How a Married Couple Races together, Patapsco 100, Woodlawn, MD

Racing Together as a Duo
Event: Patapsco 100 (we did the 66 mile as a co-ed duo)
Place: Patapsco State Park, Woodlawn, MD
Ridden: July 2014

Click on video to play

Wow, what a race.  Both of us woke up the day after feeling beat-up and tired. This weekend we traveled to Patapso State Park (just outside of Baltimore, MD) for the Patapsco 100 race, in which we competed in the 66 mile race as a co-ed duo.

Camping area

Camping for the weekend

The riding at Patapsco can be considered part South Mountain Lehigh, part Allegrippis, and part Richmond.  There are technical rocky sections with too many log-overs to count and fast, flowy twisty sections with lots of "whoop-de-doos"; all of it is contained in 16,000 acres of state park right in the middle of an urban area. Many of the trails go under overpasses and at times the highway can be heard (but many times it is also dead quite as if you are out in the middle of no where). The 170 miles of trails are multi-purpose, open to hikers and equestrians along with cyclists.  The park system surrounds the Patapsco River, which is great for canoeing and kayaking.  The park has hundreds of camp sites, we utilized one of them as our home base for the weekend.  Many of the campsites are pet friendly, but we opted to have Cliff stay with his grandma at her farm, more fun for him than being locked in a hot tent all weekend (in case you were wondering why he is not in any of the video/photos).

AM race prep

Waiting at the start line

The website for this race has a warning posted: "This race will be extremely hard. With almost 5,500 ft of climbing per lap (33 miles)...this is nothing but epic!"  That description is true!  Just finishing is an accomplishment, there is approximately a 50% DNF (did not finish) rate.  The race is a lap race, 33 miles per lap.  The course is 95% on dirt, with 80% of that being single track. There were multiple water crossings, two of which involved crossing the Patapsco River. These could not be ridden, the water was waist high, so the bikes needed to be picked-up and carried.  As per the description, there was a lot of climbing.  Most were shorter climbs, lasting no more than 5 to 10 minutes to reach the top.  But they were steep and many were also technically challenging with rocks, roots, and water bars.  As one other racer put it " we just keep going up and down and up and down, there is no end to it."  A few of the climbs were hike-a-bike climbs; one climb even included a staircase to hike up.

The race was tough.  It certainly was a challenging course that tested us both mentally and physically.  Despite the pain and suffering, we enjoyed the course and the race.  Joël and I raced as a duo and rode together the entire time.  Being that I am the slower of the two of us, it was great to have him there as encouragement during the tough sections.  For over half the race we traded places with the team that would eventually go on to win the co-ed duo division, Joël and I placing second.  Because many racers were still out on the course, there was no official podium ceremony for the 66 mile race. Awards we handed out individually, our second place including among many other things bottles of wine. Can't go wrong with that as an award!

Pseudo-podium picture

Despite all the water and sand, our bikes preformed well.  The ProGold Xtreme lube kept the drive trains happy and the Bike Shine made clean-up afterwards easy. Both Joël and I were VERY happy to have the light-weight carbon frames of the Lust Advanced and Anthem Advanced, it helped decrease the pain during the hike-a-bike sections.

-words by Jess

- video and photos by Joël