After 2 days of racing I was just 2 1/2 mins back from the first single speed, Evan, but stage 2 was pretty rough. Stage 3 was a new stage this year and one that I had been both looking forward to and dreading. This stage had the most climbing and a lot of the climbs are pretty steep. However it’s all trails that I ride pretty frequently and know well. A lot of the climbing is on doubletrack or Forest service road and it’s kind of broken up a little more.

The stage starts at the Lower Black Mountain parking lot, which is nice since I can just ride over from the house. Then does a quick loop around Grassy Rd. to Upper Sycamore before coming back through the start/finish area to head up Thrift cove to Black Mtn. It then drops down Maxwell Cove, climbs up Clawhammer, to Pick up Black Mtn again. Over the top of Black Mtn to Avery Creek, down Avery, then Up Avery Creek Rd to get to Bennett Gap, Descending Bennett Gap and Finally Clawhammer to Maxwell Cove to Black Mtn to finish up. This includes 3 notable rough descents in Avery Creek, Bennett Gap, and Black. All with formidable climbs up to them.

I had felt like this should be a good stage for me. However the night before was a tough one. I’d been fighting off a cough all week and it must have caught up to me Wednesday night as I could hardly sleep. Even after taking some Nyquil I still had multiple coughing fits and really didn’t get to sleep until midnight. Then I was up again an hour or two later with some more coughing. I woke up Thursday feeling something less than spry, I was still pretty positive though.

The start for this stage is probably the only start that you really need to be lined up near the front as it almost immediately funnels down. I was able to get an ok start and then made a few passes heading up Grassy Rd. This small loop is my lunch loop so I was ready to rip and that we did, in under 20 mins we were back at the start/finish. Started up Thrift and I kept the pace pretty mild knowing it was a big day. Evan stayed glued to my back wheel. We hiked up Middle black, down Maxwell.

When we started up Clawhammer, I tried to increase the pace a little and we got into a group with a few others. I was hoping to see Evan slip a little but he stayed right there. Once we got to Black we started to hike again. Then he went to get back on his bike and I couldn’t seem to match it. I let him go but I did manage to see him start down the descent so I knew he wasn’t far.

I started down and was feeling pretty good. Made the left onto Avery Creek and started to find a rhythm. Avery is a demanding descent and I was rocking along. I came into one of the wet rocky features and slid off something then before I knew it I was trying to figure out how to untangle myself from my bike. There goes smooth…not 5 mins later I went to hop a log and caught something and I was back on the ground. I wasn’t hurt bad from either of these but definitely rattled.

Through the aid station to pick up a bottle and a shot of coke then starting up Avery Creek Rd. (477). I realize near the top I needed to pee. I started down Bennett and the sensation finally got to me. I already felt like I was way behind Evan and probably had an hour or so to the finish. So I stopped, sometimes you’ve gotta go. When I hopped back on it wasn’t two pedal strokes before I saw the photographers…perfect timing. Anyhow, I made it down Bennett in one piece and actually rode the bottom portion pretty well.

As I started up Clawhammer, any life was gone and I felt like I was going backwards. I managed to make it to the top and started down the last descent of the day, Black Mtn. This was going pretty well, I was riding ok given the earlier crashes and my tiredness. Then I got to the stairs (a rocky feature that kind of looks like steps), I set up for them, rolled in, and got off line. Went down, bike slams, I slam, I’m not sure what I hit but something hurts. No time to figure it out now so, so close to the finish.

I made it to the finish, having given up something like 13 minutes and really feeling a little demoralized. A day I felt like should be a good day for me turned out to be the worst of the week. I also wasn’t quite sure how much I hurt myself. I had a conference call that I had to get home to so I didn’t have time to hang around much.

After I cleaned up and had a couple calls I realized that I had banged up my knee, wrist, and elbow pretty hard. With my wrist being the worst and as the day went on it kept tightening up. By the end of the day I wasn’t really sure if I was going to be able to ride on Friday since I was having some trouble holding anything with my right hand. I made sure to get some Ibuprofen and a lot of ice and hoped for the best.

Oh and it started raining again which bodes really well for Friday’s stage of Laurel/Pilot, one of the most demanding descents in Pisgah.