Racing, Suffering, Survivng, and Partying Like A Rock Star...

This past weekend was the SM 100. Having done this race last year I was really looking forward to it. I headed to Keith The Manimal's house and he and Topher and myself loaded up and headed out. Thanks again to Keith for driving.

The weather for the weekend looked great, I had a plan to deal with my recent stomach issues, and I had a goal of trying to knock and hour off of last years time.

There was a lot of excitement flying around this race because Floyd Landis was in town, throw in Chris Eatough, Harlan Price, and Jeff Shalk and you've got a pretty good heavy weight fight.

Keith had a great ride and beat his goal of under ten hours.

After checking out some stars in the observatory, it was time to crawl into the tent and pretend to sleep. The 5:00am wake came around and it was time to get ready. And there off, it was a pretty mellow start for me as I watched all the geared bikes go flying by me in the big ring knowing I would see most of them again on the first climb.

Topher, looking a little like Geraldo, Through down his best time with a 9:05 good enough for5Th single speeder.

I settled into a nice pace and just went with it. My legs felt heavy and like crap, but I kept telling myself they would open up, but they never did. I was drinking steady and consuming the right amount of Perpetuem hoping to keep the furnace running smooth. Things seemed to be going well until about 50 miles in. I could feel the boo boo belly coming on. I tried not to panic, instead I took a break hoping to settle my stomach. But I think it was too late. I was running low on energy, I was walking stuff I rode last year. I started wondering if I was even going to finish. I was feeling rough and I wasn't even to the big climb yet.

Finally I get to the top of Braley's, which is probably the sweetest piece of singletrack I have ever been on. As I made way down the mountain, enjoying the wonderful flow of the trail, my doubts started to fade. I no longer questioned whether or not I was going to finish, it was just a matter of making the light cut off. Since I didn't have one I had no choice. After a brief stop at aid station 4 it was go time. I only had to go about 17 miles, and I had about 3 hours to do it in, but it was mostly up hill and I was hurting pretty bad.

I rode and I walked, and I finally rolled into aid station 5 with over an hour to spare. I filled up on fresh water and perpetuem, grabbed a couple cups of coke and went and sat down in the shade for a little while. After about 20 minutes of lying down I started off again. There was no way I was going to beat last years time so I let that go and just worried about finishing. Not long after aid station 5 I started feeling worse, my stomach was not happy, so I made way off the fire road and disposed of everything I had taken in at aid station 5. I did feel a little better for a short time but eventually the boo boo belly came back.

I kept moving forward, finally I made it over the last climb and started the descent into the finish. I didn't beat last years time but I finished and in the end that is the biggest goal.

After collapsing for awhile I got cleaned up and went to see how everybody else did, and to see who won the over all. Turns out it was an exciting race. Jeff Shalk went ape shit and set the course record finishing first in 7:06, unbelievable. The battle for 2ND came down to Floyd Landis and Harlan, with Harlan getting away from Floyd on the last down hill and finishing second, and Floyd rounded out the Podium in 3RD. Unfortunately Eatough had pull out due to a major mechanical Congrats to all.

After managing to get a little food in me it was party time. I got to the pavillion and found my friends were sitting at the table hanging out with Floyd. Turns out the guy is super cool. He was talking shit, taking shit, signing autographs and taking pictures and seemed to be having a great time. He was drinking beer and Buck had him doing shots. I have pictures but they are on my phone and I don't know how to get them on the computer just yet. Hey Rob, guess what, Floyd was a huge fan of thr Frank Zappa Kappa shirt, he even took some pictures with his iPhone.

In the end it was a lot of fun, despite the suffering, and I will be back next year. I did manage to bring something back with me, I think Topher gave me his cold, so not only am I sore all over, I can't stop blowing my nose either.

Cheers,

Buddy