The 16th Annual Shenandoah Mountain 100 - Aug 31st, 2014 - NUE Series

Thanks so much for registering for our 16th annual event! We hope you have had a great summer and are ready to get your ride on!!!

We entered our 16th season on a sad note with the passing who was larger then life, our most prominent champion and great friend Scott Scudamore. Scott was not only instrumental in the Shenandoah Mountain 100 reaching the status that it has today, but was also a key player in helping us gather support to purchase the Stokesville Campground. Scott will be remembered in many ways this weekend. CAMBC will be serving Scud Fries at aid station #6 as they did with him last year. We will also do a big toast to Scott on Sunday night when the "Lanterne Rouge" finishes the event. Scott was always super excited to cheer in the last finisher every year. The picture below is from the last email I received from Scott before his accident: Some of his closest friends sharing a great moment with him.

 

From Stokesville Campground

In other news...

The Shenandoah Mountain Touring Center at the Stokesville Campground is progressing right along! Our offerings will include the full gamut of bike park facilities that you have seen in videos and print around the country. Part of the property we are managing includes the fields down by the river and the swimming hole too. We are really excited to bring a family friendly trail system that extends from the campground down to the fields below and into the Forest. Rich Edwards of IMBA has conceptually mapped and laid out 5 miles of trail on the property and it looks AMAZING. Donations to this trail fund can be made here via paypal -

Our local Forest Service office, the North River Ranger District has done an AMAZING job with a very limited budget this year. It would be great if you thanked them by calling the office and letting the receptionist know how much you appreciate their hard work. 540-432-0187

You might remember hearing last year that the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition made another HUGE contribution to the local National Forest trail system. Yup, and this is after the 2010 grant where over $50,000 went to the trails used in the Shenandoah Mountain 100 and another $5o,000 went to system trails in this area. In 2012 they upped the ante and over $60,000 of the $120,000 Phase II grant went to the Shenandoah Mountain 100 course. Now, looking forward into 2015 they are pushing approximately $50,000 of a $100,000 grant extension we were awarded towards finishing the Wolf Ridge relocation and creating a new top section on Dowell's Draft.

They are now in the final steps of securing the Phase III North River Trails Enhancement Project which will likely bring about $250,000 to our forest right here for you! This will be a collaborative effort from the SVBC in partnership with IMBA, Shenandoah Mountain Touring, and the United States Forest Service. This is all grant money from the Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration Recreational Trails Program and it is creating destination trails right here in the Shenandoah Valley. SVBC is eagerly looking to place a half MILLION dollars of trail on the ground in just over 5 short years - ASTONISHING!

A great way to say thanks to SVBC is to come back down to the Stokesville Campground for the Shenandoah Mountain Bike Festival - Oct 10-12 (SVBC Event) and ride all of these fun new trails. - You can also make a donation to support the future Phase III SVBC Recreational Trails Program grant on the Festival Registration page.

We are psyched to be assisting the Bishops with the Jeremiah Bishop Alpine Loop Grand Fondo on Sunday Sept 28th. This is a great event that you should not miss. Erin and Jeremiah have a first class ride going on. I promise their route is better than you can ever imagine!! I feel like I am lost in the Alps when I ride this route.

Our final mission this fall is for another VA Trail ride. It's looking like a crew will roll the singletrack while Chris runs support and maps the Virginia mountain road edition of the Virginia Trail.

2015 is looking amazing. We are getting goosebumps and can barely focus on the task at hand. In the spring we are planning the multi Day Stokesville Douthat Stokesville (SDS) Enduro that will be run in the true Trans-Provence style of backcountry brilliance. We will also be tossing out the Stokesville 50 and the Rough Roubaix. Our regular program of Dragon's Tale, Virginia Mountain Bike Trail Festival, Stoopid 50, Iron Mountain 100K, Wilderness 101 and the Shenandoah Mountain 100 should keep us busy. In the fall we hope to finally roll out the Enduro Supremo from the Stokesville Campground. After doing our homework in Italy this summer at the World Enduro Series Event we are SUPER PUMPED to bring our region a world class enduro event.

--- THE Race Brief! --

Please become a FRIEND of Shenandoah Mountain Touring - and - LIKE our company page on Facebook so we can more easily tag you in our Shenandoah Mountain 100 event galleries and videos. Friends and family can also follow the excitement of the event via an assortment of social media avenues if they search for #sm100 and #shenandoahmountain100. Use #sm100 in your tweets and with your pictures and keep the momentum going!! Instagram is one of the most popular social media outlets and our SMT account is shenandoahmountaintouring. Our twitter feed is ShenMtnTouring. Post event coverage by Thom Parsons on Dirtwire.tv and on cyclingnews.com.

The Shenandoah Mountain 100, held in Virginia’s George Washington National Forest is the only true big mountain 100 on the east coast. The challenging and fun course is the largest NUE event. The route takes 600 bicyclists over 6 large mountains and along amazing scenic singletrack and is second in popularity to only to the Leadville 100. The Virginia event that has long been the keystone of the NUE Series always has some excitement in store. This year a great new route on Narrowback (up close view of the Narrowback section HERE) will be a delight! The FULL COURSE MAP IS HERE!

Guests are not welcome at the event unless they have signed up to volunteer. We do have a few slots remaining for VOLUNTEERS. We could use a few marshals and need a tiny bit of help serving food. Email us at Shenandoah.Mountain.Touring@gmail.com

If you forgot any bicycle related items, our local shop the Shenandoah Bicycle Company located in downtown Harrisonburg, VA is open until 4 PM on Saturday. If you do stop in to visit them save room for one of their delicious smoothies from the Pulp Smoothie Bar

Directions below - or use 464 Stokesville Road. Mt. Solon, VA 22843 if you want to end up on some dead end driveways with a shotgun pointed at your BMW.

Instead:

From I-81 take exit 240. Follow Rt. 257 to Bridgewater. Take a left on Rt. 42 south, cross the bridge leaving Bridgewater and turn right onto Rt. 727. Follow to T and turn left staying on 727. Follow to stop sign, turn left onto Rt. 730, and follow to Stokesville. At next stop sign turn left on Rt. 730 again and cross over the Iron Bridge. The Stokesville Campground is immediately on your right.

2014 Continued Improvements-

--- 2014 Change to Schedule - we are cutting the pavilion lights and pulling the taps early Saturday night to add more energy to Sunday evening - your welcome!

1) A great starting area and increased camping area below the Stokesville Observatory. We will have a bracketed starting area similar to marathons. Please line up in the area based on your expectations/reality (7HR, 8HR, 9HR, 10HR..)
2)Aid Station's #2/#6 (bottom of Chestnut Ridge), #3 (Dowell's Draft), #4 (Braley Pond), and #5 (Shenandoah Mountain) have been improved.
3)We have extra flush toilets this year in the Campground bath houses. We hope the showers will be working by Saturday. The power company is running new electric lines right now so we may even have lights and not romantic candles and lanterns in the bath houses!

Here are your participant responsibilities. 1) Do NOT plug anything in any electric outlets - specifically at or near the Observatory, 2) Obey all traffic laws and rules of the trail while participating in the event (you will be riding on open roads and trails - stay tight and to the right on Rt. 250 after Station #3 and never stop and set your bike down in or on a road, please get in the grass on the shoulder. The only ones who can stop in the road are the bear hunters with their trucks - sorry!) 3) Notify the finish line official AND the nearest aid station if you drop out of the event 4) Do NOT ever turn your car alarm on while you are at the Stokesville Campground 5) Don't take your car keys with you during the race and make sure everyone traveling with you knows where they are 6) Make sure your guests are signed up to volunteer or don't bring them 6) Make sure your dogs stay on a leash the whole time if you really have to bring them. 7) Take all the supplies you bring to the event home with you (that means trash) 8) Don't drive out of the Stokesville Campground the way you entered - exit the way the racers leave at the start, the "EXIT". 9) Bring your favorite camp plate, drink cup and utensils 10) Do not light a camp fire - there will only be ONE near the pavilion! 11) Only let your children play in the playground if you deem it safe - the fact that the equipment is there does not mean it is safe. 12) Refresh and replenish your StansNoTubes sealant before the event so you can run optional tire pressure, get amazing traction and have a safer ride!!

We are requesting that folks who know their way around don't drive through the Todd Lake area to get to aid station #3-#4 to limit traffic on the course. The aid station directions for #3 and #4 give directions using Stribbling Springs Rd. to Rt. 250. By using this route you will prevent racers from coughing up nasty dust phlegm for hours after the event. We also don't want anyone but the sweep vehicle driving up FR 95 / FR 85 to get to Aid Station #5. The Volunteer directions send you up the paved route towards Reddish Knob via Rt. 924 - this will eliminate you dusting out racers for over 15 miles. The gravel is extremely dry and dusty!

All volunteers please follow parking directions when you arrive at your aid station and only park on one side of the road, it is much safer for participants on bicycles!

The campground is at max capacity.... don't bring extra people unless they have committed to volunteering for the weekend. -- Also -- Don't be a primadonna and have your special person think they can drive around the course to cheer you on. There is not enough room on the forest roads for this to happen. Managing the campground food and beer situation has always worked somehow. It can't continue if you bring unannounced people. We don't have the room. They can come to Harrisonburg to ride any other time of the year. They can come back to the Stokesville Campground by special appointment or during the Oct 10-12 weekend for the Shenandoah Mountain Bike Festival.

Ok, back to the rules and then on to the good stuff in a minute. Racers can send a maximum of 2 drop bags to aid stations (1 gallon zip lock bag) that we will provide upon request at registration. Those bags have to be closed and sealed for us to take them to an aid station. We will not transport camelbak systems. You can take an extra 30 seconds to fill up the one you are already wearing. Jeremiah Bishop will not get this special treatment, neither will you. Your pals at the aid station can not bring things out there for you-period. Anything they bring will be open for everyone to use - i.e. neutral support. If we see this happening security will quietly pack you into their vehicle and take you away. This will apply to anyone with a vehicle following them around from aid station to aid station - YOU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE COURSE!

The Law of Support - Race Rule #1- For 2014, as in past years, we do not allow outside support on the course (except from other registered racers) or at aid stations (except from volunteers). This decision was made in an attempt to extend the life of the event. We cannot have spectators or support crews traveling around excessively on the National Forest roads during the event or we will not have our permit renewed with the National Forest. We have been told this again this year. The Forest is for many different users and we don't want to ruin anyone's experience by overusing an area. So, we are asking for your friends and family to volunteer at an aid station or pick one to hang out at and not try and follow the race. Those of us that want this event to continue thank you tremendously for not traveling on the course to follow your special person. Open up your heart to everyone at one of the aid stations and make friends!!!

Slippery Fingers – Race Rule #2 - Tuck your energy bar wrappers under the elastic on the leg of your shorts, don't just reach behind for your pocket and assume it made it in there!!!

Stokesville Campground - as most of you have experienced, the Stokesville Campground is a wonderful place to host the event. Camping is first come first served. There are flush toilets, sinks, lots of porta johns and hopefully two perfectly operating Bath Houses. You can still swim in the river under the Stokesville bridge. There are not any RV hookups and we will not allow any generators to be running at Stokesville Campground. Please do not use the trash can vaults that are in the ground near your campsite. You had room to bring everything your brought with you, we request that you take it home with you too, even if it is in a trash bag. There is enough room for every racer to camp. Please assist us with our effort to limit waste this year by bringing your favorite camp plate and mug that can reuse the entire weekend. Take your trash out with you, we can handle the trash from the food we provide, and request that you do the same.

Stokesville Observatory – it will be open for your pleasure on Saturday and Sunday night. If you are camping near the Observatory please keep your bright white lights OUT so those interested in viewing the planets can have a higher quality look.

Packet Pickup- Saturday 4:05ish -10 pm
Sunday race starts 6:30 am

Aid Stations -- please note that HEED is the ONLY sports drink we will be providing at the aid stations

#1 - 12 miles in- is just a quick water fill up with a water bottle exchange system

#2 Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club
- 31 miles in- is full on food, water, and HEED
--cut off 12:30

#3 The Sole Source with Tech Support by Shenandoah Bicycle Co. (SBC)
- 45 miles in- is Hammer Gel and full on food, water, and HEED
-- cut off 2:30

#4 Blackwater Bike Shop - Lynchburg, Virginia
- 57 miles in- Clif Bars, full on food, water, HEED, other sports drinks – some carbonated soda
--cut off 4:00

#5 Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition
- 75 miles in- is Hammer Gel and full on food, water, and HEED(light drop station).
-- cut off 4:20 if you DON'T have lights; 6:00 even if you do have lights

#6 Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club with Tech Support By Pro Tested Gear (PTG)
- 88 miles in- is full on food, water and HEED
-- cut off 8:00-

**** all cutoffs are subject to change at any time ****

Full on food is – PB&J sandwiches, Fig Newtons, Cookies, Granola Bars, Trail Mix, Pringles, Twizzlers, Gummy Bears and a mix of Apples and Bananas.

Check the website for the weekend schedule (campground schedule)

If you have to leave a drop bag behind at the race, fill out a priority mail label at the finish line table with your racer number on it and give us a $10 check for postage – Otherwise we appreciate your donation of gear to the cause. All bags not claimed or will be emptied at 9:00 am on Monday morning and contents/supplies will be emptied and used for the local fall trail work series.

The Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition, Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club, IMBA and the SMT staff has done some great work on the trails in the last few weeks making them ride much better then they have all summer.

VOLUNTEERS - A HUGE "thanks" in advance for everyone coming down to volunteer for the event. We hope you have a wonderful time at the Stokesville Campground and enjoy your time in your National Forest.

Emergency Protocol -- If you have any allergies or require any medications please grab a sharpie from the registration table and describe your condition or list your needs on the back of your number plate. This is the first place that will be checked if someone is found unconscious. There is a good chance we could have a nasty case of Yellow Jackets (Bees) on the course this year. You must be prepared with the medication that you would need to survive multiple stings.

We re-announce our aid station cut off schedule at the racers meeting and again at the start line.

The thousand mile club has long time hero's Garth Prosser (Specialized), Larry Camp (Michaux Green), Mike Buchness (Team Bike Lane), Albert Greene (DCMTB) and David Olsen (Juggernaut ESF) notching more miles in their belts. Larry and Mike are shooting for their 16th straight this year. HUGE luck to them!!

Tandem - wishing newlyweds Jeffrey Hellner and Evelyn Cooper a most glorious ride together!

Masters 50+
Roger Masse (Rare Disease Cycling) is PUMPED to roll this one. Good luck hanging with that Jim Matthews (Toasted Head Racing)!

Other contenders who could own the day are Mike Ramponi (Firefly Bicycles), Alex Hawkins, Mike Boyes (Athens Bicycle), and 16 year SM100 veteran Larry Camp (Team Green).

Singlespeed

Is this FINALLY Matt Ferrari's (Freeze Thaw/Hubcap Cycles) chance to win? NOPE!! He isn't racing (recovering from shattered hip) BUT he will be getting in a sweet ride from the Stokesville Lodge preparing for 2015. This leaves last year's champion Gordon Wadsworth (Blue Ridge Cyclery) in the hot seat. The seat just got hotter because Gerry Pflug threw away his gears and will be flying the single flag again for Rare Disease Cycling.

Can Rich Dillen (Team Dicky) get up on that TALL podium? Ernesto Marenchin (Pivot Cycles/Twin 6/WAS Labs), Daniel Rapp (Toasted Head Racing), Watts Dixon (Revolution Cycles, NC), Blake Walker (JV Squad), Wilson Hale (Richmond Bicycle Studio) and Gary Chambers (The Bike Zoo/Team ED) sure can get up on that podium, but will they....?

Women’s Open
Laura Hamm (Moonstompers) will have some really fast racers to try and keep in check if she is going to pull off her first victory here: Brenda Simril (Motor Mile Racing), Selene Yeager (Rare Disease Cycling), and Karen Potter (MTBRacenews.com)
Other super fast amazing riders who will be duking it out for the top 5 women's payout includes, Trish Stevenson (Industry Nine), Anne Pike (Blue Ridge Cyclery), Simona Vincenciova (Hammer Nutrition), Misty Tilson (Pro Tested Gear), Kaysee Armstrong (Kona/TVB Race) and Karen Talley Mead (The Bike Lane)

We need to see the Enduro results on Whitney March (SBC/JVSquad), Lindsey Carpenter (SBC/JVSquad) and Anne Mader (the Bike Lane)...they will be ROLLING on these downhills and you guys had better move over and let them on by again this year!

Men’s Open

It was Jeremiah Bishop's (Sho-Air Cannondale) race to lose last year...and he did! Will this happen again? Is JB gonna ride two laps or ride out from town and back or go unsupported with the MUNGA on his mind? Not even he knows yet....! This year Jeremiah will have some great competition. Cameron Cogburg (Team SmartStop), another amazing road pro is going to light it up on the climbs. Cogburn actually holds the KOM on the marquee climb around Harrisonburg up Reddish Knob.

The excitement is going to be INSANE!! When Sam Koerber (Industry Nine) gets busy on Wolf Ridge...hold on tight! The selection just happened! Can Rob Spreng (Rare Disease Cycling) cover that move this year or will he be in solo chase mode for the next 6 hours again....? This year could be different though, we could have Cogburn blowing it up on the climbs.

Major contenders for the podium include Mr. NUE Christian Tanguy (Rare Disease Cycling), Garth Prosser (Specialized), Jed Prentice (Bike Doctor), Andy Rhodes (Black Dog Bikes/ North Mountain Woodworks), Kyle Lawrence (Shenandoah Bicycle Co.), Matthew Donahue (DCMTB), Dan Kotwicki (RBS Cycling Team), Matthew Merkel (Riverside Racing), Jeff Mandell (Finkraft Cycling Team) and Charlie Storm (Storm Endurance Sports Inc)

From just over the mountain in Charlottesville we have John Petrylak (Blue Ridge Cyclery), Alex Kurland (CAMBC/IMBA), Frank Dubec (Team Brown Liquor), Mark Smith(Blue Ridge Cyclery), Sam Lindblom (CAMBC/IMBA) and Eric Magrum (FOOF B Team) should have solid rides representing the FOOF too.

Representing Richmond we have the deepest group of talent on the start line that is highlighted by super fast pro Keck Baker (Cannondale/Carytown Bikes pb Battley Harley), Charlie Snyder (Champion System Cannondale) and Joe Fish (Bon Secours/ Endorphin Fitness). The list continues though with these guys who have also crushed this course - David Reid (Bon Secours Cycling pb Endorphin Fitness), Tom Haines and Jeff Plassman (Design Physics pb Coqui Cyclery), and Travis "Metro" Williams (Bikeman.com/Ergon/Twin Six)

Mens Enduro ROWDYNESS - www.lifestyleenduro.com for the EnduroLifestyle in all of us...Yep, it's still underground, but there are going to be a lot of compadres gunning for the title. Poz, Tony "Gunz" Vachino, Gdowick, Nick Atkins and the countless others uber rippers...FUN STUFF!!

A HUGE thanks to all of the sponsors for 2014

The North Face
Stan's NoTubes
Virginia Eagle Distributing Company and the Stokesville Market has brought on:
Three Brothers Brewing - featuring "the Great Outdoors"
CLif Bar - Feturing Clif Shot Blocks
Hammer Nutrition with Hammer Gel and HEED - no flasks this year, just packets at the aid stations!!
Shenandoah Mountain Touring, LLC
Trek Bicycles
Kenda USA
Massanutten Resort
Stokesville Lodge
Shenandoah Bicycle Co.
The Sole Source - OUR BEST Harrisonburg Shoe Store
Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition
Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club (CAMBC)
United States Forest Service
Squirt Lube
Chanellos Pizza - at Aid Station #5
Billy Jack's- Wing and Draft Shack
Jack Brown's- Beer and Burger Joint
CZB

A HUGE thanks to the JMU University Recreation Wilderness First Responders who will be out on the course at our remote medic locations. Dr. George Wortley is the leader of the ducktape brigade.

Ian Beckner and Rick Wilkins will be leading it all out on the Motos! SOOOO EXCITING!!!

We wish you safe travels to the Shenandoah Valley and Virginia's George Washington National Forest for the Shenandoah Mountain 100.

Good luck and we will see ya soon,

The Shenandoah Mountain 100 Crew
Special thanks to Judy, Countney and Sebastian Scott