Rattling not quite 50 race recap.
By: Joël and Clifford (lying next to me for inspiration).
This Nankman adventure started with a very uneventful shy of
2 hour drive to Lykens Glen, PA. (bet you won’t even find it on a map) In
contrast to the Fair hill race this one did not start till 10:30 so it seemed
like “sleeping in”.
Once at the race site, looking for parking we were reminded
that some “racers” are absolute dumb asses and that yelling and screaming is
cool or something, and think they don’t have to abide by laws even when in
their car.
Not having done much riding since the Fair Hill 50 my legs
were aching to turn some pedals. So I lined up on the front row dreaming of how
great this race was going to be. The first mile or so was a “neutral” rollout through
the streets of Lykens. And then we went
off into the woods; the first few hundred yards or so was a hike a bike section
straight up the side of whatever mountain ridge we were going to be riding on
for the next few hours. This in itself was epic, I went from getting into the
woods in second place to being somewhere around 10th place once at
the top. Guess I should work on my running with bike skills. Some noteworthy
features during the race where a PBR beer stop presented by Spud racing (I
stopped and took a beer both times), and my favorite section of trail in the
area that involves some near trials style riding to get through and it almost
made me forget I was actually racing and so wanted to do it a few times over.
There were also some amazing view points and I was really bummed that I did not
pack a camera since it was a beautiful clear day but once again I was racing.
At sign in we were told that the race was only going to be
46 miles not the advertised 50. So I felt kind of cheated, well this feeling
faded as the race went on I think we got our total money’s worth. According to
my Garmin AKA The Gremlin we ended up with just shy of 47 miles and about 42
miles of that was on a mix of super-fast flowing, ear to ear grin type single
track and some of the most gnarly bone rattling east coast rock trails you have
ever seen. Even the double track/ fire road sections were pretty tuff, this
made eating and drinking a challenge, and made me very happy that I once again
opted for my trusted Camelbak lumbar pack, and did my typical easy to access
cut in half Cliff shot block packs.
I ended up 10th in the men’s field, and Jess was
4th in the women’s field that saw a lot of lady’s and racers in
general not finishing the event.
Spud racing beer stop