This race was seventh of ten in the SERC series and also a “make
up” race for the GSC series. Even
though I am leading the SERC series and GSC series, it never hurts to have “extra”
races in case of a bad day….more on that later!
I enjoyed racing Clemson last year, and the new trails for 2012 were
promised to be even better. It turned
out that Lizzi had a soccer tournament on Saturday pretty much on the way to
Clemson, and I wanted to make the trip a day early to ride the course anyway,
so I went to her tournament and made the trip up on Saturday, camping at the
venue on Lake Issaquena. I enjoyed road riding
in the mountains after the Clemson race last year with my brother Tom: http://gni-jclayton.blogspot.com/2011/06/clemson-mtb-race.html,
so my trip itinerary included staying Monday for that too. The race venue was at an old CCC camp just
north of the town of Clemson on Clemson
University property—they own a small lake, and thousands of acres of beautiful forests
complete with (as a local trail user told me) hundreds of miles of cycling and
horse trails and old logging roads. Lots
of shady trees, and small brook and a natural spring on location made for an
appealing area to camp. My pre-ride of
the course verified that the new trails were indeed fun, but quite challenging
as they were often handlebar-narrow, twisty, with ample climbing. There was about an even mix of singletrack
and doubletrack/jeep road, so passing wouldn’t be too much of an issue, and
good fitness a necessity to hammer up the climbs and on the rollers. It was getting close to dark after my one lap
pre-ride, and I ate dinner then made camp.
Sunday, by the 9:30 am race start time it was already sweaty-warm,
so hydration would be key. We only had
14 racers on the line in 40+ expert—I’d expected we’d have more like 20. The start took us on dirt road, around a 120
degree turn and into the woods. I ended
up forth wheel into the woods—a good spot, so I felt. By the time we’d exited the first short
stretch of singletrack onto a long jeep road climb, the first two guys had
quite a gap. I dug deep and bridged up
to the second guy (Eric Marland) while the first guy (Brian Schworm) continued
to gap us. I was joined a short time
later by Morgan Olsen and we left Eric a short ways back. I took advantage of Morgan by drafting him on
the downhill jeep roads (roadie trick) and as we started the long climb on the
second lap Rick Pile joined us. Rick
hurt himself bad in a crash at the Dausett race (broken ribs and compression fracture of
a vertebrae) so I was surprised and happy to see him back so soon. Rick attacked, and I followed, dropping
Morgan slightly. As we worked our way through
a twisty new cut section that had a lot of pointy pine stumps left, I felt the
back wheel get wobbly—I had punctured the rear tire! After unsuccessfully trying to get the Stan’s
sealant to do its job, I put a tube in the tire. I think I need practice—even though I didn’t
have any real issues doing the fix, it took me about ten minutes—way too
slow! Just about everybody in my class,
not to mention other classes passed by me.
But the fix worked, and now it was time to do “damage control”. In a way it is fun to try to come back from
behind as I can focus on catching instead of out running people. I passed all but three guys (Brian, Morgan
and Rick), making up a bunch of time.
Looking at my elapsed riding time, I would have come in second quite
easily without having flatted—that is assuming everybody else would have ridden
the same. So, while it was unfortunate
to have had a flat, and been so slow at repair, I am pleased at my performance
even though it meant my first time in the SERC and GSC not on the podium.
After all the post race camaraderie, and relaxing by the
creek, I took a nice hike with fellow
racer/pal John Hightower and then drove north to Keowee-Toxaway State Park to
camp. I had just enough time for a camp
dinner and then to bed before dark. The
temperature was nice for sleeping and the campground deserted, so I slept well. I had planned a route that built on last year’s
with Tom, going a little further north into the Blue Ridge and adding about ten
miles: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1343149 This year I would be solo. I was under way about 6:40 am…and sweating profusely
immediately in the morning humidity. My
legs were not too happy about demanding them to power up the long climbs that
came pretty quick, and I noticed my heartrate stabilized lower than I expected…maybe
a good thing considering I had 90 miles and over 11,000 feet of climbing
planned. After about two hours, I was
tired, but had been refueling (I had a mix of gels, bars, and bagels) and
rehydrating well. The climb up to owens
gap (3590’) on hwy 281 was particularly tough with mile long stretches of 11%
grade. It was after the descent off
Owens gap that I first became confused about directions, which meant a couple
extra miles of climbing and backtracking.
On a positive note, it led to a nice view and a chance to refill my
bottles at an unattended trailer campground.
Back on track, I passed two ladies walking and just to be sure I asked
them if I was on Wolf Mtn road. They
told me yes and to not cross the bridge ahead to stay on Wolf Mtn rd. So, I did as they said, and didn’t even note
what the road was that forked off and crossed the bridge—mistake! Wolf Mtn road went through spectacular
scenery—farms, canyons and ridge views. And
then it suddenly turned into a rough, steep dirt/rock road. It happened that a guy was scraping the road
just ahead as I was off the bike and pushing (barely even able to get traction
to walk). He told me that a storm had
washed away the road (basically dirt/gravel on top of a solid granite base)
recently. He also told me that the road
remained dirt for the next seven miles and while this was the worst section there
would be steep hills (up and down) and lots of mud holes—he was right on all
counts! Other than worrying about a flat
and breaking my cleats on the rock, I didn’t mind too much as the scenery was
nice, temperature cool, and no storms building up. I was able to slowly ride most of the road. I figured I must have overlooked the dirt
section on the satellite imagery though I couldn’t fathom how. The road ended at a T intersection with a
paved road at a mountain pass—not what I’d expected. So I had to decide which direction to go, and
chose left….down I went, again through spectacular scenery. The road eventually flattened out by a small
lake with a state park picnic area. I
stopped in to find water and hopefully a map—successful on both counts, though
it was deserted. A study of the map
revealed my location and my directional error.
I should have crossed the bridge back on Wolf Mtn road—that would have
kept me on paved road as my route had planned.
I would have also not have climbed up to the pass (4400’) or done the trip
down to Balsam lake…and then back up. In
good spirits, but knowing I still had a bunch of miles and climbing, I
backtracked up to the pass and down the other side. Down for awhile, and then back up to Pinhook
gap where I connected with hwy 215 several miles north of where I had planned
to. The rest of the ride went very
smoothly. It got hot, but I always had,
and drank, plenty of water. I finished
feeling spent but still strong after about 104 miles, and I’d estimate
13-14,000 feet of climbing. A fun, and
adventure, filled weekend!
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