Carey opens 100-miler season with victory at Cohutta

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The Kenda National Ultra Endurance (NUE) Series rolled out Saturday under sunny skies and mild temperatures in what would turn out to be a record setting day with a few surprises, a wild card, and even a trip to the emergency room for one promising young racer. Amanda Carey (Kenda/Felt) and Christian Tanguy (Team CF) rode to victory at the season opener. Gerald Pflug topped the singlespeed category while Doug Andrews was the top master man.

Women's open

According to women's open champion Amanda Carey (Kenda/Felt), "It was a typical 100 miler. There were times when it was really bad, times when it was really good, times when it was fun, and times when it was terrible. Overall, I really struggled during the first half of the race but about five hours in, I was able to find my legs and was really able to pick up my pace".

Asked about 2009 women's open champion Cheryl Sornsen (TeamCF.org), Carey said, "Yes, we both went into the singletrack early in the race. She got ahead of me, and I was behind a crash on the first switchback. I was on her wheel in the singletrack for about six to eight miles then got ahead of her a little bit and stopped off at the first aid station at mile 20, by then she was behind maybe a minute to two?"

Carey, appropriately from a place called Victor, Idaho, continued to pad her lead, gaining her second straight win at the NUE Season opener with an impressive 7:33:41, 30 minutes faster than last year under cold and wet conditions.

Podium finishers included Sornsen of Fairfield, Pennsylvania, holding on to the number two spot at 8:02:54; Karen Potter of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, finishing third at 8:18:14; Vicki Barclay, of State College, Pennsylvania; Namrita O'Dea of Atlanta, Georgia; and Brenda Simril, Chattanooga, Tennessee all finished in less than nine hours in a field that included racers from as far as Ohio and Illinois.

Men's open

In the men's open division, Christian Tanguy (TeamCF.org) took the spotlight once again after an impressive win over the three-time NUE men's open champion, Jeff Schalk (Trek) at the NUE Championship Shenandoah Mountain 100 race in Virginia last year.

According to Tanguy, who lives in Rochester, Michigan,"Everything happened at aid station three, Michael Simonson (Gary Fisher / SRAM / Notubes) didn't stop and got a gap. Chris Beck (TeamCF.org) Jeff Schalk and myself had to stop and we had about a 30 second delay, but I was faster to take off."

"After one hour I was just 10 seconds behind Mike, and there was about a 20-second gap behind me to Chris and Jeff. I figured since Chris was on my team, he would not take any relay, so this was my chance to ride with Mike. I couldn't really close the gap to Mike but on the very long downhill to aid station four, he got a flat tire."

According to Simonson, "Christian took a really hard dig goin' up the climb to aid station three. I had about a 10-second gap on Christian leaving aid three, then I flatted about halfway down the big hill descent, and then Christian, Beck and Schalk passed me."

Seizing the opportunity, Tanguy finished in a record 6:27:48. Simonson was able to change the flat tire and still manage to hold for fourth place 6:43:39. Asked whether he could have won if he hadn't flatted, Simonson said, "who knows, ya know. (laughing). It would've been nice to draft and sit in a little bit on the flatter sections. I was just givin' it hell man."

According to Beck, who placed second in 6:33:56, "The pace started out high and before we knew, the pack had formed into an elite group of six with Jeff, Christian, and this Turner Guy who I was a little worried about," referring to Thomas Turner of Canton, Georgia. "He was the wild card. Chris Peariso, of Amherst, Wisconsin, who finished second last year, and Michael Simonson were also in the elite group.

"Christian was sittin' in the back, comin' off of a long Michigan winter. Nobody knew what kind of form he had, but you never know what kind of form he has anyway 'cuz he's so good at hiding it. Christian set the pace high and Michael was aggressive. At aid station three, Jeff and I were chasing to close the gap. We lost Thomas (Turner) and Chris (Peariso). That forced isolation for Christian, my teammate, and I fed on Jeff for a long time."

According to Schalk, who placed third on the podium Saturday with a time of 6:36:48, after winning a wet and wild Cohutta last year, "For me, I thought it was going fine for the first third or so but I kinda started falling apart midway through and just couldn't cover the accelerations from Christian or Simonson anymore."

"I was trying to cover the attacks in the first third. I don't know whether I used too much energy or what but I just didn't quite have it today," said Schalk. "I usually have good form this time of year so I'm not really sure why I'm off but I'm gonna try and figure it out."

Singlespeed open

Two-time NUE singlespeed champion Gerald Pflug (Salsa/SPK/PAO Bikes) said, "It was a tough race. Matt Ferrari and I were riding together at the beginning but then, about mile 30 or 35, my cleat came loose. At the time, there was a group of three geared guys and three singlespeeders. I was forced to stop and was lucky my bolts didn't come out all the way. I probably lost about a minute or minute and a half then just got into my own pace but was unable to draft."

According to Ferrari, who finished second in 7:24:17, "Oh gosh, there was this young kid," referring to 16-year-old Dillon Johnson, "up ahead and me and Pflug were stuck behind the women's race in the early part of the singletrack. Once we hit the dirt road, Gerry and I came together and the three of us began working together, along with three other geared riders."

Pflug dropped back with a mechanical near aid station two. "I was quick through aid station two and led the race, but then Gerry came charging up. He came on quick when he caught me. It was everything I could do to hold on until we came into aid four. Gerry stopped at four to reload and I kept going on through the flat but it wasn't until the last big climb before aid five that Gerry caught back up, about 15 miles before the finish. He had already tested me several times on the short walls and then made his attack. I just couldn't respond, then it was everything I could do to hold on and keep it going."

According to Pflug and Ferrari, the 16-year old-Dillon "The Kid" Johnson, who placed fourth last year at the Shenandoah 100, was really puttin' it down as he led out the early portion of the race before suffering a painful crash.

Johnson explained what happened. "On a downhill, I guess I was going too fast in loose gravel, flipped over the bars, hit my face and scraped it up a lot".

In fact, several racers, including Amanda Carey, noted that some of the roads had received, what appeared to be, fresh gravel, some of it several inches deep, making some of the fast descents sketchy, often forcing racers to drift toward the edge of the road at high speeds to avoid crashing hard.

"I actually can't quite remember how I crashed," said Dillon, "but these nice people driving a pickup truck gave me a ride before I was taken by ambulance to the ER."

Fortunately, Johnson is ok, and said he planned to compete in several upcoming NUE races, including the Mohican 100 and Shenandoah 100.

In a related story, Harlan Price, former NUE men's open champion, now singlespeed contender, who was registered for the Cohutta 100 was not there, reportedly due to an injury he received in a road collision shortly before the race. However, he is currently recovering and is expected to return to competition soon.

Eric Nicoletti, Decatur, Georgia, took the final spot on the podium, finishing third in 7:47:21, and just edging out Jason Pruitt of Lafayette, Indiana in 7:47:55. Ben Barnard of Greensboro, North Carolina was next at 7:53:55, and Hat Batdorf of Woodbury, North Carolina, rounded out the singlespeed racers who were sub eight hours.

Masters 50+

According to Roger Masse of Bethesda, Maryland, who placed second in 7:36:59, "I had some tough competition, I was expecting, Robert Herriman (of Royal Oak, Michigan), NUE masters champion to be strong. With a third place finish today, he obviously was."

"And then there is a new guy, Doug Andrews, from California.We pre-rode the first singletrack yesterday, and I knew he was going to be a factor, he was riding really strong. In fact, he was going harder than I wanted to in a warm up so I took that as a cue, like, this guy could seriously be a factor if he could keep it up for the whole 100 miles."

According to Andrews, who traveled all the way from Mission Viejo to make a surprise capture of first place in 7:33:17, "It was a great day, perfect weather, really smooth, great directions on the course. I had some good competition with Roger Masse who had a little problem, but before that, we were together for about 70 miles. I don't know what happened but I got ahead of him and that was it. I think he had a problem with his free hub which was slipping a bit.
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According to Herriman (Gary Fisher 29er Crew), who placed third in 7:53:48, after winning last year's race, "It went well, my bike worked perfect. I had kind of a slow start but around mile 20 started feelin' a lot better. It was actually kind of hot today, and I felt it a bit at the end but I guess that's better than last year's downpour. The Mohican will be my next NUE race."

The Next Kenda NUE Series race will take place at Syllamos Revenge in the beautiful Ozark Mountains of Mountain View, Arkansas, on Saturday, May 14.

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