In short summary, it's a race relatively widely known as one of the hardest mountain bike stage races in the world. Seriously, I'm not making that up. Very few people can ever tell you what their result or someone else's is, as the real litmus test is simply finishing the brutal course. The gist of it is this. Begin a bit more northern in Panorama, BC and over the course of 7 days, 550 kilometers (342 miles) and 17,623 meters (57,818 feet) of vertical gain, arrive in one piece in Fernie, BC. The main glitch in this process is that one has to traverse back and forth over the Canadian Rocky Mountains. No small feat.

Stage 1; Panorama to K2 Ranch
Distance; 55 km (34 mi)
Elevation; 2200 m (7217 ft)
Stage 1. 6:22
On our first day, I had mistakenly assumed that we would be "transitioned" into the race and allowed to open our legs up a bit. Instead, we got to the ski resort where the race started and couldn't help but notice the course markings right off the bat. From the base of the ski hill, the 3rd highest ski hill in North America, the course markings simply went straight up. Straight up 4,000 vertical feet, over 10 kilometers!!! That was the start. By the time we had gotten to the top of that climb, we were first greeted with a little bit of rain, quite a bit of cold and then to a traverse across the top of the mountains which brought no shortage of hail and snow. Snow. It was snowing on us in August. After making our way across the ridgeline, we had a nice long descent back to the base, spare one leg jarring climb just a few kilometers from the finish. The first of many times that I would come unglued.

Since we had a late start this day, and Christian's legs completely imploding on him, we got in relatively late in the day, so the night was spent standing in the freezing drizzle waiting for a shower, dinner and the first opportunity to get to the tent.

Stage 2; K2 Ranch to Nipika Resort
Distance; 74 km (46 mi)
Elevation; 3000 m (9842 ft)
Stage 2. 10:02
I would be remiss if I weren't to say that this was the most miserable day of my life, but I'm stuck trying to choose between two other days that coincidentally fell in this very same week. Today could largely be called the queen stage of the race, being one of the utter hardest. With an elevation gain of over 9,800 feet, it would be our largest climbing day, and being that the distance wasn't very formidable, we knew it would be hell, and hell it was. My body was in still in shock from the day before, as was my mind, so I came out of the gate pretty poorly. After a 10 kilometer dirt road/road ride out, we were faced with a 5k climb that hurt me right away. I was in such poor condition at the first control station that the official tried to talk me out of the race, but I wouldn't accept that just yet.

Later in the day, we would ascend an avalanche chute that was so steep that one could not climb it without using their hands and carrying the bike on the shoulder. All the while, one could see the top of it, which made the slow and unrewarding ascent even that much more brutal. However it made the other hike-a-bike sections seem easier, so I suppose that's a good thing in a sort of hostage setting kind of way. We were supposed to have some great trail at the top, which turned out to be gluey mud. Unfortunately, the descent from this region was no less unforgiving and at times simply un-rideable. Naturally, this was where I really came unglued and forced Ian onto his heels having to wait for me to collect myself, while at the same time, usher us in under the time cut. Not a fun place for either of us to be in so early on.

We arrived at the finish line 10 hours later. Barely enough time left to eat and sleep before the next day.

Stage 3; Nipika Resort to Nipika Resort
Distance; 44.2 km (27 mi)
Elevation; 1514 m (4967 ft)
Stage 3. 4:59
This "time trial" day was to be our respite after such a huge amount of vertical gain over the first two days and also a chance to really rail some classic rocky mountain singletrack. At this point, my body was failing miserably, worsening with each breath, and I didn't know what I would do. Testing the waters, I decared that I may bow out of the race in the morning, to which a fellow (Mark Manning) we had met told me that if I did, he would drag me out of the tent in the morning and beat the piss out of me. I didn't want to test him, as I'm downright scared of Brits, so I figured I'd give it a go. I'm glad he told me that.

We were able to pass well into the next category on the flatter and very technical trail, but true to form, midway through, I came apart so badly that I had mentally already resigned myself to not finishing the race. There were two laps of the circuit and prior to the second lap, I told Ian that I would back out of the race and find him a new partner. The only problem with that, was that when I saw the beginning of the second lap, I then decided to do everything I could to chase him back in and finish with him and see if I could get the boat turned around on the next day. Luckily, this was very easily some of the best and most beautiful singletrack that I've ever seen, so I'm glad I didn't miss out on that!

Stage 4; Nipika Resort to Whiteswan Lake
Distance; 109.7 km (68 mi)
Elevation; 2567 m (8421 ft)
Stage 4. 9:39
The longest day of the TransRockies at nearly 110km. I knew that Ian was feeling good and that I very much wasn't, let alone even able to walk, so I promised that I would ride it until the wheels came off and let Ian go up the road and at least save his own legs from being on the bike all day. This, is unfortunately where we lost a few hours to penalties, as when a rider crosses a checkpoint without their team mate, you're dinged an hour at a time, but it was the only way we'd be able to finish the race together at the end of the week. Luckily, while the day did have an extreme amount of climbing, it did take place over a long period and all but 1 or 2 kilometers of the course were rideable, so it was a great opportunity to really recover and just spin the legs out.

Highlight of the day was when I encountered a nice fuzzy black bear in the middle of the trail. No drama. It just looked at me and got out of the way, but it was quite cool nonetheless. Another highlight was crossing I don't know how many rivers (with no bridges and rushing whitewater) that were fed by a glacier about 3 or 4 kilometers up the hill. I didn't know water could be that cold without being ice.

Stage 5; Whiteswan Lake to Elkford
Distance; 88.5 km (56 mi)
Elevation; 2147 m (7043 ft)
Stage 5. 7:46
The infamous Rock Garden day. The day started pretty brutally. As we sat on the starting line, we were greeted with our first view of the sun since the race started, so we naturally shed some clothing. Unfortunately, they threw us into the dark side of a valley for the next couple of hours, so we were stuck shivering in the shade with very little to wear. As this day wore on, the TransRockies really started to take some shape and even offered some really great downhilling, singletrack and a rock garden descent that most have been 2 kilometers in length, comprised 100% of rocks about the size of one's head, but otherwise completely inexplicable.

We must have passed 30 people there.

Stage 6; Elkford to Blairmore
Distance; 102.4 km (64 mi)
Elevation; 2998 m (9835 ft)
Stage 6. 8:55
Another long long long day, and this time, out in the sun for its entirety. Straight from the starting line, we were greeted with a friendly 5km climb on pavement, then some utterly gorgeous singletrack and then kilometer after kilometer of forest road, including a 23km climb all the way up to the Continental Divide. As pointless as that 23km climb was, and the 30 minute vertical wall after it that we had to scale on foot was, I will admit, it was the first time I was able to look to my right, off the cliff, and see a helicopter flying below me. We spent the next 30-45 minutes passing people at about 70kmph.

I'm not sure if it was the thought of seeing civilization for the first time in days, or that the sun was out, or that I was just finally starting to feel good, but we had a really good hard gallop home and took some much needed time back.

Stage 7; Blairmore to Fernie
Distance; 78.8 km (49 mi)
Elevation; 2101 m (6893 ft)
Stage 7. 6:19
Hell for leather, sunburned, peeling, hungry and sore, we'd FINALLY made it to the last day of this godforsaken effort. In comparison to other days, it was really easy to look at this day as an easy one. Everyone kept shortening the distance in their mind to 70k, but I never let go of the fact that it was nearly 80 in all honesty. Additionally, it had come to bear on my mind that the organizers of TransRockies are sick, demented, have never ridden a bicycle and in no way would ever give us a minute off.

Being that Blairmore has a ski hill in the middle of town, there was no reason at all to think that we wouldn't go straight up, and naturally, we did. Just after getting up and over it, we were then greeted with a 900 ft rock wall that was too steep to ride, let alone walk. What a way to start the day.

Out in the sun, the entire time, we attacked a brutal course, hoping with everything that we could just get it over with as soon as possible. Right from the beginning, I could tell something was wrong with me, but I kept slugging calories and energy drink, hoping that I could break through it.

About 60% of the way through it, we approached a 10km climb that very well may have been easy, but that's where I broke for good (despite being pale and ghost faced for several hours already) and from then on, became utter survival at any cost, which basically meant Ian babysitting and pulling me along.

Despite all that, we did get to the finish line in a pretty good time, and it was certainly one of the most welcome sites I've seen in a long time.

In summary, we ended up in 83rd place in the Open Men category, which is coincidentally where the professionals have to go, though we surely could have been closer to the 60's if it weren't for our time penalties, and had my legs been better, a top 50 would have been all but certain.

The TransRockies is an insanely difficult event that tests one's mind and survival instincts far more than their cycling ability and I would only recommend it if you think bashing yourself in the face with a sledgehammer is fun. The diversity amongst the attendants, additionally, was utterly amazing. It ran the gamut from people easily over 65 years of age, to tandems, to amputees (yes, plural), professionals, downhillers, first timers and just social riders.

The worst part of the entire race, however, is that the accomplishment is literally completely indescribable to anyone. What we saw, what we went through, what we suffered; was utterly impossible for me to fathom prior to going into this event, thus I'm left still without the ability to convey what I'm still trying quite intently to understand.

It was hell. Pure hell. If you're not afraid of ramming face first into your own limits and becoming intimately aware of your own shortcomings, then give it a go. If humility and failure turns you off, stay away.

Hey Ian, how about 2010, what do you say?

Many photographs can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christianleask/collections/72157606832869917/
Feel free to forward to anyone I've missed.

The race was well organized, and the course was very well marked with plenty of SAG stops. However, with only a few exceptions, I don't think I'd ever willingly ride those trails again. It was very obvious that most were built for horses or hiking and then poorly maintained for years.

We had a great trip--the best part may have been eating pretty much the whole way home!

Daniel

Staging was a nightmare. I could only manage to get to the very back of my group, so I didn't start in the best position. Once the race got going, I managed to work my way up the line on the first climb, but someone fell over right in front of me just as I started up the second climb of the race. It was somewhere between 12 and 15%, so getting back on and pedaling up was imposable. I had to quickly hike-a-bike to the top, which I guess to be about 500+ feet. Once I got to the top, I was almost at max heart rate. There is a brief single track section at the top of this climb before the trail turns up again. On the next climb, another person spins out and unclips in front of me, so I have to clip out and run up. My race is pretty much over at this point.

Mac Banner got a podium (4th) for the team. I'll have photos up soon.

Big thanks to the crew of J Myrick, R McNeer, M Perkins, S Valiant for all the sweat they put into it.

75ft of bench cut doesn’t dig itself.

I have the CORP scheduled next weekend to bring their Gator and a load of chat out to re cover the culverts on the new section. I’d like to see a good turnout that day for the CORP’s volunteer list. Vivian, what better way to bond with your daughter than for the two of you to spend time together shoveling gravel? At least that’s the line I’m trying to sale my daughter.

Brad

Big thanks to J Finch, J Myrick, V Neil, S Valiant, W Henderson and to Chris Gurner and Cody from the CORP.

We had a great hot ride. It was as hilly as remembered but only 55 miles long. Matthew Hall, Jake, Chris Mogridge, Chris Lee, Dan Wren, Marty from Tupelo, Ian Jones and I did the ride. The scenery is great and most of the roads are lightly traveled. Matthew Hall got the green jersey, winning most of the sprints while Marty won yellow by proving to be the best climber today.

The BP gas station in Ashland is at least five star, or so it seems after riding all the hills on Pleasant Hill Rd. The approach hill is really amazing.

This route is nice and I’ll be glad to share it with you.

And Dan Wren won the KOM at Blue Mountain.

Rich

The bright spot is that my favorable assessment of my climbing wasn’t challenged by having to climb the hill 2 more times.

Rich

On Monday, the weather was wet and windy. I had settled on the strategy of pushing big gears since I have had trouble getting high enough cadences in lower gears. I thought I was going downwind and then upwind but the wind was very variable. I must have really lugged down since I pushed 12 and 13’s most of the way and ended up with a low 57 minute ride. The winner was 52 minutes but the second place was human at 55 minutes or so. I was very pleased to make the podium in a semi terrific year for riding.

Rich

Matt and I lined up with about 25 others in the masters 30-40+ category for a fun filled 54 mile romp through the countryside surrounding east Memphis, only a 1 hr drive from my home. The circuit consisted of 3 laps of an 18 mile loop that was constantly up and down. While none of hills were remarkable the endless rollers promised to really hurt after a few miles. In our case the promise was fulfilled immediately as host team Marx & Bensdorff attacted from the gun and never let up until a break of 4 or 5 was established. We were single file for most of the first 5 miles or so. These guys really wanted to win every category it seemed as our race was stacked with some of their Cat 1 and 2 riders who would normally be in the Pro 1/2 field. The act of establishing this break caused the pack to detonate into several chase groups who then spent the rest of the first lap chasing each other and finally consolidating as a single group by the second lap. Several riders had dropped out by this point, the rest of us licked our wounds for the second lap, which seemed slower to me but Matt reckons was done in the same time as the hell bent first lap. In any case things picked up in the third lap with people attacking and countering, trying to get away and claim whatever slim pickings were left from the prize list, and with about 4k to go a group of 4 got away, right after i had attacked on a hill and been brought back, which i thought was cheeky of them. realising there was nothing left a small group of us coasted in to the finish, and had a gentlemans agreement not to sprint, of course one guy 'forgot' and sprinted in ahead of us..... classy, particularly as we'd had to stop with 500 metres to go for paramedics who were scraping crash victims off the road from one of the other category's race.

The Crit went much better, but it seemed like i was the only Disco rider to turn up. since it was an omnium there were riders who chose to do this and not the RR, one of whom you all might recall since he was one of the original trail builders of the whirlpool trails: Boomer Leopold! The course was flat and was a typical 4 corner around a building affair. Good smooth pavement and the 1s and 2s meant it would be quick and i was hoping just to survive. In fact i felt pretty good and stayed near the front as much as possible. Once again M&B got a break off with Brent Thompson and a couple of others. The field never really slowed down as prime laps and counters kept things very animated. at one point Boomer and l led the chase to track down John Mclauchlin, one of our last years teammates, which pleased me more than it should have! A couple of riders got away after a prime, and the break caught the pack one lap from the finish which meant a hairy sprint to the finish which i participated in, I have no idea where i finished, i'm hoping top 10 but the results are not posted and i didn't stick around, preferring to start the 45 minute drive from the course to my home ASAP.

It was a fun event, fairly well organised and efficiently run.

The organizers were worried about rain later in the morning, so they decided to run the expert and the sport class together. Good for the weather, but not good for me because the pace was sky high right of the line. I made it into the woods in 6th place behind 2 experts and 4 sport riders, but it wasn’t long before my lack of a warm up took effect and both experts and one of the sport riders pulled away. We didn’t see them again until the fast road section at the back of the course where the sport rider overcooked a corner and took out the expert. After slowing down to make sure they were okay, we did the gentlemanly thing and attacked. I managed to get around the next two riders in line on the climb to the stunning overlook of Bonita Lakes mall and passed the remaining sport rider, Paul Pulsifer from Biloxi, on the descent back to the parking lot. Which somehow left me in first place.

Finally warmed up and running on adrenaline from being in the lead, I decided to try to push it at the start of the second lap to keep the lead I’d got coming downhill. So I went really hard up the first two steep climbs and was just starting the third big climb when my bike got chain suck. And not just normal chain suck, where you can snatch it loose; I’ve got an SRAM powerlink in the chain and it had somehow wrapped all the way around the little ring so the powerlink lapped over the chain at the top like a latch. A million to one chance, but I’m lucky like that. So I’m standing on the side of the trail, leading the race, the bike won’t pedal frontward or backwards, and I’m so shelled from going hard that I can’t do anything but look at it like a drunk. The only thing that came to me at the time was to beat it with my multi tool, which was what I was doing when Jeremy Wesson stopped and asked if I needed anything. He then pointed out that if I pulled some slack in my chain that it would probably come loose. Which it did. I think about it now and that seems really simple, but then it may as well have been the riddle of the sphinx.

By the time I get back on the bike everyone had gone past and I’m debating whether or not to head back to the truck, but I still felt pretty good so decide to stay. I passed a few other riders on that lap, but didn’t see any of the leaders. I’m not sure if it was the 10 minute break I took on the side of the trail or what, but halfway through the third lap everyone starting to come back. I caught 3rd and 4th on the back straight and 2nd again on the climb to the overlook but still could not see the 1st place guy. I was flying down the last bit of trail to the finish and had resigned myself to 2nd when I came around the curve at the bottom of the final climb of the trail and there was Mr. Pulsifer again, but this time he completely blown. I manage to get around him on the climb and into the parking lot for 1st in 30-39 Sport and 3rd overall.

Brad

I manage to grab the third position going into the single track, which is what I wanted. The group stayed tight for about a mile when Todd W. suddenly launches a massive attack and goes off the front, opening a HUGE gap on everyone (several minutes). I figured he was gone at that point. After a few minutes, I managed to get around the second place rider and kicked it up a notch, trying to open my own gap. I succeeded. After about four or five miles, I catch the tail end of the 30/39 group that started a few minutes ahead of my 40/49 group. I quickly pass each rider I encounter, usually on a climb, and proceed on at a quick pace. To my surprise, I manage to close Todd’s massive lead after what seemed an eternity. However, I spent a lot of fuel in the process. I stay on Todd’s wheel for a few miles until he attacked on a switchback. I’m not sure if he cooked the corner or lost a chain, but I see him off the trail as I make the corner and move into first place. Todd catches up and hangs on my wheel through the first lap and into the second lap back on the Charlotte's Web Trail. I figure I can’t out run him on the single track, so I plan to keep him just behind me until the final up hill sprint to the finish. Half way into the second lap, I botch a tight turn and roll off the trail onto a small incline. Todd turns on the after-burner as I have to dismount and push my bike back up to the trail. I can’t close the gap and finish with second place.

I did the MS Senior Olympics bike races yesterday. The day started with 3 hours of driving through heavy rains. It was still raining very hard when I get to Mid Point Park in Raymond, the race site. The organizers decide to delay till 12:00 noon. I get a second breakfast and go to Starbucks and read for a few hours. By noon, the rain has stopped and we get registered and pick up our numbers. The numbers are a little down from previous years due to the rain, but there are still on the order of 45 people racing. There are around 10 women racing and around 10 men in my 60-64 age range.

The way Senior Olympics works, you can qualify for Nationals by being one of the top 3 riders from your state or one of the absolute top three if you are an out of state rider. This brings people from Texas, Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana to race in Mississippi.

First was the 20km and 40km mass start races. In some states, these are separate races, but in Mississippi if you are doing both races, you sprint at 20km and then keep going. The course was pretty rough and hilly. They lined us up by age but everyone started together. Some years they have separated groups. Some riders from Texas and Mississippi were super aggressive. Every year I race too hard in the mass start events and then am hurting in the TT’s and every year I swear that I will take it easy and just sprint at 20km and 40km. But every year someone goes hard, a break forms and I go to the front to make sure the break sticks. At 10km we are down to 8 riders, all of them in a younger age group than me. Then we get to hill at around 15km, one of the Texas riders pushes the pace and it is me, the Texas rider and Jim Quick from Meridian. In the sprint for 20kms, the Texas rider goes early and I end up sprinting around 400 meters but catch him and nip him at the line. Now remember – next you do a u-turn and finish the 40 km race. Jim Quick didn’t sprint hard but saved himself, he u-turns and pushed the pace. I jump on his wheel, look back and the Texas rider is not in contact. Jim and I two man time trial for 20km. I was hoping the Texas rider would give up but he was only a minute down at the 30 km turn so Jim and I kept pushing. In the sprint I led out and held off Jim for the overall win.

With little rest time, we break out the TT bikes for the 10km TT – out and back on the same rough, hilly course. With sore legs, it was really interesting. I was probably a little hillier than the Coon Town course. No holder so you started with one foot in the ground. I managed 15:41, good for first. As soon as the last rider finished the 10km TT, we started the 5km TT – same course only shorter turn around. The first hill after the start was getting old. I did a 7:58 for first….then as soon as the..we started the 1 mile downhill. This would be fun with fresh legs. It’s my worst event but I managed a 2:14 which won by 2 seconds! Luckily this was the only TT for which I got clipped into my pedals on the first try.

This is a lot of fun. Many good athletes who are not bike racers show up and compete. 2nd and 3rd in my age group were riders who don’t normally do USCF races but were experience tourists and were comfortable riding in packs.

If you are over 50, you should think about racing one of the Senior Olympics events. There is one later this year in Baton Rouge. The attitude is serious but laid back.

Rich

This past weekend I participated in the PMBAR with several buddies who had recently done the Cohutta 100 with me. What the above description does not add is that you do not know where the checkpoints are until the race starts and each team may link checkpoints in differing combinations and via differing trails. As such, it is hard to know where you are relative to others. Also, the race must be done in teams of two, but we rode as a foursome for all but the last few minutes.

As for my race, I was unable to leave Oxford until 5:45 pm Friday for the solo drive to Brevard, NC and a date with an 8am start time. Upon arriving at 3:15am, I rolled into the back of the car opened the tailgate and received 3 hours of glorious sleep. Most of the early talk was of the impending weather that had hit Oxford Friday evening. As it turned out, we had overcast 60s and only the occasional short sprinkle. As such, conditions were ideal.

Unfortunately, prior to even the start, there was talk of only going for the minimum 4 checkpoints. Having driven through the night, I was really hoping for maximum agony and injustice. I tried to pump the others up for more, but this fell on deaf ears. As for the riding, the trails are outstanding and unmatched in the East. We logged in approximately 40 miles in about 8.5 hours (about 6.25 hours of ride time, a fair bit of hike a bike up a mountain, and a lot of hanging around). I don't know the amount of climbing we did, but would think I could reasonably put it in the 10k range. We finished 30th out of approximately 65 teams. One member of our group bonked pretty hard and at one point was found staring into the back of his camelback with little sense of purpose or focus. Thankfully, we had already made the decision to not head for additionally checkpoints and he was only an hour or so from the finish.

The only mechanical our group had was my broken chain, which occurred approximately 1-2 minutes into the day at the very first uphill bump. While I avoided any notable crash, I did encounter a sizable tree across the trail at one point. In an effort to not unclip both pedals, I put my downhill foot down at attempted to use a standing tree next to me to leverage myself over the fallen one. Not surprisingly I failed to look up a inspect the integrity of the tree. Upon putting my hand on the tree trunk (approximately 10-12 inches in diameter, which is larger than you think, and 40 feet tall) it snapped at its base and sounded like a gun went off. I then found myself falling in unison with this trunk off the trail and down the mountain. Thankfully, I landed in a huge, plush briar patch. It actually did feel somewhat soft until I had to attempt to extricate myself from it. The result is that my legs look like I tried to kick my way through a field of barbwire, but at least the tree didn't fall on me.

Final impressions is that this is a must do event and does not require local knowledge of the trails to have a great time. The organizer also puts on two other events. The "Double Dare" occurs in October and is essentially a two day PMBAR. The other event is titled "The Most Horrible Thing Ever." It occurs in Pisgah in February and is a 6 stage 36 continuous hour event. One of my old kayaking buddies won it this spring. His final total was something like 215 miles (on a mtn bike in Pisgah) and approximately 50K of climbing. Check out the organizers site at www.pisgahproductions.com and I'll be trying to convince several (Wren, M. Robinson, Henderson, Valliant) to forgo Syllamo and taste the PMBAR next year.

Over and Out.

The race started with a 2 mile climb on pavement, followed by about 15 miles of very nice, fast singletrack. It rained the night before the race, so the singletrack was slippery and the gravel roads supplied a nice coating of wet sand which wrecked the shifting on most bikes. We hadn't planned on hitting all of the aid stations, but it became necessary to stop every time to do a quick chain cleaning.

Around mile 25, the longest climb of the day started--the climb finished at mile 35 with 1500' vertical gain. Then it got hard. I was as physically prepared as I could possibly be considering the constraints of family, job, house, etc, but I was not mentally prepared for the amount of climbing that the race required. After the long climb, the course profile showed a series of little bumps following a ridge line. Those little bumps translated into 3-4 mile long climbs with between 500-1000' of vertical gain each. Chris and decided that each one felt like climbing Thacker Mountain a few times back to back--to get to the 1st switchback. After about 3-4 switchbacks and maybe 30 minutes of straight climbing, we'd be rewarded by about 5 minutes of screaming fast downhill. There were at least 5-6 climbs like that, and they all came after we were softened up by that 1st long climb. This made it really tough to eat since I'd be breathing too hard on the climbs, then going too fast on the descents. Chris and I both ended spending a big part of our day in the 22X34 gear combo, which really made the miles go by slowly. There weren't many flat sections that allowed recovery, eating, etc.

I highly recommend the singletrack around the Ocoee Whitewater Center. As I mentioned above, the 1st section was fun and fast bench-cut singletrack. We finished up on an even faster, rocky section called Thunder Rock Express. Even in the haze of pain that I was under at the time, I had a blast riding that last section. I'd like to go back and ride the trails and leave out the harrowing 70 miles of dirt road climbing.

I'm glad to know that I could complete the race, even if it was 3 hours slower than the pros did it. HOWEVER, I'm not feeling an urge to do it again any time soon.

Daniel

I would add that it was nice riding with Daniel throughout the race for each of us had times when we were feeling rough and being pulled along by the other rider. Also the amount of mud in the face from the early fire road sections was outstanding. Glasses were merely dropped to the tip of the nose to serve as a shield since visibility through the lenses was zero. For me it was a boost when my wife and daughter had driven out to the third checkpoint which was near the top of the biggest climb. I have to give her kudos since that was about an hour and a half of driving each way from the starting line. Last, if anyone needs any "new" gear, there is probably a whole wardrobe and bike worth of parts lying along the course.

I must admit that when Ian reappeared with an annihilated bike momentarily after departing that I would have gladly given him my bike had he had the appropriate pedals. But, as it turns out, I'm glad I didn't.

I can't report much about the race since the bad girls dropped me before the 5th mile but I had a fine time and as always, Karen is great to ride with. I was lucky enough to have her company since she was dealing with the effects of allergy medicine.

Wish I could have watched the other the stages but a long overdue visit with my Mom in Jackson was in order. So, I look forward to the rest of the reports.

The SAG food was ok, but the post ride lunch was excellent. Mashed potatoes with gravy (gravy had shrimp in it) , chicken pasta, salad, tea.

alas, i did the gainseville georgia cup stage race. gainseville is just outside the mountains, so you never know what you'll get tickled with, but my imagination was proved accurate. there was some climbing.

the tt was awfully brutal. a 9 mile run. 4.5 climbing out, 4.5 descending back, with a few leg breakers and rail road tracks. i only finished building my tt bike this past week, and knowing that the outcome was decided 30lbs before i started, i didn't aim to take it overly seriously. that was until the start, from when i couldn't help myself. oh yeah, and it was pouring torrentially. this meant that the warm up was running from the safety of the car with 5 minutes to go. once i got pushed off, i forgot my plan of taking it easy and went full gas. as expected, my 30 second and 60 second men got me on the way out. this can be really disheartening, but there's still plenty of time to go. after the turnaround, i was a little more opened up and had gravity on my side. i took my 30 second man back now that he was blown to shreds and finished just ahead of my 60 second man. not a great result, but i'm glad i stuck it out. didn't even look for my result.

lesson learned; you can actually catch air in the aero bars. the rain was driving so hard that i couldn't see the railroad tracks that i pegged at 36mph. several people went down there.

the road race was in the same area, just over an hour after the TT ended. the course was 27 miles long with two tough parts. the highlight being a 1.5 mile 9% grade. since we only had to do 2 laps of it, i hoped that i could muster the anger to get through it. my plan was to break away from the group earlier on and hope to get caught around the top of that climb. on the second lap, i would take it as it comes and hope to use attrition to my benefit. i did the stupidest thing i've ever done before the race. i changed my shoes and cleats for a new pair (same model/size, just new) since my other shoes were soaked to the core. every time i stood up or made a hard effort, my left foot unclipped. so i resigned to staying in the saddle. i KNEW not to do this, but i did it anyway. the group was simply going to quick to break away from, and my legs were good enough to let me stay not only in the group on the climb, but at the front of it. once we got over it, the pace really kicked on and i simply could not stop clipping out. we were approximately 15 guys on our own now. finally, on one effort, it gapped me and i rode to the car.

lesson learned; never ever ever ever, no matter how smart you think you are, change your gear to something untested. ever. that cost me a GC spot and i wasted a hotel room. 100% my fault and a moronic move to boot. one of those magical days when your legs feel great and i pilfered it.

the crit was a rectangle with a small rise on the finishing straight and a slight descent on the back straight. wide open corners. pure power course. we've got a really tough group this year and we put it full stick from the gun. with such a short course, it only took 6 laps to split the field and have 20+ guys get pulled. i was in my typical survival mode in the top 10, trying to stay safe. we had a few gaps go here and there but nothing stuck until 4 laps to go. 4 guys got off the front, then a group of 8 which i made, and then the pack. i ended up 3rd in the sprint from my group for 7th overall, which i thought exceeded my ability so i'm happy with that.

lesson learned; no matter how bad your weekend is going, keep your head down and keep going, luck can turn.

My goals this year were mainly to finish and then to try to finish in a faster time than last year. The race course goes in the opposite direction from the tour and you are therefore obliged to climb and descend Brushy Creek and Blowout Mtns at the end of the race. In reality the words climb and descend should be substituted with "push your bike up, and down whilst swearing" in the previous sentence. The course was also pretty muddy in the lower sections making me and my bike a lovely shade of clay by the end of the ride, this dampness made some of the single track spongy and energy sapping. There were the usual mix of fully suspended bikes, singles speeds and variety of clothing that these endurance races attract, there was even a guy on a recumabant, although i saw that loaded on the back of a truck at one point during the race. I did not see anyone i knew at the start or any oxford jerseys.

we began on 6 miles of fire roads, mildly uphill for the most part but with a brutal decent. Everyone pegged it from the start and we averaged around 25 mph racing to the singletrack, my road skills and ability to suck wheel stood me in good stead here and i hit the single track in about 10th. after which point my lack of technical skills and any offroad riding since last October came to the fore and i spent the next 2hrs getting passed by all the sensible folk who held back on the fire road start.

After those 2 hrs things settled down and i just tried to make it to the finish, mostly in the same group of people passing and getting passed by them as skills or fitness dictated. by the time we hit the rocks i was riding in robot mode and trudging through, enjoying the scenery in fact. I did make the discovery that i was able to climb a lot better with my fork locked out after forgetting to unlock it after some fire road, however the same cannot be said for descending! I managed to stay on my bike the whole time except for when i intentionally came off to experience pushing the bike, and only had one near miss when i found my hands no longer wanted to work the brakes and a hairpin turn on a downhill was imminent, in this case i just, sort of, cut some new trail and kept on going, much to the enjoyment of the guy behind me.

I was pretty much done after 5 hours and wanted to go home, unfortunately there are no escape routes and you have to finish the course but the last few miles on paved roads were very welcome!

My Polar tells me i had 5:40 of riding time but the clock at the finish had 5:54. Just like William I must have been going too slow in some points to register! I didn't stick around to find out my placing as i had to hoof it back to Hot Springs to retrieve angela and Hank dog who decided to stay at the spa rather than spend 7 hrs in the lovely town of Oden.

I ended up leading the B group out at the start for about a mile. Several members of the Tiger Cycling Foundation quickly came around and the race was on. I decided to stay close to the front to cover any attacks on climbs, but there were only two climbs of note on the entire route. I was actually a little disappointed. Since I didn't know what to expect in this race, I decided to just pace myself and let the hills and distance thin the herd. Somewhere along the first lap, a small group attack and manages to get away. I figure they are all 4's so I don't worry about it.

There were two sketchy guys in the B group that Mark and I dubbed "Vest-O Cipollini " and "Bottle Boy". Vest-O hammered every hill and was literally all over the place. Bottle Boy was just dangerous. I suppose the Triathlon bottle cages protruding from the back of his seat advertised this fact quite well. About a third of the way through the first lap, I'm behind some guy in black kit when Bottle Boy cuts in front of him. The guy in the black kit literally has his bike at a 45-degree angle for a brief second; fish tails it a few times, and manages a good save just feet off my front wheel. This unsettles me, so I drift off the back to calm down and check my shorts. I figure God either is sending me a message or I just attract stupid people. For the next two laps, I hang off the back to just watch and think about Cyclocross season. Another group of 3 to 4 attack and manages to get off the front as I'm recuperating on the back. Half way into the final lap, I have a Jedi moment and hear Obi-Wan Kenobi, in the form of Rich telling me to move up. On the next hill, I start to move through the peloton and find myself briefly on the front. I'm riding with some guy in a red & blue kit who wants to close down the attack from three members of Tiger Cycling. I work with him briefly then realize I'm killing myself chasing down three probable cat-4's, so I drift back and rest. The peloton has thinned quite a bit by this time.

Heading into the final kilometer, I'm riding somewhere in the middle to back third of the peloton. It was actually hard to tell since people were all over the place. Everyone kicks it up at 300 meters. The sprint is on! I find myself on the left close to the front, but not in a good enough position to open up, not that I have a sprint. Mark comes around my right at the line and beats me by half a wheel.

Mark thinks we placed in the top ten, but I didn't stick around for the results as stragglers were still coming across almost an hour after I finished.

The Comite Trail is a great trail, if you are ever going to be in Baton Rouge with a few hours to spare you should definitely take your bike (check it hasn't rained in the last week or 2). There are no hills ! Seriously not a single climb. There's a really easy beginners loop and a more advanced loop around that. The advanced loop is not too bad although there are a few serious verticals (up and down).

Mac Banner did so well in Mobile he moved up a class from Junior to 19-29 for the rest of the season. He sprinted off the start line and had a fantastic ride finishing 2nd, shocking most of the riders in that group.

Kate and I rode the trail on Saturday, after the pre-ride I was pretty excited, no hills, very fast, a little technical: I might be able to get a good result.

At the start I decided to keep up with the 3 fastest guys from the Mobile race but somehow a local guy beat us all to the trailhead then wouldn't let anyone pass him. One by one we finally passed him but I was 3/4 around the first loop before I got by and the others were way ahead. I hauled ass to try and catch up, hitting a ramp near the start of the 2nd loop much faster than before and getting some pretty big (totally unintentional) air. Everything was sweet for about 1 sec then some fool hit the slow motion button which (of course) caused my bike to pitch forward with the front wheel heading straight for the ground. The impact was hard and quick. By the time I had picked myself up, caught my breath, found my shoe and straightened the seat, most of the field had passed me. Then to add insult to injury guess who I was behind, oh yeah, the same guy who wouldn't let me pass on the first lap ! I passed him a little quicker the second time plus a couple of the 40+ guys who had passed me wile I was down but didn't see anyone else until the end. This time I managed an uneventful sprint for the finish (I saw someone in front of me rather than imagined someone behind me) for a somewhat disappointing 8th place.

After I got off the bike and walked around for a few minutes it was clear my ribs were in bad shape, we hung out for a for a while but by the time we left I could barely get into the truck and couldn't even close the door :(

We stopped on the way out of Baton Rouge to get an Ace bandage, Kate wrapped my ribs in the parking lot and I didn't scream so hopefully nothing is broken. 3 weeks to the next race: Wetumpka, AL.

Friday when I decided to do this ride, I didn't really consider the weather. I figured "meh. whatever." Well the weather decided "we'll show him", and so in Columbia, TN, it rained quite literally all day. I was driving in it, and even that wasn't particularly pleasant.

I had intended to pre-ride the course on Saturday (hopefully with Big Mac), but the rain said "nuh-uh" and so I didn't. Sunday I rolled in to Chickasaw Trace Park and parked in a big grassy field about 3 ft from a nice little bit of singletrack (no, not part of the race course). I rode up and got signed up (Beginner Men, age 30-39). I couldn't see when I signed up who all I'd be getting to utterly dominate, but there were lots of people milling about, so I figured there would be a few. :)

Big Mac warned me about a downhill that led into the field where we parked. He said it was nasty and slick, and everyone should probably walk it. Based on the condition of his knee, I surmised that this was experience speaking, and I should consider that as well. Big Mac also told me "good tire choice." I told him I made the decision late the night before. No wait those are my only tires for that bike. He also said I should run low pressure in my tires, which I decided to do as well. By that I mean I totally forgot to put air in anything (including the frame shock). Even so, it was probably my most comfortable ride on the FS bike yet (I've only ridden it maybe 300 miles so far).

I warmed up for probably 15-20 minutes on a paved road (which I later found out was in fact part of the course). Not much of a warmup, just enough to get the blood moving and ride some 100yd wheelies to psych out the competition. About 10 minutes before the race, we grouped up, and I discovered that there were a total of 5 in my category. Yay! Just *finishing* means I get no less than fifth! Two groups go before us, two minutes apart, and then it's our turn.

A horn. We ride. The start was long and a little downhill in grass, with a gravel turn, and then back up the hill on a paved road. That was almost the first mile (0.89mi). Two guys are ahead of me, one guy right behind, a fifth that I can't hear. He's what I'll call a "bad habit" (that's what we dropped him like). We stay like this until the 40 foot drop (in about 20 ft horizontal) down the wreck-y entrance to trail. The 2 leaders get probably 100yds on me in the first singletrack through a field, and just before we enter the woods, 4th says "excuse me kind sir, but I wondered would you mind terribly if I ease past you and ride in third position for a while until we cross the finish line 8 miles away." I dissented, and dropped the hammer thusly. This had the fortunate side effect of pulling the first 4 back together. 1-2 are moving along, and I'm keeping pace with them for the most part. Then they sort of disappear. A mile later, I see them. And that was pretty much the last time until the podium.

So we ride in the woods for a while, and the whole time I was "mudroplaning" (kinda like hydroplaning in your car, but in mud). Made the trail probably twice as hard, at least. Comparing race times to last years, even the lower placed people were above 10mph, so I'm thinking on a dry day, this trail cooks. I had one unexpected dismount of my bicycle, which I initially thought (and might be quoted in newspapers as saying) was one of my graceful-est falls ever, but some bruises that have only recently made themselves known indicate either someone hit me in the left thigh with a softball bat, or I did in fact fall on *something* then. I tried to roll up onto a 6" rock ledge while going slightly uphill, and my bike decided we should stop for a second, and pitched me over the front side. Fortunately it didn't hurt, and I got up and rode off. I guess it was adrenalin that kept it from hurting (EPO doesn't do that as far as I know). Past that, some of the steep hills were so slick I had to dismount, and some of the slick hills were so steep I had to dismount. I was off my bike a total of 4 times through the ride, as far as I can recall (except once when I picked up a hammer so I could drop it again later in the race). There was once where I went off a 1' drop, and when I came back up over my seat, the front of my shorts got hooked around the back of the seat... I wish I had been watching that guy, cause I'm sure it was hilarious. But since I WAS that guy, I had to figure out a way to right that wrong. I very unnaturally (while riding) dropped back down over my rear wheel and unhooked. Turned out to be uneventful.

The first 4 miles or so was just back and forth along a river. After mile 4 or 5, however, instead of traversing horizontally (my preferred method of traversing), we began going straight up hills, crossing the gully at the top, then going straight down the other side of the gully. One can actually see this very clearly in the elevation profile, and the vertical play actually started at about mile 3.5. So that was pretty brutal...

The trail is a great trail. They maintain in sections, so some person gets maybe a one mile section, another gets the next. Could be that they build it that way too, because some people's sections were definitely much more difficult than others (Trail of Tears, specifically). Total was about 8.5 miles (and maybe my GPS cut out for 100 yards or so). I took 1h 1m 50s to do it, so yeah, you guessed it, that's about 8.5mph (ok official result says 8.733mph). Given the slick-as-snot conditions and a completely new trail to me, I'll take it. With the amount of forested area they have in this park, the amount of trail there is pretty amazing. You can see it on the google map I'll attach below. Just about all the tree'd area is covered in trail (much like Whirlpool, but without all the cut-throughs). The group used race timers in the form of ankle bracelets from Kramer Race Services http://www.ryan-kramer.com/ to time the event. Reminded me of my days under house arrest... They seem to have worked splendidly, and I recommend it if possible for our upcoming events. They also wrote my age on my massive left calf (I think they had to use the Sharpie Magnum) so that all the young people I passed could eat my "30"year old dust. I also got a smiley face in my zero which was cool. It'd have been nice as well have gotten the girl to draw something that indicated to all the people I blew by what my name was with "you just got served" under it, so they'd remember next time. :) By the way, where it wasn't muddy, it was either a water puddle, or rocky. And plenty of rocks were plenty tall enough to catch a pedal (and were freshly scarred to prove it). Sporttracks tells me that the ride was 50% flat, with the rest being divided equally between uphill and downhill. It's tough to dispute hard numbers.

Once the top 2 in my cat dropped me, and pretty quickly some wrecks by Mr. Number 4 gave me some space, I was alone. I rode about 6 miles fully alone in the woods, only seeing other people on trails I was about to suffer on, or trails I'd just suffered on. Thanks to MH I have quite a few pictures of my second race in my life, and some great ones, too. (link below)

By the end of the ride, the mud had started tacking up a little. It stopped being so slippery, and just caught tires and kicked up into your nostrils.

I was third in my category. Fourth hadn't raced in 13 years, and 5th, hadn't missed a meal in 13 years. Brad (Fourth) informed me that according to the results, the winner in our category, had he done that same turn in a second lap, would have placed third in the Sport category. We needed the sandbags on the course, not in the race... Either way, it was a great time, and very nice to have a shower so close. Temps were perfect for a race, and thankfully the rain held off (I think for everyone's race).

I've realized that while accurate, this race report has become less funny and more long. Probably best to keep me from racing just to prevent these long reports...

Pictures here.
Motionbased here.
Google map here.

The trail was extremely slick, almost like riding on oil in places. I can proudly say I never crashed/fell during the race. A few people do flyers off into the bushes as the Sport group begins to separate. My tires immediately begin to pack with mud and loose all traction. I'm literally racing on mud tires over a mud trail. About a third of the way into the first lap, my rear wheel gets so packed that it stops moving. I have to dismount and remove mud that has collected between the tire and the bike. Once I get off the bike, I'm faced with the problem of getting my shoes to clip in the pedals as they are also packed with mud. This becomes so annoying that I often pedal unclipped. The mud gremlins also deposited so much muck around my front derailleur that it will not shift. By this time, my attitude isn't the greatest. The trail conditions seemed slightly better on the second lap, so I was able to pick up the pace and end the suffering a bit sooner. Since a respectable finish was out of the question by this time, I concentrate on picking off stragglers and avoiding last place. I ended my day with 19th place in a field of 24 riders.

Jay is right about this trail when it is dry. It's sick fast and a lot of fun. I placed 9th the last time I raced there.

Karen Riddle did the Women’s 1-4 race. It was fast. Karen stuck with the pack through the first lap but then came of fhte back. The race had split in two parts almost instantly as is to be expected in an all category race.

I (Rich Raspet) did the master’s 35+ race. There were quite a few big teams –more than showed for Barber Motorsports Park. I tried to stay near the front but a lapse in concentration put me about 11 back and the four immediately in front of me backed off on the hill and let seven people off. I chased as much as I could and got fourth in the pack sprint.

So – no glory but we all benefited from race time – wait till the next race!!

Our route worked out pretty well. We got in 13-14 miles at Clear Creek and 6-7 at the Whirlpool trails. I think about 30 or so miles were on gravel. We really lucked out with the cool temps today. Staying hydrated and fueled was much easier than it could have been. We were both testing eating/drinking strategies to use at the Cohutta race, and I think we both had that end of things down pretty well.

Most of the ride was enjoyable, with the notable exception of Old Sardis Road headed back into town with a stiff headwind. We worked together well, but mountain bikes are just tough to pedal into headwinds. Chris rode especially strong today, pushing the pace across the flats and up the hills.

Hopefully we can do something like this again next year and get a few more folks who are interested in endurance mtb racing/riding to join in. We've really got a great resource in all those hilly Forest Service roads out in the National Forest. They're not quite as fun as singletrack, but they're a great way to see some different country with very few cars to contend with.

I'm not sure Chris Eatough or Floyd Landis have anything to fear yet, but I'm much more confident that I'll be able to finish the Cohutta 100 race now.

Right off the line I moved quickly to the front anticipating the cat 4's in the group would go hard given the race was less than 15 miles in total. After the first turn and a small hill, I attacked to see who wanted to race and who wanted to sit on. I saw a few guys give chase, so I went wide on the hairpin and rolled in behind them as they came through. As soon as I got a wheel, they seemed to quit. The peloton quickly closed the gap. I decided to attack again on another hill only to have the same result as before. My third attempt came as I headed into the finish area thinking someone would be more inclined to have a run over the flat, but I was wrong. After three attacks, I rolled into the peloton to rest and think about what I wanted to do next. There were a few sketchy riders in the group causing me to have flashbacks to the Crosswinds Classic. One guy even went off the course and into the grass. A few others kept hitting the breaks in corners. Glancing down at my computer along the backstretch, I could clearly see we were going 19mph. I knew at this point everyone was going to tinker along for the big sprint at the end of the race. That's when I decided to toss smart racing tactics (and the race) out the window and go on an attack fest. I figured I might as well have some fun. I managed to whip the group up a bit and heard someone yell out "ATTACK" on one of my attempts. After an attack, I would roll in, rest a bit, and go off again with peloton in tow. I know none of this is/was tactically sound, but I was definitely fun.

However, I thought the fifth lap to be the sixth lap when I heard bells as I crossed through the finish area. I later learned from Chris that some fans were ringing bells. I could not see the woman with the numbers, so that only reinforced my mistake. With this misinformation firmly lodged in my brain, I settled in for the mother of all attacks on the final hill going into the finish. I made my move and found myself off the front when I began to realize my error. By this time, I knew I would not be able to recover fast enough for another go at it as I was in a bit of difficulty. The peloton passed me going into the home stretch, and I fell off the back. I did manage to recover enough to pass three guys heading in for the finish of the race. I'm not exactly sure where I placed, but I did have fun stirring the pot.

I'll be switching over to fat tires for my next race next weekend.

Guest rider Christian Leask and Ian Jones raced the 30+ race. Unfortunately some Category 1 racers showed for the race and pegged it from the gun, shattering the field. Ian finished with three others while Christian retired early to take pictures. When you become a Category 1, don’t do this – it’s not classy. Well, actually, it’s the epitome of classless.

Matthew Hall, Ian Jones and I raced the 40+ race. It was a very active race with lots of attacks. In the last lap or so 6 people got off the front in pairs. The pack chased down one pair of escapees, but the pack had to settle for sprinting for the last paying place. Matthew Hall missed that by one place, finishing 6th, Rich was 8th and Ian 11th.

The Master’s 4/5 race had 3 Discover Oxford riders – two first time roadies, Mike Mossing and Jason Finch and veteran racer Richard McNeer. The newcomers did a great job sticking with the pack for several laps. Richard got shed on the last lap when the field thought they were sprinting to the finish when they really had another lap to go. Mike and Richard finished while Jason enjoyed the conclusion of the race from the sidelines.

In the Women’s Cat 4 race, Karen Riddle was 13th and Vivian Neill was 17th in her first road race. Good job.

Chris Mogridge was around 10th in the Cat 4 men’s race, we’ll have to wait for official results and stories.

I left out Chris Lee’s fine 14th place ride in the 30+ race. I’m use to Chrsi being in the same race I’m in.

The jerseys look great – you can recognize a Discover Oxford rider from a mile away.

Congrats to all the first timers, I am proud of you, you afternoon racers, please fill in the details.

It was a nice afternoon at a great venue, so it really didnt matter all that much about the mix up. This enabled me to ride the course a few times, watch a few races and catch up with Christian and Karma.

After a few hours I hit the start line in a field of 50 or so. The flag is dropped and we are off. We are immediately in the 30's, so I will now know what a redlined Porsche feels like. Everyone was behaving nicely with the exception of one wreck to my right. A few guys touched wheels and some of them went down. When a wreck starts, it seems to happen in slow motion, almost like a dream sequence. This wreck had a bit of a "Twin Peaks" twist to it, as it involved a dude with a hook arm.

On we raced with a few breakaway attempts that lasted a total in the seconds and not minutes. The bell lap was announced and I made my way to the front 15 or so. Knowing where I wanted to be placed going up and over the last two hills, I positioned myself in the peleton in the 8th spot. "Perfect" I think to myself!!!

Well just like earlier in the day when I was a time zone off, it happened again. I felt a surge of 10 or so riders go past on the final crest with an immediate downhill section and a flat 250 meters to the finish line. I knew I had messed up and tried to catch onto the end of the surge, but could only manage to move up a few spots for a ~10th place finish.

It was a fast race with an average speed of 24.6mph and a max speed of 39mph which was the opening of the sprint finale.

Early that morning I arrive at the Hotel where registration and the start line is. The parking lot was almost already full of cars, campers and trailers. There were some big teams from all over to include FL, TX, NY, IN, LA, MS, TN. The field in the B race was at least 100 as that was the amount of folks who had pre-registered.

We all line up for the early morning start in 30 degree weather. The weather man promised the temps to be in the mid 60's by the end of the race. The race starts and we head down Hwy 61 for a few miles then turn down some smaller roads. I keep in the top 20 most of the time dealing with a heavliy churning field. Everyone seemed to be nervous about the first sectoion of gravel. We finally hit the first section at mile 30 or so and the speed increases dramatically. We are motoring along on this gravel, dirt and sandy section in the upper 20's. It was a little dicey as you would hit a pocket of sand causing both your wheels to "sandroplane" (kinda like hydroplaning in your car, but on sand). I almost go down a few times, but luckily don't. Some other folks around me don't fare as well and there are a few wrecks. The field splits and I am at the back end of the front group. There is no way for me to work my way to the front as the road is narrow and I dont want to thread the needle and cause any other wrecks. Gaps form in front of me, I try and go around, but decide to sit back and let it all go. Hoping to catch back on when we hit pavement again.

We finally hit some some newly asphalted black top where about 20 of us are in a group trying to bridge back up. Only 3 or 4 of us are taking pulls, while the others are content on watching us work. This goes on for the next 35-40 miles.

The next gravel section at mile ~66 is shorter than the first but is nothing like the flat first section. This section is nothing but straight uphill. There were a few women in this group fighting over a top placing. They attack on the uphill section leaving me with a few others. I set my own tempo with a few others on the remainder of the hill. We exit this section with a group of 5 or so riders including one girl from the Metro Volkswagon Team from Dallas. Once we hit the pavement, a rotation of 3 of us start immediately where the other hangers-on are departed from the back.

We find the next section of gravel not too far down the road and can't believe our eyes. It is straight uphill and reminds me of a cross between the sunken trace and the Koppenberg (hill in Tour of Flanders where you see the pros walking thier bikes up). No exception, I am forced to walk the bike up this hill because of the severity of the grade and condition of the road. I hop back on my bike near the top to find the decent very sketchy. Not only are there tight sweeping turns, but at the bottom there are huge potholes and piles of gravel and sand waiting for us. I think I would rather go uphill at this point. This up and down goes on for miles. At one point I reach down for my water bottle and it is gone. I guess it had broke for freedom on one of the decents.

Finally getting out of the last gravel section we have 15 miles left. Still teamed up with 2 others, we start to rotate. The girl from Metro Volkswagon is having a hard time so she sits on for the remainder of the race.

I stay back with her and let the other guy go as a minute off my time won't amount to anything, where this girl, if she can hang on, will still get a decent result.

The remainder of the roads surface condition make our Roubaix Route look like a hockey rink that had just been smoothed over by a Zamboni!

I cross the line in 5 hours and 15 minutes. This isnt too bad considering 30 miles of the 102 mile race is over gravel and portions seem at least 15% grade.

This is a well run race and has some hot talent showing up.