It all started innocently enough, Sycamore was sponsoring the race and Wes was able to get a few free entries out of the deal. Justin and i said sure months ago, not really thinking about it. little did we know...
5:30 am- Wake up to my alarm blaring before the sun, wonder what the hell is going on for about 10 seconds before the brain starts working and i remember I'm racing my bike today. Crawl toward the shower, flipping the coffee maker on as i pass.
6:00 am- Arrive at sweet lady friends house for breakfast, as discussed the night before. the house is pitch black, and phone calls are not answered. proceed to window and throw empty beer cans at it until she wakes up too. misery loves company, right? Breakfast feast is prepared, truckstop style, and consumed till point of sickness. many thanks are given.
7:10 am- Arrive at race start. Justin is nowhere to be found.
7:26 am- still no Justin, mandatory gear check ends at 7:30. begin to worry.
7:29.6 am- Justin arrives at gear check. sigh of relief is heard.
8:00 am- GO! start out with a peak at the map and then head up black mtn trail, following the KOP and Pinnett, picking off teams the whole way.
8:45 am- Hit turkey pen trail with Wes and Chris, followed by a super serial team proudly rocking flatbars, v-brakes, and ultralite hardtails.
9:15 am- watch hardtail goomba go ass over teakettle on a steep piece of trail. i giggle to myself as i pass. I'm having fun.
9:45 am- hit first checkpoint down in turkey pen. Justin and i decide to take our own route and pickup the squirrel checkpoint later in the day. this may be the start of bad decision making that will haunt us later.
10:15 am- begin the climb up yellow gap to get to the climb up laurel mtn, not realizing we've lined up over 10 continuous miles of climbing at once. complain about ass hurting for the first time.
12:00 pm- get to the top of laurel mtn, run in to Wes and Pinnett. they've just climbed straight up pilot rock and horse cove, two trails that i want to go down. we head down pilot as a group, blasting by rigid 29er riders the whole way. I'm having a lot of fun right now, because we are losing elevation fast.
12:38 pm- climb up funnel top, begin to wonder why everyone is going the opposite direction. stop for food and ponder this.
1:15 pm- head down horse cove. i pretend my 2.5 inch travel kona is a dh bike until Justin yells at me. he says I'm gonna break it. he's probably right. i continue to pretend I'm Sam Hill.
1:45 pm- get to the squirrel checkpoint, after riding the sweetest singletrack of the day. I'm still happy, because the trail is fun. we head towards Daniel ridge, thinking we're almost done. little do we know...
3:00 pm- finally get to club gap and the gravel roads to Daniel. I'm tired, and my knees hurt.
3:45 pm- over it.
4:15 pm- get to Daniel ridge checkpoint. i want to give up and take 276 home, but don't because i don't want to climb up the hill after the turnoff to the horse stables. my mind is cooked at this point. we head towards home on the fire roads.
5:15 pm- begin climbing up Maxwell. Justin is strong, and rides off the front quickly. i get a slow leak in my front tire, but am too tired to stop and fix it so i just slide as far back on my saddle as i can and pedal almost all of Maxwell with a flat front tire. we change it at the top.
6:00 pm- reach the top of hickory knob. its all down to the finish. i take the lead and let it ride down the mtn.
6:15 pm- finish. i will never do this again.
and that's all.
dano out.
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