Saturday, August 25, 2007

The big announcement....


Landis to Shenandoah Mountain 100
Floyd Landis at the Leadville100
Photo ©: Wesley & Garrett Geer

Floyd Landis will be racing at the Shenandoah Mountain 100, the finale in the National Ultra Endurance (NUE) Series to be held on Labor Day weekend near Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the George Washington National Forest.
"I am honored to be invited to be part of the Shenandoah Mountain 100 event. I look forward to racing on the challenging course they have put together since it includes the kind technical trail riding that first got me hooked on mountain bike racing," said 2006 Tour de France Champion Landis, who started his career growing up and racing his mountain bike throughout the mid-Atlantic.
While waiting to learn the outcome of his May anti-doping arbitration hearing that followed a positive doping test for testosterone in Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France, Landis has kept himself busy by returning to his roots and racing his mountain bike. Just a few weeks ago, he finished second at the Leadville 100, and earlier this summer, he took part in the Teva Games in Colorado.
Landis accepted an invitation to race the Shenandoah Mountain 100 offered to him by Mid Atlantic Off Road Enthusiast (MORE) member Scott Scudamore, who served as MC at a Floyd Fairness Fund event held in Northern Virginia in January. At the time, he deferred committing and joked instead, "I'd like to come, but I don't have to race if it's raining, right?"
"I'm pretty stoked that Floyd Landis has decided to return to his mountain biking roots and show up for the SM100. I've been dogging him for close to a year," said Promoter Chris Scott.
"If he's really on his game, he could beat the course record set by Jeremiah Bishop last year of 7 hours, 15 minutes," said Scott.

Shenandoah Mtn 100

I've finally signed up for the race after getting info that the race organizers were getting close to maximum capacity of 450 racers. So I'm starting to get excited for the race that is on Sept 2, in Stokesville, VA just a few miles southwest of Harrisonburg. The race course is a mix of forest roads and single track with 14,000 feet of climbing. This race is the final race in a series entitle the National Ultra Endurance(NUE), which consists of 6 races around the country just like this one. This event draws some of the top MTB pros. The goal for this event will be to finish, and I'm calculating the goal for the number of hours to finish. Right now the number is 12 hours, and that would be extremely successful if I did it near that time. The big news just a couple of days after I officially registered, is that 2006 Tour de France winner, Floyd Landis will be racing in this event. Floyd has a background in MT B before his roady days. He finished an event in Colorado earlier this year in 2nd place pushing the winner to a record time. That event has a much larger portion of the race on forest service roads, and is much less technical than the SM100. I'm sure the top MTB pros that will be running this event are looking forward to the challenge of Floyd. One more week, to get everything ready.