One of my favorite events of the year is this weekend, PMBAR or the Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race. The first event I put on the calendar every year. I’ve ridden in it 6 or 7 times now and had everything from a DNF to a 3rd place overall while riding single speeds. With PMBAR you just never really know how it’s going to go, with various route choices, the overall length of the day so many things can happen.

In the past I’ve spent the week ahead of time getting the required gear together, doing some work on my bike, looking at maps, considering routes, and just getting ready in general. At this point I pretty much have the gear I need for the event pretty handy and most of it I carry around for my longer rides anyhow so it’s ready to go. However, this year I haven’t really touched my singlespeed in the 2 and a half weeks since the stage race ended, other than washing it. I’ve ridden a little bit but mostly on the geared FS bike, because after 5 days of hard racing on the SS I was ready for some comfort.

Since the stage race ended we’ve had a number of house projects going on, an event down in Atlanta, Easter weekend, and our basement had a little flooding incident (which led to more projects). All of this is on top of normal life of working, kids, etc. Needless to say time has been short and stress a little high. These things don’t really lead to great bike race preparation normally however that’s how it goes a lot of times. We’ve got some exciting projects going on around the house which I really look forward to having done. A few of these things really should provide some piece of mind moving forward which I definitely look forward to. Adulting is hard sometimes. 

I did get back to my weekend early morning rides this past weekend. Saturday morning was a pretty good one, up Clawhammer, over Black, Buckwheat, to Bennett. The outer loop if you will, it’s a good 2 1/2 hour ride from the house and has a lot to offer. A great big climb from the stables up to the top of Rich Mtn (via Clawhammer and Black Mtn trail) that is both gravel and singletrack, steep gnarly descending on both Buckwheat and Bennet, then some faster but still chunky descending on Bennett. It’s a ride that can push you for sure. The best part about these rides is that I’m back home by the time Lizzie is getting up. Which is amazing.

Now that it’s Thursday, and we’re close enough to the weekend where it’s time to start getting ready for the event.  Check brake pads, check the chain/drivetrain, make sure everything is tight, pull together the required gear and pack it up, make some trail food, all the fun things. Sometimes I feel like the anticipation of the event is as much fun as the event itself.

I’m really looking forward to riding bikes all day with good friends and telling stories about what was, what should have been, what could have been, and all that fun stuff when the day is over.