50/50 in the RVA for 2012

The 2012 50/50 started nice and brisk abut 7:20am and would warm up into a classic cluster fudge. The typical cast and crew assembled for the day's ride and would soon be scampering through the city.



Early in the morning, the motly crew blasted through Carytown and the museum district, taunting the overindulgent new year's eve revelers with our loud hooliganism.





We made our way to Church Hill via a multitude of questionable railraod causways and a seemilingly continous processions of sketchy traffic violations. Stay on the front of the train or get dropped off the back like a new years resolution.



After making our roost on Church Hill, the urban ride transitioned to the questionalbe and ghetto phabulus pirate trails. One of our crew got to sample a rusted I-beam to both shins. In the 50/50, There will be blood.



A bit later, and after mechanical fixes and various types of refueling, the ride headed out towards the port of Richmond and we skirted a large stone quarry I had never ridden near before.

Then, the ride stiched together southside city pavement, a "wheelin" gravel road, train tracks, and some county roads. We stopped for lunch before kicking it over to Pocahontas State Park. I got a front flat while the ride cranked through Poco and was promtly dropped off the back. Plassman don't care.

Finally, we were mountain biking. The group rode most of the old trails and all of lakeview. My legs were aching pretty good at this point and we stopped for water while sizing up the situation of a rapidly fading day.

The crew formed into fractured set of pacelines as we headed back to Richmond via Courthouse road. I struggled to hold a wheel and was eventually cranking along solo for the majority of my ride back to the house where we all started.

Throughout the day, proper riding nutrition inevitably got cast aside or left behind. On the final stretches of road back to Richmond and up Riverside Drive, my legs and body were bonking pretty good. Kickig it solo at this point left me little motivation to ride enough extra road and trail to make it an even hundred so I settled for 88. Not my preffered way to end a -group- ride.



An awesome feast of homemade Chilli, Dip, Cornbread, Cookies, and other treats awaited back at the start/finish residence. Soon, calories and beer had me feeling like a man again. A hella big thank you goes out to Brandy & Travis for hosting.

The ride was everything I expected, and more or less. I'm already looking forward to wrecking myself next New Year's day.

Cheers!

Tidewater Challenge - Racer's point of view

Tidewater Challenge was really fun this year and I had a great race.

I used my handlebar cam to capture race footage and made this video. Enjoy!

Birthday Present

Birthdays are a good time to treat yourself. So I did with a quick get-away to Douthat State Park last Friday/Saturday.



Originally, Pisgah was to be the destination. However, rustling up an accomplice to ride in Transylvania Co. down in North Carolina did not pan out. So, as not to let a beautiful weekend wither, a quick decision was made to roll out to Douthat for riding and camping.



Friday provided the perfect blend of crisp fall air and high clouds with a low sun breaking through to illuminate the polychromatic landscapes of Virginia’s mountains. Driving west was filled with some of the best interstate views I have seen in a while.



Nearing the WV boarder, I exited the interstate for a close up view of the mountains. A twisting road leading into Douthat greeted me with warm fall shades and I reciprocated with a wide smile. My worries about getting a camp site were fortunately a waste of time. I was able to pick from about 4 or 5 lakeside camp sites.



Finally I was ready for my ride that would circumnavigate the park on ridgeline trails with some excellent climbs and descents. The trees were absolutely stunning with a vibrant variety of colors that were amplified by the cloudy skies and sharp contrast with dark limbs and brown leaves on the ground. Sometimes a ride where you are by yourself delivers you to a deeper Zen and so it was as I enjoyed just rolling through a sublime fall landscape.



As night drew near, I flowed down the trails back to the campsite. A quick trip to Covington let me gather proper fireside fair at a local grocer. Soon I had a nice fire waiting to smoke the brats and beans I looked forward to. After some grub and IPA I settled into a nice slumber in the crisp air under the stars.



Morning on the lake produced a fog that was eerily skipping across the lake just before the sun broke over the eastern ridge of the park’s mountains.



A few more hours of riding and it was time to return for lunch to finish off the brats and pack up my gear. Heading back to Richmond, I realized that this would be a great gift to give myself every year.

Video - Pisgah Stage Race- day 4 Black Mountain downhill

I finally got some free time to start looking through all my videos for the Pisgah Stage Race. Here is a quick video I shot from my hadle bar cam while descending Black Mountain on stage 4. (click on the photo)

Stage 5 - 2011 Pisgah Stage Race

Stage 5 - Transylvania Loop

42 miles. 6,400+ ft of elevation gain - MAP

The final stage of the race was started with a chilly road ride. The weather for the day was about 40-50 degrees with a lot of wind. A splendid blue sky and beatifull leaves completed the fall weather.

All the riders lined up behind the police escort as we rolled out. Traffic was stopped at the highway and people cheered us as we started the 5 miles or so of road to Turkey Pen road.

I stayed with the lead group and pacelined with all the top racers and that was really fun. In one section I found myself at the front and took my pull as Jeremiah Bishop pulled aside. Pretty cool to mix it up with the big boys.


Turkey Pen road was a gravel climb that eventually brought us to the trail head of the 1st single track climb. I pushed my arm warmers down and got to work. I remembered the fun descent that follows, really fast, leafy and lots of drops.

Next up was crossing a stream (small river) 7 time in 40 ish temps. I was relieved to get off this section and start the gravel climb, needed some body heat. Miles later and the aid station came into view.


Now the real work began with a long climb up the sides of Laurel Mountain to the top where the Pilot Rock descent started.


This is a very technical descent with lots of rock gardens and switch backs. Very technical. About midway down is a challenging rock garden where the giant white squirrel cheered us on.



I almost got took out by a stray limb near the bottom. Relief is what I felt when I dropped out on the fireroad and got a chance to give by body a rest from the pounding descent.

Eventually the fireroad gave way to a familliar single track climb. When the trail turned right instead of going up the side of the mountain I was really thrilled. The descent down Avery Creek was off the chart, and super fast. There were some drops that snuck up real fast and I just had to hop down em as they came. I passed a few riders here and got got some good footage.


When the horse stables came in to view, I took the advive of the race director Todd Branham and emptied the tank on the last climb. I paced off another rider and eventually was able to pull away from him on the way to the trail head and I hiked up to the final descent.

Finishing the last downhill was fantastic and I had a huge grin flowing down the trail.

4:46 4th place Open Men

I was really pleased to have placed 4th in open men for my second run at the Pisgah Stage Race

Thom Parsons was staying in our house and has posted a ton of cool videos on www.cyclingdirt.org

After the racing ended the party began at the awards dinner and party. What a great finish to my favorite stage race!

Cheers!

Pisgah Race - Stage 4 - Promised Land

Stage 4 - Promised Land Loop
39 miles, 8,000+ ft of elevation gain - MAP

The hardest stage of the race turned out to be my favorite and suited my riding strengths well. The weather was perfect, cool fall breezes with bright sun and spotty clouds. Also there were lots of leaves changing color and drifting to the ground. This day was a super challenging stage and one of the best days I have ever had on a bike.

We started the day riding UP the Black Mountain descent that we have been finishing on all week. It was eye opening to see how steep and rutty some sections were from the other direction while riding (and hiking) up them.



After a long and painfull grind, hike, and scramble up to the top of Black Mountain, the trail turned right onto some fairly fresh single track. This turned out to be really fast but sketchy because the thorns bushes and rhododendron have reclaimed most of the free space where the trail runs through. It seemed like bombing a downhill in the jungle, never knowing what whould await around the next corner. Then the trail went back up and down about 5 times before descending to aid 1.

Next up was Squirrel Gap, but in the oposite direction from stage 1. It turned out to be a long and enjoyable single track climb that undulated up the mountain in a long series of rollers. Near the top one of the course marshals was chilling out and playing a banjo. Then it got much steeper and I clawed my way to the top where a long fireroad section had sweeping views of the pisgah forest.



A fast long descent lead back to Aid 2 and the riverside trails ridden in the opposite direction which then turned skyward with a climb to Buckwheat Knob. Another rider and I inched our way up the very steep inclines and were rewarded with a fast and very technical descent followed by a super fast gravel descent.

I was relieved to see the horse stables and aid 3 which meant that there was one final climb left. I found some new energy as I drank my bottle from aid 3 and had visions of the final Black Mountain in my head. A good bit of climbing later and I hiked up to the final descent. 3 of the 4 stages so far have returned to the start finish with the same descent down Black Mountan and as tired as I was today it was nice to have trail memory to guide me as I ripped down to the finish!



5:10 4th place Open Men

Day 3 - 2011 Pisgah Stage Race

Stage 3 - Carl Schenck Loop
25 miles, 3,200+ ft of elevation gain - MAP

Todays stage was a welcome reprieve from the typical 4+ hour battles against the Pisgah forest trail. We started the day from a campground that was about a 30 minute drive from the house where we are all staying. It was nice to have a start time of 11:00am instead of 9:00am.

The race began with a fast paced fire road ascent to the trail head. I was able to hang with the lead group for most of the fireroad and regained some positions after the climb turned into single track. The pace was fast and the riding was close quarters!

I was really stoked when the 1st descent started. It reminded me alot of the Hoo Ha course and I got on the gas and hauled the mail. For me it was really nice to catch many folks from the lead group on the 1st descent and flowing single track.


Next, the single track started to climb and gave way to rolling fire road. 25 miles does not sound like much more than a typical XC race. However, but with 3200ft of ascending, some of it very steep and rocky, it was a tough race!

Finally, the gravel ended and the trail turned into a fast pump track like series downhills. This section was really flowing and almost made the pain in my legs disolve.


After the 1st aid stop the trail got steep again and the rocks got bigger. I was railing down a sweet sectin when I came accross the gully, I rode a bit and got off my bike just shy of a face plant. That section was really crazy!

More flowing goodness and I arrived at the road we drove in on to get to the camp ground. A good bit of climbing brought me back to the aid station and I kept going thinking the trail would drop down again. I was wrong, very wrong. The next series of climbs were brutal and I pushed a fair bit. My mantra was "please just let this be the top".

A rider was catching me on the hike section and I pushed as hard as I could to keep him behind me. With this much hike a bike, I need to add trail hiking/running to my training program.... Then, at last the summit and down another great trail. My right calf ached from all the out of the saddle riding.

A few more miles of gravel and one descent and I could see the cars through the trees at the finish. It felt great to roll in to the finish of the most fun stage so far.

2:27 4th place Open Men