Lumberjack One Hundie

Wellston, Michigan, USA
Saturday June 19, 2010
by: Jorden Wakeley

Fairly new at these race report things, but here goes…

My birthday present from my loving parents this year was the sufferfest known as the Lumberjack 100.The LJ is stop #3 on the National Ultra Endurace Mountain Bike Race Series. The race consists of 3, 33 mile loops in the beautiful Manistee National Forest. There arent any long climbs, but there is still a total of 9,000+ feet of elevation gain. Lots of short, STEEP hills. Definatly a power riders course, and SS as well. This race sold out in less than 12 hours as many of you know.
This would be my 2nd LJ100, and 1st one on a SS. The LJ was my “A” race for the year. I had riding the most I have ever ridden, and kept my nutrtion plan very strict. This was my 2nd attemp at a 100 miler this year, my first being the MUDhican 100, which I DNF’ed after a horrible crash 25 mies in. I looked at the LJ as my redemption race. Saturday morning came, I woke at 3 a.m. after about 3 hours of sleep. I already had the truck packed, and hit the highway towards Wellston which was about 2 hours away.
The start is a 2 mile paved roll-out, a SSers worst enemy. I started about 3rd row, and when the gun went off I spun like mad drafting off the gearies. I tucked myself behind local SS stud Ron Sanborn, and convinced myself I would follow his every move as best as I could. As soon as we hit the singletrack, Sanborn started attacking, as did I. As I stayed glued on his wheel, we picked off 20+ spots in the first 5 miles. About 8 miles into the 33 mile loop, we hit a sandy 2-track. I got in front of Ron, and now endurance freak Tim Finkel and took my turn pulling at the front. I pulled them past a group of gearies into the next section of singletrack when things went south. My chain started popping, it sounded like someone lit a pack of Black Cat firecrackers under my wheel! At first I thought I had blown a hub, but a closer look reveled my e.b.b had slipped and let my chain become very loose. I dug my multi tool out and fixed it up quick. I had only lost about 4 minutes, but knew the lead SS train was long gone. I settled in to a good grind and started moving back up, eventually getting stuck behind 2 very talkative racers. I sat on their wheel for a while and recovered from the hard effort of bridging the gap, and got sick of the Oprah like talk show they were having. Eventually I dropped them and set out on my own again for a while. Around mile 30 I caught up with a train of 4 SSers, and dropped them like a bad habit going into the pit area on a longer climb. I swung into my pit for a quick bottle exchange, and a banana and was off. The next 33 miles flew by. I rode the 2nd lap almost all by myself. At the 66 mile mark, I had been on the bike for only 4 hours and 57 min. I knew I would go under 8 hours at this point. Grabbed a quick bottle hand up from my parents and headed out for the remaining 33 mile loop. I caught Robert Herriman, and let him latch onto my wheel for about an hour, but let him go as I began to cramp. Stopped at the aid station with 20 miles to go and grabbed a piss warm Coke. Better than Perpetuem at this point though. I started feeling better, and put forth one last surge. I caught Robert with about 10 miles to go and let him pull me around for a while. He dropped me on the last climb, but I knew I was holding steady for a podium spot in the SS class, so I wasnt too concerned. Rounding the final corner of singletrack, I crossed under the blood red finnish line banner in 7 hours 39 min., less then 8 minutes out of 3rd place. 5th place on the SS podium, and 17th overall out of the 310 racers that started. Not bad for my first N.U.E. series 100 on a single speed! Over 2 hours faster than my 1st LJ back in 2008, and and hour faster then my fastest 100 miles!
Fellow T6 SSer Brad Wagner also threw down a steller ride. I would like to thank B-Rad for getting me on a mountain bike way back in the 7th grade, then on a SS very soon after. Brad is getting the youth of Northern Michigan riding with after school mountain bike clubs and other rad programs. Brad is a great friend, coach, and mentor to me. I learned from the best! Thanks Wagner, but dont let the kids in your after school mtb club get too fast yet! Congrats to all racers! Seen lots of Twin 6 jerseys and socks out there as well. Keep up the great work!

Top 5 Singlespeeders
1. Gerry Pflug
2. Matthew Ferrari
  3. Tim Finkel
  4. Ron Sanborn
  5. Jorden Wakeley
I would like to thank HAMMER Nutrition, The Cycle to Fitness RACING GREYHOUNDS racing team, my parents and family for the support, and of course TWIN6!
THANKS FOR READING, NOW GO RIDE A BIKE!