Beast of the Brushies

A great winter training ride is in the books. Right about 70 miles with 6100 feet of climbing. Porter and E and I had been talking about doing this ride for a while now, but hadn't been able to get together since the mini training camp. Porter entitled the ride, "The Beast of the Brushies" We met up at Traphill Elementary and we had a short moment to reminisce about our day at Hurt, Pain and Agony. I had to make a quick pitstop before we started out, and through the brush I realized there was a four legged voyeur across from me...the pony freaked me out! Anyways, the route took us away from Stone Mountain and towards the Brushy Mountains. Notable climbs on the route were Windy Gap, Balls Mill and Cherry Grove. After about 35 miles we had a bulk of the suffering out of the way in those sustained climbs.







We headed down Brushy Mountain Road and into North Wilkesboro. We made a stop at Talia Espresso and had heavenly white chocolate raspberry scones and some coffee.






The owners of the shop are kind enough to have sponsored Pirate Race Productions, and their winged logo is proudly displayed across the backs of our new kits. It was great to get to talk with Jim and Kathy, one of the baristas was kind enough to snap a photo of the five of us.


If you are ever in the neighborhood, I highly recommend that you stop by, everything was delicious!


After chilling for a few minutes, we got back on the bikes and got warmed back up. The route back was punctuated by a few minor climbs, and may dogs chasing us. By about mile 62, I had gotten incredibly hungry, and was getting pretty desperate to get back to the car. Once back, I rocketed home to eat some homemade chili and some cookies...hooray!