By Mike Lesondak:
First, a big shout out to all of the volunteers who kept us stocked with food and supplies at each rest station.
Let’s see, 11,000+ feet of climbing over 63 miles in Pisgah National Forest on my single speed, what could be so hard about that?
I only set one goal for this race (besides finishing), if I could do it in 8”ish” hours, I would be more than happy. Off we go at 8am led by the police out of town (Old Fort, NC) up Mill Creek Rd. We peeled off Mill Creek and onto Old Rt. 70 and begin climbing up to the first single track portion of the course, “Kitsuma”. It was pretty much hike-a-bike up Kitsuma. This was mostly due to jamming hundreds of riders of varying skill level onto a single-track climb with no room to pass.
From the top of Kitsuma, we coast down fast, flowy downhill back to Mill Creek Rd where we pick up the fire roads again. Next, we climb up to Star Gap, which flew by. I was feeling great at this point, cruised up to the top, and had a relaxing descent down to Rest Stop 2, 26 miles in.
Now the fun starts, the 10-mile climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway via Curtis Creek Rd. I just settled in and kept ticking over the pedals, stopping occasionally to catch my breath or to walk a bit when I couldn’t push over the pedals anymore (the recipe for the rest of the day). We crested the climb at the parkway and across to rest stop 3 (36 miles) after gaining approx. 2800’. A quick fill up and back down we go only to gain it back as we ascend another fire road back up to the parkway to rest stop 4, 44 miles in.
From here, we ride up the parkway to the second single-track portion of the course, “Heartbreak Ridge”. It’s a short hike-a-bike up the trail to begin the long descent down Heartbreak, which was a rocky, rooty, exposed technical (fun) downhill. We take Heartbreak all the way down to rest stop 5, 52 miles in to the home stretch. I was feeling pretty fatigued at rest stop 5, but had avoided any major cramping and only a slight twinge in my knee at this point (It only hurt when I walked...so, simply dont walk, right? I wish!).
Approx. 10 miles to go, unfortunately, most of that was climbing and we get to see Kitsuma again. This time there was no bike traffic on Kitsuma, but at this stage, I was too tired to attempt to ride up it and resorted to walking. My knee was pretty well done at this point. It hurt to walk, but I was too tired to ride. I basically hobbled, using my bike as a crutch all the way up Kitsuma. I lost quite a bit of time there, as I had to stop often to give my knee a break. However, I quite literally kept pushing on to the top. Once there, it was down, down, down to the finish!! I came into the finish 8 hours 32 minutes after I had started. I was happy with that time as I completed it in 8”ish” hours. I guess not too bad for an old, out of shape, battered up, single speeder.
Pre-ride Last Rest Stop
Finish Line Post-ride Recovery
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