PMBAR 09 - View from the back...

The best thing that happened to me at PMBAR was to get to ride with (yet another) great rider named Mike Brown - this one from Macon, GA. Mike put up with my suffering slow pace all day with no complaints... I'm not sure I rode fast enough at any time to make him break a sweat, but for sure the climb up Pilot gave him a workout. The next best thing to happen at PMBAR was that I actually made the start after fighting a painful hip/groin injury for two weeks prior. I gave myself no better than 50/50 odds to race as of April 20th when I returned from a short beach trip with a horrible pain in my hip and groin. By the 26th I was at least walking some and even managed to make one lap of Ingles (the grocery store not the trail) with only two stops for a rest (not kidding!). That I even finished (albeit with the 276 penalty) was amazing to me, and that I made 4 CPs even more amazing as it took 53 miles and 12 hours, all on a rigid single speed.

A huge thanks to Eric and Erinna for the race, Brado for the photo hustle and all the volunteers who encourage and help along the way. I first learned about PMBAR three years ago and have enjoyed reading all the tales over the years - hoping one day to enter and finish. I've had a great time all winter leading up to PMBAR riding over 400 miles to get in shape while spending many many hours in the woods. Enter I did, finish I did (albeit down 276), and next year I hope to not take a forced two week pre-race vacation from the bike.

We were the first ones to check in, right on time @ 6AM, and we got the coveted #1. Yes sports fans, from 6AM until 8AM Team One Pie was in the lead. Then the race started...

I knew I was in for a long day when I couldn't even make the first section of Black Mtn without getting off the bike. So we walked most of Black to Turkey Pen trail and then down and up and lather, rinse, repeat. We made Turkey Pen in 2:20, which is about 20-30 minutes off a normal pace for me. Mullinax was brutal, I started cramping about one mile in, and my legs were just not there. I walked a lot of what I normally ride. Once we hit Squirrel I seemed to be making a bit of a comeback and I managed to ride most of the way to Cantrell. If I could just get to the second CP I knew I could make it to Horse Cove Gap, up to 5018 and down to 1206. The views from 5018 were awesome. The combination of recent rain and low temps kept the air clear and you could see Black Balsam, and beyond to Mt. Hardy. The long downhill felt nice, the gravel was good for me and we rode to the bottom of Pilot. I didn't even stop to ponder the relative stupidity of walking up Pilot, and I knew if I could get that third CP then a bailout was downhill all the way back to the start. On the way up Pilot we saw most of the leaders pass us going down. That's a great thing about PMBAR - even in the back of the pack you get to see the leaders mixing it up because everyone is scattered all over the woods. It was an honor to nearly be run over by Team Dickey and Thad, and we just missed seeing them go through the rock garden. On our way back down Pilot we were passed by Brad Kee and Matt Fusco, who had also passed us headed back down Black on their way to pick up a replacement bike. We crossed paths with at least 10 teams on Pilot, which picked up my spirits as I knew that while I felt really really slow I was still hanging in there with a decent enough pace that we could finish before 10PM.

My teammate Mike just killed it down Pilot, cleaning just about everything. He's a very good rider! We got to 1206 and off we went to 225B. I remembered that there was a water fountain at Pink Beds so we took about 10 minutes there to rest and refill. My legs had somehow made enough of a recovery that I was able to ride the whole way out to 225B where we collected CP #4. Team GLR had been playing leap frog with us all day long, and on the way back out on 225 they finally were able to lose us as I couldn't keep their geared pace. I had hoped I could ride up the first part of 477 to Bennett and rest my legs on the descent to the Horse Stables, but I finally had to get off and walk for about 15 minutes. I was aching by the time we made Bennett and began the long road down. At a normal pace I can go up Clawhammer/Maxwell and down Black in about 1 hour. In my fatigued condition (after 51 miles and 9k ft of climbing) I figured I might need to double that. We got to the stables at 7:40 and took a few minutes to eat and hydrate. At that point I made the decision not to try Maxwell as I wanted to get a finish (even with a penalty) and I didn't want to just completely bonk somewhere up the mountain and end up missing the cut-off. I had pushed myself all day, and finally had to concede that simply making 50+ miles on a bum leg was something to be proud of. My goal was to leave it all on the course, and I suppose if I wanted to really do that I would have gone up Maxwell and just ended up in a heap somewhere... in the end I figured I left a little bit on the course, but not a whole hell of a lot. It was one of the smartest decisions I've ever not wanted to make, but after a lot of pushing of myself and my bike it was the right thing to do to just get on the bike and head down 477 to 276 and a cold beer.

Again, I have to give huge props to my teammate Mike. He stuck with me throughout the day and never once tried to push or pull me - he just accepted my pace and rode along. I think he could go top ten in this race, he's that good. I was very lucky to get to ride with him for a PMBAR and I hope he comes back soon so I can show a bit more of the woods at a better pace.

Here's the summary for the statistically minded.

My original goal was ~6.5 MPH for moving time, with 60-90 minutes of total rest time.
The final result was 5.5 MPH moving speed over 9:20 with 11:54 total time. We finished right at 8PM as we took a few minutes at the start to look at the map.










And here's the route...


View Larger Map

Couldn't even slow down for a picture of the view, had a time limit on the ride. Went gravel up and back on 477. From the stables, 13 miles roundtrip, 1400 ft of climb in 6.5 miles. Not so much as I thought, but the steepest part is at the end. Very clear and still cool.

Spring Camping

 

Had a great time out in the woods for the night with Theo and Abe. We hit our favorite "overlook" off of Cemetery Loop.



We found a geocache right where this picture was taken and we weren't even looking for it. Now we want to find more geocaches in Pisgah.

Here's a bit of peacefulness on the mountain for you.


Looking Glass Rock, Easter Eve, Pisgah Forest NC from Zeb Ridn29s on Vimeo.



There are two large waterfalls across the valley that I would like to see up close.

The second photo is actually a better one I took in the winter and enlarged.



I did get a ride in the late afternoon, so it was a perfect day. Time with the boy and time on the bike....

breakage

Well, I suppose the PMBAR training is going well. How do I know? Things are breaking on my bike, and that means I'm riding hard enough to push the equipment so I must be pushing myself. Today's ride started at the Horse Stables, up Clawhammer in record time for me (42 min.) and then off down Buckhorn. I was riding with Patrick (Asheville YetiRider) and Eric (NC_dirtsurfer) and we had a good pace going all the way over the S. Mills bridge. Then, about a 1/2 mile up Squirrel I lost a crank arm. The threaded end cap was gone and it just wouldn't stay on under load. At first I dismounted and tried to run after Patrick and Eric to let them know I had a mechanical, then when I realized I wasn't going to catch them I stopped to fix it. The fix lasted about 100 ft, it broke again... and I had not picked up the end cap where it fell off. In the middle of all this I encounter the one and only Eric Wever who noted my demise in his blog along with Dennis D. I finally got to Patrick and Eric, we returned to my original break and amazingly I found the end cap. Another fix, and then off. I got about 1/2 mile from Horse Cove Gap and it broke again. This time I noted that the threads of the end cap were stripped pretty bad so I figured my best best to start riding towards the car (now some 10 miles away...). I managed to make it all the way back down Squirrel, back up Buckhorn, and down Clawhammer without further issues.

trail work

I finally had a chance to get out and do some work with the PAS folks today. Met quite a few people who were just funky names in the forums before..... FeloniousDunk, D.F.L, epicrides, CarlosG... to name a few. The work party headed to Squirrel and Cantrell Creek earleir than I could make it so I ended up having to hike up, around, and down little FunnelTop. About 6 miles into the work party but some real great views along the way.

save the trails

Save the trails moved a day - to the tune of MUCH DISCUSSION - and we were all the better for it. Dupont can take a good rain, but a solid week of rain is pushing the limit. Pisgah Area Sorba hosted the event and had marked three courses @ 15, 25, and 45 miles. I took the 45 mile option with Randy, Randy, Patrick, and Wes to use as a long ride for PMBAR training.

These pics show why it's good to have a single speed on a wet day in the woods. No mechanicals related to the mud...

PMBAR Attitude II

And now, a part of the continuing saga of getting a PMBAR attitude.



Somehow the group ride ended up KING SIZED. Big fun though as there was a whole crowd from the Atlanta area up in Pisgah and some locals I didn't know as well to make a group of 12 or so. Started from the Hatchery, debated the route after we started and decided on: up Cove Creek, 229, Daniel Ridge (CCW), 477, 5095, Long Branch, Cemetery, Gloucester. There the main body of the group went 471 to Butter and back to the Hatchery via Cat Gap.

The hard core fools took me up on my plan to ride 5003 (Panther Branch), 140A, 5031 (Kissee), 140. The original plan was to hit Summey Cove but a rash of flats on Kissee ended that, and a massive hunger outbreak took the group home via 140A and from Gloucester straight down 477 to the Hatchery. Still managed 35 miles and 4.5k of climb.

I love Kissee, here's a bog Theo and I found back in December while riding together. Upland bogs are actually rather rare. This one is from a spring coming up out of the ground in a small depression. It makes numerous pools before going underground and emerging on the other side of the old roadbed. There's a cool rock outcropping here too.

Land of Bikes

A recent business trip took me to Germany and the Netherlands. Germany during the week and to a friends family home for the weekend in Enschede, Netherlands. The bike is a huge part of their culture, you see every age riding in any/every condition. The weekend market fills the square, and there are thousands and thousands of bikes.... this is just some of the above ground parking, there is a whole underground bike garage which has even more bikes than you see on the street.


Netherlands Bikes from Zeb Ridn29s on Vimeo.

The markets are great too, so much variety and plenty of cheese!


And of course, plenty of flowers...

TMHTE @ Farlow

The MoonPie rises! Long live the MoonPie! Not just any MoonPie will suffice to be the official snack food @ Farlow Gap on night one of The Most Horrible Thing Ever (TMHTE) only the ones with Stardust Sprinkles will do. So I volunteered to mind the gap, this one not this one , and provide a small bit of civilized contact for the racers after they finished a post-midnight push UP Farlow Gap - which happens to be one of the steepest trails in Pisgah and is usually ridden DOWN in the daylight.

Theo and I headed out to Farlow early in the day to get everything setup. Here's Theo sampling the snacks (quality control you know) before the sunset.

We had a great time hanging out at the fire and chatting up the racers as they passed. A few stopped and partook of the snacks while many opted for the to go option and we stuffed a few pies in their packs for the ride down Kissee Creek to Courthouse Falls. All in all it was worth the effort to get everything packed in and packed out. We were really lucky with the weather, just a few days earlier this is what it looked like on the trail @ Farlow.
It was about 25F when this picture was taken, during our night out it stayed above freezing the whole night.