ORAMM

Well, I can't say I didn't try. The Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell is always a season highlight for me. It's hard, but man, any race with Heartbreak (a rad downhill) in it wins me overall. That trail might be my all time favorite descent - it always reminds me why it is I love riding mountain bikes.

Plus, I've done well here before. Last year I actually got fifth and was on the podium. This year, well, I just missed it. Thomas Turner raged it all day and lowered his course record by three minutes. The rest of us; we were just happy to survive the heat which topped out around 104 degrees when you factored in the humidity. Ouch. So what happened? Well, sitting on the line 30 seconds before the start I heard air leaking from my rear tire. Not a good start to the day. I hoped the Stan's would seal it, and it did for a while. I was able to ride with the lead group for most of the first climb, and I entered the Kistsuma single track in 4th. Awesome. Things were going well. I cruised the technical descent, and the tire was still holding air. Cool.

A couple of guys caught me right at the base of Kitsuma, which was fine, since it meant I had some help taking pulls on the road section that followed. We hit the single track climb up Star Gap and Josh Fix drilled it, riding away on his way to 2nd. My legs weren't that good, and I just had to watch him ride away. Oh well, I was okay with knowing I wasn't going to win. Nathan Wyatt and I rode together for a while, and I was feeling good, still riding in the top 5, when my rear tire finally went on Jacobs Creek road. On the road? Oh well. I was able to fix it without anyone passing me, which was surprising as we weren't too far into the race. I guess the time gaps got big fast.

I made it to the base of Curtis Creek, a monster 9 mile climb that gains 3,500 feet in elevation, 2:30 down on Nathan, and was intent on bringing some of that back. Big ring cranking. Ah yeah. Then halfway up I didn't feel so good, funny how that works. I had to dial back the pace pretty significantly, then more, then a little bit more. I was just about granny gearing by the top, and had been passed by a couple of guys who were looking strong. The aid station at the parkway felt like a miracle, and it meant fresh (full) bottles, which was great since I was pretty dehydrated by that point.

So I chugged some water and a whole bunch of flat coke on the downhill road section that followed Curtis Creek, recovering enough to mostly hang with Team Fraser rider Greg Kuhn when he came by me on the next climb to Heartbreak.

Oh Heartbreak. Best trail ever. And I raged that one I have to say. Once you know the lines and the switchbacks you can take it pretty darn fast, scary fast in fact. I must have known the trail a bit better than Greg, because I caught him pretty quickly and cruised on by. Alright, I thought, I'm not totally out of this.

Heading through the bottom of Heartbreak on onto the final climb up Mill Creek I caught back up with Nathan Wyatt and Will Black (single speed machine). I think at that point I was in 6th and on track for the Open Men podium. Radness. Just drop these guys on the climb and survive Kitsuma. That was the plan. And it almost worked, except that my rear brake failed on Kitsuma. Not good. That is a scary trail with no rear brake, wicked technical. And I was tired and trying to race it. I managed to summersault off the trail only once, which I considered an accomplishment. And Will Black was the only one who passed me, and he was a single speeder, so I still had a podium spot. Okay, only two miles to go.

Then Greg came flying by. I thought I was descending much better than him so I didn't think he could make it back to me, but he must have rocked Mill Creek and then eaten into my advantage on the descent due to the brake issue. Anyway, he looked like a rocket ship on his way by. Maybe I should have tried to dig deeper, but he put 2 minutes on me in the final 2 miles, so I am pretty confident it wasn't going to happen.

I ended up 8th overall, in what was a far more competitive field than last year. So I was pretty stoked, especially given my mechanical issues. And hey, that's bike racing. Stuff happens and you've gotta deal.

After the race I more or less sprinted for the creek. I've never been as hot as I was in the race. I couldn't drink enough it seemed, and riding gravel road climbs next to creeks had been pure torture. So I jumped in and lay face down for a bit. Sooooooo goooood. Wow. Pretty nice end to the day really. Hanging out with friends in a creek, drinking soda and a beer, eating pasta, and watching the rest of the race. Yeah, that was pretty cool. My buddy Aaron (who's putting me up) knocked close to 2 hrs off his time from last year and rolled through in 70th, which was rad, and we hung out to watch Katie come through. She rocked it despite having an stomach issue. Awesome effort.

All in all, pretty awesome day. Blue Ridge Adventures puts on a good show. Check out the Pisgah Stage Race or the Swank 65k, both of which are coming up this fall. They're sure to be a good time.

Next up, the Wilderness 101 in PA this weekend. Here's to hoping it's my first hundred miler in 8 hrs or less. Man, that would be nice.