Plume's ride and race blog

Sweet day! I've been battling a cold for the last week and I wasn't sure if I'd really get a great ride on the mountain bike today. I woke up and felt a lot better and started the phone tree and mtbr posting to see who would brave the "early" morning cold with me. Nate and Kris K (my coworkers) got on the horn and decided that Bent Creek would be the best bet. I don't think that any one really wanted to be in a car for very long today, myself included. After I got off the phone with those guys I checked MTBR and saw that Dave (Maida7) would be there as well and possibly a few others. Right after that Matt Johnson called me and informed me that himself and Jay Clinton would be there as well, this was shaping up for a BIG old group ride. I was psyched, I haven't done a big group ride like that in forever.

So let's see, in total we had 11 riders take off from Rice Pinnacle: Me, Nate, Kris, Tom, Liz, Matt, Jay, Dave, Gabe, Chris, and Dave 2, I think. Someone please correct me if I've gotten names wrong. I'm not so good at that.

Took off right down Wolf Branch where I ate it pretty hard on that small little log bridge. I usually nail it but I was going too slow and did the classic, "look where you DON'T want to go" lol. I hate crashing but I guess I'm ok at since the bike and myself was fine. Caught up to the hammer head who of course would string the group out a bit. All single track to the intersection on Inglels Field. Great place to take some pics of the great group we had.

Kris on his brand new Jamis XCR expert. He loves his new bike!

Roll Models crew representin'... Tom (on the left) came out to Pisgah this weekend from Raleigh, Nate's on the right with the BioWheels' super cool demo bike, the Cannondale Rush 3. Nate would later be jumping this bad boy on Green's Lick with style.

Dave, MJ, Chris, Tom and Kris K, waitin' 'n' restin... felt good to chill out a bit!

Just a beautiful day to be in Bent Creek!

This was most of the group, getting ready for the next climb up Ingles.

Matt let me go ahead of him and grind up the steep section on Ingles Field right before 5 points. Well, when you ride a singlespeed it's grind, sit, or get off and walk. ;) but, that's how I roll. We re-grouped at 5 points very briefly. It was windier and colder up there so we needed to keep crankin away. About half way up North Boundary Jay's brakes seized up a bit. Another well received excuse for stopping. Nate and Jay quickly fixed the problem and we made it to the top of Green's Lick in no time flat.

Another quick stop at the top. I borrowed a granola bar from Liz (thanks!) and slammed a bit of gel. I was feeling surprisingly good in the lungs but my legs weren't up to snuff for some reason (week off the bike will do that I guess). We all went down Green's Lick nicely. That trail has really grown on me and I especially like the top section with all the burms it's so fast and flowy there's little need for brakes if you hit all the burms right. I stopped at the last little kicker jump at the end and took some pictures of everyone coming off from it. Matt and Nate decided to do a quick session. I got a few nice shots of them both.

Gabe and Dave... Gabe likes to ride not only a single speed but a fixed single speed at that! He's insane. I had to give him props though, he rocked it down that gnarly downhill trail much faster than what was expected! Can you imagine riding GL without coasting? I can't! Smoke bikes was in the house today!

Liz spends most of her time on her road bike but she rocked it out today, nice job!

Matt gets some air on the kicker!

Nate's got a strong background in BMX, motocross, and dirt and urban riding... it shows! Blastin' off the kicker with the Cannodale Rush 3. Single pivots were meant to be jumped.

After Green's Lick we did the Explorer Alt loop back to Deerfield and eventually back to the cars.  I don't know the trail names there as well as I should, but they're all really fast and flowy, just what the good doctor ordered. The group split off at Deerfield because Jay's dog was MIA for a bit. Luckily he found her, and we all said our good byes at the parking lot. It was a great ride, I don't have a computer on my bike now but I'd guess it was right around 12 - 15 miles. But as you know it's not the mileage, it's saddle time that's important. Thanks to everyone who came out. I had a great time!

Just got back from my weekend out at Fontana Village where I participated in one of the coolest races of the season, The ICycle. Their XC race is a familiar format but is unusual because of the time of year it takes place. Most people race this one for fun, but there's certainly still an aura of friendly competition and even smack talking going on. Overall the vibe was very relaxed and fun and considering the amount of alcohol consumed I'd say there were little or no problems, at least that I noticed. The night down hill race is what really makes this event stand out - how many night down hill races do you know of? It kept a lot of people there and hanging out until late at light. While most XC races are a lot more serious and seemingly less fun, The ICycle is not like most XC races that's for sure! It had a familiar party vibe that you find at longer endurance races without the commited saddle time which, for this time of year is a plus.

The ride out was fairly uneventful. I gave one of the newest BioWheels racers, Kylie Krause a lift out to the race - we joked about my lack of muffler which made the trip louder than I would have liked but apparently added "street cred" - lol. It's about a two hour drive from Asheville to Fontana Village and by the time we got on 28 I understood why it takes a bit to get there, very twisty mountain roads complete with beautiful vistas. We pulled in right around 10:30am and immediately found the Johnson family and the BioWheels tent which apparently made for a better wind sail than tent when it blew over shortly after the XC. Once we settled in a bit we decided to get signed right up and get some sort of warm up in before the start.

The sign up was hassel free and complete with an annual ICycle pint glass, I could see where this party, erm, I mean race was going... I decided to just race the XC event and sit out the DH. I was told it was very doable on a hardtail but I wasn't sure if I was even going to spend the night at that point. I opted for the chili dinner meal ticket instead.

My warm up was lame. I farted around with last minute adjustments, you know things I should have done prior to an hour before launch time. I almost went out without a pump because, let's face it if you flat in something like this, it's over. I was quickly talked into bringing a hand pump with me because it's certainly no fun walking a bike out of the woods race or not. I had to quickly install the little pump holder that goes on the bottle cage. So basically instead of spinning my wheels a bit I was messing around with that. Thankfully I never needed the pump. Finally got on the bike about twenty minutes to the start. There was no way to do a parade lap in time so I opted to check out as much of the course as I could. I climbed up the first hill and up through all the switch backs and decided I needed to head back. Got back in time to spin my legs and keep warm on the pavement right up until the riders meeting.

They started the race with a lemans style start which is a great way to spread out the field right away. I made one finally adjustment before the start as I removed my winter head gear, I was going to get really hot, really fast. A good choice in hind sight as I think a lot of folks were probably over dressed. The experts took off first and looked like fast people should, fast. I was impressed to see some single speeders racing in the expert class and they would prove to be the fastest in the bunch. Nice one guys.

Next up was the single speed class, a great turn out of around 25 riders, one of the biggest classes of the day. Finally, a good start for me. I've learned to like the lemans start. I suppose I'm a decent sprinter because I was probably one of the first guys on the bike. That wouldn't matter as the top five spots quickly bombed ahead of me on the first climb. As we got up the first climb we quickly descended down the pavement and turned into the woods and up the first hard climb. The best thing to do was simply hike a bike up the steep pitch because our wheels were all slipping out on the hard packed and slippery surfaces. By the time I made it to the first switch back I looked up and saw Matt Johnson battling it out for top position, he hollered at me to hurry up, so I did. Unfortunately I wouldn't see Matt until the end of the race. It was time for me to ride my own race and hell, have a good time doing it.

I quickly settled into the 7th or 8th posistion and stayed there for a quarter of a lap. I was racing it out with a rider in a grey and yellow kit and was having a hard time keeping on his wheel. Luckily my friend Art Schuster (or Sinister as the results had him listed) was right behind me giving me some moral support and quick advice, "keep him in sight, don't lose him, stay on his wheel" so I did. It paid off because when we got to the first technical descent I made a move past him into 6th or 7th place just barely avoiding a crash into a baby head rock. Now I could see Rich Dillen right in front of me and I got a little excited. If I was racing with Team Dicky I must be doing good. We traded back and forth for maybe a mile or two and he finally turned on the juice going into the second lap leaving me well behind.

At this point I settled into a great pace and was really feeling pretty good on the bike. I was climbing well and riding well through the little technical sections. The course was pretty open in most areas making it easier to make passes on riders in other classes. The rest of lap two went on pretty uneventfully as I stayed nestled in to 6th place. I traded passes with a geared rider, I think he was probably leading the sport class but I'm really not sure. He passed me once then flubbed on one of the icy climbs. I walked passed him and waited until the trail got flatter to get back on the bike. I need to work on my mounts and dismounts, after the last hike a bike I couldn't get clipped in, arg! I thought that's what egg beaters were for? A quick flick of my shoes and I cleared the mud and ice off my cleats and got back into pedal mode. Finished out the rest of the field laid course as fast as I could. At that point I could feel my legs getting tired, I was glad it was over when I made the final climb before the finish line. I didn't see a whole lot of single speeders which was a good sign. I wasn't positive where I had finished but I knew it was 5th or 6th probably. Heard a lot of encouragement from my friends and teammates which is something I needed.

Sure I would have liked to get on that damn podium but I felt really good about my performance. I think the short track race last week paid off too. I noticed that I was spinning a lot faster and more effciently on the flats and my over all speed is improving too. I quickly got washed up and started the recovery process with a quality beverage, a Miller Genuine, thanks Gabe! Enjoyed meeting some folks from the MTBR North Carolina board, Brad thanks so much for the invite and good look on getting those kegs. I made a donation to the cause. ;) The race promoters also had a keg and I enjoyed that as well after my chili dinner with Jonathon and Kristin.

At that point I decided to stay the entire night so that I could enjoy myself properly, I planned on having a good time now! Before things got too out of hand I got a massage from my friend Elizabeth. She's pretty amazing and she comes highly recommended. She's very interested in cycling events and can usually be found at the major WNC race events. I met her at last year's 24 hours of Pisgah and she worked on me right before my last lap. I was feeling so crappy at that point and my stomach was completely turned around. Needless to say that after she worked on me my legs started to work again and I could once again eat. So yeah Elizabeth is great. Get a massage from her next time you see her, and leave a big tip. :)

I finished out the weekend with a nice little family style hike with the Johnsons, Matt, Amber and Hyla. Matt took us out to Joyce Kilmer recreation area and we did the standard 2 mile hike in the beautiful old growth forest. Matt and Amber took pictures and I'll bug them for some copies. Wow, what a splendid weekend! It's truly a blessing to live in Western North Carolina.

I won't be racing for at least one full month. I'm going to stop doing interval training and start keeping my heart rate down, down, down. Long slow rides for me right now at least for 3 weeks I think, maybe more. I have my sights set on a SERC race in SC in March which is really more of a season opener. I really need to make a race calender so I can keep track of all these events. So far I'm doing a great job at my goal for 2007, racing as much as possible. Now I'm looking forward to doing some nice, easy but long trail rides. I'm making a great investment into a much larger CamelBak, the HAWG. This thing is pretty much an all day Pisgah pack and it will make carrying a camera much easier. Expect some good Pisgah photos real soon...

Thanks for readin,

-ian

edit: pictures are up. BioWheels results as follows:

Men's Expert: Adam Ray - First Place (on a single speed!)

Single Speed: Matt Johnson - Third Place, Ian Baldwin - Sixth Place

Men's Sport: Kurt Weigand - Third Place

Women's Expert: Kylie Krauss - Third Place

Women's Sport: Kassi Day - Third Place, Lea Osborne - Fourth Place (first race!)

Women's Begginer: Kyley Cross - Second Place (first race!)

Great Job BioWheels! Representin' with style! Amber Martz-Johnson did a really nice write up on the BioWheels page. You can check it out here: http://www.biowheels.com/Home/Article.asp?PostID=1180

I'm still collecting more pictures.... they'll be up soon.