Sunday, April 20, 2008

Yazoo Invades Cohutta

Sitting here Monday night and thinking about the weekend's activities is just getting me fired up about the race season. While the entire race experience is great and traveling around is fun. It's hanging out with all of the friends that you meet along the way that truly make the experience something you will remember. When you combine Yazoo crew members with other racing folks you are guaranteed a good time. So, here is the brief rundown of the events that transpired.

On Thursday, Jut Rut was coming down to Chatty from Nashville after a quick stop at MOAB in the 'boro to visit the Rigid Kitten and pick up some parts. The Rev was on his way in from Dallas and had been driving most of the day. I arrived home after work and within a few minutes Jut pulls up with a roof full of bikes, which is not unusual, but there was a blast from the past on top that I have to mention. Many years ago, Justin and I had the flu and wound up being too ill to race at Chickasaw, so we decided to round up every loose bike part we could find and build a chopper. Thanks to an article in Dirt Rag, we had all the basic info we needed along with a plethora of random gear. After we coupled two old ass Manitou forks together and hammered a raked rigid fork into that, we had all the front end you could ever need. A few hours later we were riding around the neighborhood on the new chopper bike. Anyway, over the years the chopper has had many sighting, but the last little while it has been garaged. It was nice to see that it is on its way to reside in Asheville. Let the good times roll.

I went to work on Friday and the boys packed up and drove out the Thunder Rock to ride some trails before the race and get registered. Jason and I made the working guys plan and met up around 7 and drove straight out to the Whitewater Center to sign in and pick up our race packet. Right as we pull in, Garth is packing up his ride and we stop and chat for a little while. As I'm signing in I run into Announcer Bruce and Sandra Vanderkitten. We shoot the breeze for a few minutes and then it was time to make our way to the Sourmash Lodge. When we pulled up everyone was already settling in and wrapping up dinner. Ohio Rob, Chip, The Rev, Dave, Sharpie and Jut had already warmed the place up and showed Big J and I around. What a sweet place we had for the weekend. We hung out for a few hours and as the crew slowly vanished one by one, I figured it was time for bed. About 3 in the morning, the sky opened up and it began to pour rain. It was enough to wake me up and it kind of made me laugh. It was only proper that we get dumped on before the race. I rolled back over and tried to get a few more hours of sleep.

5:30 came quicker than I wanted and of course it was still raining. We were all sitting around having breakfast and the rain was the only subject of conversation. How long will it last? How much will it effect the course? Damn, I did not bring any cold weather clothes. Oh well. Jason and I drove down to the start/finish and suited up. As we were riding up to the start, Bruce announced that we were starting in 45 seconds...crap, I was all the way at the back of the entire pack. As we rolled out the traffic was pretty bad at first, so I made a few early moves to get out in front of the slower traffic. As I was climbing the first hill I hear, "Hey Pillsbury"!, it was Dougie. We talked for a while as we made our way to the single track. Once we hit the first turn, the traffic was piling up so I made a few more moves and broke out in front of a bunch of slower riders. I was in no real hurry, but I wanted to keep my flow going because the rain made the climbs a bit slick. Once I made it to the first fire road, I was feeling great and decided just to keep a good groove going and not work too hard. All I wanted to do was ride easy, climb everything and have fun without getting passed by anyone. Around mile 37, I had to take a nature break and a guy came around me on a geared bike so I did not think anything of it at first. Then I remember not wanting to get passed, so I picked up the pace and caught him right away. We talked for a second and he mentioned that he loved the speakers...I said thanks and rode up the hill. For most of the ride from that point on I was riding solo. I would look up the road for someone and use them as motivation to pass, then off to lonely land again. When I finally hit the last single track I was totally stoked. I cranked up the tunes and picked off several more riders on the last single track climb before bombing down Thunder Rock. My hands were pretty numb by that point and I was so covered in mud that I pretty much just let go of the levers, opened it up and hoped for the best. When I rounded the last turn and crossed the bridge, all that was left was a mile or so of road. As I crossed the finish line, all I wanted was a Coke and dip in the river. For not really racing, I wound up in 2nd to Pisgah Bruce. Which is fine with me, but I regret not knowing he was racing because I may have been motivated to ride a little harder, oh well. I had a great time and the 65 mile course was way more fun than the 100 that I pre-rode 2 weeks ago. So all in all, it was a good day. I will be back next year and register earlier so that I can be sure to get into the 100.

1 comment:

cornfed said...

Way to rock it out racer boy!!! Swanky indeed!!

At least pisgah bruce didn't ride pass you and push you up a hill (as he did everyone at the last snake).

Sorry I couldn't make the pre&post parties. Will see ya in 2 weeks though for the big shidig.