Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race

An epic four day mountain bike stage race in the mountains of Western North Carolina A short time trial followed by 3 stages that cover 125 miles in 3 days. (Thursday October 15th, 2009 to Sundays the 18th).

Staged in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Pisgah National Forest, this part of the country is quite beautiful, think finishing scenes of the Last of the Mohicans, the movie was shot not far from there. This one has got me checking how much vacation time I have remaining for the year. Starting on Thursday October 15th the Tornado time trial seeds racers but does not count towards your stage placing followed by three straight days of Epic mountain biking.

Day 1: Tornado Time Trial: 6 mile time trial with 800' of climbing
Day 2: White Squirrel Loop: 37 miles. 9,000' of elevation gain
Day 3: Land of Waterfalls Loop: 41 miles. 9,500' of elevation gain
Day 4: Transylvania Loop: 47 miles. 12,000' of elevation gain

All the info: Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race

Month of Mud #2: Raccoon Township Cyclo-Cross

Great course at Raccoon Township Community Park. A week full of rainy days and morning precipitation prepped the course perfectly for the race. This is what cyclo-cross and the month of mud is all about.

Sharp turns and mud gave those with bike handling skills a distinct advantage and very few riders managed to navigate the race without at least one good slide out. Each lap wore the grass down in the tight turns and what had been previously navigable at speed the lap before was now slick mud. The sharp turns lured riders in and muddier and slicker than the previous lap it sent them skidding across the lawn.

Certainly the race reseeding fee will be put to good use.

Click here for an excellent race report and photo on Knobby Meats blog.

An hour of riding just didn't seem like enough for one day especially for my riding buddy who flatted out without even laying down a single lap.

We headed over to Bavington for a somewhat casual 11 mile loop of single track. The casual pace was perfect because the one hour cycl0-cross hammer fest had put much more of a hurting on me than I had realized. This loop was recorded by his Garmin 605 GPS/Cyclometer. This thing is fantastic.