Just Put Some Peanut Butter On It

All you have to do to ruin any good fortune in your life is to talk about it. At a party this past Saturday, I was talking trail running with some friends and I expressed my good fortune in not turning any ankles in a long time. Its not hard to see where this is going is it?

Well sure enough after running the entire Rainbow Falls trail at Jones Gap I was happily pacing back to the car on the flat section next to the Middle Saluda when out of nowhere I was laying flat on the ground with my ankle screaming at me. I was in absolute agony but was able to walk out. Applying the usual regiment of ice, a little rest, elevation has helped but in no way can I race Cohutta this weekend. So I will be on the sidelines cheering (making fun and drinking beer) the racer types.

What about PMBAR? Well thanks to some emails from my partner in crime, I remembered the adversity we have faced in the past four years racing PMBAR together.

The first year I lost the map on a fall going up Laurel, only to find the map with another team going back down Laurel. Then we descended Black in the dark with pretzel lamps.

The next year went by without too much adversity besides the normal PMBAR madness, no brake pads left and a spent rotor at the end of the day. ~The year of the angry burrito.

In 2008, my handlebar broke descending Clawhammer. I descended Black from Pressley with ¾ of a handle bar.

Last year I started the day with some bleach in the eye and then slid under a Jeep on 225 breaking my front brake lever. Again, we finished despite the circumstances.

So in 2010 the adversity begins before the race . . .

Spring Flailing

Starting from the Black Mountain Parking lot, Joe and I made an unorthodox loop around the Ranger District since in his words “I need to get some climbing in.”

Sycamore Cove -> Thrift Cove -> Black Mountain -> Buckhorn Gap -> S. Mills River -> Squirrel Gap -> Horse Cove -> 5018 -> 476 -> 1206 -> Pilot Mountain Road -> Slate/Pilot -> Pilot Cove -> 1206 -> 476 -> S. Mills River -> Buckhorn -> Clawhammer -> 477 -> 276

I am not sure how far or how much elevation but I seem to be trending this year on my rides. I like to not drink enough, not eat enough and dig some really big holes.
With Cohutta Big Frog 65 coming up this weekend and PMBAR the following weekend, I am really hoping to break this trend. We will see.

P36 2010

Walking up Horse Cove on Saturday with sticks poking at every part of my body, hoards of gnats flying in every orifice, I could only think about walking forward and hoping I could get on my bike soon or I might just go whacko. It was approximately 2:30 in the afternoon on Saturday and I had been on the bike for over 14 hours.

Horse Cove was a low point for me on Saturday. I had knocked out stage one well enough but when I got done around 6:30 Saturday morning I had felt awful so I slept for over an hour and then suited up for Stage 2.

My route for Stage 2: Cove Creek campground -> Cove Creek -> 225B -> 475B -> 276 ->477 -> Club Gap -> Avery Creek -> (FS Road from Avery to the top of Clawhammer) -> Clawhammer -> Buckhorn -> S. Mills River -> Squirrel Gap -> Horse Cove -> Cantrell -> S. Mills River -> Turkey Pen Parking Lot (ba ck track all the way to Buckhorn but I continued up S. Mills to Pink Beds) Pink Beds -> 276 -> 475 -> Davidson River -> Cove Creek Campground

When I got to Turkey Pen Parking lot (self portrait picture) I was at my low for the weekend. It was all I could do not to beg for a ride back to Cove Creek. When I got to Pink Beds I lost my mind, pulled out my passport (which was not marked as 276 off limits) and cruised down 276. It probably took just as long but I was tired and done. DQ’d from the off limits 276 that was on the board, oops.

I had a great time while I was out in the woods, the only wildlife I saw was a mouse descending Farlow with me. I was so enthralled to see the little guy negotiate the rocks I almost forgot to look at the trail

Thanks a bunch to Pisgah Productions pushing my limits. Some day. . . . some day. (The last three pictures were from a group ride {with some of the dropouts} on Sunday) Thanks to D. Kuntz for the log ride pics.