Jocelyn and I never planned on this race this year.
We had such a good time at Mohican 100 that as soon as we got home we secured transfer spots and began to plan our trip to Michigan for the Lumberjack 100. With only two weeks between these races this only gave me two days at the most to train on the steed of choice for Lumberjack. The rigid SS. I wanted to ride the single speed at this race. Last year I narrowly missed the win in as close to a sprint finish as I've ever been in in a hundred. Finishing only 13sec back from three time N.U.E. champion Gerry Pflug. I secretly wanted vengeance this year. Gerry was recovering from a tick bite so he didn't come, this left me as the favorite according to Cycling News.
Last year I wasn't prepared for the intensity of the start of this race, this year I went as hard as I could to be right on Justin Pokrivka's wheel entering the single track. After about 5 miles or so it became apparent to me Justin's pace was a little harder than I was willing to go for a hundred miles, so I sat up, took a drink and waited for the chase group of single speeders to catch me. Dwayne Goscinski, Trevor Rockwell, Hal Batdorf and James Harmon were in this group. We took advantage of the pace Jed Prentice was setting on his geared bike. James attacked on the fire tower climb, jumping on to Eddie O'dea's wheel, opening a small gap. I chased for a while, but sat up when I wasn't getting any closer and waited for my SS brothers to bridge back up. They didn't seemed too worried about James, and I put him out of my head also. Going into lap 2, I took some time at the feed to get my bottles straight and slam a coke. This calmed me down but left me alone to the pace making all by myself. I was in a rough place for the start of the second lap and thought about quiting but was able to find my flow after only a few miles. I was starting to pick people off and shortly after the fire tower climb went by James and got back up to Trevor and Dwayne. Hal, (on his way to the win) had checked out, we talked about catching him and Justin later. Often seeing riders ahead, thinking it was either one of them. Justin would come back at the final aid station, but Hal never did. The third lap, I had a rough patch (again) getting gaped on the early climbs, but I knew if I just stayed consistent I would shortly see those guys again. Eddie O'dea pulled me back up then made a kick with about 20 miles to go and Dwayne jumped on for the ride. Trevor and I thought it was too early, but after a few more minutes I started to get the sinking feeling that I missed my chance. Chasing Dwayne for the final 10 miles was fun and exhausting all at the same time. In the end, I was less than a minute back from him but 5 minutes off the win. Hal had the winning move of the day early. He took his shot and it payed off. Great racing with you guys.... Results, Race finish interview
