We look like everyday people, couldn't pick us apart from anyone else in the grocery line. But we're not normal. There's no clear way to rationalize to everyday people why we put ourselves through the 10-12 hour thrashing that is an NUE ultra endurance mountain bike race. During the event, you feel the cramps, the pain of the chafed skin bumping against the seat navigating the mini-tombstone rocks, the faint nausea from the imperfect nutrition setup, and the occasional verbal outburst of 'f*** this trail.' Yet, we don't seem to have good recall of degree of pain. We just remember, 'yeah that was painful.' But without lasting scars or a severed limb, there's nothing holding us accountable for our previous misjudgments. And so pain is yet just another adjective used to describe a trip to the dentist or a stubbed toe.
Often people ask, 'which is harder' between Wilderness 101, Shenandoah 100, and Leadville 100. It's so difficult to answer, as 'harder' often depends on my conditioning at the time. Because I rarely do these events back to back I have to try to adjust for this and it's not really possible. They all are difficult in their own way. Leadville's difficulty is in total climbing and your body's ability to adapt to elevation. Shenandoah has steep grade climbs that force your muscles above anaerobic threshold and hairy technical descents. Wilderness has mostly fire road climbs of 9 or 10% grade.
The rest of this posting is to recount the trail for those of you who may want to do the event and not about my experience. There are no long 5-6% grade climbs like the one at Shenandoah. But like Shenandoah they are often followed with steep rocky descents down the side of the mountain. You will be either climbing, descending, or flat pedaling over rock gardens. Anything flat is rock garden trail. There isn't much as far as flat easy miles, with the exception of aid 5 to the finish. I'm going to try to recall what I can of each section, but unfortunately the sequence of events is hazy. I remembered a lot of the trails when I encountered them, but most of them not in the order I had expected them. I'm pretty sure I'll have some things mixed up below as well. The miles below of where aid stations are are also hazy. They didn't exactly match up with where advertised.
Start to Aid 1 - 0-19 Miles
The start is a chill controlled start. There's a mile or two of flat road and then the turn up Poe Mountain. The grade probably averages 8% and is about 800 ft before it levels out, then pitches up for a bit more. How you feel on this climb will be a good indicator of how your day will be.
Aid 1 is 19 miles in and one of the few aid stations and located up a short climb. Usually I miss this aid station entirely, but this year it was fairly easily marked. Although it's a scant station with mostly just water, it may be an important one because Aid 2, at 35 miles, is a long distance. This year the race was hot, and even with a 60oz bladder, topped off at Aid 1, I ran out 5 miles before I reached Aid 2.
Aid 1 to Aid 2 - 19-37 Miles
Coming off Aid 1 is a descent I don't remember quite well. One of the descents, not sure if it's this first one, is a mix of rocky and machine-graded flowy, which was actually a lot of fun. I recall a kid at Aid 2 who had a really hard time with this descent, complaining that it hurt his wrists. I was like bro you're in a lot trouble then.. There's then a double-track climb on grassy fireroad. Pick a rut and climb, then descends down the other side, pretty fast and flowy. We then hit the 3 bridges singletrack. The first bridge is doable, then they it gets sketchier. There are a couple of rock gardens and usually an audience so keep a level head. double track climb and descent.
Aid 2 to Aid 3 - 37-50 Miles
Sure enough departing Aid 2 was down a rocky wrist rattling descent. Here is what I think might be called 'sand mountain'. Basically a sun-exposed section of singletrack that, while not too tricky, is a bit of a grind with sand, roots, some rocks, and not much flow.
Aid 3 to Aid 4 - 50-66 Miles
I think this section is where we get some real nasty rocky trail. Lots of bumps. Pigpile rocky descent. It's all just momentum sapping crappiness. I think if you're strong and have momentum to power through, then maybe it's not that bad. But if you're tired, you're going to get caught up on all the rocks and have a rough time. There's a nice long descent into aide 4.
Aide 4 to Aid 5 - 66-86 Miles
If you're having a rough time at this point, just focus on getting to aid 5. You will turn up a 10% grade 600ft climb fire road/loose rock climb. It is what it is. I remember when I did this race when I was in better shape (10-hr shape), I didn't find this climb very difficult. But now, in 12-hr shape, it's a slow granny slog.. but not too long. You come up, over the back and down. We then turn into more of the sand mountain exposed stuff. There was an unofficial aid station here, which was much needed due to the heat. The exposed junk trail wasn't too bad, but I think then we get into some more rocky momentum sapping junk that will get you on and off the bike a few times.
Aide 5 to Home
This part I remember the most, maybe because it's the best part of the ride. If you got here, you're going to get home. The price to pay for almost 15 miles of flat and downhill is a 600ft 8-9% grade climb. It's the best deal you'll find and it couldn't have come at a better time. You should be giddy with renewed excitement. Shortly after departing the aide station is a beautiful bridge. Then the road climb. Keep it steady and think about how this is the last climb you'll need to do. All you need to do is get over this last hump. Most of the rest of the way is flat along a stream. You'll come to the first tunnel. Enjoy it as it's a surreal experience. Don't use lights. You'll enter a dark abyss. Keep straight through the darkness on the smooth pavement and you'll begin to see the light shimmering off the walls, pointing you in the right direction. You'll come across Fisherman's trail which is a large boulder field. It's really not a big deal as long as you recognize that it's not something you're going to ride. Consider this a 10 minute hike. No chance you're riding any of it. At some point you'll feel that you can get back on your bike and continue riding. Later is another bridge that this year we were asked to walk. And the last tunnel is too dark to see the ground in the center, but is usually ridable if you can focus. Continue on flat trail. Come out to the road. 20mph cruising around and you'll see the park to your right. Try not to miss the alleyway to enter Coburn park. Come through to the finish, get your pint glass, and don't forget to bang the gong.
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