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Shenandoah 100 - Virginia
Posted by: Shannon Boffeli
|October 10, 2011 2:10 AM
 Shenandoah 100 - National Ultra Endurance #11 Christian Tanguy Takes Shenandoah 100 and Series Title
Written By: Ryan O’Dell Remnants of Tropical Storm Lee brought soaking
rains into a region that was already water-logged from hurricane Irene,
however, not before the NUE Series Finale wrapped up its fifth epic season in
The George Washington National Forest of Virginia.
The Shenandoah 100, a highly
anticipated one hundred mile showdown that would ultimately decide who would be
the NUE Men’s Open and Masters Division Champions included shakeups in every
division followed by unrivaled post-race race festivities that carried on well
into the evening but, for one NUE Series Contender from Michigan, it would be a
day that threatened to forever change his life.
Women’s
Open
Sornson
pulls out all the stops, winning the biggest race of the NUE Series
While Amanda Carey (Kenda/Felt) celebrated
her second straight NUE Series victory and the win at the Park City Point to
Point on Saturday, another thirty six deep, talented women’s field made the
journey to Virginia on Sunday for a final opportunity to improve their series
standing.
2008 NUE Women’s Champion, Cheryl
Sornson (Team CF), has never failed to take the podium at every race she finished
this year, including wins at the Mohican 100 and the Fool’s Gold 100.
According to Sornson, "The race was
awesome and epic as Shenandoah 100 always delivers. This year lots of the
trails were improved and more enjoyable than ever to climb and bomb down. On the flip side, some areas were wet and
freshly graded which made things a bit slow, especially the hanky climb.
Going into the race I was very positive
and determined to enjoy my ride. I
started out very conservative and planned to pick up the pace as I warmed
up. Vicky, Karen and I were together
until the road section leading to climb two. I believe they were on the train leading to the single track but a few
riders back. I was relieved to go into
the climb first and that is when I got a gap and never saw them again.
Not knowing what the gap was, I did
need to keep the gas on for the whole race. Fortunately, I felt good and, although it was very hot, I managed to
hydrate and fuel well without distress. The aid station volunteers at this race
were beyond amazing. Every rider is
treated like gold and the hand offs and assistance given is first class.”
According to race director, Chris
Scott, "Vicki Barclay (Freeze Thaw/Stans NoTubes) was able to put her back pain
aside for the first two mountains, challenging Sornson for the victory before yielding
to sharp pain that would shoot from her backside without any rhyme or reason
eventually causing her to pull out of the event.”
In the end, it was Sornson who would claim her third victory of the year, the only woman to finish in sub nine at 8:49:43, and in the process, second place overall in the NUE Series. As Sornson rode away from the pack, another battle was brewing for the final podium position. Brenda Simril (Motor Mile) and Karen Potter (MTBRaceNews.com/zaboo29), rivals last season as well, went down on the death climb. Simril led out of Braley Pond, aid station four, but was overtaken by Potter who held onto the second spot until the finish, 9:01:43. However, Simril managed to stay close enough to finish third. As a result, Simril earns the third NUE Series podium spot with Potter taking 4th overall. With
Vicki Barclay dropping out, Andrea Wilson, who finished eighth on the day,
moved into fifth place overall in the NUE Standings. As an added bonus for
being the only woman to complete the series on a singlespeed, Wilson received
her own bottle of champagne, celebrating by shaking it up and spraying over any
and all men who dared to stand nearby. She encouraged women to give singlespeed
a try next season.
Mens Open Tanguy
fights for the win at Shenandoah, obtaining his first NUE Series Title
For three time defending NUE Series Champion, Jeff Schalk, this race would very well be his final ride as the marque "Trek Racing" professional endurance specialist before he begins his third career next week, the second time as an engineer. No other racer has claimed three
straight NUE Series wins yet, for Schalk, the consummate professional, one more
win would elevate the bar even higher for those that would follow and it would
allow him to go out on top as the undisputed reigning endurance champion, following
what was has arguably been the most difficult title defense of his pro racing
career.
For Christian Tanguy (Team CF),
Shenandoah represented one final opportunity to obtain his first NUE Series
victory since he will likely be absent for many years to come, and could be
potentially "retired" from the NUE Series, with a move overseas to
pursue his career as an engineer in China.
Schalk and Tanguy both entered the race
tied with four points, each having at least four wins in this "best four of
eleven” series. With all ties broken here, both racers realized that the entire
series was on the line, each as highly motivated as the other to make this
final one hundred mile journey the greatest of their racing career.
According to race Director Chris Scott,
Chris "Chas" Michaels (American Classic/Kenda/Tomac) led it out on
his home course like a champ up Narrowback Mountain with his teammate Robert
Marion (American Classic/Kenda/Tomac) in tow. "Chas" let Schalk,
Tanguy, and Michael Simonson (RBS Trek MTB Team) pull through and lead into the
singletrack at the tower while the sun rose over Virginia's Shenandoah Valley
below.
The lead group of more than ten hit
Tillman Road at mach speed! Schalk and Tanguy displayed their determination as
they pounded it, trading pulls at the front leading into Lynn Trail that was
just freshened up last weekend by the Bridgewater College Cross Country team,
while everyone just tried to hang on.
Schalk and Tanguy escaped on the super
steep Lynn trail ascent and took a left at the top of the mountain on Wolf
Ridge Trail. The trail had been eagerly awaiting this event since October 2010
when Trail Dynamics rerouted the bottom half of the trail onto a sustainable
alignment, removing it from a super steep fall line route that is considered a
legacy trail or an old logging road or fire line ridge top access road.
The reroute is the result of five years
of collaboration between the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition, The United
States Forest Service with leadership planning assistance from the
International Mountain Bicycling Association. The trail was completed as a small
part of the SVBC North River Trail Restoration Grant funded by the Department
of Transportation FHWA Recreational Trail Program.
Sam Koerber (Trek 29er Crew) was easily
able to bridge up the Wolf Ridge Trail as it flowed down to Tillman Road. Kevin
Carter (Gripped Films) caught on just as the leading trio was about to escape
for good on Tillman Road.
Following down Wolf Ridge trail was
"THE" chase group consisting of Brandon Drauglis (Team CF), Greg Kuhn
and Mike Simonson (RBS Trek MTB Team), Chris Beck (Team CF), Jens Nielsen
(Sport System), and Jonathan Schotttler (Michelob Ultra/ Big Shark) with
Matthew Baily (Trek 29er Crew) and Chris Michaels following just thirty seconds
back.
The lead group of four stayed together
until the steeps on the death climb when the Schalk/Tanguy dual commenced.
Schalk was feeling strong and increased the tempo disposing first of Kevin
Clark with Koerber soon to fall off. Tanguy sat on patiently for Schalk's acceleration
and then responded with his own attack. Schalk was unable to respond and fell
off what became the winning pace.”
According to Jeff Schalk (Trek), "It
was a very appropriate final race to the NUE season, with the year-long fight
between Christian and I being settled without much outside interference or mishap. Both he and I appeared to feel good and be in
top form, and neither of us had a mechanical or a flat.
We also marked each other all day long,
trading pulls at the front of the race. Only Sam Koerber and Kevin Carter were able to stay with us past mile
25, and they both let us go once we got to the base of the big climb around
mile 70. I think both Christian and I
knew that the race would be settled there. Althugh he is a better climber than me, I thought I had the race in the
bag at that point because I noticed that he was completely out of water as we
began to climb. It was a relatively
humid/hot day, and I knew that the 2000' + ascent would last at least 30 or 45
min. So when he began to attack at the
base, I allowed him some leash just to keep my own effort under control. Once he'd gain 10 or 20 seconds on me, I'd
bridge back up, and continue to bide my time as I waited for him to blow up in
the heat. But after several rounds of
rubber-banding behind him, I began to realize that I was the one beginning to
blow up and he didn't seem affected by his lack of water. He was gone for good near the top of the
mountain, and I mentally went into retirement for the final 15 miles.
I ultimately feel that he was simply the
better climber this season. I couldn't
match him for the final showdown since Shenandoah has too many big mountains.
We ended the season with five wins apiece, and we both really pushed ourselves
and suffered greatly to beat each other at each of the events. So it really turned out to be a close and
interesting matchup. He is a phenomenal
athlete and I have a ton of respect for what he accomplished this year.
I really had a much bigger range of emotional
highs and lows this year than any of the past three seasons when I was able to
win the series. I started the year a bit
off and had trouble focusing on the task at hand since I knew that it was going
to be my last season. I was also trying to focus on transitioning my life away
from racing so when Christian was up three wins to one on me, early in the
season, I really thought that I was out of it.
I was really hard on myself and feeling
quite low about the situation. However,
I was able to turn it around while having my back against the wall. I began to race well in July, taking the
Breck 100, and was on a big emotional high for being the first person to
dethrone Josh Tostado at that race. I
then went on to win a hard fought battle against Christian at the Wilderness
101, and continued riding really well with a win at Pierre's Hole.
In the end, I'm really just thankful to have
found my niche in 100 mile racing and I'm very thankful for the organization of
the NUE series; the NUE provided a platform off of which to base my career and
Trek was super supportive of my efforts. I ended up winning 18 NUE races of the 32 that I entered in the last few
years, and I'm really grateful to have been so fortunate to find such success
in this category of racing.”
Taking the third spot on the podium was
Sam Koerber (Trek 29er Crew) 7:18:06. Fourth place went to Kevin Carter
(Gripped Racing) 7:23:12, fifth to Brandon Draugelis (Team CF) 7:37:38 and
sixth to Greg Kuhn (RBS Trek MTB Team) 7:43:29.
In a major unfortunate turn of events, Michael
Simonson (RBS Trek MTB Team) of Michigan, in a bid to displace Josh Tostado
from the number three spot on the NUE Series podium, suffered a life
threatening crash on the steep Chestnut Ridge Trail descent, near aid station
six, about 84 miles into the race.
Simonson, who has little memory of
exactly what happened, claimed he washed out at high speed, going over the bars
before colliding with a tree. Sven Baumann, who was not far behind Simonson was
on the scene first and immediately stopped to offer assistance. What he found
was shocking as Simonson was covered in blood, mainly resulting from a large
gash on his neck caused by a stick or something that lodged in the strap of his
helmet, slicing into his neck. Doctors later discovered that the deep cut was
just one centimeter from severing his jugular vein. Simonson also suffered a
cut to his forearm, nearly severing tendons that could have resulted in
extensive surgery.
However, despite the remote location of
the collision, Race Director, Chris Scott and Aid Station Captain, Christopher
Hoy, were prepared with emergency procedures and an evacuation plan in place.
Amateur Radio operators were also on hand to communicate with emergency
personnel who airlifted Simonson to UVA Hospital in Charlottesville, about an
hour from the crash site.
Fortunately, a team of specialists were
able to stitch both wounds, however, the worst news for Simonson and his wife
Michelle was yet to come. Michelle had volunteered to help out at aid station
two which was also aid six. Upon hearing the news, and as her husband was being
airlifted, she drove to Charlottesville only to learn that Michael had also
suffered four fractured vertebrae in his neck.
It was a long two days and nights
before doctors were able to assure her that the spinal injury would not require
immediate surgery. Simonson’s fitness was noted by doctors as a benefit and his
vitals remained strong. Doctors believed that the vertebrae, though cracked,
would fuse and heal on their own over time although more x-rays and visits with
doctors in Michigan will be required to ensure that they are healing properly.
NUE Series Director, Ryan O’Dell, "At
the hospital, I visited Michael after he was moved from trauma to his own room.
He was not allowed out of bed or even allowed to elevate more than twenty
degrees to eat or drink. But, in a testament to his strength of will, rather
than focusing on his injuries, Mike, the now leading contender for the 2012 NUE
Series along with Josh Tostado (Bach Builders), was already looking forward, talking
about his plans to get back on the trainer as soon as possible so he could
begin recovery and preparations for the 2012 NUE race season!”
NUE defending champion, Robert Herriman
(TREK 29ER CREW/WSC/ACFSTORES.COM) opted out of the NUE awards presentation to
be at the side of his training partner. Later, upon hearing the good news that
Mike was allowed out of bed and would soon be released to make the ten hour
drive back to Michigan, Herriman commented, "Yeah, It's pretty hard to stop the
SiMONSTER!!”
Singlespeed
The
Pfluginator leaves no doubt, winning nine of ten races for the 3-peat!
According to Race Director, Chris Scott, "Mike Montalbano (Dark Horse Cycles) pushed a big gear early on and distanced himself from the NUE Series leader and eventual winner Gerry Pflug (Salsa NoTubes/Pro Bikes). Wonder Boy, Dylan Johnson (Oasis Bike
Works), flatted early nearly crushing his dreams of challenging the big guns in
his home state event. Johnson was able to stay relaxed and make little gains
all day long advancing through the field into the death climb where he finally
laid it down and reeled in all but NUE Series Champ Gerry Pflug, a super
impressive ride for the young rider who showed signs of greatness this season
at the Cohutta 100.
At Cohutta, Johnson was in early lead
group, before crashing and dropping out for a trip to the ER to treat a concussion.
Then, at Mohican, he missed a turn while in top 20 overall, then, at Wilderness,
he made the lead break and fell off HARD. Johnson finished second 8:24:34.
Matt Ferrari (Freeze Thaw/Hubcap
Cycles) went out on the offensive after being heckled by race promoter Chris
Scott about lacking the fierceness to lay into the race early and ride away for
a win. Ferrari ended up on the defensive after taking a nasty spill. Jason
Pruitt (29er Crew/LAS/Hudson Bay Company) traveled from Lafayette, Indiana,
hoping to move up in the NUE Series and displace Ferrari from their second place
tie. Ferrari was able to keep pushing hard covered in gauze from wrist to
triceps with blood seeping down his leg yet finishing a very strong fourth
8:43:24, just behind Montalbano who settled into third place 8:31:17.
According to race winner, Gerry Pflug
who finished sub eight at 7:58:24, "By the time I lined-up on the starting
line, I knew my bike and body was ready for the 100 miles ahead, even with the
little sleep I had. I also knew it was going to be a fast start. They always
are, but the SM100 has about two completely flat miles of pavement before the
climbing starts.
Spinning along at 22+ mph on a single
speed is never that much fun. But, fortunately, the first two miles were not
too fast this year and I didn’t have to work very hard to stay up front. The
pace began to pick-up on the first climb, but I was able to hang with the lead
group until the top of the climb. The only other single speed racer with me at
this point was fast Mike Montabano.
Mike and I rode together until towards the top of Wolf Ridge. He got away from me on the hike-a-bike section before the ridge top. I knew it was a long race, though, so I was okay with getting into my own more comfortable pace. During this time, I noticed that my saddle bag had somehow come undone. It was moving around and making noise. I briefly looked back at it and tried to tighten it up while continuing to ride, but as I did, I also unknowingly entered into a rock garden on the trail. I quickly fell off my bike and on to my right side, hitting my hip and knee pretty good. There was a sharp pain at each location, but no blood, so I quickly hopped on my bike and started riding again. After the crash, my riding didn’t seem as effortless and I was feeling discomfort on the lateral side of my knee. I also noticed that my saddle bag was still screwed-up and was making all kind of noise bouncing around on the back of my seat, since I failed to fix it after my crash. It wasn’t long after my crash that
another fast SS racer, Matt Ferrari, caught me on the descent off Wolf Ridge. I
had a slight gap on Matt by the time we made it to the fire road after the
descent, so I stopped to tighten my saddle bag. As I tightened the bag, I
noticed that the zipper on my bag was also about halfway opened at this time
and that only my spare inner tube remained in the pack.
Great, I thought…now I have no tools,
no CO2 cartridges, a sore hip/knee to deal with for the remainder of the race
and Mike was nowhere in sight on the long straight gravel road ahead. Suddenly,
I felt like my shot at winning the race was slipping away. Matt then rode by,
so I quickly got on my bike to continue riding with him. We were all alone on
this mostly flat and fast section of the course. On sections of race courses
like this, I hate being on a single speed bike. I feel helpless just spinning
away and not really going anywhere fast. At times like these, I can’t stop
thinking about how nice it would be to have the ability to shift into a big
chain ring.
Matt and I talked about Mike choosing a
bigger gear for the race than we had and we both knew he was putting valuable
minutes on us during this time, but Matt didn’t seem too eager in wanting to
chase down Mike as we rode together. I knew that if we had any hope in catching
Mike, it was going to be my responsibility to do all the work, so I went to the
front and started pulling. Fortunately, a couple of miles before checkpoint #2
Matt and I got caught by some geared racers and I was finally given some help
with my chase.
After a very quick stop at the
checkpoint, I was able to escape from the rest of the group with two geared
riders. Angry Andy and fast master’s racer, Doug Andrews, were the two others
that got away with me. It’s always nice to ride with guys willing to work like
these two. The three of us worked well together and we quickly got a nice gap
on the other riders leaving the checkpoint later than us.
After a few fast flat miles, one of the
major climbs on the course started. By this time, my body and mind started
recovering from my little crash and I decided it was time to race again. I
started catching a bunch of riders on the climb. It seemed like every time I
caught someone on the climb they would tell me that Mike was just ahead. I
continued climbing hard and soon caught Mike somewhere before the top of the
climb, probably around mile 40 or so.
I got away from Mike a lot easier than
I expected on the climb, probably because he was using a gear bigger than mine,
but I knew that more than half of the race was ahead of us and that anything
could happen, yet. So, I stayed on the gas and continued riding as hard as I
could with my one gear. I was climbing great it seemed, but my rigid fork was
definitely taking a toll on me during the long technical descents. To make
matters worse, I noticed on the long descent to checkpoint #3 that my front
brake was losing power. I was suddenly able to pull my front lever all the way
to the grip, which only gave me any real stopping power in the rear brake. I
added this problem to my list of things that had gone wrong today, but knew
that there was nothing I could do about it except learn to live without the use
of a front brake for the next 3-4 hours.
Luckily, the rest of the day seemed to
go pretty well and I didn’t have any other issues out on the course. I would
look over my shoulder on the long climbs to see if any other single speed
racers were chasing me, but I saw none. I ended-up racing with small groups of
geared guys for the rest of the race and using my finish time goal as my
motivation to keep my speed high. I wanted to beat the eight hour mark and to
also set a new single speed course record.
My time was just a little short in 2010
with a 8:02 finishing time. The course seemed a little slower this year,
however, because of the soil being a little more damp and because of the really
hot and humid weather conditions. But even with the slower course, I was still
somehow able to beat my time from last year by finishing with a time of 7:58.
I’m not sure if it was due to having better fitness or using an easier gear
than I did a year earlier. I’ll take the better time either way because it was
a perfect way to end an almost perfect season.
Winning the Shenandoah MTN 100 gave me
9 NUE race wins for the season out of the 10 NUE races that I did. Winning this
race was also a nice way to put a cherry on top of my third straight NUE Series
SS title in as many years….a 3-Peat. It’s been an exciting and pfun year of
racing for me and I am already looking forward to attempting a fourth straight
NUE Series SS win next year.”
Readers can read more and follow the
Pfluginator on his blog at http://pfunwithpflug.blogspot.com/2011/09/3-peat.html
Masters Men "The
Hulk” Doug Andrews smashes the cranks, snatching his first NUE Series title
According to race director, Chris Scott, "Roger Masse (Trek 29er Crew) and Mike Ramponi (Independent Fabrication) were being hyped as the riders with a chance of riding away with a Master victory on the very challenging Shenandoah Mountain 100 course that they are very familiar with. However, Masse was not able to cover
the pace laid down by NUE Series leader, Doug Andrews (GeoLadders.com) nor defending
NUE Masters Champion, Rob Herriman (TREK 29ER CREW/WSC/ACFSTORES.COM).”
With four wins, Andrews, nicknamed the
Hulk for smashing the field by hours, instead of minutes, knew that he needed
to prevent the defending champion from getting his fourth win. For the
defending champion, Herriman, only a "W” would allow him to defend his title
but that meant he needed the ride of his life to get past Andrews, Ramponi and
Masse among the top contenders in a strong singlespeed field.
Chris Scott continued, "Ramponi,
sporting his mohawk that made him look like what his son called "an exotic
bird", gave it his all hoping to ride fast ALL DAY LONG. However, Ramponi
fell short of his expectations and suffered in the heat finishing far back but
with a smile on his face.
Masse, never having had a good ride on
this course close to his home in Maryland, felt pretty happy with his third
place finish pumping his first fiercely at the finish as he rolled in at
8:49:16. Last minute entrant Bob Koerber, father of pro racers Sam and Willow,
put in a solid ride taking fourth 9:28:38 with past champion Bill Nagel (Guys
Bicycle Racing Club) rounding out the podium in fifth at 9:41:19.
Robert Herriman, whose motto is "The
best way to predict the future is to create it!" finished second at
8:36:54, "Shenandoah is right at the top of the list on the NUE calendar when
it comes to that sketchy, rocky, east coast style single-track trail which is
kinda like my kryptonite. But, on the plus side, the SM100 also has tons of
Herriman friendly fire road climbs, so I was still hopeful to be competitive.
The race started out great and I made it over the first big climb of the day
with no issues.
Starting out on the second big climb of
the day (mile 12) it was the top three masters in the NUE series (Doug Andrews,
Roger Masse, and myself) riding wheel to wheel on the trail. I was the first to
drop off as I struggled to keep the bike on the trail in the steep rocky
single-track. I would catch back up to Roger with a flat tire at about mile twenty.
On the next road I saw a little black
bear run across the road about a hundred feet in front of me. That was pretty
cool. From there on Roger and me swapped spots several more times as he flatted
again and would catch back up in the technical trail. The race seemed to pass
by very quickly for me and was mostly uneventful from there until I happened
across my good buddy Mike Simonson who’d had a wicked crash.
Mike was with medical aid crew and was
waiting for a 4-wheeler to get him out of the woods. He gave me a message to
relay to Michelle that he was just scraped and banged up. It was a scary moment
for sure and put things into a different perspective.
I finished up the race and then
discovered Mike had been air-lifted out. Yikes!! Michelle and I packed things
up and drove the 60 miles to join Mike in the ER. I missed being able to chat
with friends after the race but obviously there are some things that are more
important.”
In the end, Andrews put thirty minutes
on the field to finish 8:06:48. After the race, Andrews commented, "I had such
a blast and met so many cool people. I feel connected with new people and
places across the country. It's just great.”
In addition to cash and prizes from the
Shenandoah 100, NUE Series podium finishers five deep shared a $10,000 cash
purse and Velocity Certificates. Division winners will receive comped entry
into all NUE Series races in 2012 and ALL NUE Series finishers chose prizes
courtesy of Kenda Tire, Ryders Eyewear and Yakima Racks.
For an inside look at the trails of
Shenandoah, check out Scott Wootten’s Pre-Race Six Pack Video on Dowell’s Draft: http://vimeo.com/28558444You can follow Scott’s page for more schweeet George Washington National Forest
videos.
And stay tuned here for upcoming series
information, including a tentative 2012 NUE Series Schedule. Don’t miss out!
YOUR NUE Series adventure is just beginning.
Open Women
Open Men
Singlespeed
1, Gerry Pflug Salsa 7.58.24 2, Dylan Johnson
8.24.34 National Ultra Endurance - Final Series Ranking Open Men
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