My first race back after our trip was at Land Between the Lakes at Race to the Canal. This is always one of my favorite races. I really like the point-to-point course and the longer distance. I had not been able to ride, but once since we came back from our trip, so I didn't know what kind of legs I would have on race day. I had spent most of my week picking peppers and catching up on the garden from our time away. Some of the reason for time off the bike was that my finger was still aching. It hadn't hurt a lot, but it was still swollen and sore. I was a little worried about if my finger could take 34 miles of mountain biking right now. The day before the race I was able to get in a little over an hour and only had some slight aching, so I figured it would likely be able to stand the race. i never did go to the doctor and have it looked at . I don't think there was much they could do for it and I really didn't want to go in just to get an x-ray that I would have had to pay for.
Like last year at Race to the Canal, registration was slow and everybody got to their start points late. The start was delayed for nearly 20 minutes before we finally got underway. Rain was threatening and the dark clouds loomed as we sat on the start line. It looked like we were riding into sure rain.
I didn't feel great in my warm-up and didn't want to lead everyone like last year, so I took it easy on the start and went into the woods in sixth out of seven starters for the Pro/Cat. 1 Open class. We started off fast and things began to split up on the first climb. I was not ready for the effort of that first climb and let the group go for a few miles. I just rode smoothly and caught up in the corners and on the descents. Zach Wilkins fell out with a flat, moving me up to fifth. Then Bobby Jones fell off the pace and I moved into fourth.
Jaron Wood with the Pro/Cat. 1 Open holeshot.
Me hitting the trail in sixth.
Kevin Bohanon and Gib Morehead were the only two riders in Cat. 1 40+. Gib was having a good time.
Cat. 1/2/3 Open Class
Once I got back to the front group, I sat on the back just trying to save myself for later in the race. My legs seemed to be getting better by the time we got to Sugar Bay about 14 miles into the race. This is where the North-South Trail is closed and the race has to detour around the closed portion with a long gravel and dirt road section. You definitely want to be on a wheel here as you can gain a lot from the draft. There is a big climb just after you start the gravel road portion. It is so steep that they paved it so trucks hauling boats and campers can climb up it. Grant Wilson put in a few small attacks on the climbs, but couldn't get a gap. Our front group of four were still together at the Feed Zone as we turned from the gravel road onto the dirt road. The group was Grant, Jaron Wood, Dustin Burkeen and myself.
Me leading at the Feed Zone.
Burkeen came to the front on the next long climb along this dirt road. It put us all on notice that he meant business. I struggled to hang on the back. It seemed like my legs were now going away instead of getting better. It hurt me to stay with them until we reached the singletrack and I got a break on the next descent. The trail then gradually climbs up to Duncan Bay. Burkeen kept the pace high and I fell off the back, losing about 10 seconds by the Duncan Bay gravel road crossing with 18 miles to go.
I lost sight of the leaders for a while, then saw Jaron ahead. He had been dropped by Burkeen and Grant too. I worked hard to pull him back, but he got out of sight again just before the Birmingham Ferry road crossing where we took another feed. My finger started to hurt about an hour into the race, but after 30 minutes the aching stopped and it was fine the rest of the day.
Grant now leading Burkeen at Birmingham Ferry.
Grant had his game face on today.
Jaron chasing in third.
Me in fourth at Birmingham Ferry.
I pushed hard to Pisgah Bay, but didn't make up any time at all on any of the three ahead. I didn't feel that tired, just lacking in the speed department. I still kept pushing to try to catch Jaron, but I was losing time. Grant ended up leading into a sprint finish with Burkeen and held him off for the win. Jaron held on for third over five minutes back, while I was 11:06 back by the finish in fourth. Grant and Dustin were really rolling at the end! Other than a few sprinkles in the closing miles, the rain held off for the whole race.
The week after Race to the Canal, I was doing my riding on the mountain bike early in the mornings and then boxing up peppers in the afternoons. Our super hot Ghost and Trinidad Scorpion peppers were finally ready to be picked and boxed up. We sold them all quickly and continue to grow our little farm business. We are also steadily selling all kinds of veggies from our roadside stand. Things have been going well at the farm lately.
Morning trail time by the pond.
Refelections
Carrots did ok this year considering how hard our dirt is.
Trays of Habaneros for the stand.
Trinidad Scorpion peppers
Ripe red Ghosts and Scorpions
Boxes of peppers ready to be delivered
Can't believe we can grow this many peppers, let alone sell them all.
I have been wanting to get Shannon a nice bike for a long time now. She doesn't have her own bike. She rides on my old road bike and my Dad's old mountain bike. It took a long time to find the right bike for her, but the new Specialized Women's Epic finally looked to be the one. We tried to get one before our trip out west as they were scheduled to be available in September. But the release date kept getting pushed back so they still weren't available when we left. Jeremy Chambers from MOAB Bikes called me while we were hiking up Mount Olympus and said they were now available for order. So we ordered her a mint green and black Epic Comp Carbon and it finally came in this week. They built it up for her and we were able to go pick it up. She loved the color and was pretty happy to finally have her own bike. She more than deserves it. We even got home from the shop in time to take it for a test run on our backyard trail that same day. Thanks Jeremy for again taking care of my family and helping us to ride awesome bikes! The bike features a full carbon frame, the new Rockshox Brain rear shock and Reba RL fork with 100mm of travel. The drivetrain is SRAM GX 11-speed with a single-ring up front mounted on a Race Face crank and a 10-42 cassette. The wheels are Roval Control 29 alloy rims with Specialized hubs and DT Swiss spokes. Specialized aluminum bars, stem and seatpost round out the cockpit and SRAM Level TL hydraulic disc brakes provide the stopping power. It's a nicely spec'd bike for the money.
Shannon with her new bike just after leaving MOAB Bikes.
Fist ride on it at home.
Next race on the calendar was the Lock 4 Six Hour Challenge. More on that in the next post as I got a bit of a surprise before the race.
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