Off Road Assault on Mt Michell!
Bill Blandford(profile) at Mt Michell
Race report from Bill:
Here's a couple links. My GPS and the ORAMM Site Course Page (scroll down for a good elevation profile)
Started with a road ride outta Old Fort, NC. Gearies in the front. SS's in the rear. For those who had ridden TMRs with me lately and remember how I couldn't shut up about rigging up a 1X3 on my Surly, you may be surprised that the night before the race I pulled the gears off and ran a 32X20. Gears??? What was I thinking.
Road start almost spread out the pack well enough for Kitsuma, the first single track switchback climb. Best SS strategy here was just to walk. Most switchbacks were bottlenecked by a group of walkers. Some were unridable anyway. I managed to clean 2 switchbacks in a row after passing a group of about 8 gearies. Peak 1 descent was very technical, lots of clipouts and crashers. I got the ass on the tire and rode it. So then just as hands start to get numb you're climbing again to Peak 2. Descent from Peak 2 is long rocky, rooty, sidehill, rhododendronny, switchbacks (basically perfect singletrack) and I realized that 35psi was too much for the front really fast. I got some big props from a couple guys who noticed I was riding rigid.
Some Serious Hills here!Rest Stop 1 - filled 2 bottles with CeraSport(can be found here), let some air out of the front tire. Then my buddy Dave rolled in. We rode together out of rest stop 1. Next stop single track climb up to Star Gap all ridable. After Star Gap downhill was a 4 mile climb on grassy old fireroad. I passed dozens of gearies on that climb.
Bill poised on the downhillMile 27 to 36 was the crusher. Curtis Creek Road is a Pisgah Natl Forest fireroad lined with campsites. The last 4 miles are steep steep steep. My 32:20 had me passing dozens of gearies again. More than once my red polka dot AFC Jersey got me some "King of the Mountain" props;-) My strategy for this climb was that I had to get outta the saddle I'd only push it hard if the summit was in sight. Otherwise I'd dismount and walk as fast as I could. I think that two riders in their 22:34 littlest granny were a bit shocked when I strutted past pushing the Surly.
Rest Stop 3 at mile 36. Then a 4 mile fireroad downhill, then a 5 mile fireroad climb (but not as bad a the steep Curtis Creek). Then about 2 miles of climbing on the paved Blueridge Parkway. Here's where it starts to get Crazy. Left turn into dense woods by a little brown sign that says Heartbreak. 400 yards or so of hike a bike up a step rooty, licheny rock washed out trail. Then down-down-down for 50 minutes. About a dozen guys passed me cause I had to take it a little easier on the rigid fork. Hands felt like lobster claws from hanging on and holding brakes. More and more and more perfect technical single track. And when it finally ended, guess what...
Back to Kitsuma again. It's like deja vu all over again. Befriended a gearie named Roger on the fireroad climb to Kitsuma trailhead. He shared some salt pills with me and kept me from cramping. And he was the only gearie that climbed in a gear that rivaled my SS. He motivated me to ride every section of switchback that I had to walk on the first time up this trail. Forgot that there were two peaks as I was bombing down thinking the race was over, bam, another climb...?? One more peak and then down down down again. Happy to clean the ass tucker sections even when I was running on fumes.
Got the road descent and realized I was going to be really close to 8 hours. But I couldn't big ring it in so I was forced to coast down watching the minutes tick 7:57, 7:58, 7:59, 8:00:-(
Finished with a big crowd of friends and family. Built a dam in the creek with Benson (7) and drank Highland Pale Ale (tasty local brew) while we waited for Dave to finish. Great timez!!!
Rest Stop 3 at mile 36. Then a 4 mile fireroad downhill, then a 5 mile fireroad climb (but not as bad a the steep Curtis Creek). Then about 2 miles of climbing on the paved Blueridge Parkway. Here's where it starts to get Crazy. Left turn into dense woods by a little brown sign that says Heartbreak. 400 yards or so of hike a bike up a step rooty, licheny rock washed out trail. Then down-down-down for 50 minutes. About a dozen guys passed me cause I had to take it a little easier on the rigid fork. Hands felt like lobster claws from hanging on and holding brakes. More and more and more perfect technical single track. And when it finally ended, guess what...
Back to Kitsuma again. It's like deja vu all over again. Befriended a gearie named Roger on the fireroad climb to Kitsuma trailhead. He shared some salt pills with me and kept me from cramping. And he was the only gearie that climbed in a gear that rivaled my SS. He motivated me to ride every section of switchback that I had to walk on the first time up this trail. Forgot that there were two peaks as I was bombing down thinking the race was over, bam, another climb...?? One more peak and then down down down again. Happy to clean the ass tucker sections even when I was running on fumes.
Got the road descent and realized I was going to be really close to 8 hours. But I couldn't big ring it in so I was forced to coast down watching the minutes tick 7:57, 7:58, 7:59, 8:00:-(
Finished with a big crowd of friends and family. Built a dam in the creek with Benson (7) and drank Highland Pale Ale (tasty local brew) while we waited for Dave to finish. Great timez!!!
Bill hanging out with family after race!
8 hours on a mountain and still smiling!
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