I’ve spent the last two days just getting to Brevard, NC. This time I took a little more time in hope of arriving more rested than weary. It has been a beautiful and relatively smooth trip. I flew into Greenville, SC stayed the night, and drove up this morning. I had forgotten how beautiful the Blue Ridge is and it is awesome being back in one of my favorite places on planet earth!
A quick stop to visit my old pals Wes and Art at Sycamore Cycles to seat up my tires was followed by a lazy afternoon putting together my trusty Ibis Ripley. My new Ritchey Breakaway Travel Bag worked like a champ saving my a bunch of cash and keeping my bike safe all the way here. Unfortunately the gorillas (or machines) handling baggage managed to rip one of the straps completely off the outside of the case on it’s maiden voyage though.
This evening we rendezvoused at the Brevard Music Center for the pre-race dinner and briefing. It sounds like Todd Branham and his crew have served up a great menu of epic singletrack for the week and the culinary version we had tonight didn’t disappoint either! I caught up with Todd for a couple minutes and I was impressed as ever with his “long” view of mountain biking here in Brevard and Transylvania County. He is a super caring and thoughtful fella and it seems like he is constantly thinking about how he can improve his events and help the cycling community sustainability grow in this area.
It would suffice to say my appetite for gnarly Pisgah trails has beenduly whetted, and I can’t wait to carve out my little piece of the action tomorrow! With a diverse group of racers competing from all over North America and around the world, I also look forward making new friends and catching up with old ones. The “enduro” segments will also provide a good bit of fun as we get started with a timed shred down Black Mountain tomorrow.
Until then I plan to rest up and actually be ready to race in the morning!