Baby Snake Rides 100 Miles

Sneaky slither into the starting lineup with all the fasties in the eight hour slot. "Hey, it's Sue Haywood!" That's right suckas. Get to my spot and turn around. "Oh, you're not Sue..." Thanks to Slaywood's street cred and the 6:30 am shadows, I was in a perfect position to start my second Shenandoah Mountain 100. Starting early in the lineup is crucial in the 100, otherwise you are more prone to the funnel effect of 600 riders trying to squeeze into the woods. Baby snake bit hard to stay towards the front, and I was able to ride all of Narrowback and Lynn trails. Last year, I saved too much venom and was stuck behind hundreds of riders, walking on singletrack for a while.
Fueled by good energy and excited about my good timing, I was able to lead a party train down Wolfe and time trial to Aid Station 2 with a super fun group of guys. Thanks to my new hardtail, the road sections were much more enjoyable and seemed a lot faster than last year. Handfuls of Swedish Fish and dixies of Coke had me cranking up Hanky to Dowells, and then flowing through Aid 3. Bridge-Braleys was a blast, and I was consistent with my time goals to stay under 11 hours. The Death Climb broke me, and the next climb from Aid 5 to Chestnut trail chewed me up and spat me out. I  was an exhausted piece of pulp barely hanging on to the bike on the way to Aid 6, but seeing my parents and boyfriend at the bottom made it easy to motivate for the next few miles to the finish. I managed to finish in 10:57. Three minutes to spare! Last year, my time was 14:22. A three and a half hour improvement makes me pretty pleased with my efforts to ride more over the past year. Suffering from slight post-race depression now, but am gearing that towards excitement for next year.