After I tried and failed at Swank a few years ago, I thought I would never attempt it again, assuming the race had Farlow Gap in it, arguably the hardest trail in Pisgah. The Swank 65, this year, was just under 40 miles with roughly 7500 feet of climbing according to my National Geographic Mapping program. A few years ago, they pulled me from the course kicking and screaming as they didn't want me riding in the dark. This year they gave folks the option to carry lights and keep riding if they were prepared. I wasn't worried about finishing in the dark though. The year I got pulled from the course I had done ORAMM in 10 hrs, and hadn't been riding at all. But this year, I was ready to compete.
During these three weeks after Double Dare, I have been battling lots of negative thoughts. I wasn't feeling as strong as I did this summer when I had the best race ever. I knew one of the reasons it was the Best Race Ever(or so far), was because of where my mind was. For as much as I have ridden in Pisgah-- I have maybe only ridden Butter Gap 3 times, Farlow once, Cove Creek once, Daniels Ridge 3-4 times.. and I had only recently done half of these trails versus, training on them specifically like I did with the Off Road Assault. I was feeling stronger this summer, but I know I still have to be a better rider now than I was then, just maybe not as fit. Either way I was pretty tired after Double Dare and I wasn't letting myself bounce back enough.
Oh well, might as well give it a go. I spent the week before, changing my tone in my mind and when I would talk about it, I tried to be positive. After soliciting, from trusted friends, as many "Beth, you are a bad as on a mountain bike" comments as I could, I was ready to ride.
While some chose to party till 4 am, others, like myself, went to bed by 11 pm. The morning before, I had one of those late-for-the-race nightmares, so I made sure to be ready as I needed to be for the race to minimize stress. My ole race partner, Ian, picked me up early, pumped DnB the whole way to Cove Creek, jazzing us up. I was surprised that I wasn't as stressed as I thought I would be. Racing this race is different than just riding it, which is all I would have ever done before ORAMM this summer. After that finish I suddenly felt a bit more competitive, which can make me pretty nervous, excited and stressed, which could make things not fun anymore if the stress part goes too far. I guess making this whole competition thing more fun than not, is what I'm going after right now. Why the hell do something like this: 40 miles of potential pain and suffering, if it’s not fun right!? So, again, fun was the goal. And when I say fun I mean, the kind of fun you have after breaking past (almost cramping almost bonking) pain and suffering and are effortlessly dancing down Daniels Ridge.
We get to Cove Creek and I have one question: What’s the course? We had no idea what exactly the course was going to be. There were a few pluses and minuses to the course changes. I seriously thought there was a slight chance Farlow might not be a part of it, I don’t know why. I was wrong, and was just hoping that I didn't get too hurt walking/riding down the ridiculous trail that it is. The Kiesee creek Loop was not a part of the race, which was nice, but the initial climb out of cove creek camp ground was going to be tough.
Course Map. Rough estimate. I had to make up parts of trails/roads from map cross referencing. Some trails aren't on this map that are on your Ranger District map. Course: Cove Creek340>225>Daniels Ridge Connector?>East Side of DR105>475>Gloucester Gap>Butter Gap123>Long Branch116>475>Gloucester Gap>Pilot Mt. Rd229>Farlow Gap>106>DR105>475>Davidson River Tral650>475B>225>Cove Creek340
(Profile above, was generated from this map)
We started with a LeMans Start, where everyone leaves their bikes and runs down technical single track in mountain bike shoes and back around to the pile of 150 bikes. This is a pretty hilarious act- "runner down" I hear behind me as we enter the single track, I picture some poor dude getting trampled as I grab on to other riders/runners to prevent falling myself. During the run, I pass only one guy and no one passes me. Once we got to the single track there was not too much passing, leading me to believe that this (the run) was probably a really important place to get out in front, which I didn't really do.
I had no idea who I was racing out there, besides Shanna and Cissy, I didn't know any of the women racing, and had no idea what would happen. I passed Shanna and Cissy right at the start, Ian passed me right at the start and I passed a few more on my way up Cove Creek. Overall there was not too much passing, and any passing that happened was easy and amicable. Cove Creek was no Kistuma and there was plenty of room. As I am pretty new to mountain bike racing, this part still kinda stresses me out, but all in all it was pretty good. My only concern is getting too comfortable behind someone I should pass, when passing means revving up more than I might want to.
Cove Creek was really a nice single-ish track climb. Not only was it all rideable (minus a few creek crosings for me), you can think about how fun it will be to go down it at the end of the ride. I wanted to get too comfortable during the first climb, but it hurt. I got a headache that would wane and surface again later in the race. And although I knew I just needed to keep pushing myself hard through the top of the first climb, it was not fun, not easy and I just wasn't feeling it. I definitely didn't feel like I was racing. Like I said, 6 to 10 times yesterday, it can take me hours to warm up to feeling really good on the bike, and this was definitely the case for me yesterday.
Before the top of the first climb, I actually stopped riding to regroup for a second. Just in time for the then 5th place woman to pass me. I had no idea where we were in the line up at this time, all I knew was that I was being passed, and I didn't care too much, maybe a little bit though. She asked me if I was ok, "Yeah I'm GREAT!" I say, in all seriousness.
Soon we get to the top of the Daniels Ridge connector trail off 225. At the Daniels ridge junction, there is no sign to be seen left or right, and the group of riders in front of me start to freak out a bit. I had just been here a few months ago, and had read the course map, so I knew what was going on and directed folks to head left. Sounds like a few folks went right, which would have been a serious bummer as the turn was at the top of a steep decent. I was happy to know what I was doing. Finally some downhill to recharge me.
Didn't stop for a second at the first rest stop and began to climb up to Gloucester Gap. It's not a bad climb, and it’s a good time to refuel while riding. Here I met the guy I would ride with for most of the day; he eventually finished two behind me I believe. Generally speaking it was a solo ride out there. I saw few people. Passing through Gloucester Gap, I got some cheers from Trish Stevenson, former Swank winner and overall amazing bad ass. Her cheers helped and I was soon over the top of hill on my way to Butter Gap. I still didn't feel like I was racing. The climb to Butter was fine, but as I skidded into the sharp left turn on to Butter, I went to put a foot out and it was not moving, laying it all down on my left knee. This crash I didn't remember until hours after the race, when my knee started to finally speak up, not to mention the frame induced bruise x 3 on my inner left leg. My one and only real fall. Thank god I only got bruised up. I thought the pain in my knee was a tendinitis thing, but no... just a dumb fall at the most inopportune place. Butter, as fun as it is, is pretty technical. To take it fast, you gotta stay on top of it, and falling at the top of this decent wasn't good for my confidence. I took my time and knew the Long Branch climb was coming. Still feeling slow and tired, I kept trying to remember to sip on my food bottle (Perpetum/Heed), since that seems to be how it all works. Food = Energy.
On my way to back to Gloucester Gap, the 2nd rest stop on the course. I see Jut at the top of the hill, standing there in normal clothing. No other Rad Racing rider with me today, but it was nice to see some Pisgah team support at the rest stop. The woman who had passed me early on was there and took off right when I pulled in, Jut tells me shes number 4 and 3 is a few min up from there. I exchanged water bottles, downed the one gel I would eat all day, saw Thad and Mike (yazoo rigid single speeders) pull up, and proceeded to head on to the "fun part" -- the climb up Pilot Mnt. Road and Farlow Gap (actually the hardest part of the race). Climbing Pilot Mnt. Road was great. Last time I was here was three weeks ago, as the sun was rising, on my way to Ivestor Gap from White Pines. During that ride, I decided to find some things on this climb that would help me during this race. I found a tree, a really freaking huge tree. I decided that when I saw this tree during the Swank, I would get energized by it. I planted imaginary energy. If you think it’s going to work it will. So it did. I caught the 4th place chic way earlier than I thought would, saw my tree, got super stoked, re-energized and spun my way up the hill. Thanks to Mike and Thad for your company on this climb, way to hammer on SSs!
Who better to ride/walk down Farlow with, but a couple of guys on rigid single speeds. Mike is in a probationary period at work and would be fired if he got hurt, or something like that, so they were taking it easy on Farlow. I was trying not to die myself but managed to ride more of it than them. I even got the rare opportunity to show off a bit on this decent as Thad witnessed some of my riding, which there was actually very little of. I felt like I could have ridden a bit more of it than I did. It is very hard to get over the fact that you're almost guaranteed to get hurt on this decent. I stayed up while riding and walking and came off the bike when I wanted to instead of when the trail wanted me to. But when I started pushing my bike up the hills on Farlow- it started to get old. "Where the Hell Is Daniel's Ridge?" was all I was thinking, and actually saying to the dude I rode with.. and John Stang, who caught up to me around this time. I was very ready for Daniel's Ridge, and when I got to the stairs, I was very very happy. Time to big ring it. I love knowing what I know about this trail and using it to my advantage. Time to gain some ground.
On to Rest Stop 3. Quick stop, 1/3rd a banana, water bottle top off, although I knew I would probably not drink half of it, and I was off. Now it was time to finish strong. The Davidson River Trail (one of my favorites in pisgah going this direction.. really) juiced me up and I gave every last thing I had to the climb up 475b. It was all downhill after that and there was no reason not to keep moving away from anyone behind me. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to catch anyone at this time, but ya never know. It was nice just knowing that no one was going to pass me.
A guy in a Carmichael Training kit, who I shot past on Daniels Ridge, rode by me on this last climb and gave me some great climbing tips, just like a good coach. It was quite nice... random, but nice. It kind of felt like little angel coach had been sent down to keep me on top of things during this last climb, or a very strategically placed ad. Before I knew it, I was heading down Cove Creek. 4 hours 59 min and 52 seconds after the start. I was done. I had actually predicted 5 hrs-ish and there it was. Just under 5 hours. 4th place. I felt pretty run over after the Swank, my lungs were shot and my knee was starting to blow up a bit. It was really nice hanging out with good friends and good beer after the race. Great Race overall, I could have been more hydrated and gone out harder, but I felt like I tried hard enough during the race to feel good about what I did. Thanks to Jut and Pisgah Brewing Company for hookin’ me up with my first beer at the end of the race. And thanks to Todd for organizing this race for the 10th year in a row. Maybe I'll be out there again next year. I won't be afraid of it again. Maybe I'll train more for it and kick some serious ass.
until next time..
now what? Snake Creek?
Damn that hurt. So this past weekend I went to Fontana Village for the annual Icycle event. I had heard many a story about the fun times here and I was starting to be warned to not take it too seriously. After the Snake at the start of the year, I have had not much else to do but "train" so I had my eyes on this event, and thought it'd be a great place to try XC for a change. Snake Creek Gap, 4+ hrs, was the shortest mountain bike race I had ever competed in, and the thought of pinning it for a short distance really scared me. 
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t and immediately hit that pinned pain pace and stayed there. The first climb of the course was by far the toughest and once that was over it was just a matter of staying on top of it. By the end of the first lap Kylie Krauss and Julia Tellman had passed me and it wasn't long before I couldn't see them anymore either. The first lap just hurt, and the second lap was even more uncomfortable and I had to try to get some drink mix in me quick before I totally bonked... I kept thinking to myself, "the third lap is going to feel Great!" And it did. Riding solo for most of the third lap, I was actually slightly bummed to see then number 3 chica - Juila, because this meant the race was back on for me. The good thing was I caught her just before the technical descent and since I had passed her here on the first lap for a bit, I figured this descent would give me a nice gain on her.
because I felt so different during all three laps. I thought I went out too fast, thought I slowed down too much in the second.. and nailed it in the third.
thing though. The ladies were to race first, so a crew of us loaded up in the truck and stood around for at least a half an hour at the top waiting for the rest of the ladies to show and for the clocks to get all set. Quiet times at the top, with tons of dudes a few chics standing around. Not as nerve racking as the XC thank god, but still...
. I had one major goal for this descent - not to spill at the wicked switch back at the bottom. My favorite part of the whole event was watching the expert dudes nail (or not) this steep muddy switch back. As for my run, I played it real safe. Got 4th expert. And after checking out the times, I wasn't too bummed anymore.. on my best run during the day, I think I probably did it in 1:55, still slower than number 3 - Laura Decker. Johanna and Caroline rocked it with times almost 20 sec. faster than myself. Totally looking forward to my next Down Hill race, my family is really stoked about this too (not).
PARTY ON YO! Great times hangin' out with everyone that night! Congrats to everyone that showed up and rocked it out, Esp. Kym Schifino - seen here after picking up first place awards for the Sport XC and DH! Lets go ride! Thanks to those that started a little dance party - Eli! (thanks for streaking through the crowd!) I couldn't have been happier to have a chance to bust a move on the dance floor with a bunch of rad mountain biking ladies. If only more bike races were as fun as this one.
. I had one major goal for this descent - not to spill at the wicked switch back at the bottom. My favorite part of the whole event was watching the expert dudes nail (or not) this steep muddy switch back. As for my run, I played it real safe. Got 4th expert. And after checking out the times, I wasn't too bummed anymore.. on my best run during the day, I think I probably did it in 1:55, still slower than number 3 - Laura Decker. Johanna and Caroline rocked it with times almost 20 sec. faster than myself. Totally looking forward to my next Down Hill race, my family is really stoked about this too (not).
PARTY ON YO! Great times hangin' out with everyone that night! Congrats to everyone that showed up and rocked it out, Esp. Kym Schifino - seen here after picking up first place awards for the Sport XC and DH! Lets go ride! Thanks to those that started a little dance party - Eli! (thanks for streaking through the crowd!) I couldn't have been happier to have a chance to bust a move on the dance floor with a bunch of rad mountain biking ladies. If only more bike races were as fun as this one.
