Race Reports

Hey folks,
Iron Mountain 100k in Demascus, VA was intense last weekend!  You missed it, I know, you got stuff going on, but you missed a bad ass race!  This race will definitely prep you for the Shenandoah Mt 100, Wilderness 101, or even a stage race out west!  For future reference...

Here's my story:
We got there on Friday after a 6 hour drive after taking the back way a little to get there.  I was so surprised about Demascus, VA.  The Virginia Creeper Trail has totally leveled the old down and re-built a small mountain bike utopian society who lives, eats, sleeps and breathes bicycling.  I was impressed.  We rolled around town and found our tent camping site and set up shop.  I went to the local bike shops and dropped off flyers for the 18 Hour Scouts Honor and hit the sack.   In the morning, the sun was just coming up over the horizon as we got to the starting line.  I rolled over the bridge and over to the starting line. I could tell my fitness wasn't quite up to par lately and I was questioning whether I could even finish this race!  At 8am we rolled out of town in proper stage race style.  A 15 mph motorcade with 60 mountain biker led by a dirt bike on a parade through town.  We quickly dropped on the creeper trail and the motorbikes horn blew.  We took off!  I was quickly dropped from the pack and my body was showing its true form!  This is the first time that I showed up to race where I got dropped immediately!  I knew I as in for a tough day.  We crossed the highway and immediately began a gnarly single track climb.  I just couldn't get going. My life has definitely gotten in the way of training the year.  So, that pretty much it.  I kept thinking about quitting, but I just couldn't.  One of the climbs took me about 2 hours to crest and I love to climb, but my legs were just not getting me up the hill.  I rolled past the finish line at 8 hours and 20 some minutes.  Wow, the Shenandoah Mountian Touring guys can put on a mountian bike race! 

Check them out here: http://www.mtntouring.com/mountain/htm/home/page_home.htm

My co-worker Greg Garrison from Richmond cleaned the course in just over 6.5 hours- nice job man!

Later,
Billy