Needless to say, I was pretty tired by the weekend. We all were. Again, my family made me feel bad for going racing when Saturday rolled around. They acted like I had not planned these races. My Dad especially, was very critical of both racing and of us trying to get our garden going during this moving period. He felt I should give up both because "that's life" he said. They said I was riding too much and not spending enough time working on the house. I had no time to ride. I did one ride during the week and that was the Bells Bend Time Trial on Wednesday night. Otherwise, I had been too busy to ride. I also worked extra in April so I could take some time off in May to assist with the move and that seemed to compound everyone's expectations of how much I should be doing. Thank the Lord for Shannon because she was the only one who realized I was working my tail off. I was at the new house by 7 am and working until 11 pm most nights. I don't know how much more I could possibly do.
As for that Bells Bend Time Trial, it was an awful night. It was race #2 of the series. I was not feeling great from lack of sleep. I got to the race to find my tire had exploded in the car while I was at work. It wasn't a hot day, but still warm enough in the car to cause a blowout. I pulled out my spare tube to find that the valve stem is too short for my deep Easton wheels. I ask around and nobody at the race has a tube with a stem long enough to reach through my wheels. My Dad always comes to the race two hours early, but this day he decided to ride around Nashville after work and rolled up 10 minutes before race time. His spare tube wouldn't fit either, but then we noticed his back wheel had a long-stem tube inside. We did a lightning-fast tube swap, taking his rear tube and putting it in my bike while I put my spare tube in his rear wheel. I got in about three minutes of warm-up on legs that were stiff from not riding the past three days after a tough race at Sevier Park. As I pull to the line, I hear a clunk. My cogset was loose. Oh well, no time to tighten it as I had one minute until my start. My legs were junk and my time showed it. It wasn't my worst time ever, but very close. Only last year in my first race back after the knee injury did I go slower. I finished 10th with a time of 34:07. That's 2:35 off my time from April. As I crossed the finish line my cogs completely separated and my chain jammed. They were a little more than loose by that point. I hate feeling so unprepared for races! It drives me crazy, but that's the way life is right now. I'm doing well just to get to the race at this point.
Me at Bells Bend TT #2
My Dad doing the TT
On the way back
Much to the disappointment of everyone, Shannon and I went to Clemson for the weekend. I thought everyone in my family would be excited bout me getting the SERC leader's jersey but race support in the Greer family seemed to be at an all-time low. I was not about to give up the jersey I had worked so hard to earn. I didn't expect to keep the jersey more than this one race, but I was not going to give it up without a fight.
Shannon and I were both more than ready for a break from everything going on at the new house. We tried to make the most out of this weekend, starting early Saturday morning so we would have some time to explore backroads on the long drive to Clemson. We researched our route and found out the forest area along the Georgia-South Carolina border is known for waterfalls, great hiking and kayaking. We don't have kayaks, but we were ready for some hiking to waterfalls. I don't know what it is about this year, but we seem to keep stumbling across waterfalls.
Our drive took us along Hwy 76 in north Georgia, through the town of Clayton. I had been to Clayton once before for Warrior Dash Georgia in 2011. On that occasion, we parked in Clayton and were shuttled over to Mountain City for the race. Clayton was a nice little town on the edge of the mountains that looked like somewhere I would like to explore. This trip finally gave me that chance. We continued east of Clayton on Hwy 76, which looks like a really great road for some road riding. It has some long climbs and curvy descents that would keep me smiling all day.
As we reached the state line, the waterfall opportunities began to appear. Most of them are fairly close to the road so you can do several hikes in a single day. We started off with a quick 0.3 mile hike to the Bull Sluice Rapids along the Chattooga River. I had heard these rapids described as a waterfall and heard they were quite impressive. We were a bit disappointed to find a regular river rapid and a lot of people. I guess I was expecting some quiet, serene, vertical waterfall back off in the woods. Needless to say, we did not hang around long. It was a quick picture and we were off for the car, hoping to find something more impressive down the road.
Half of the trail to Bull Sluice is paved
Bull Sluice Rapids. Would have been a lot nicer without all the people.
A few miles further up the road we stopped for an unmarked waterfall that I read about on a geocaching website. There was a small, obscure parking area where an old gravel road went down into a ravine. We walked down the hill not really knowing what we would find. At the bottom of the hill was a singletrack trail forking off to the left. We decided to follow it and quickly found a small waterfall. And I do mean small. It was maybe two feet high, but I thought it was great! The water was so clear and so loud flowing over it. It wasn't much, but it made my day.
Stone wall at the start of the trail to Reedy Branch
Heading down the gravel road toward the falls
Reedy Branch mini-falls. I was pretty thrilled to see this even though it was only a few feet high.
I thought this tiny waterfall was the secret waterfall along Reedy Branch creek and I was happy with our find. We could hear people talking further up the trail so we continued on to see what everyone was looking at. Around a few more turns brought us to a view of a much, much bigger waterfall. It was 25 feet tall and flowing well. My excitement tripled instantly. This was way more spectacular than Bull Sluice. This is why we were hiking.
Following Shannon down some forest singletrack
The bigger Reedy Branch falls
I was already considering this a successful day, but the best was yet to come. Our next stop was at Brasstown Falls a little deeper into South Carolina. We had to drive some narrow gravel roads through the forest to get to the trailhead. It was a busy parking area. I had heard this was a more difficult hike, but I wasn't sure after seeing some of the people heading for the trail. They looked like they would have difficulty walking a level sidewalk, let alone a technical trail. Most of the people at these falls were swimming in a deeper pool in Brasstown Creek just above the falls. Some of those people I didn't think would make it through this trail were at the first section of rocks where you had to step over some large boulders. One lady had the jello legs going on at the first rock and I thought I was about to have to carry a body out of the woods, but she was smart enough to realize that going further was not such a good idea.
Once we got past the carnage of the feeble hikers, we were treated to some great views of Brasstown Falls. The trail brings you in from the top of the falls. Brasstown Falls is a multi-level waterfall. It drops four times in succession. All four drops are over 35 feet with the tallest being about 50 feet. The trail provides numerous views of each level individually. From the bottom you can see all the levels if you stand back a good distance.
First part of Brasstown Falls
Looking down the falls
Heading further down the trail
First vertical level
Shannon and I at Brasstown Falls
The further down we hiked, the gnarlier the trail got, which eliminated most of the normal people. Only one group of South Korean tourists went all the way to the bottom with us. We had a good time hanging out with them at the bottom in a nice swimming hole before hiking back out. One of the guys stepped off into what appeared to be a two or three foot hole, but turned out to be over his head! The rest of his group got a good laugh at him while he screamed about the cold water. Shannon and I took off our boots and rolled up our pants so we could wade out into the pool for a better view of the last level. Little fish were nibbling at my toes in the deeper section where I snapped a few pictures of the final drop and surrounding gorge. It was a tough hike, but again a short one at just 0.6 miles.
Bottom of the falls
Walking back out
A few more miles of driving through some forest backroads took us to the Riley Moore Falls. This was our longest hike of the day at two miles each way. It was more strenuous than I expected with the hike in being a steep descent, which made for s steep climb on the way back out. I was surprised by how many people were at the falls with such a long hike to get there. We could only tolerate the people for so long and then we headed back out. It's amazing how people can act like they are the only people there, completely oblivious to everyone around them. And completely inconsiderate. The peacefulness of the falls and running water was partially ruined by the yelling of people acting like fools. Apparently, you cannot swim without screaming, throwing rocks and getting in the way of other people. It didn't completely kill the experience, but I would really like to come back on a cold day when there are no swimmers.
Walking down the Riley Moore Falls Trail
Riley Moore Falls
Spy Rock Creek below the Riley Moore Falls
We were getting a little tired after this hike, so instead of going straight to the trail for a pre-ride, we stopped by our hotel and rested in the air conditioning for a while. Then it was off to the Issaqueena Forest for a lap on the race course at Holly Springs. I have raced in Clemson before, in this same forest, but it was years ago in another part of the forest. This was like coming to a brand new event for me. In the parking lot, we had a lady come over to us and ask if her son could ride with us. His team had already ridden and she didn't want him to go in alone. That is how we met Jack Wery. He tagged along with Shannon and myself for the lap. He had raced here before and gave me a rundown of what to expect. I had a good time riding with him. We stopped to practice some lines together which was good for both of us to see things from a different perspective.
Shannon hitting a creek crossing on the course
The race course was not what I was expecting. It was very open, about a 50/50 split of singletrack and fire road. Most of the fire road sections were climbing. There was even one section where we rode down an old paved road. It was odd to have what was now singletrack pavement in a mountain bike race course. I was a little disappointed by the loop as I usually get smashed on the open stretches. It was looking like it would be a tough race to defend my jersey. I did like the descent to the finish though. It was nearly a mile long and all singletrack. I practiced some lines just in case I was to catch someone there on the last lap. There wasn't much room for a sprint here, so you are going to have to be creative to get a pass done in that final mile.
Lake Issaqueena
After the pre-ride, we drove into town to check out Clemson University. It is my favorite campus to visit. It's very clean and has that historic feel everywhere you go. There are some trees on campus that are the biggest trees I have ever seen. They must be very old.
Clemson University
Statue of the founder, Thomas Green Clemson
Shannon's going to need longer arms to hug these trees
There is a pair of walls on campus in the military plaza that have medals from every branch of the military embedded in the bricks.
We visited "Death Valley" which is the football stadium where the Tigers have hosted some big games over the years. We also learned that the school originally started as an all-male military institution in 1893 before turning into a a full university in 1964. There are some really great monuments to the military on campus.
Death Valley and the rock. The players touch this rock before every game. The stadium sits in a hole and has been known as Death Valley. The rock was given to one of the coaches in the early 1960s by someone who visited Death Valley, CA and brought the rock back. The coach used the rock as a doorstop until 1966 when he gave it to a booster to "throw into a ditch." The booster put it on a pedestal and the tradition of rubbing the white flint rock began shortly thereafter.
Tiger statue outside Memorial Stadium
It was nice to take Shannon here as I had told her about visiting the campus before. I explored it by bike several years ago with Mark Poore on a trip to a SERC race. On that trip, Mark and I decided to race each other around one of the buildings on campus. We took off and Mark got the lead. At the end of our first lap of the building, I pulled off and hid behind one of the huge trees. He sprinted about five more laps thinking he was pulling away from me. He finally got tired and slowed down to wait for me. I let him make a few more laps before I came out from behind the tree. I got in a good laugh while he fussed at me about how tired he was! It was one of many stories I have of adventures with Mark. I could write a book on Mark Poore experiences.
The race came on Sunday. I was motivated, but a little worried how my legs would be after all the hiking on Saturday. My plan was to have a better start and then just try to hang on up the fire road climbs. I knew I could be fast in the singletrack, but I would have to ride smart in those sections to be sure I had something to push with when we hit the fire roads.
It was a cool morning yet again. I can't believe how many times my warm-up has required a jacket and left me with cold hands at times. The course was in good shape as it was very dry and fast. We had the early race so we had cooler temperatures the entire race, which was very nice with so much climbing out in the open sun.
The $50 hole shot award rotates for every round of the SERC Series. The Pro class had it back at Tsali when I tried for it and got smoked. I have been practicing more since then and it was time to see how much I had improved. The money was for the Pro class again this week. The start was on a dirt road with a 50-yard dash to a narrow, off-camber chicane through some trees into a small field. You then had another 50 yards in the grass to get to the singletrack. The turn off the dirt road was sketchy. It was a hard left with two line options for the right turn to exit the chicane. You could take a more sweeping right around a group of trees or you could make a hard right and go inside the trees. The wider line was easier and safer, but further around. The tight line was more off-camber and would require a little more skill. There was not enough room to exit the dirt road side-by-side so to line up right for the tight line would require the jump off the line. Between the money, the preferred line choice and the sure bottleneck that would happen in the group, getting a good jump off the line was a priority for sure.
On the line we had just three Pro riders. I was disappointed and surprised. Where is everyone this year? Some of the guys that are better than me had now missed three rounds. We get to drop two races for the final points standings. Having them miss three now gave me a real shot at the series. A good finish today would make up for my bad performances at the early rounds. This race was also a make-up race for the Georgia State Championship Series, so I could make up for my missed race at Macon.
Yellow Wave on the start line
We started with the Cat. 1 19-39 and 40-49 classes. I was shocked to hear how many guys on the line did not know anything about the start. I thought Cat. 1 riders were experienced enough to know they should check out the start. Some of them didn't even know which side of the dirt road we turned off on, even though the cones and arrows were within sight. That was yet another reason for me to get the jump on everyone. I needed to get away from the crazies! When the whistle blew, I exploded off the line, easily getting to the turn first. I rolled through the tight line easily and sprinted the grass section to the hole shot line to take the $50. The practice has paid off!
Got the jump
Sprinting for the money
photo by GoneRiding.com
Jason Swain leads the Cat. 2 40-49 start
Austin Berger almost got run over by an indecisive rider during the Cat. 2 50+ start The guy couldn't decide which line he wanted to take once he came off the road.
SERC Clemson start clips video
The group bottled up as expected and I actually had a nice gap in the first section. I was about 10 seconds ahead when I reached the first fire road climb. I tried to settle down and not blow up, which was hard to do. This was the first time I had ever led a SERC race. I knew the group would catch me and it would be chaos when they got there. I was surprised to make it about a mile before they got to me. As expected, attacks started as soon as they got there. The accelerations were hard, but I was able to hold onto the front group of seven to the next singletrack section.
The pace was not bad in the singletrack, but each time we reached a fire road there were constant attacks. The second of the three long fire roads hurt me. Our group grew to over 10 on this section, then the climb got tougher and the group split. I found myself between the front group of seven and the chase group behind. I put in a hard dig near the top of the climb and got back onto the group as we entered the singletrack once again. There was a climb in this piece of trail and it blew the group to pieces. I was 8th in the line, but was still 2nd in Pro at this point. I had a hard time getting past the 7th place guy. By the time I succeeded, the group had not only gapped us, but they had busted up all over the course. I pushed it hard to get across to two riders by the start of the final descent. I passed them both as we started the descent and tried to run down the four leaders that were now 30 seconds ahead.
I got rid of one rider on the descent. Chris Lessing stayed with me. The lead group was made up of Pro leader Kyle Ellis and three 19-39 riders, who were Bobby Jones, Simon Lewis and Patrick Smith. Immediately upon starting lap 2, Smith flatted and was out for the race. I chased with Chris Lessing for most of lap 2. I would pull away from him in the singletrack, but he would pull me back on the the climbs. The leading trio were out of sight and working well together. Simon and Bobby are teammates so they were working hard together. Kyle was willing to work with them because they were helping pull him to the Pro win. Despite my efforts, I lost 30 seconds to the leaders on lap 2. The gap was still within a minute though so I kept chasing hard after them.
Wild Bill starts another lap
Mary Penta took 2nd in Pro/Cat. 1 Women today
I pushed hard on lap 3, but lost more time. I was 1:10 back from the three leaders, but I had now pulled away from Chris Lessing for good. My quads were tired on the fourth and final 6.5-mile lap, so I focused on pushing the pedals with my glutes. It helped a lot and I started to climb faster. This was the first race this year where I felt nothing at all in either of my gastrocs. I did good with my pedaling technique even while riding as hard as I could.
Leading group of Bobby Jones, Simon Lewis and Kyle Ellis
photo by GoneRiding.com
Me in the SERC Leader's jersey
photo by GoneRiding.com
Several times I thought I saw the leader ahead, but each time it was a lapped rider. I saw a rider far ahead on the last climb. I expected it to be just another lapped rider, but then I realized I was not gaining on the rider as quickly as all the others. When I realized that, I dug even deeper over the top of the climb. I flew into the descent and got a time check of 30 seconds from one of the EMTs at the top. If that was Kyle, there was a chance I could get to him. My seat came loose in the first part of the descent and it began to tilt back and forth as I shifted my weight. I was forced to stand most of the way to the bottom. Halfway down I saw Kyle ahead. He had maybe 15 seconds on me and appeared to have no idea I was coming. I had to move through some traffic. One guy refused to give me room and I had to make a new trail through the bushes, but otherwise everyone gave me room.
The final part of the descent is straight and fast. I had Kyle in sight now with no riders between us. I pedaled every chance I got and did an aero tuck in the other spots. I jumped a log at one point in the tuck position with my hands next to the stem on a tilting seat. He still didn't know I was coming. I wanted to catch him just before we exited the woods. I had spied out a line yesterday where I could pre-jump a dip and then scrub jump over a ditch crossing through the weeds. After that, there was no hope of passing. It was a tight, off-camber left turn around a tree right before the line.
He finally looked back and saw me coming just in time to speed up and keep me from getting to him before the ditch. I wanted to go right and take my momentum up alongside him, hopefully making him overshoot the left turn and giving me shot at the crossover pass. He looked back again and drifted right, which made me have to switch to the left. There wasn't much room on the left and he crowded me into a tree just before the left turn. It was annoying to be run into a tree instead of him just racing me straight up for the turn, but that's racing. He took a great defensive line and there was nothing I could do to get by.
Kyle Ellis wins the Pro race
A close second for me
While second place was a great finish, I was crushed to have been so close to winning my first SERC Pro race. I want to win one of these races so bad! It's also about $75 difference in payout. The goal was to defend my points lead and I did do that, increasing it by one over Nathan Haslick, who finished third today. Nathan looks like he will be my biggest challenger if none of the other riders show up at the next round. I am only three points ahead of him after this race.
As for the Cat. 1 19-39 battle up front, Simon was able to gap Bobby on the last lap to get the win. Chris Lessing held on for third despite having some tired legs after doing a 3-hour race the day before at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, GA.
Pro/Cat. 1 Women's podium
Cat. 1 50+ podium
Cat. 1 19-39 podium
Cat. 2 Junior podium
Pro Men podium
Me on the SERC Series Leader podium
White Wave riders ending their first lap
Our new friend Jack Wery
Sean Hulse wins the Cat. 3 19-39 class
Kevin Rigby wins the Cat. 3 40-49 class
Daniel Esteban takes the Junior 15-18 win
Jack finished 3rd in Junior 15-18
I really was not looking forward to this course, but I really had a good time on it today. I even took another lap after the race. My seat continued to move around despite me tightening it several times. It seems the seat clamp bolt on the seatpost with loosen up after a few bumps and then let the clamp move. I'll have loc-tite on that bolt next week for sure! I was very pleased with how I rode today. The endurance is getting better, my pedal stroke is getting better and I'm keeping up on fire roads.
Our waterfall hunt was not over yet. On the drive home, we stopped by Issaqueena Falls and the Stumphouse Tunnel near Walhalla, SC. Both are inside the same park. We checked out the tunnel first. It was a railroad tunnel started in 1852 to connect Charleston to Knoxville. After completing 1,617 feet, construction stopped due to the Civil War and a lack of funding. It was never resumed. You can walk through most of the tunnel, but bring your water shoes. The tunnel leaks quite a bit and you had to walk through puddles at several points to get to the back.
Stumphouse Tunnel
From inside
From way inside
Pond near the tunnel
Issaqueena Falls is a beautiful 200-foot cascade over black rocks. This was probably my favorite of all the waterfalls we saw this weekend. You can view it from the top and bottom via the short trails from the parking area. It's an easy walk to the top which can be completed by anyone, even in a wheelchair. It's an easy walk to a middle viewpoint as well. But to reach them bottom, you have to take a very gnarly trail down with many rock ledges, off-camber banks and root balls to climb down. It was another crowded waterfall, but the people were not quite as crazy as they were at Riley Moore Falls yesterday. Like Noccalula Falls in Alabama, there is a Native American tale behind the name of these falls. Issaqueena was a Native American girl that heard her tribe was going to attack a group of white settlers. She rode a horse to the settlement to warn everyone. Her tribe then attempted to capture her for her betrayal and chased her to this waterfall where she pretended to jump and hid behind the falling water to evade her captors.
Walking toward Issaqueena Falls
Top of Issaqueena Falls
View from the middle viewpoint
Issaqueena Falls from the bottom
Shannon and I read about a secret trail that takes you behind the falls. After a little searching, we found the trail and followed it to a ledge that goes underneath the first drop of the falls. It was an interesting viewpoint. We were the only ones that took this trail so we were able to enjoy this view in peace.
Behind the first drop
We shot video at each of the falls we stopped at today. You can see our short video below, just be sure you go to the bathroom first. The flowing water will get to you!
Video: Waterfalls on our trip
We took our time getting home, stopping for some more mountain views in Georgia and just enjoying our weekend before time to return to real life and back to the chaos of house work and moving. Next up on the race calendar is the next round of the Georgia State Championship Series as I try to pull myself into contention for the series overall with a short track and XC in Columbus, GA.
Popcorn Overlook on Hwy 76
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