Friday Am started the Friday the 13th. Out of bed, breakfast, visit w/ Fred @ the visitors’ center & on to Kim for PT who says that there is improvement since last visit. Knee feels better. Wonderful energy released feeling all day.
Drove to Asheville w/ 2 stops planned: REI for gloves & hydration bladder, & Tod’s Toddy filters @ a funky coffee shop in W Asheville. REI let me down. Found filters OK.
Drove to Andrews geyser the site of tomorrow’s rallying point for the Heartbreaker downhill race. Googled the geyser & found it via a long twisty FS gravel road. There is a paved road coming in from Old Fort that is longer because you drive further east and then come back. Pulled out laptop & studied the Nat geo topo map for a place to spend night, found Curtis creek outside Old Fort a short distance away. XG is closed for season and road was gated @ XG. Gravel road dead ends far end on Blue Ridge parkway. Camp in numbered sites. Found closest site. Worked over bike for Sat race that i was participating in distally. Forecast was for rain. Put cover over bikes b4 bed.
Started raining just b4 sunup. Suck creek: a downhill race on rain slickened roots, rocks, & mud. Short lived shower. Drove back to geyser that gets turned off @ night and is just a dribble before pressure builds & jets h2o 40′ into air. Other riders begin to arrive and before too long after meeting time 22 racers are gathered. The ride is a mile or so to the bottom of ST trail for the finish line. Riders & others gather for a preclimb safety meeting. Team Green. Sufficiently stoked the uphill ride started. the race is to be a race back what we are riding up. The web posting was for a social ride up. Wonderful ST but steep in places climb. 5.8 miles from car, 1 hr 35 mins & 3188’vert later we are at bike staging area. There are 2 down hills in the uphill that will be part of the downhill. Another safety meeting was called @ a vista. These NC mountains are truly mtns and are rugged & plentiful. Trails are tough exacting genuine ST. Bikes are left @ high point and we down hike a like climbers’ trail down to Blue Ridge Parkway for race start. Bikes are not allowed off parkway. Race is to run / hike up maybe 300′ vert steep trail, pick up your bike from where you parked it and race down hill. racers were assigned numbers w/ fastest going first. I was the only non racer who made the ride and I rode sweep to assure that all racers were off course. Made sense to me to not go for a time to make for a safer ride down. My computer time was 32 mins down vs the almost 1hr 30 min uphill. 3406′ vert. I rode several switchbacks but walked the hairier ones. Bruce told me to ride safely to assure that they did not have to go back for the sweeper. i complied. I rode perhaps the best so far as I kept my speed way up. i floated over the roots & hugged the uphill sides or knife edge of down hill edge of trail. 4.5 miles of intense technical ST.
Rugged WNC mountains:
All riders down @ finish line for celebration, beer drinking, & a final safety meeting.
Gaggle of racers @ top of course:
Upper ridge single track:
Short ride back to cars and then off to Pisgah Brewery in Black Mountain for $1.00 pints. This is the dog bar from previous visit. This time about 25 mtnbiker people and a few loose dogs intermingled for several hours.
Beth’s dad has a mountain second home somewhere above Black mtn. Torturous RT 9 hwy and then a twisty county road and then about 5 miles of single lane rough gravel road back to his place. Beth, Justin, & Bruce are the shakers in the event. She invites me and several other riders for the night. Those of you that think the West mountain roads are the big stuff, drive theses NC mountain roads; you don’t know shit. My van became the cargo van for car overfill including a small beer keg that we blocked behind my seat. The turns kept the keg active w/ my seat back.
Neat house cut into a hillside. And the evening’s party got going. Got a shower. The house has a wood fired hot tub that some people enjoyed. Beer ran out & last story was told about 12:00. A pause and then group decision for bed. I to my van and others to beds & whatever.
Sunday AM people started moving after 8:00. Bruce, Beth, & Justin invited me to ride Kitsuma Ridge w/ them. More great riding in the offing. And I will be riding w/ 3 young skilled, physically conditioned, young people.
I huffed & puffed up road climb to upper TH. On the ST they were considerate and waited for me several times. I was never very far behind. While they had the legs & lungs to clean the tech moves on the uphill switchbacks, I walked most of them as I do not have the snap to make a steep hairpin turn, change tire edges and make several ratchet pedal strokes to clear a rock lip on turn exit. The downhill was fast and technical. Scant maybe 18″ wide trail tread handcut into steep hillside covered w/ fallen leaves and frequent root gardens. getting better letting speed smooth out bumps. Difficult to let fly over trail that is covered w/ leaves hiding whatever. Down towards the bottom I found a loose unexpected rock that threw my front wheel handlebars askanse. Reflexes saved me.
Justin springing free of gravitational pull:
I enjoyed myself w/ the Asheville crew particularly w/ the 3 I rode w/. Catch them:
Jake spent night @ Beth’s. he told me he saw me @ Harrisonburg Invitational.
Drove back to brevard. Stopped @ Ultimate Fitness almost @ N Mills River Road and asked if I could buy a shower. Owner had never been asked that question. We agreed on $5.00 and I am clean again.
Smell in van is not universal mold but leakage from either or both of sink drain or h2o inlet pipe. I duct taped the system Friday night.
Mon is PT and return a call to Thomson Motors where the Sprinter was serviced. The message said I am to recveive news that will make me happy. Baited breath until after the call.
Back @ Dolly’s for internet & dinner. Snow forecast tonight. Night temps are close to 30 and daytime in 50s.
I visited w/ Lauren whom I met on previous visit but she was w/ a guy. And that was that.
