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Nov
22

Oh, SNAP!

After returning from the Pisgah stage race, I enjoyed a great spring winning every race I entered. Despite my ongoing battle with arterial endofibrosis, I was riding as well as I had in many years and life seemed stable and predictable. My shop Ridge Cyclesport was turning a corner in its second season and I was putting on a sweet charity mountain bike event, the MISSION: GranDuro. Read more »

2015 PMBSR Day 5The last stage was similar to the previous two stages. I rode my own pace up the initial climb to Farlow Gap and opened a significant advantage over the rest of the singlespeed category.  Read more »

2015 Pisgah Day FourWhen I look back on my Pisgah memories, a few trails always stick in my mind… Squirrel Gap, Laurel Mountain, Pilot Rock, Farlow Gap, etc. Today we did the first three. Granted there was a bit of double track at beginning and in the middle but the majority of time was spent negotiating bench cut knar. Roots, rocks–repeat.

The stage began with some downhillish fireroad and I managed to stick the front group. Oddly I had told Jeff I didn’t plan to ride until Laurel (more than halfway through) but now it was game on a mile into the race. I found a group on the long traverse to Horse Cove and sat in a bit to recover from the mad dash at the start. I am not sure what the tactic garnered but over the years I’ve gotten a sense of how to surf the sharp end of a race and so it was today. Read more »

2015 Pisgah Day TwoAfter suffering a some chain skipping issues during stage one, I took it upon myself to refit most of the drivetrain on my Ripley XX1 single speed and little did I know that I was opening pandora’s box of drivetrain demons. None of us realized that we would need snorkles and personal floatation devices either… Read more »

Pisgah 2015 Stage One VenueWe listened to the rain fall most of the night and it was still pitter-pattering when I awoke this morning. Soon it had stopped but the ground was saturated and the creeks swollen as we drove to the start. Lucky for me, my housemates were kind enough to shuttle me and my bike out into the woods. After a near mishap fording a stream in Jeff’s Mazda, we arrived and I continued the process of preparing my bike for today’s stage. Read more »

Day Zero PresentationThe “null stage” has gone well. When faced with a $500 airline ticket from SeaTac to Greenville, I did what all great riders do–looked for a better line. In that case it meant booking two direct flights–one to Midway, staying the night and continuing on to Greenville today. With a recent Southwest fair sale, each ticket was just over a hundred bucks and both flights were non-stop–winning! Of course checking free of charge in with my venerable Ibis Ripley smartly tucked in its Ritchey Breakaway case is always a bonus! Ultimately, I was going to have to book at least one hotel room along the cross-country journey and a few extra hours of rest never hurts on the front end of a five day stage race! Read more »

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