People's Pre-Apocalypse Pisgah Trip

This year's People's Pisgah trip was a little different than the last several years. The group was a little smaller, I was on a full suspension bike with gears and there was this little virus thing just getting talked about.The weather had been going back and forth about how much rain there was going to be. The forecast kept getting better as the week went on and I had high hopes. Most of us met up in Lexington to help split the drive up. The next morning we got a decent breakfast and hit the road.

On the way down it was determined that someone had forgotten their water bottles. This is probably something they should have thought about when packing. I had done a very rookie thing and didn't get my dropper post put on my bike until the night before we left. As normal, I had a couple issues on getting it all set up correctly. I got it to where I figured I was ok ish to ride. I mentioned that when we stopped it would be great to get my bike fixed. After a bunch of flack, I kind of figured I would have to ask about it and take my bike back later. But when we got to the shop everyone else was nice enough to tell me to take my bike in and see if they had time. 

I really did a rookie move by making such a big change the day before a big trip, but I just knew it needed to be done. I had some issues getting it working correctly. As it turns out, they guy at Squach bikes had a little issue getting it working too. Part of me was happy that it was not an easy fix that I just messed up, but the other part of me hated that it was taking so long for it to get working. Eventually the everyone else got restless and took the car to the house. Shortly after they left, my bike ended up being ready to go.

I rode up to the house since we were not very far away. I finished getting unloaded and we got ready to ride. We all got ready and headed out to the Ranger station. The route took us up 477 to ride Bennett. Then we headed over to Clawhammer to Maxwell and then did lower Black. At the bottom we took a left and did the short Sycamore loop to finish out the day. I was happy that my dropper was working in some areas. I could not believe how much difference it made on the technical sections.

Dirty South Roubaix 2020

Last weekend was my first race of the year. I headed down to Alto Pass, IL for the Dirty South Roubaix. I have been to this race every year and it just keeps getting better. The course is a nice mix of surface with some good climbs and down hills to keep it interesting. The weather was better than last year and it really helped make the day even more enjoyable.

We headed over Friday after work and made a stop at St. Nicholas Brewing for packet pick up and a bite to eat. The food was great and the beer was even better. After hanging out a little while and getting our packets, we headed to our home base for the evening. We stayed in one of the cabins at Giant City State Park. These are nice little cabins and not too far from the race. I got most of my things ready and hung out a little while before crashing. I actually slept pretty well and was up fairly easy. Ate breakfast and got things ready to go. It seemed like I was going to run a little late, but somehow everything came together at the right time and we rolled out just when we wanted.

This got us to the start area a little earlier than needed, but that was all good. I finished getting ready and did a little warm up.

photo credit: Antino Martinez

I also got to say hi to a few friends I don’t see very often. There were a lot more people that I would have liked to see, but we were all spread out a little with different parking areas. It was getting time to head toward the start. I took my jacket off and any final adjustments and headed toward the start area. I loaded the route into my computer and didn’t plan on taking my phone with me. I ended up sitting around long enough before the start that my computer turned off. I had time to turn it back on, but my route was no longer active. All I could hope for is a well-marked route since I didn’t have time to get it loaded on my computer.

photo credit: Antino Martinez

There was a little bottle necking going on right off from the start. It took a little bit before the while group was rolling. I moved up some but didn’t want to put in a lot of effort and figured I had time to move up. The neutral truck still had a way to go before pulling off. Looking up ahead there seemed to be a big gap from the front group already. I kept leap frogging on the back wheel of all the riders moving forward. I was trying to move as far forward in the group as I could but still using as little energy as I can. There was a fast downhill right after the truck pulled off and the race was actually on. We came flying around a corner and there was a big dump truck pulled over heading the other way. It looked like at least one rider slid off the road trying to miss him. There were a couple people there with them and they didn’t look seriously hurt so I kept going. That is not what you want to see, but hopefully everyone was ok.

Photo credit: Janzow photography

I tried to stick with good groups, but still move up as far as I could. I knew there was a good sized hill coming that I didn’t want to have wore out legs for. I had not been climbing very strong so far this year, but I can not complain at all on my climbing this day. I kept moving fairly well up the first climb and happy with how I was feeling. I kept finding good groups and people to ride with. I found myself with similar company on and off all day as everyone would move forward or fall back.

I ended up with a big group as we hit the levee. This helped keep me moving for this part, but also makes it a little sketchy with line choice.

We were moving well, but some of the group was not wanting to rotate or push the pace. There was some splitting of the group. A couple of us were bridging a gap to a next group right as we finished the levee section. The next section was a little more relaxed probably waiting for the loose climb. Part of the way up the first section it got loose and steep. I ended up spinning out and having to walk. As it flattened out I got back on and could finish the rest of the climb. This effort had my legs really hurting. I just kept moving forward the best I could and tried to pick good lines. As I rolled on to the paved section here, my legs were coming back to life and I was turning the pedals over better. I ended up pulling some riders back in that I lost on the climb.

photo credit: Ted Carr

This section was moving along ok, but the legs were feeling heavy. I knew I had another big hill coming up and hoped I didn’t burn all my matches already. The climb into the Trail of Tears hurt but seemed shorter than previous years. I kept pushing the pedals the best that I could for this section. I was happy with the legs and let it hang out some on the sketchy down hill and caught up with Jeremy at the bottom. It was good to have some more help. There was 3 of us rolling along for this part pretty well. The group made a quick stop at the last rest area. I got my bottle filled up and took off. As I rolled out I remembered the group and looked around to see where they were. Jeremy was not far behind me so I let up a little for him to catch on. I figured he would have caught me by then so I looked back and he was gone. There was another rider bridging up to me that I had been riding with at times all day.

photo credit: Matt Carey

This section of gravel seemed to me to be the chunkiest section out of the whole day. It was hard to keep momentum and with weak legs was putting a hurting on me. It was good to have some company to let the legs recover even if it was only a little bit. At some point after hitting the pavement again I looked back and noticed she was no longer on my wheel. I'm not sure where she fell off. Only thing left to do was keep moving toward the finish line. I was wore out and very ready to be done. I ended up climbing the last climb better than I thought I would and rolled it on home.

photo credit: Antino Martinez

I ended up with a finishing time of 3:52 and in 40^th place. I have no complaints at all for my day on the bike. My only real goal was to finish in under 4 hours. I had been close the last couple years. My legs did way better than I thought they would and did everything I asked them to do. I still have a ways to go to be competitive in my current class. Hopefully I can keep getting closer to where I need to be. I want to thank all of the people that helped make this race run so smoothly. Sounds like they are increasing the number of racers allowed for next year. Hope to see you there.