2014 Shenandoah 100

Time to bring this Blog back to life with my annual Shenandoah report!

Saturday morning my dad came up and we hit the road to the Stokesville campground to setup the camper in the awesome spot our friends had saved for us on Friday.  This year due to having our new  baby along for the ride Me and my wife also had a hotel room in Bridgewater. The plan was for me to stay at the hotel  Friday night and stay and party at the campground post race.

I felt good about my training this year and was fairly relax unlike usual the day before the race. It had been hard to get the training hours in with a baby but I had managed to make it happen with lots of early morning and solo riding.  Saturday was hot and I was sweating just sitting outside not a good sign for things to come on Sunday. Sean wanted to see the end of the course and I wanted to get a little bit of riding in to wake the legs up. So we head backwards of the course out of the campground. Thank god this section is downhill on race day going up it sucks!

Didn't hang out at camp to late since we had the baby and needed to get to the hotel. The next morning after a so so night of sleep we were up at 5am and off to the campground.  No matter how organized and prepared I am before a big race I always get frantic right before the start this year was no different with me losing the keys to the car and searching everywhere.  Finally they were found and a quick and frantic team photo was taken before heading down to the start corral area.  I was hoping to beat 9 hours this year but lined up right at the 8 hour sign. Why? well because everyone lines up ahead of the time they should.  Probably over 100 people were ahead of me including a tandem. Come on people be more realistic getting to the single track first isn't going to make that much of a difference unless you are gunning for a podium.

Blackwater team

Unlike previous years it wasn't cool feeling in the morning not a good sign when you plan to ride 100 miles.  After a quick speech from Chris Scott we were off! With me being forced straight at the pole I hadn't seen earlier and then having to brake like crazy due to the traffic jam in the first corner. Finally manage to get out of the campground with out being run over by any of the other riders and down to the road to be greeted by my wonderful wife and baby as they course marshaled for us! Off to the first fire road at a pace that seemed a little on the fast side of things for a endurance race.  Davy caught me at the start of the fire road and joked he had already put an 1hr on me since he lined up with the 9 hour group. So much for lining up ahead of the crowds!

Highlight video with Karoline and Dylan course marshaling and me swimming at the end.

dirtwire.tv Shenandoah mountain highlights 

I caught up to fellow Blackwater rider Robbie Bruce and rode with him for a while. He had similar time goals as mine so I figured it was a good place to be granted it all felt a little fast paced.  We hit the first singletrack surprisingly with no traffic jam.  The first rock garden forced us to  stop like the previous year it's all ride able but all it takes is one person to mess it up and everyone is walking. A none eventful ride up Narrowback with no major delays and down the super fun Tilman west trail spitting us back out on a fire road. At this point I was sweating a ton and had already gone thru a full bottle of water. I should have grabbed a new one at Aid 1 but since usually you never need water at this point my plan was to not grab one so I didn't.  This is probably one of my flaws in racing I always stick to my plan even if its not the the right choices anymore.  A big pace line was ahead lead by Robbie Bruce. I hung on with them until the turn up the pavement. At that point they seem to keep hammering at a pace I wasn't willing to match and so I got dropped back by myself. Somehow only 15miles into a race off 500+ people I couldn't see a single person ahead or behind me. This would seem to be the trend of the day anytime there would be a road section were a group would be helpful I was all alone.  I at least had the silver lining that I could ride Lynn trail at my pace instead of having to follow someone else up it. Except about 50 feet from going into the single track and big group of rider caught and passed me. O well guess I have to match whatever pace they set.  Overall it was slower going then I wanted but at least everyone was riding. I got to my preset point of this is now to steep to be worth grinding up and jumped off and started walking. I was actually walking faster then the riders ahead still grinding up the climb so I passed a couple of them. Eventually catching back up with Robbie.  Not sure who but one of my friends 4 or 5 riders back yelled I needed to practice my hike a bike because they were catching me.  My joking reply of can't go faster someone is in my way made Robbie pull over to let me past.  Finished up Lynn hike-o-rama and ripped down wolf ridge passing multiple riders fixing flats.

Over to Aid2 where I was completely out of water I grabbed new bottles from the volunteers mixed one with Infinit  mix and head out.  They gave me two smaller sized bottles but I figured this would be fine to Aid3. Note this was the first year running bottles before I had always used a camelbak but usually didn't drink much water.  I went to drink from one of the bottles and found the value was busted and chewed out looking guess that's the gamble with the bottle exchange.  I lost probably half that bottle due to the broken top.  By the time I got to Hankey my legs were already starting to cramp not what you want only 30miles in. I try to down some endurolytes capsules and eat some mustard and the cramps go from terrible to I can deal.  This goes on the rest of the day. I know its because I'm dehydrated since I'm not sweating as much but I can't seem to make up for the lost water.  I make it up to the top and get down to Aid3 without incident.

At Aid3 I grab new bottles and down some coke. About to grab something from the food table and go but a volunteer insists they need to take my bike because they are "backing up". No one is behind me and I'm not sure why they did this another racer had the same comment. I grab some food and pretty much follow the volunteer 50 feet down the road to the bike hanging area to immediately grab my bike after he hangs it up.  I try to find someone to work with on the road section but can't seem to get a group working together everyone seem to be splitting off instead of forming pace lines. I get to Brailey and start the climb. This is one of the shorter climbs and isn't to steep but it still seemed to kill me this year. I even had to walk a couple rock gardens. On the plus side when I got to the bottom for the first time I've done this race everything was dry instead of being mud. I pass one rider waling who stays he broke his nose. I offer to send a medic up to help him out but he says he thinks he will be fine on his own.

I hit Aid 4 grab my drink mix and shot bloks from my drop bag and then go down to the Blackwater tent to see my friends, wife and baby.  It's always a boost to see them at the aid station and I pose for a couple quick shots with the baby before rolling out to tackle the death climb. My legs, hands, feet, arms basically everything is cramping on and off but I just try to change positions and keep them to a manageable level. I feel like I'm doing a pretty good pace up the climb until about mile 70 where I'm out of water. At this point I just keep looking at the Garmin and praying to see aid station 5 and the miles drag on. Finally I see the turn to aid 5 and down some coke and eat a slice of pizza. It gives me a big boost and I hit the part of the death climb people hate the "killing fields". The thing is I don't mind this section the short downs give me a boost to keep going and before I know it I'm actually at the sign marking the top and the turn to the single track descent.  I love the chestnut descent when I actually have the hand strength to brake. I'm not sure if its just lack of hand strength or how I have my brakes setup but always at the point I can't seem to stop and have to start going to two fingers to use the brakes. Since I usually don't brake with two fingers it really throws me off and I pretty much was out of control going down. But I survived without any crashes into aid station 6.

I grab just a new bottle and hit the road just wanting to get the race done. I feel OK getting over to the Hankey climb for the second time but once the road turns up I can tell I have nothing left. I also can tell by the time I won't be breaking 9 hours but should easily set a new personal record. It's not very motivating to push myself. I see Laura Hamm and catch up to her.  Me and her were together at this point last year and I know she is a strong climber.  I make it a point to at least keep her in my sights so I at least have some type of pacing. I manage to do that to the final double track. I yell that's it's beer time as I pass her standing a mashing like always on this section since I know if you build momentum the small uphills aren't bad on this final stretch.

Coming into the finish

I reach the final descent into the campground and fly to the finish for a time of 9hour and 9min. 17 minutes faster then the year before not bad considering I had a child to train with this year. It was a great race and dry for the first time I've been there. I had thoughts of not going back next year but I've already been talked into it so I can beat the 9hour mark. Hopefully next year will be cooler without all the humidity. Overall many Blackwater riders got there first finishes at Shenandoah many were just happy to finish with the humidity.  It was fun hanging out post race and enjoying the food and beer

My Attempt at smiling post race with Dylan. 

2013 Shenandoah 100 part 1

Pop up style!

The Shenandoah 100 is my favorite race of all time and what all my training centers around. Last year was my first time doing it with a tropical storm dumping water on us so I had to give it one more go in better weather. I tired to go to bed early the night before the race but think I only slept for about 2hrs.

Me and Allen ready to roll.

Start to Aid 1
    This year the course was changed to add in the new Narrowback west descent which meant there would no longer be much climbing before the first single track up festival trail. Also added a few miles making the race closer to a true 100miles. I had ridden festival and the remodeled Narrowback a good bit the past year and knew is was all easily ride-able, but when you have 600+ riders half of which are more roadie you know someone going to mess it up. Once one person dabs it's a chain reaction on down the line. So this year I did what everyone does and lined up with my teammates ahead of the time I thought I might do. Before I knew it we were off, or not? It's always hard to tell at SM100 if the race has actually started since there is no start horn or gun. People started moving so I followed and assumed the race was on.
    Out of the campground we went as a massive group with people already crashing into mud puddles and the line surging and slowing randomly to keep everyone on there toes.  Once we hit the fire road people had started to calm down a bit and I settled into a pace passing a few people here and there.  One guy did manage to try running me over by winning the award for crashing on the first rock he could find on the fire road. Before I knew it we were at the first ascent, up Festival trail, with only a few seconds backup of people to get onto the single track.  One guy didn't want to wait the few seconds and cut the corner thru the woods which was meet with some choice words from the rider in front of me that he cut off.  I was going to let it go until I heard his response quote "It doesn't matter it's going to be hike a bike in a minute anyway".  My response was if he planned on walking he better get to the back of the line.  Of course he messed up the first rocks on the trail and started the chain of walking but at least it was only for about 10 feet before we got around him and got back to pedaling.  Up Narrowback was uneventful, a fat bike tried the log skinny and fell off, someone dabbed on a slick rock causing a backup. Overall lining up early was working with much less of a backup compared to the previous year so I actually got to ride 99% of the first single track.  The descent down Narrowback west was awesome as always. The rider in front of me did somehow seem to deify physics by slowing on top of the table tops. He would be fast all the way up to the point where I would be airborne yet somehow he would slow and I would almost hit him.  Fortunately after a few calls for a pass I was able to get around him and enjoy the rest of this awesome trail. Did I mention how great this trail is? Everyone should go ride it!! 

Aid 1 to Aid 2
    Once we hit the fire road I was kind of alone, but fortunately some riders caught up and we formed at least a small pace line on over to Lynn climb. I drank some of my over concentrated infiniti mix and some plain water from my Camelbak trying to stay ahead on food and water.   The joy of Lynn I climbed roughly half before hitting the point where riding wasn't worth the effort and I joined the line hiking our way up.  The hike a bike always seems to take forever and the slick rocks from the rain the day before didn't make it any better. Finally I could see the sign post signalling the fun part was about to begin.  Of course don't let the Shenandoah fool you, it's never all downhill. There are still a few steep hike a bike sections on the way down. Unlike the previous year I was actually calm on the downhills and felt like I really had my DH grove going.  I blasted down passing a few people and watching a few crash right in front of me, said hi to Mikey and his blow up friend, and hit the road over to Aid 2. I caught my teammates Davy and Allen at the Aid station. I filled my bottle and Camelbak and grabbed some apples off the table.  When I was about to get on the bike I felt something hit me and looked around seeing nothing.  I would find out later Allen had thrown a banana at me but I was already to into race mode to figure that out.

Aid 2 to Aid 4
   Together the three of us left as a group actually riding together for a little bit.  Once on the fire road Hankey climb, me and Allen started to leave Davy behind. Allen wasn't amused by my mentioning that we could just turn left and head on to the campground which would be much easier.  After a while I started to pull in front of Allen which was greeted by a middle finger and silent stare.  As I headed up the climb I started to wonder if I was going too hard Allen had been riding strong all year and I had never beaten Davy.  I put that thought out of my mind and figured if I blew up later I could at least say I gave it my best effort.  Before I knew it I was at the top and the two riders I had been following to the top pulled over.  I had all the Dowell's draft downhill in front of me with no rider ahead and no one pressuring me from behind. It was great! I hit the corner with the big rock which had worried me but when I got there with an open course I realized it was nothing. Dropping over the rock and making the corner like a pro I continued to bomb down the rocky/rooty section below like it was nothing too. At the bottom I hit aid station three but a quick check showed I had plenty of water and shot bloks, so I just went straight thru. I always try to only stop if I need something figuring for every minute I stop I have to pedal that much harder to make up for it. 
  I hit the road and the rain started to come down! There goes my hopes of a perfect weather SM100 but at least it was a cooling rain. My strategy of not stopping at aid three had gotten me ahead of a lot of riders but also backfired in that I was alone at the start of the longest road section.  I saw the fat bike from the start of the race ahead and gave it a little gas to catch up.  I thought he would be rolling fairly slow on the road and that I would just fly past but once I got behind him I realized he was keeping a good pace so I settled in behind. I felt bad of drafting off a fat bike but at the time he was rolling pretty quick.  After a while he started to slow down so I pulled ahead and was back alone until the last mile where a group of five riders in a pace line came up.  Now we hit the single track near the start is a fairly deep and wide creek. Last year it was easily ride able. When we got there I saw one rider walking it but figured I could still ride it. I got about half way thru and not being able to see the bottom slammed into a big rock and went for a over the bars dunking in the river.  I banged my right knee a little and something jabbed into my chest but overall it was more embarrassing than painful.  I had to straighten out my bars on the other side of the creek and headed up the rock staircase. Where I almost fell trying to climb up them as quickly as possible. The rider behind me told me to take a deep breath and stop for a few seconds which was good advice. I was getting to flustered after the creek incident and was too much into race mode.  After taking a short break I headed up the single track climb passing a bunch of riders that didn't have the technical skill to ride the now wet and slick rocks.  Down the other side the rain had started to let up but the bottom of was a swamp.  The mud was getting in my eyes and it made for slow going but I knew aid four was close and my pregnant wife and Blackwater crew would be waiting for me.

to be continued!

Wintergreen Cliff Hanger Challenge

Mountain biking returned to Wintergreen ski resort for the first time in years last weekend at the cliffhanger challenge. Right off the bat by looking at the map below I could tell that there would be a boat load of climbing. What you couldn't tell was that there was big chunks of technical rock gardens between all the climbing. Goal for the day not crash and at least don't be dead last. Originally they only had experts doing three laps but decided to add an extra lap after finding the distance of each lap was only four miles. Majority of the trails were brand new with only a few small sections being from the old downhill trials from back in the day.

Me and Allen got there early enough to do a slower paced test lap. Our test lap took almost 40mins to complete and I wasn't really feeling like racing this course. I headed down to the tunnels and lined up with the experts for our uphill prologue start. I guess the $300 cash prize for the fastest rider had got the attention of some of the Pros with Jeremiah Bishop and some other crazy fast riders signing up at the last minute.  Off the start in my usual fashion I fell to the back with only a handful of riders behind me. I never have been one to push off the start probably something I should work on.  After the uphill prologue I passed 3 riders on the next uphill before heading into the woods for the A-corn downhill. I managed to pass one other expert rider who pulled over once he realized I was willing to push faster downhill then him.

Wintergreen Resort by Miguel  Diaz Hansen

The rest of lap 1 was fairly uneventful with more bouncing over rocks and a big switchback uphill climb up the ski slope.  Lap two was going well and I could see on some of the open sections that I was putting a bigger gap between me and the next expert rider.  I started to enjoy the course and little better and get more into the racing spirit. At the end of the lap I noticed the main pivot bolt on my bike was working it's way out yet again.  Crap, I knew I should have checked it before the race but didn't get a chance.  I pulled over and grab my multi tool and tightened it as quick as I could.  I thought for sure riders would pass me but apparently I had made a big enough gap that no one caught me!

Untitled by Miguel Diaz Hansen

Lap three was going well and on the last climb I saw my teammate Allen catching up.  This was his last lap since the SS class only had to do three laps. Allen couldn't resist the chance to pass me and went by me at the last 500 feet of the climb. I congratulated him on his SS win as I turned off to complete my last lap.  He would be the only person all day to pass me. On lap 4 there was a fair amount of sport/beginner traffic to pass and plenty of carnage out on the course. One woman had gone down breaking multiple bones and was unsure where she was, one person had a large cut and was limping out, and I watched a few riders hit rocks and fly over the handle bars.  Medics were busy that day with such a demanding course.  I finished in  2hr 10mins and 9th out of 15 expert riders. Not the best placing ever but there was some serious talent and I did meet my goal of not crashing!

Elliot's Knob

http://app.strava.com/activities/53953556

On Sunday the crew headed out for an epic ride or should I say hike in the Shenandoah area.

The gang rolling down the road.

The ride starts with a nice flat road ride down the valley to Deerfield, VA.  Once you turn off the pavement you start the climbing with a roughly 6 miles long climb. It is at least a gradual climb with plenty of beauty to see.

 At the top you turn to the left and just keep on climbing. Now its grassy double track with some flat sections and some steep near hike a bike sections.

The view from the top

Finally you reach the top at 4,463 feet one of the highest mountains in Virginia. It's also one of the only places  this far south that you will find spruce trees.  At the top is an old fire tower which now houses some telecom equipment.  The wind was howling and the temperature only 60 degrees so we didn't stay to long.

The bikes hanging out

Me chillin at the top.

From the fire tower we turned down Chimney hollow trail. Finally we got a descent after 20miles of pedaling with the next 4 miles being mainly downhill. Of course this single track was full of rocks so by no means was it an easy. Once we hit the next road we crossed straight across and the climbing began once more. It was 2.5miles of grassy double track with three super steep climbs called "The bitches". These climbs were 15-20% grades and went on for what seemed like miles. I managed to make it 3/4 of the way up the first two before walking but couldn't clear any of them.  Most in the group just started hiking at the bottom since it was more effective then trying to ride.

A picture of "bitch" #3. Pictures never show how steep things are!

Finally after all this climbing we got the reward we were after with a three mile single track downhill back to the road. We all agree that while a beautiful ride with some fun sections it's a once a year ride due to all the hike a bike.

6hr Mini Angler

  My very first 6hr race ever, which will go down as a great and terrible race.  After my last incident at Danville I wanted revenge! Me and my teammate, Allen, signed up for the Angler's ridge 6hr race in Danville.  I've done events that lasted longer then 6 hours, but never done a lap based endurance race so this would be a learning experience. Even with this I told my wife I intended to get on a podium!

Blackwater tent setup and ready to go.

 Me, my wife and Allen meet up early in the morning to drive down and meet my dad in Danville.  The weather was way colder then we had expected but perfect for a racing.  I was on a test Epic from Blackwater Bikes since some upgrades to mine had gone wrong and were taking way longer than expected. I quickly did some seat/shock settings and do a quick test spin around the green way. Then it was time to line up!

And we're off!

Off the get go the top ten or so riders took off at a heck of a fast pace. I held back not knowing what my pace should be for a six hour race.  I settled in behind what would be the winning female rider and we yo-yoed back and forth for the first couple laps.  Seemed every time I would get ahead and have a bit of a lead on her, the chain on the front would jump off the outside forcing me to stop and fix it.  On the plus side the trails were dry even though they had gotten rain the day before.

The first four laps went good but I started to lose motivation as there were no rider in sight ahead or behind me.  I figured I was probably in 6th or lower place and figured that's where I would stay. As I came around to hand off my bottle to my wife she informed me that I was actually in 3rd place. Sweet I was on a podium! This lite a fire under me wanting to make sure I didn't lose that spot and hoping to catch second place.
       On lap six I spotted a rider ahead that looks like he might be the second place rider. It was hard to tell the solo riders vs those doing duo.  I was slowly making progress on him when he had to stop at the top of a hill for a break. I got ahead and knew that the race was starting to take his toll on him. He seemed to be able to stay with me after he stopped for a minute. I didn't want to slow down thru the start/finish area so he wouldn't get back ahead of me. This would turn out to be my undoing.

  My original hydration plan was the same as what I'd done in previous endurance events. A 70oz Camelbak of water and a bottle of infiniti drink mix only stopping every 3rd or 4th lap. After the first couple laps I realized it would be much quicker to just use the bottle. My wife was acting as pit crew for us and could pass a bottle off much quicker then me stopping to fill the camelback. Also by using mainly drink mix I could get all of my calories/electrolytes with worrying about eating. On the way down we had discussed how I suck at drinking from bottles while riding and the shock on the epic gets in the way when trying to get bottles back in a standard cage.  At the end of lap 6 my wife passed off a bottle to me like a pro. I took a drink and then tried to put it into the cage fumbling it into my foot. For some reason I brake, of course with the front since my left hand was the only one on the bars. Down I went straight into the course gravel and asphalt in the dumbest crash ever. I jumped up as quick as I could telling everyone running to help that I was OK. Ok is a relative thing, I could see that a big chunk of skin under my knee was ripped back and cuts covered my knee.  I was determined to not have another DNF in Danville and get a podium finish.

Bleeding but still rolling.

       My arm and knee were killing me and I could feel blood running down my leg but I kept pedaling.  The rider I had passed earlier had taken another break so I knew all I had to do was hold on for another couple laps and I would get my second place. The next couple laps were hard to focus but I pressed on being glad that the cutoff was 4:30pm and I wouldn't have to do another lap. I got my second place finish with 58miles in 5hr 38mins.

Yay a podium!

Allen came in 3rd in the Single speed class. They all were some crazy fast guys all getting in 9 laps.
















The "medic" on site helped me clean up the wounds on my knee and taped down the big chunk of skin that was ripped out. She said they probably couldn't do anything with stitches and should be ok. I had a feeling she didn't clean it out good enough and probably taping that skin back in was a bad idea. Sure enough two days later it looked terrible so I went to the urgent care place. It was infected and they cut the skin out and found gravel still in the wound. My knee is swollen and I'll be off any type of bike for a while and even longer before I'm back in the woods. Lessons learned, use side load cages and take my time. I have to give credit to my wife getting us bottles handed off so quickly. Without it I would have been 3rd or lower in the standings.

Unprepared epic

 Sunday was the Dragon's Tail race which is a grueling 36 mile race with 6500ft of climbing.  Some of my teammates were doing it but for some reason I just didn't feel like racing it. So some friends headed and I up to the mountains to piece together a bunch of fire roads and trails.  We had all done sections of these trails but never had we pieced them all together. We way underestimated just how hard doing this would be and none of us had enough food or water. In hindsight it would have been easier to do the race, at least then we would have aid stations.

To get us started we headed up a Goff mountain road, a nice fireroad that take you from the valley on up. We had originally planned to turn up the Glenn Wood Horse Trail but Davy thought we should go on up to the parkway and then drop down the horse trail just to add some more climbing.  So up we went all the way to Petities gap where we bombed down a fun section of single track and then traversed across the mountain.

Davy hitting a hard creek crossing on the horse trail.

After the single track we hit Hunting Creek Road and continued on up the mountain. At the top it stops being a gravel road and becomes a nice wide grassy double track.  Way more climbing on the grassy section then I remember but I guess that's because I usually ride it in the other direction.

Chad at the end of the grassy double track

Now we made it back to the parkway at sunset fields. At this point we were at mile 20 and had climbed 4568 ft of elevation. We started to realize that we were going to be low on water and food with one person already being completely out. It would have been a good time to turn back instead of going over the other side of the mountain but, not wanting to cut the ride short, we went on. The next section down Apple Orchard Falls to Cornelius Creek is a super fun and rocky descent going for almost 5 miles. Once at the bottom we head back up the lower section of Apple Orchard which is slightly uphill but with lots of technical rocks to navigate. After about a mile of that we crossed back over to a fireroad to make the final big climb of the day. At this point water was low and the ride had started to wear on some people.

Kat flying through the creek

Some team work had to be used on this crossing

Once back to Sunset fields the call was made that the ride was taking longer then expected, and we needed to find the quickest safest way back to the cars. Everyone was out of water or close to empty by this point. We had planned to go find some single track none of us had done and then climb back to terrapin mountain trail and return that way. Instead we decided to make the 400ft of climbing up the blue ridge parkway to thunder ridge and then descended back to hunting creek road. Even that meant we had to climb back up a gravel road to get to the cars, which proved to be too much for Chad, who was having cramps from lack of food.  He waited at the intersection for us to get the cars and pick him up on the way.  Overall, it was a great ride with 44miles and 7600ft of climbing and I actually felt fairly fresh and ready to keep riding at the end. Whatever I'm doing training wise seems to be working well for me, so let's hope I can turn it into some good race results. Others didn't fair to well with Davy passing out and freaking me out on the drive home from dehydration. I'll be back to hopefully do this ride again but with more supplies next time!!


Strava Over the mountain and through the woods and back without enough food/water

 


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Southern Traverse

   The southern traverse is an IMBA epic ride near Harrionsburg, VA and for good reasons it has it all from beautiful road riding to rock gardens. We usually go up once a year before the trails start getting overgrown.  We park near the end of the trail and do the 14 miles of road riding at the beginning of the loop.  Usually, riding a mountain bike on pavement isn't much fun but this is a beautiful stretch of road runs thru the valley.

Jason, Kat and Kelly riding down the valley.

It's 65 degrees where did that snow come from?

Before you know it the paved road section is over and it's time for the work. The next 4 miles are all uphill on a fire road climbing about 1500ft of elevation.  You've got to climb some mountains if you want the good views and fun downhills. 

















After another mile of single track climbing you're finally on the ridge. You've got 11miles of fun up-down single track. We were surprised to find that even though the temperature was in the sixty's, there were still patches of icy snow on the trail. Combined with the narrow off camber trails of the southern traverse and it equaled some interesting riding and a few short hike a bikes.

View from the trail looking back on the ridge

Look a picture of me!

The last 4 miles are all downhill with some crazy fast sections. This is where I crashed on a loose corner last year, making me get 14+ stitches in my knee. This year I took it a little slower, making sure we didn't have a repeat.

The gang rolling back to the car.