Offroad Assault on Mt. Mitchell

I should  have listened to Steve Baker......  awful.....just auful....... 

First thing you should note is that there is no BIKE or MOUNTAIN BIKE in the event name..... That is because you will be doing a "hike a bike" for much of the "ride"....

Jim Hoffmeister and I were in the top 5 oldest participants....  (says something about our sanity) with Jim being tthe oldest..... of the 400 (maxed out) entries only 275 finished.... Jim being one of them at 9:47...

And for me..... well there is something about Mt. Mitchell and me.... I had to bail at the 35 mile mark (60 mile total) due to heat exhaustion (once again), but this time the EMC guys told me to head back to town.... if I could make it! 

Words cannot begin to describe how awful and challenging (ie painful) this slugfest of a "mountain bike" ride was. I mean the descents were treacherous (I crashed 5 times), stressful (kamikazee cyclists without care for life or limb are zeroing in on you as you try to negotiate a 180 degree turn cut by a unicycle with a 200 ft drop off)..... rutted, rooted, STEEP climbs where all you can see ahead is cyclists pushing their bikes (up or down....)

And then the HEAT..... baking you as you did a 9 mile ascent up the exposed gravel climb of Curtis Creek Rd... (hey why are all these riders riding back down???    Dah....)   this is where I met my fate not a mile from the Blue Ridge where I just had to lay down in the shade......  and THAT... .....was it......

Jim slugged on.  Up to the BR thinking 5 hours with 22 left to go....maybe 3 hours..... wrong... He did not count on the thunderstorm and torrrential rain which turned a gnarly descent into a unrideable slick of red clay and wet roots......  almost 5 hours to go 22 miles......  But he finished with a smile on his face knowing he will never have to do that again......  (for me, if it has anything to do with Mt. Mitchell, I am NOT doing it...  never, ever again..... )

Here's to Jim doing Team Headstrong proud on one bad ass ride.......