pisgah

My friend Alex (dude in the red jacket), who lives in North Carolina, sent this race report on Double Dare, a two day adventure race in Pisgah National Forest in western NC. I've ridden out there with him once before (Laurel Mountain) and it's one of those epic rides that ends up permanently etched in your memory. I've been wanting to get back ever since, but it hasn't worked out. Sounds like a sweet race. Essentially a mtb enduro alleycat. For more information, see the official website. For confirmation, see the report from Rich of Bad Idea Racing. There is another race in spring, but only one day not two. Anyone interested in heading down to the Christ haunted south for a bike race? Seriously. I've been meaning to get together with Alex for some riding, and this might just be the perfect opportunity. He also has a lake house close by that could be used as a base for more riding.

My goodness there are a lot of trails in Pisgah. I rode for 22hrs, 125+ miles this weekend without ever riding a trail twice and cannot have covered more than 1/3 - 2/5ths of what is there. And it is good stuff as well.

The race was a bit crazy. My bike was 10lbs heavier than normal b/c loaded with spare tire, tubes, lights, clothes, emergency blanket, etc. I also had some pretty heavy Mary bars. I broke my thumb a few weeks ago (although only went to the doctor and got x-rays yesturday) and those swept back bars were the only ones I could use w/o pain. It was hard to see rocks and roots under all of the fallen leaves on many of the trails too.

My partner and I hit it hard the first day, getting 9 out of 11 checkpoints in 10hrs, 45min. We were screwed a bit by faulty lights. We had to make a 30 min detour back to camp to swap those out. We ended up on the top of a ridge at the end of a long day at 10:00pm, low 40's and 20-30mph wind gusts. It was miserable. I was cold for the next 3 hrs, even when wrapped up in my sleeping bag.

But, 5:00am came around before you knew it and it was time to go again. We pushed hard initially but my partner faded fast. I don't think he ate or drank enough the day before. You have to eat not just for that day, but also to insure you will have somethng in reserve for the next. As a result, mthe rest ofthe day became a sort of long long recovery ride. WE ended up on the blue ridge parkway where I helped by pushing him and then leading himmfor drafting when itmleveled off. Lastly I had to keep encouraging him to keep pushing it as we flew down the mtn, trying to beat the 6:00pm cutoff. We got in at 5:55!

Exciting stuff. Only 10 teams showed up and we took 3rd. We should have had 2nd, but 1st was untouchable.

And the weather was awesome. It rained the day efore and could ahve been miserable, but cleared up just in time.

Start making plans for a team for next year. You may want to consider a team for the one day mtn bike adventure race in the late spring. Registration opens on Feb. 1 and fills fast.

Other news of note:

Parts 2 and 3 of the Amber Landis interview are up over at Daily Peloton.

Yet another fixed gear article, this time from Pez. Essentially a how-to primer, so if there's anyone who's still looking for a spot on the bandwagon, here's your opportunuty to figure out how to go about climbing aboard.

The Belgian Club cx race is this Sunday. Last I checked, the forecast is for +5 with a chance of rain. Perfect. Ian's looking for help getting the course ready. Saturday between 10 - 2, and Sunday morning starting around 7am. I'll try to head over for a bit on Saturday and likely Sunday morning too. If you want to head over together, let me know.

OTT: Fred Eaglesmith, Angel of the Lord