Wilderness 101 Mountain Bicycle Race

The Wilderness 101 Mountain Bicycle Race is an ultra-endurance 101 miles (163 km) mountain bike race held annually in late July. The race is commonly called the W101, akin to a first year college course, such as Physics 101, at the nearby Penn State University.

Wilderness 101
Race details
DateVariable, late July usually
RegionBald Eagle State Forest and Rothrock State Forest, Pennsylvania
Nickname(s)W101
DisciplineMountain Bike
Type100 Mile Ultra Endurance
Race directorChris Scott
History
First edition1991 (1991)
Editions24
John Majors in the 2006 Event

The race was first held in 1991 and been held continuously since 2001. The W101 starts and ends in a small village Coburn, Pennsylvania near Millheim, Pennsylvania. The W101 course is a single loop covering roads, forest roads and trails. The total climbing in the race is approximately 12,000 feet (3,700 meters).) The majority of the course is within the Bald Eagle and Rothrock Pennsylvania State Forests. The event is organized and run primarily by Shenandoah Mountain Touring (located in Harrisonburg, VA) and has been one of the stops of the National Ultra Endurance Series since 2006.

History

1991 to 1994

The Wilderness 101 was first held in 1991 organized by a bicycle shop location in State College, PA (The Bicycle Shop). The owner of the Bicycle Shop, Randy Moore, put together an off-road loop of 101 miles, with the specific goal to be longer than a 100-mile race. They also wanted to do the loop as a point-to-point ride because the early off-road century races were lap races, most held at ski areas. Moore was among the early east coast mountain bike pioneers who discovered the trail riding in Rothrock and Bald Eagle State Forests in the late 1980s. In addition to the 101, they held a 30-mile mountain bike race that started and finished in Coburn, PA annually.

Shirts from 1991 and 1992

The inaugural winner of the 1991 race was Harry Winard with a time of 6:59. He was a Penn State student at the time and according to an interview in the Oct 1991 Dirt Rag, only decided to race the event the week before. Harry won the race on a Bridgestone MB-0 mountain bike with very narrow and smooth tires (1.5" Avocet Cross) and a set triathlon aero bars. The modern courses with more trails and rougher trails would reduce the chance of someone winning on such a bicycle. These changes also prohibit comparing the finishing times from the earlier events to the current events.[1]

It is not known if any women started or finished the 1991 events. The 1992 Woman's winner was Susan Combine [2] John Stamstad, a famous pioneer in endurance and ultra-endurance mountain bike events, won the 1993 race. In these early editions of the race, each finisher was given a shirt after finishing that listed their placing and finish time in felt iron-on letters and numbers.

2001 to Present

In 2001 a company unrelated to the original organization, Shenandoah Mountain Touring from Harrisonburg, VA re-established the race. This organization has now held the race annually since and plans to for the foreseeable future.

Jay Duff won the first of the re-established event in 2001. His finishing time of 7:07 cannot be compared to the times of the 2002 and later events as a significantly larger amount of new challenging single-track sections were added.

The current course records are as follows: Open men: Jeff Schalk, 6:26, 2011 Open women: Vicki Barclay, 7:14, 2015 Master's men: Master's women: Single Speed Men: Single Speed Women:

Profile of the 2005 Course, Part One
Profile of the 2005 Course, Part Two

Course

The 1991–1993 race courses were primarily fire-roads and roads. A guide book by Scott Adams, Mountain Bike Madness in Central PA [3] has a write up and map on the course. The early years even included a short section along the margin of a busy highway (rt 322). This section has been rerouted to use a service tunnel under the highway, and the highway itself has been elevated on the return loop so racers use a quieter underpass. The 2001 and later race courses contain substantially more trails and degraded fire-roads. In subsequent years the organizer has added more trails (single-track and double-track) as new trails are opened or their condition improved. Even when new trails are not included, the course often has to be changed to avoid areas closed by forestry operations, changing trail conditions or due to requests of the managing agencies.

Results
Year Starters Finishers Male Winner Time Female Winner Time
2021[4] 120 119 Jake Inger 6:53 Britt Mason 8:23
2019 84 Jeremiah Bishop 7:09 Jen Troops 9:13
2018 Dylan Johnson 6:39 Vicki Barclay 8:10
2017 167 154 Christian Tanguy 6:48 Carla Williams 8:05
2016[5] 195 157 Brian Schworm 6:57 Carla Williams 8:15
2015 202 192 Keck Baker 6:27 Vicki Barclay 7:13
2014 196 Jeremiah Bishop 6:50 Missy Nash 9:28
2013 253 203 Christian Tanguy 7:01 Vicki Barclay 8:27
2012 287 235 Jeremiah Bishop 6:31 Cheryl Sornson 7:44
2011 364 314 Jeff Schalk 6:26 Vicki Barclay 7:42
2010 298 273 Jeff Schalk 6:34 Cheryl Sornson 8:06
2009 325 281 Jeff Schalk 6:58 Pua Sawicki 7:44
2008 287 243 Jeff Schalk 6:41 Cheryl Sornson 8:37
2007 177 127 Jeremiah Bishop 6:52 Betsy Shogren 8:36
2006 278 218 Harlan Price 7:33 Betsy Shogren 9:28
2005 229 207 Chris Eatough 6:59 Tiffany Mann 9:14
2004 208 194 Chris Eatough 7:10 Tiffany Mann 9:23
2003 167 145 Chris Eatough 7:04 Lee Schwarz 9:23
2002 101 91 Mike Keefer 7:23 Tiffany Mann 9:40
2001 61 56 Jay Duffy 7:07 Sue George 9:27
1993 John Stamstad Christina Baum
1992 Allistair Neil 7:14 unknown
1991 Harry Winard 6:59 unknown

See also

References
  1. "Dirt Rag Mag Issue August 1991 Issue #18 Article on Wilderness 101 Pages xx-xx". Retrieved 2012-05-18.
  2. "Daily Collegian Issue October 09 1992 Pages 05" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  3. Adams, Scott (January 1, 1993). Mountain Bike Madness in Central PA: An Atlas of Central Pennsylvania's Greatest Mountain Bike Rides. Beachway Press. ISBN 9781882997022.
  4. "2021 Wilderness 101 Results".
  5. "Wilderness 101 - 2016 - Preliminary Results" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-10-16.
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