New talent emerges while old guard counts laps!

Day five at the 2014 Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race was bittersweet for sure. While I was stoked to see my friend James battle back from a rough ride on day four to finish second on the stage, I was missing Farlow Gap in a bad way. My knee was swollen up like a mellon and I have been hobbling around like some old geezer for days on end now.

The folks a Blue Ridge Adventures put on a great show and the last day was no exception. Whether it was watching the kids races, the pie eating contest or the riders victoriously crossing the finish line after five days of some of the toughest trail in the world, my spirits were as high as I could imagine given the circumstances! Read more »

Pisgah 1, Riders 0

A re-introduction to rocks, roots, and Pisgah gnarly-ness!

We began the day under mostly clear skies and temps in the low 50s. Surprisingly I wasn’t shivering too badly despite a fast highway transfer to Turkey Pen. There we began a gravel road climb but it is important to note the most of the “roads” accessing the Forest are primitive and rough. The “gravel could be sand or 3″ minus or a lot of both. There are ruts and larger in-bedded rocks too just to make it impossible to ride a smooth rhythm.  Read more »

It’s ON!

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! Read more »

High in above Lake Chelan

As I have mentioned in several earlier posts, I am going to break out of my five year downward spiral of racing ambitions and have a go at the Pisgah Stage Race in Brevard, NC next week. I haven’t participated in a stage race since the last time I visited Pisgah so it seems like the logical place to give multi-day mountain bike racing another shot. Actually I believe that the PSR is the BEST of these type of races I’ve ever done–totally awesome trails second to none, great fall weather, awesome community support, and just the right amount of suffering to stretch one’s spirit without damaging their soul. However, this time I have no other ambitions than simply riding smooth and finishing strong–after all, this IS the “unplugged” version! Read more »

’14 Capitol Forest 100 Top Three

I gave self an early birthday present this year–100 miles on a mountain bike! I am trying to regain some confidence going into next months Pisgah Stage Race so I have broke away from the shop for a few late summer races hoping to prepare myself for five days of hard riding in Appalachia. Several years ago I did the NW Epic Series race in Capitol Forest, winning the first ever 50 mile race there. This time I was back for MORE–two laps of Capitol Forest awesomeness and a chance to place second in the NW Epic series! Read more »

Michelle and I basking in the glow of modest accomplishment!

After a great year in Wenatchee I wanted to at least attend one familiar race in Oregon this season so I left work early Friday and pointed my Liberty south toward Oakridge. I have blogged about this quaint little former logging town between Eugene and Bend on HWY 58. It sits in the foothills of the Cascades on the west side and began to embrace mountain biking over 20 years ago and is now home to one of the most committed cycling communities anywhere.

My objective was to race the Cascade Cream Puff, a storied race that is known world wide for its majestic single track and soul-crushing difficulty. I have had the good fortune of finishing first twice in the 100 mile version, once single-speed and most recently last year on my geared Ibis Ripley. This time I would actually only race 50 miles in what is now known as the “Fritter 50″. As I have for most of the races so far this year, I chose to test my new Ibis Tranny 29 on this seemingly endless ribbon of Oregon single track. Read more »