The Big ‘un!

Where the trail ended early–for me.

Pisgah day four was the big momma. The stage I have been waiting for all week. While I would like to say I was saving energy for it earlier in the week that would wouldn’t be true. Sure, I didn’t completely empty myself on the earlier stages but there were many times I was at my limit so I wasn’t sure how well I would respond to the longest hardest stage.

We took off with the usual manic gusto but this time I was hanging in at the front. Even after climbing most of Club Gap I could still see most of the leading group ahead and was comfortable so I let off a little and took my time knowing it would be easy to catch back on once the grade flattened. Soon I was riding back through a few of the early chargers as we traced the ridge line before the descent down to Clawhammer.  Read more »

Hump Day!

No miracles… instead the NEW status quo!

After the awards ceremony and stage briefing last night the skies opened and a gentle rain set in. I didn’t stay up to see how much it carried on since I have endured enough rain in my life to not lose sleep over it. I was a little relieved though because the bluebird weather we have had all week here in NC had me thinking the “streak” was over. When I say “streak” I refer to every race I’ve ever done east of the Mississippi River has involved rain and mud in some capacity. Oddly the Pacific NW has this reputation for being rainy when in fact in rarely if ever rains during the summer. This is apparently never the case out east! Read more »

White Squirrel Loop

Go deep–pay the piper…

Regardless of how hard I tried to stay in the green zone yesterday, I knew there were too many times that the rugged Pisgah trails demanded more. In a single day event or on the first day of a stage race it is easy to go deep–sometimes without knowing it. Over the last five years of battling CFS I have gotten really good a managing my pace and maximizing my recovery so I knew that it was going to take a miracle to feel good today. 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 »

NW MTB Series

First of all, my apologies for not posting here this season. As they say “too many irons in the fire”! In some ways, I feel like my “iron” has been in the fire too long! Anyway, what’s been going on? Well, we opened a bike shop in Wenatchee last winter www.ridgecyclesport.com. The kids are growing up and seem to consume more and more time. After taking two months off last winter to “recover” my general health condition is good but my performance continues to be compromised and this season it is worse than ever. The good news is that I have some different Drs. taking a look and despite dealing with this for five years, I still have some hope that the puzzle can be solved! Read more »

Rassumussen Rides Again!

Several weeks ago, “Ninkrossi” in Washougal WA marked my first race in over three years. Normally, finishing in the middle of a Cat C cyclocross race would not rank noteworthy to me. However given how time constraints with work and health issues have kept me on the sidelines for too long, just doing a race felt like a victory! I’ve never done much ‘cross anyway, so I really have no standards in my head that I need to live up to. Right now I’m just enjoying the little bit of training I’m doing and looking forward to the next event.

That opportunity came last Saturday. A Perfect Day–nice weather, a fun course, my supportive wife and my form returning made for a great day of cross at the “Crossword Challenge” in Canby, Oregon! It felt great to be competitive again. I rode the entire race within the top 5-10 riders and wound up in 6th place in a field of about 30.

Mark R.