said: “Dude, your frame is broken!”
“Dude, your frame is broken,” is not exactly what you want to hear almost 11 hours into a race with another checkpoint still to go. I was literally at a crossroads. What to do? Bag it at take a ride back? Take the short route and get five checkpoints? Push on and get all six? I talked to Gil about it and he asked: “Do you want to finish?”
I said yes, I didn’t come all this way to come up short. I told him I had a light with me and would ride the gravel slowly and carefully and then would walk/run the eight mile Props run downhill and off I went. I was still a long way from the top of Props and knew in order to make it back I would have to ride some so I took it very, very slow and carefully. It was the type of gravel climb where I would have loved to just hammer my trusty stead had had enough and I had to play along. It took me almost an hour to get to Props and I thought several times along the way I was lost but I made it there. When I hit checkpoint six nobody was there and it was right at about the twelve hour mark.
Eight miles is a long way to go on a broken frame. I tried to run but that wasn’t working. I thought about ditching the bike but that seemed stupid. So I walked on and rode whenever the trail was straight and buff, rarely more than 20 yards at a time. I hike a lot and knew that eight miles would take hours and it did. I had my ipod on and was singing along to the Talking Heads and Railroad Earth just trying to keep myself occupied. Since I was moving so slowly I decided I might as well clean up all the trash other racers had inadvertently dropped. Eventually it got dark and I pulled out my emergency headlamp and rode on slowly. A little while later I thought for sure I spotted a bonfire down at the touring center but it was just the full moon playing tricks on me.
After two hours on Props Run I finally made it to the finish. Broussard was there and first to congratulate me on sticking out the finish. When I pulled around to the kegs thunderous applause greeted me. I guess word had made it out I was finishing on a broken frame. I grabbed a beer and then a plate of some yummy food and sat around for a bit soaking it all in.
The Wild 100 was everything I thought it would be and more than I could have ever imagined. Epic? Sure, why not. They have a really good thing going at the Elk River Touring Center and I will definitely be back for next year’s race if not sooner!
