Wilson's Revenge

14 October 2012

Rode Wilson's Revenge yesterday, a 55 mile monstercross event near Lenoir, NC. Very well run. Arrived Friday night, spent the evening hanging around with some of the great volunteers, slept in the car, and raced in the morning. Rode the new San Jose, which performed flawlessly, though it was way over geared (for me at least) at 42-20. Knew I'd underinflated my tires from the start, forgot to stop at Aid 1 for air, and pinch flatted the front about 10 minutes later on the first double track descent. Knew it was gonna happen the second I saw the gravel. Also forgot a second spare tube, so I changed the front and used my second spare cartridge to top off the back, then kept my fingers crossed and thought light thoughts for the rest of the ride. Got passed by two folks while changing the flat, but caught them as well as three or four other folks over the ensuing miles, ultimately finishing 15th overall and 3rd ss. Nothing like a small field to let us regular people feel good about ourselves. Hopefully the event will grow as its a great course and this was its first year. A good time for sure.





Breakfast

Downtime with coffee before the race

Riders gearing up



The start. I'm last on the left.

Nice view near the high point

Climbing on Yancy Ridge


Podium!


And a nice trophy!

5 October 2012

Out with the old (and small), in with the new....

1 October 2012

An uninspiring ride Saturday. 100 miles on the Silver Comet. Made it to Cedartown, but was running out of time so had to turn around there instead of continuing on the additional 10 miles to the GA/AL state line.

















And a quick blast at FATS Friday night. Running out of daylight here and got to try out the new light.

23 September 2012

Conversation at the gas station in Clinton yesterday.

Me: So when's kick-off?

Gamecock Fan: 3 o'clock.

Me: So it'll end around 6 or 7?

GF: That's about right.

Me: Ok, so we don't want to get back to town until after that. Thanks.

GF: What?

Me: Some people go one way for game day, others go the other way.

16 September 2012

More CRAP200

Went to Peak today to check out the Palmetto Trail there. The trestle across the river is accessible by dirt road, which is fine, but the RR bed is gravel. I'm thinking get off it around Hope Crossing, which is Mile 3. Gonna be a rough 3 miles.

16 September 2012

Put together the first leg of the planned Columbia-Ridgeway-Peak 200k Permanent yesterday. Provisional name: CRAP200. Don't let it fool you.

From the gas station at Trenholm and Forest Drive its 25 miles to Ridgeway. Store in Ridgeway will be Control #2.

Out Trenholm


A couple of turns later, on to Hardscrabble and Grover Wilson


Then bang a left on Smallwood


And you're pretty much there



And as a bonus I ran into a Wayne and Josh in Ridgeway, making the ride home go pretty quickly


And a bonus shot. Because I can.

9 September 2012

Raced the Fools Gold 50 yesterday, and went in with the same plan as last year: don't stop until Aid 3, then see what's still in the tank. All went fine until somewhere around mile 35. Last year I slowed up on the double track right after Aid 2 and stuffed my face before the climb started. This year I figured I'd wait until I had to start hiking before stuffing my face, but by then it was too late. Though I had both food and water with me, I came back to Aid 3 in a calorie deficit, and probably not very well hydrated, and never really recovered. Managed to struggle home, helped by the knowledge that there was at least one guy in my class chasing (turns out he wasn't, but I appreciated the boost anyhow), but every little climb after Aid 3 felt like an impossible struggle.

Fortunately its mostly down hill from there. Got caught by a couple of gearies on the last two miles of pavement (dammit) and just felt like crying when I hit that bumpy grassy "trail" there at the end, especially that last little grunt. That was very nearly more than I could handle.

Crossed the line at a near standstill but managed to stay upright, ignored my lovely wife until I could see straight, and eventually jumped in the pool then got a beer and started to pull myself back together. Eddie and Namrita put on a class race, one that my only regret about is that I never really get to enjoy all that great singletrack at the end because I'm just too wasted by then. Good times though, good times.



Photo courtesy of Regularjoe Photography


The empty podium. What's wrong with these guys? How can we raise our arms in victory when the top step is empty? :(