All Day Long

I woke up Saturday morning at about ten minutes until three (in the morning) from the sound of a car with a poorly attached muffler. This was earlier than I wanted but with the pending day’s events only a few short hours away I decided to get up and begin preparations for what would become one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. After all, Saturday marked the 10th running of the Wilderness 101.

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for a race. At about 6:45 in the morning just over 300 people lined up to chase each other around the forest on mountain bikes covering a 101 mile course. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as I’ve never ridden my mountain bike 101 miles in a day and I wasn’t fully convinced I was prepared for this undertaking. I’m not going to give you a blow-by-blow recap but I will provide a brief synopsis of my day.

I rode just about the entire distance alone and towards the back of the pack. I had several flat tires early that put me behind in both time and in general attitude. The fire road climbs were demoralizing but the single-track descents were pure joy and lifted my spirits. So what was the conclusion to my day? Well, I finished thus accomplishing my primary goal. Unfortunately I spent almost 13 hours on my bike. This was nearly twice as much time as the winner.

A lot of emotions are explored over the course of a 12 hour and 49 minute day in the saddle. The body and mind reach into places that you don’t know exist in order to endure the level of suffering that is required to complete a task of this magnitude. I pushed myself to limits I’d never before explored. When I finally crossed the finish line I was so excited that I wanted to keep riding but instead I decided it would be more enjoyable to get out of my chamois and have a beer.