The Wilderness 101 Mountain Bicycle Race is an ultra-endurance 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.
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 .) 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.
The inaugural winner of the 1991 race was Harry Winand 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.
It is not known if any women started or finished the 1991 events. The 1992 Woman's winner was Susan Combine 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:
Course The 1991–1993 race courses were primarily fire-roads and roads. A guide book by Scott Adams, Mountain Bike Madness in Central PA 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 YearStartersFinishersMale WinnerTimeFemale WinnerTime2021120119Jake Inger6:53Britt Mason8:23201984Jeremiah Bishop7:09Jen Troops9:132018Dylan Johnson6:39Vicki Barclay8:102017167154Christian Tanguy6:48Carla Williams8:052016195157Brian Schworm6:57Carla Williams8:152015202192Keck Baker6:27Vicki Barclay7:132014196Jeremiah Bishop6:50Missy Nash9:282013253203Christian Tanguy7:01Vicki Barclay8:272012287235Jeremiah Bishop6:31Cheryl Sornson7:442011364314Jeff Schalk6:26Vicki Barclay7:422010298273Jeff Schalk6:34Cheryl Sornson8:062009325281Jeff Schalk6:58Pua Sawicki7:442008287243Jeff Schalk6:41Cheryl Sornson8:372007177127Jeremiah Bishop6:52Betsy Shogren8:362006278218Harlan Price7:33Betsy Shogren9:282005229207Chris Eatough6:59Tiffany Mann9:142004208194Chris Eatough7:10Tiffany Mann9:232003167145Chris Eatough7:04Lee Schwarz9:23200210191Mike Keefer7:23Tiffany Mann9:4020016156Jay Duffy7:07Sue George9:271993John StamstadChristina Baum1992Allistair Neil7:14unknown1991Harry Winard6:59unknown
See also Rothrock State Forest Bald Eagle State Forest Shenandoah 100
References
External links US National Ultra Series The event's primary website by Shenandoah Mountain Touring Media Coverage of past events Coverage of the 2005 event on Cycling News Coverage of the 2003 event.