Pre
Photo cred to Eric for any photo with me in it
This became the mantra as P99 got closer and the “training” never really came together. P99 it’s a route, not really an event. The name doesn’t make sense, ultimately the route is about 110 miles and has about 19k of vertical gain to it neither of those things relate to 99 at all. This isn’t an event, it’s more of a suggestion of time to challenge a route to a handful of people who enjoy pushing themselves on big days, it has become an early March tradition. This is the third year we’ve done it and the least prepared I’ve been out of the 3 years we’ve done it, but hey I’ve done more with less…
The blog for the first one in 2021 and the second one in 2022 which I had to bail off of after an ankle issue.
A few days before the ride one of the stalwarts of the route and all-around long ride legend, Chris shared some unfortunate news that he wouldn’t be able to join in the fun this year. Unfortunately, accidents happen, luckily it was mostly an arm, and he should be on the road to recovery soon. Catching up with Chris is one of the better parts of the ride, so it was a major bummer he wasn’t going to make it. Wishing him the best though.
Leading up to the ride the weather had been something to pay attention to, early in the week the trails were in amazing shape, but then a few days of rain, some of it heavy was forecasted. The day of the ride was supposed to be brilliant spring weather though, but Pisgah…Anyhow, the day before the ride, it almost looked like some of the big rain might miss. Until it didn’t, I caught up with Katie over the Ecusta for a beer after dropping off cached food and stuff at 1206. It had already been wetter than and otters’ pocket then the real rain came in. Heavy rain, sideways rain, wind, and all the fun stuff. But hey, it’s Pisgah and there’s a 100% chance of weather everyday or so I’m told.
Ride
The morning came early, we roll at 5 am, and I decided to take the van over to the Black Mountain parking lot this time, the past two years I’d just ridden over. I was feeling like the route had enough suffering and it would be really nice to roll off the trail and not have to ride the 3 bonus miles home. Of course even though I was up in plenty of time to have a good breakfast, make some bit of the morning constitutional, somehow I was still one of the last ones at the parking area. Although there were more people there than I’d anticipated. Ryan Sigsbey, Eric Henderson, Joe Wharton, Jason Nance, maybe one other?
Hopped on the bike and headed over to the start at 477/276 and my saddle is all kinds of messed up. Crap, I’d taken it off earlier in the week to adjust something on the dropper post and I guess put it back on wrong. I had been so careful to mark things so it was exact and must have switched my marks somehow. This had to be fixed, with my tiny little multitool that didn’t really fit right I kept adjusting the wrong way, everyone staring, finally got it close and just decided to go with it. My noodling made us late to start by about 16-17 minutes and everybody waited on me. So yeah, I guess I’m that guy.
Stage 1
The “fun” one, it’s the shortest and generally one of my favorite longer routes. Rolling up Clawhammer catching up with a few folks along the way. Before long I looked over my shoulder and realized it was just Lee, Eric, and myself. As we started up Black Mtn it was just Eric and I, as it would be for most of the day. We were treated to one of those amazing after rain Black Mountain Sunrises before heading over to Turkey pen. Amazingly the trails weren’t excessively wet so far. They weren’t dry, but they weren’t soft and soggy either. There was a lot of deadfall and since we were out front we did stop a handful of times to move the “dangerous” ones and the really annoying ones.
Turkey pen went a bit slower than normal with the wetness. That trail being so steep it was hard to commit knowing how slick it was. I mean we’re at hour 1 or 2 of a 19+ hour day so no reason to take too many risks here. Down in the Turkey pen hole it was obvious that a little more rain had concentrated there, and the more protected area didn’t dry as much overnight. It was soggy but still not as bad as I had imagined it could be. Trail ticked by, talking with Eric, it hardly felt like we were on a quest. All of the sudden we were already at Wolf Ford where the bridge is still out from when hurricane Fred came though. The water was higher than it had been last year and I didn’t want to take the chance of dropping shoes or carrying more than I needed to. So, went with the shoes on approach and just walked through it, quite a bit deeper than last time but still manageable. From there it’s a pretty easy ride back to the cache spot.
Back to the truck at about 10:15 or so to start the shuffle of picking up food, new socks, eating, filling water, etc. Stage 1 went a little slower than last year but with the slickness, deadfall clearing, and attempt to set a manageable pace I was pretty happy with how it went. I also ate almost all the food I’d taken which was a major goal. I was really trying to make sure to not put myself in a big calorie hole like I’m pretty sure I’ve done in the past.
Stage 2
Somehow the stop took a little longer than I was hoping but that’s ok, the day was about not hurrying and trying to keep good energy levels and a positive attitude. I gathered Eric and we started heading up to the parkway, the climb sort of slid by without much notice as we chatted on the way up. Once we hit the parkway and it mellowed out some, my gears vs Eric’s SS were pretty apparent as I sort of gently rode away from him but any time we’d go back uphill he caught up pretty quickly. Slowed at the entrance to Big Creek to make sure he didn’t miss it and started onto the trail I’ve only ridden twice (both previous P99 rides). Somehow it had pretty much dried up entirely and was in great shape, at least the descent was. We had some deadfall to clear up we moved a few of the bigger ones that were moveable to help the folks behind us and do our due diligence.
Into the bowels of Pisgah, through creeks, over trees, under trees, before finally coming out in North Mills. My facebook would tell me that the BackCountry horsemen cleared big creek either Saturday afternoon or Sunday, just in time…Anyhow, up Fletcher Creek where we had a nice quick chat with the Dynamic Duo of Hannah Dickson and Grace Erwin, two amazingly talented ladies, who were out shredding the trails that were in much better shape than I thought possible after yesterday’s weather, they were almost dare I say, Hero Dirt. The Fletcher/Spencer climb came and went without much fanfare, Trace Ridge was great as always. Halfway down my front brake started to sound like a kid’s bike wheel with a baseball card stuck in it. I stopped to check on it and there was still pad left, nothing looked off, so I just kept on keeping on and it eventually “fixed” itself.
Into North Mills where we were looking forward to the bathrooms but no dice, fortunately the water spigot wasn’t locked around the corner, and we reloaded before starting the 1206-Laurel Mtn climb. We started up the climb and Eric must have had the perfect gear or found another level of give a damn because it sure felt like he was in a hurry. I knew it was a bad idea for me to attempt to match it, it did encourage me to put in a little more effort than I might have otherwise. Over the gap and into Laurel Mtn, this trail, it’s so good but almost always comes at a time that is painful. No exceptions to that today. It was here I really started to notice how much my bottomside was starting to “flare” if you will. Not a great sign, there’s still a lot of riding left. What are you going to do though.
Some riding, some bike shoving and onto Pilot Rock. Pretty uneventful, it’s in pretty good shape, I got more switchbacks than I thought I might, so that was nice. The infamous rock garden seems to have taken some beatings recently as the normal line seems to be done and there’s a pretty good creek running down it. Out of Pilot Rock and back to the way too long gravel spin to the truck.
Ryan had called it quits and was waiting there when I got there. Certainly nice to catch up with others and hear about how their day has gone. Unfortunate to hear he had pulled the plug but based on a few things I more than understand the decision. Another 30ish minute stop, to eat, reload, grab layers, put the lights back on, and get ready for the Night shift and last leg.
Stage 3
The descent from the car to 475b got a little chilly but starting the climb warmed right up. We rolled up 475 to Gloucester Gap in the moonlight without lights on, conserving battery, and getting every last minute of daylight before hitting the dreaded 5003 (Indian Creek Rd.) climb. The first half or third rolls by pretty nice, old grassy rd. ok grades but relatively clean pedaling. The descent into the log landing and that’s when things start to get ugly. It gets pitchy, leafy, babyhead sized rocks both loose and fixed, bogs, and we were 14 hours into our ride at this point. Not a lot of extra in the legs. This turns into a lot of walking with your bike. It took like what felt like days to get to the top.
Onto Farlow, I used to mildly enjoy Farlow, it was tough, made you work, made you think but I could ride most of it pretty happily without having to hike down too many things. Since Fred a couple years ago it’s just a mess, the first 1/3 of it or so includes a lot of really sketchy downhiking for me now (maybe this would be different if I weren’t pretty blown and making bad bike moves? I don’t know). The crossings are interesting and sketchy at this point too. Anyhow, that middle and lower section are still fun at least. Then into Rocky side of Daniel Ridge, which unfortunately also has a creek running through it. No wonder I haven’t been over there in a while.
The temperature had been falling for a while and at this point my feet are wet and I’m really cold. I held off on putting my last jacket on since there was a good bit of uphill in 475B then we’d be hiking, so I didn’t want to sweat too much before the long descent to the finish. I did pull the buff over my neck which helped a lot. Back up to 477/1206 to find our last stache of food. I pounded a coke, a few oreos, and filled a water bottle before heading onto the home stretch. Club to Black to the finish. I was feeling my 4th or 5th wind and hiking pretty well and descending pretty well even though I could barely feel the two Ice blocks I had for feet.
After a bit Eric told me to go ahead. I had wanted to roll to the end together, but I was sooooo cold and ready to be done that I was moving pretty quickly. I took him up on the offer, said some goodbyes and I headed off. Honestly the 2nd trip across black went pretty smoothly until I started going downhill. The first few pumps downhill and the back of the bike felt a little squishy, more so than just the shock. I could feel it squirming a little, Biscuits. I stopped to put the jacket on and checked the tire, yep, really soft, but still felt the same kind of soft that it was a little bit ago. So I decided to just kind of take it easy and nurse it. This put more pressure on my hands and upper body as I was taking it super easy on the back. I was in no mood to fix it though. I made it to the bottom, hands angry, but I was there.
Done
Man that feeling of rolling into that parking lot, nobody there, 2 am, is just so good. This time it took me 20 hours 45 minutes to finish the 110ish/19k vert route. Longer than the first time but that was expected and planned on. I climbed into the van, kicked on the heater and started to get my soaking wet socks off immediately, the heat hitting my feet actually hurt at first.
This route is tough, looking back at my write up from 2021 I called it the hardest single pull ride I’ve done. I’m going to still agree with that. So much slow going, so much of it is hard work, there’s very few places to “hide” on this route. It’s an accomplishment. I was happy to have someone to share it with this year in Eric, super strong and talented techy rider who I thought was going to leave me for dead a few times. It was fun to be able to share the trails, the experience, and all the things.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from myself this year. I’ve been feeling pretty good lately, but I also don’t think I’ve ridden over 4 hours since PMBAR last year and most of them have been under 2 ½ hours. I can also count rides over 3 hours on one hand. So, I was a little nervous to how I was going to respond to pushing for 19+ hours. I took the time to try and plan a little bit more this year and made some notes ahead of time of what I planned to eat/drink for each loop based on how long I thought it was going to take and pre-separated my food out that way so I could didn’t have to think about it as much when I was reloading. Overall this worked out really well, I tried hard to make sure I ate all of what I was carrying for each loop and I really felt pretty solid all day long. I carried two bottles of the high calorie Carbo-Rocket Half evil with me for each loop to help supplement the food then clean water on my back so I wasn’t always drinking High calorie.
The Epic Evo has been my bike of choice all 3 times on this route and has delivered every time. That bike is made for big days where you’ll come across all the surface types from pavement to the gnar of Farlow. Super-efficient climber and more than capable descender, the Fastrak front and rear combo punches over it’s weight as well. I’d grab this bike again for almost any adventure.
