Calling My Name...

A weekend in Pisgah is calling my name. I'll be meeting my bro up there Thursday evening at the good ol' spot and riding all the rocks and roots that are entailed in the ethereal word "PISGAH"



Photo nabbed from Eric's Ride Log

BRP

Lisa and I and her ma decided to spend the day with eighteen million others today and hit the parkway. Beautiful fall colors are beginning to pop, should be a great next two weeks in the mountains!

Warrior Creek

Beer bottles and double flats today. So, about halfway through a lap today at Warrior Creek I rode over a broken beer bottle by the lake. I wonder what beer gutted "sportsman" threw this from his boat while fishing? Cheers to you Mr. Nascar and cheap beer, I double flatted. I crawled around for a while trying to pick up all the glass and get it out of the trail. Normally, I don't ride with more than one tube, but today (thanks to the Breakdown) I had left an extra tube (making two) in the pack. But alas, no CO2...so, out comes the mini pump. After about ten minutes of shoulder and arm pandemonium, I got both tires reinflated and ready to go.

Brown County Breakdown 2010

First off, the weather this year was way more cooperative than last year. Last year was significantly wetter, especially the few days leading up to the breakdown which made the horse trails the consistency of peanut butter. It was nearly the end of me to finish the 60 miler last year in a decent time. This year, 70's all week and dry leading up to the event, and close to 90 yesterday, perfection. I likened the conditions to riding out west, it was that dusty. Knowing the conditions were going to be better, I set my sights on the 75 (and to a much lesser extent the 100).

After a quick packing up of our sag bags, and a quick word from the pres, we were off. Brad and I set out with the mentality of riding as much together as possible, and we stuck together for the first 27 miles. On the Pine Loop, we quickly found ourselves essentially alone, which is nice considering there were about 700 signed up for the ride. Before long, we were at the top of Hesitation Point, having ridden here and there with people that either caught us, or that we caught. More on single serving friends in a moment...

Limekiln/Walnut Junction:


The horse trails this year were in infinitely better shape than last year, after we got to the Hidden Cabin sag, I mentioned to Brad that I felt as though I didn't have to expend much energy between the campground and the cabin.

Untitled from Barry Stevenson on Vimeo.

After a quick fill up, we headed over to Nebo Ridge. About halfway through, Brad anounced that he was definitely doing the 60, and in the same breath he told me to go do the 75. So, in a situation reminiscent of last year, I grudgingly left my bro knowing that I wouldn't see him again until back at base camp. I hopped in with another single serving friend and we killed the rest of Nebo. At the Maumee sag, I grabbed a banana, some more water, and the contents of my bag and headed into Hickory.

The gravel into Hickory was cool, and made me more interested in the Gravel Grovel. One notable climb on the gravel heated me up with the sun bearing down on me.



Once onto the trails, I was totally alone. About halfway through the loop I caught up with Brad, formerly of Revolution Bike and Bean, and tagged along with him for a couple miles. There was some (brief) discussion between he and I of grabbing a burger and a brat at Maumee and heading back out for the 100, but some quick calculations made us come to the realization that we'd run out of light before we got back. I had been conserving energy to this point, not knowing what to expect from Hickory, but quickly realized that I was nearing the end of the loop, so I picked up the pace a bit knowing what lay ahead between Maumee and the Hidden Cabin.

The stretch between Maumee and the Hidden Cabin is some gravel and double track, then punctuated by a screaming downhill on the tailend of Nebo. I caught up with some more single serving friends that were locals and rode about half of this section with them. This stretch went by incredibly quickly, and I found myself wondering if I could have completed the 100 in time.

We refueled at the Hidden Cabin quickly and headed back on the horse trails. After a few miles with these guys, I wished them luck and picked up the pace again realizing that I was less than 15 miles from base camp. This is where I caught back up with my most memorable single serving friend of the day: Justin from Louisville.

Earlier in the day, we were riding in the same group and I heard him exclaim (about Limekiln) this is the best trail I've ridden, in my life! A few miles later, I caught back up with him after he had wrecked on one of the dusty horse trails. He was fine, just a bit funnyboned. We hadn't seen each other again until we were about 60ish miles into the ride. We chatted it up a bit on the campground road and back onto Limekiln. At this point, I was feeling like a champ knowing that the most fun section lay ahead. We said our goodbyes and I took off on Limekiln then Walnut. I snapped a quick photo at Hesitation Point, and then rocked down to finish off the ride.



I finished up in about 7 hours and 40 minutes, about 20 minutes faster than last year and having done 15 miles more than last year. I was pretty pleased with my performance. I didn't take the GPS, but if the calculations are correct it was about 75 miles with about 7k feet of climbing. A good day in the saddle, hope to see some of my ride buddies again next year! Thanks HMBA and company for putting on such a great event!






On a side note, yes, the post is lacking photos. I would like to beat my computer with a baseball bat...but I don't have one.

French Lick

A pre-ride meal...really? Yes, this is what we ate about fifteen minutes before hitting the trail. It wanted to revisit my orifice a couple of times.


There are places around the world that have eye-opening beauty, that people all have heard about. One of my favorite aspects of cycling is that it has taught me to appreciate, and even expect, unexpected beauty. When making a list of locations of natural beauty, typically, one does not think of southern Indiana. Everytime that I come here though I am taken aback. It's unfortunate that more people, especially those that live here, do not get out to fully enjoy what they have around them. Though, I guess this is true for any number of other places. There are times when I feel as though I become more acutely aware of one of my senses. Today, the scent of the woods was unbelieveable. It had the sweet, musty smell of fallen leaves. When in some of the low-lying areas there was the left behind scent of chalk from the limestone. Also, something in one of the trees would catch my nose. I have no idea why this happens, but it something that has stuck with me many times while in the woods. The sight of a bear at Mount Rogers, the sound of a whippoorwill in Pisgah in the middle of the night, The feel of snow stinging my skin in the Grayson Highlands on the last big hike with Arwen. So many times my senses have made a normal day a day that will always (not quite sure if it is the right word) haunt me. I can chase them around in my mind and try my best to conjure them back to the fore, but it's never quite what it was. So many great experiences that can't be relived, but can always be drawn upon.









Mitch, perhaps a new color combo for next seasons kits?

Flag Football Sunday!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Come out and watch mere mortal, scarwny cyclists in the realm of the big boys. This is where we unclip, shed the lycra, and don multicolored flags...and we show what we are truly made of. On the gridiron, champions are made (or at least that's what is said...we didn't see any of that). And, when the time came to choose the team's champions...I was the fat kid on the playground, picked last.


Me mugging Mitch


Touchdown for Cameron


The huddle


The return


The return pt. 2


Touchdown for Chancey



Every attempt was made to keep Fletcher warm...a last ditch effort

CLM 100k 2010!

The 2010 CLM 100k is in the books. Many showed up, all gave some, and some gave all. The morning started cool as we kitted up at Erich's place. Buskirk was along for the ride from E's place, and we showed up (un)fashionable late to South Fork. The first lap was the parade around Winston lap, and was chill enough.

Everyone chatting it up, having fun. At the beginning of the second lap, we wound around on Peace Haven, and once on Milhaven Erich attacked. I took off with him, and we gained some ground on the field only to be drawn back after about a mile or so. Onto Petree, and the pace quickened. After pulling off the front, a small gap formed between Mark and Erich and the four others still surviving. I pulled to the front trying to bridge the gap and pulled Cisco and Chancey back into the fray. I was witness to the whole ensuing charade, but could not take part... I was cooked. We regrouped on Polo, had some fun out to Akron Drive and saw the carnie train:

After Coliseum, we headed to Pilot View where there were some spectators to cheer us on. They snagged some cool photos of the climb:








After regrouping again, we headed back to Country Club and onto our third lap. When on CC, Mark was in the front, and I kept expecting him to lay the smackdown on everyone, but he was gracious enough to keep the pace tame. Thanks man!

Onto the third lap, and a relatively chill pace again, things got slightly fractured since there was confusion on the route. Cameron, Erich, Cisco and I found ourselves in the West End with no one else around.

We did our work of philanthropy and talked this guy back from the edge:




A couple quick calls let us know that the rest of the group headed back to the cars, so we made quick work of Forsyth Street:


and headed back to E's place to get set up for the chilifest!


A post ride interview with Amy:

A ride, and event like this makes me incredibly grateful for such a closeknit group of likeminded people. I know that it isn't too common that one could join a group such as ours and have everyone get along so well.