Tanguy wins Lumberjack

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The Lumberjack 100 sold out again in 2011 with a packed field of solid competition in every division vying for the reknown hatchet award. Fair skies and mild temperatures contributed to record times this year in the three-lap 100-mile race, yet just one defending champion would claim four straight.

Women

Defending National Ultra Endurance (NUE) Champion Amanda Carey (Kenda/Felt) captured her third win of the NUE Series this year, in 7:40:38, in what could be shaping up to be her second straight NUE title. Although it's still early in the season, the question remains, who will step up to challenge the defending champion with seven races remaining?

2009 NUE Champion and perpetual challenger Cheryl Sornson (Team CF) finished third at 8:04:46. "It was a fast running course today, and I felt wonderful going into it. I was riding with NUE Champion Amanda Carey, and we did a really fast first lap, I was psyched because I had been tired lately. This was my third big event in a row."

"We picked up our bottles after the first lap, but when we started out on the lap again, it was like I could hardly move and totally imploded the second lap. I made it through and didn't think I was going to do a third lap but it was like, man, there are people out here doing a third lap and I need to do this."

Sornson felt better for a time and kept going, but then Karen Potter (Mtbracenews.com/irideadventures) came on strong and passed her at the aid station. "It was like I was standing still and just couldn't match it," said Sornson. "I had a faster time than last year, but it was a good day, no rain, not to hot and I got a personal best time."

Potter, from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts went on to capture second place in a time of 7:57:30.

Danielle Musto (Salsa/Twin Six/Kenda) finished second in the women's singlespeed division in 8:22:22, a top 10 finish when combined with the women's open in the NUE Series.

"It was awesome! Carey Lowery (Outdoor Store/ Specialized) and I are always competitive with each other. In a nutshell, I managed to hold her off until mile 70 when she blew past me and I never saw her again. I still had my fastest time ever here. This was my seventh year doing this. I have 700 miles on this course."

Men

Christian Tanguy (Team CF) racked up his third win of the season at the Lumberjack 100, taking the top podium spot by finishing in just 6:30:25. Tanguy said, "I had a 29er, and it was right on for this course! I remembered from previous years that it's quite bumpy, although there is not too many rocks or roots. We started with a very large group, the largest so far I think."

"After we completed the first lap, we were still quite a large group so after the first dirt road I tried to go on the front and increase the tempo in the singletrack. Right away, it put a smile on my face because the bike was handling awesome and nobody to brake in front of me. This is where I felt the best."

When the leaders reached the firetower, there were only five left, instead of the original approximately 10 riders in the first group.

"Then Jeff went to the front and slowed down the pace a bit which was fine with me because I was really going hard," said Tanguy. "I could not go that fast to the finish."

"I felt like I had really good legs and could engage with the other racers on the really strenuous climbs. It was like I had a little more today than everybody else. I had a really good handoff at the aid station, as did Jeff Schalk and Mike Simonson," said Tanguy.

Simonson put down the hammer at the beginning of the second lap and it took Tanguy, Derick Graham and Brent Prenzlow three to five miles to catch him.

"I wasn't too worried," said Tanguy. "I had decided that after the dirt road I was going to increase my pace again at the same spot at the beginning of the third lap."

Tanguy rode away from the others starting into the singletrack. "I knew this was it," said Tanguy. "After several second places, I really wanted the hatchet."

"When Christian put in his big attack and started drilling it at the front, I knew I was in trouble," said Schalk. "It was a matter of just hanging on for as long as I could. Right around mile 80 is where I really popped and Simonson and Christian left me and since I let them go, I was able to kind of regroup and try to get back into a rhythm to get back into it and get back to Simonson who was falling apart badly."

Schalk just barely got by Simonson and claimed second in what he called a "stacked field". "Overall, my impression being my fourth year doing it, this was a really stacked field, I was amazed. We had about 15 people together after one full lap which is unprecedented."

Simonson (RBS Trek MTB Team) finished third in 6:40:12, and summed up his day. "I kind of got buried coming in to the start and had to work around some people. In the first lap, it was like a big train. It was probably 10 or 12 guys. Robert Marion (American Classic/Kenda/Tomac) was at the front. He was the rabbit, pretty much, keeping the pace up. I just sat back, ya know, second, third or fourth wheel, trying to lay low. People began falling off the train."

When asked whether there was much talking going on, Simonson said, "We didn't really say too much, it was kinda like, don't hit a tree (laughing)." Going into lap three, Simonson got a good feed and put a gap on the others just prior to Tanguy's attack.

"I was getting tired and having a hard time focusing. I ended up hitting a tree and Christian got away. With about five miles to go, Jeff came out of nowhere and caught me. He was attacking on all of the climbs! We were both just wasted."

"Jeff attacked me again on the very last climb and got a gap, but I almost caught him coming into the finish. We were gassed 100 percent all the way, right to the line. My time was 7:11:00 last year, 6:40:12 this year, so I think I made a major improvement."

Schalk's second place time was just nine seconds faster than Simonson.

Singlespeed men

Gerry Pflug (Salsa/Pro Bikes) of Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania, made it four straight wins this year, albeit a close one, at the Lumberjack 100.

"The competition at this race was stiffer than it has been at any of the races this year so far. There were four singlespeeders and we were all in the front pack with Jeff Schalk and Christian Tanguy."

"I hit a stump on the side of the trail, just like last year, went over the bars, crashed really hard, messed up my front suspension so I dropped off from the front pack and just went into recovery mode."

Luckily enough for Pflug, Matt Ferrari (Hubcap-Freeze Thaw Cycles) and another singlespeeder came by, so the trio rode together to catch Jordan Wakely (Einstein Racing) from Grayling, Michigan.

"So there were the three of us for all the first lap and much of the second lap. I put a little time on them coming into the second pit, and I had to do some mechanical work so they got by me but caught them again on a climb on the third loop. They both seemed to blow up and I didn't see them anymore after that," said Pflug.

He rode solo until Mike Montalbano (Dark Horse Cycles) of Hewitt, New Jersey caught him on the fire road. "I let him get in front and he set a really good pace. He had a higher gear than I had so everywhere there was a really steep pitch, he had to get off and run while I could ride it," said Pflug. "I was putting time on him on the climbs but then he would catch me again on the fast stuff."

The pair rode the final lap together until the last steep part with a mile or two to go. That's when Montalbano's bigger gear meant he had to jump off and run while Pflug could ride past and get some time.

"I knew he had a bigger gear and there was all that rolling stuff so I thought he might catch me. It came down to a sprint coming in to the line and I got him by 13 seconds," said Pflug. "It was like a cross country course, fast, I loved it."

NUE Masters Champion and race winner Robert Herriman (Trek 29er Crew/WSC/acfstores.com) of Royal Oak, Michigan, said he had a poor start, but that didn't stop him from going on to win the race.

"I kind of got buried as they were heading down the road," said Herriman. "But I think that kind of worked out well because it forced me to stick to an easier pace at the beginning, ya know, stuck in traffic."

A few miles in, Herriman caught up to Roger Masse, who eventually had to stop to remove a stick from his rear wheel. Herriman never saw Masse again.

"This is a tough course. It doesn't have the elevation of other courses but you never get to rest. It's not technical but it's just hard, concentration hard, and always power." Herriman's winning time was 7:25:30.

Roger Masse (Trek 29er Crew) of Bethesda, Maryland, finished second in 7:50:09. "I have been targeting Robert Herriman. I mean, he is the current NUE Champion and he won two weeks ago at the Mohican 100 so he was the guy I really wanted to ride with today from a competitive standpoint."

Masse said the two worked together on some fireroads. "He wasn't going too hard so I thought we could probably ride together for a while. We were talking, I mean, we're friends, so I figured we could work together for a while, it's a long race, right? And I think he was thinking the same thing, but I ended up getting a stick in my wheel."

The offending stick popped back out, but not without breaking a spoke, which also got caught in Masse's chain and forced him to stop again to deal with it.

"I couldn't get the spoke out of the chain. It felt like an eternity but I am sure it was only three or four minutes. I finally got it going again and started chasing, and I thought I would see him again, but he was just stronger today."

Masse's wobbly wheel held up until the end. "Honestly, I don't know what the margin was but I'm sure it was more than the amount of time I was stopped so I'm not going to say that was the reason but it would have been nice to ride with him a little longer and test him today. It just wasn't in the cards."

The next stop for the NUE Series is July 16 in the high country of Breckenridge, Colorado, for the Breckenridge 100. It's the home race of Josh Tostado. Can anyone take his Rocky Mountain crown? Stay tuned for a race preview and all the action.

Special thanks go to Jack Kunnen for assistance with rider interviews.

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