Super Sally Part 1

You would have thought there was gold in them hills by the way Sally rode Bridge to Bridge mountain century with a sub-6 hour time. Several of us including Sally trekked down to Lenoir, NC last weekend to take on one of the epic rides of the season. This timed event is one of those events that organizers constantly say is "not a race" even though they time the event, publish "winners" and have a mass start of about 900 riders. Some of us try to play it like we are not all into the timed aspect of it, but with 100 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing, it is way too exciting not to be competitive. The last 2 miles takes us up Grandfather Mountain which has an 18-20% grade.

As usual, there was only bone on the start line. A big part of ending with a good time is to stay with the lead group on the first 50 miles of rollers. I hung on tight that first 50 and noticed Sally was still in the lead group of about 200 riders also. She had never completed the whole 100 since it was cut short last year. That worked into my strategy to, well, beat her to the top, since I knew very much what to expect for the final 50 of climbing since I have finished the event at least 7 times.

I could tell by the way Sally started up the first major climb (13 miles up) that I was not going to out climb her. Simply put, she dropped me hard. But being older and presumably wiser, I thought I could outsmart her. I decided in my sick mind not to stop at all for the whole ride. I carried my own food, and the volunteers are great about giving race-like feeds at the rest stops, so I took Gatoraid feeds on the bike from all the stops. I had announced to Sally the day before that I would be stopping briefly twice, so I figured she would stop at least twice and that I would sneak past her as she refueled.

I rode like mad once on the Blue Ridge Parkway portion. I hooked on a 5-person train, and at mile 75, I finally caught Pete, Sally's dad. I should have known at that point that I would not catch Sally since Pete has not been able to catch Sally for the past year though he tried in that famous Ft. Story chase that left him with a broken clavical. I pushed on though, determined. I even stripped so you know I was serious. At mile 90, I passed Justin as he was leaving a rest stop. Surely Sally was now behind me if I was with Justin! I actually slowed down from mile 90-98, not because I wanted to, but because exhaustion had set in and I felt my goal was secure. Justin climbed out of my sights.

At the bottom of Grandfather Mountain mile 98, Kelle was on the sideline egging us on. He called out for me to catch Justin, and I casually called out, "Has Sally passed?" Kelle called back, "Oh, yeah, long time ago." The GF climb was the familiar 20 minutes of torture, especially since I knew Sally would be at the top all happy, looking down on my suffering self pushing up that last portion. She did an unbelievable 5:58 and I finished 6:18. She finished only 100 yards behind Ethan which is a total scream. So many other great performances by Pete, Mark, Robert, Lori, Steph, Janice, Woodhouse, Wild Bill, Austin, Tom F, Ethan. Mechanicals claimed Tim, Kelle, Nick and Frank. Convoying, shuttling and eating with everyone brought on the usual "what happens in --- stays in ---" (lyrics above by Marshall Tucker Band)

Ironcross it is

This is one of Kevin's many plugs for Ironcross, the longest cyclocross race in the country, happening Oct 16 in PA. I have heard K-Dog and Crazy moan about how painful this endurance event is for 2 years now and somehow I think I am ready to go. Forget that Bill G had to be hospitalized for a blood clot following last year's event. Forget that half the field (including men's pro winner) use mountain bikes instead of cyclocross bikes. I love the logo and want the socks with logo they give away. Somebody better have coffee ready in the morning.

Blogging VA Cyclists

Lots to blog about in these parts. Rob lives in Norfolk and is all into fixed gear bikes. He has rallied local fixed gear riders for a Sunday night ride, fixed gears only. I would never have been told about this ride apparently if I did not own a fixed gear because the idea is to keep all other bikes away. It is a bit of an extreme experience to ride fixed gear around a town unaccustomed to bike messengers, but it is even more extreme to imagine all these scattered souls on one ride. I am way too interested to not show.

Sue's new blog will no doubt chronicle her backcountry races. Sue lives in Charlottesville and just completed the Shenandoah 100 in 10 hours. That is an amazing time. She is the full time working woman who finished among the pros. Sue grew up racing on the T-town track. Went to Penn State and UVA where she did lots of regular mt bike races through school, always a podium finisher. She now does the long distance insanity, which is fine for someone who can actually finish those races before dark. Also, her work to centralize mt bike events on one website is appreciated by all.

John lives in Va Beach and has done lots of relay mountain bike events this year. BJ and Barb are always talking about him because they love the "way he writes." I have to laugh and ask, "but how does he ride?" and to them that just does not seem to matter. I have to admit his blog is way manicured. Those 24- and 12- and 18- hour relays he does are quite intense. Very hard to do without support to manage the bikes, food and clothes and to wake up the bodies. I miss those races. Need to get on one of John's teams.