Farlow Gap

Yeap we had been in Rosman, near Brevard, NC for over 2 weeks and the SS was still strapped in the basement of the bus. The road bike even came out already! After a giggle ride with Tammy, I swapped the gears from the Ferrous to the Lynskey Pro29 w/ Blacksheep Ti Fork (Closest thing I got to suspension!).

I have really missed this bike. It is so much lighter and more resilient than the Ferrous w/Bontrager carbon fork!

I needed to decide if  "A" I was going to race that weekend and "B", would it be the Couch Potato or the Swank.

I got my warm up on route 64 and headed up Cathy's Creek to 471D, which gets you to Butter Gap. Take that down and take Long Branch up to 475. Take a left and continue to 229 (Pilot Mtn rd) and climb it up to Farlow gap. Then Decide just how much nerve you have. Just how much you ride and when you should walk. Both very poignant  and souls searching questions. Yet so vital to one's race choice decision.

I had one of those silly meetings with the ground shortly before the Farlow Gap DH. Must have been a mountain gnome, as I could not find any other cause.

The Mountain literally slapped me in the face. As if to say "YOU MUST RESPECT ME!" and served to keep me focused the rest of the way down and keep me from getting too cocky!

I took video of the descent, but it was so long, had so much walking and most of the riding was so rough it was just a blurr. So unless I get specific requests, I will not waste the bandwidth.

Wes Dickson of Sycamore Cycles and one of the areas top racers, said to treat Farlow as an adventure and that I did. I have to thanks Wes for letting me replace the spoke that that gnome took out and introducing me to Heather of Blue Ridge Adventures.

I went for the challenge The Swank and even contemplated going back to back as some others did.

Here is what I wrote on Strava Shortly after I popped my Farlow Gap cherry;

Farlow was ok. A bunch of hike a bike at the beginning. Maybe with slack angles and a lot of time riding one and I could ride some of what I walked. (Said idn Yoda's voice) To old to start the training , he is Mhmm! A couple sketchy creek crossings , but mostly rideable WITHOUT suspension. Not sure how it goes from 4k to 8k between the Couch and Swank. I got a little more than 3K between Pilot Mtn(229) and the up part of the Farlow DH. To me going up Pilot Mtn and down Farlow is better than the other way around. The Swank will be a good way to start out the IMBA 5000 meter climbing ending 11-9
P.S. I finally got the Ferrous set up as a SS, But have not ridden it yet!

Racing Swank 65

Swank gave me over 6K ft of climbing. My Garmin showed 6K, Strava was 6,250/(6,146 elevation corrected). Garmin Connect registered 6304/(11,670? Elevation corrected).  It was advertised as 8K. Any way you slice it, it was a lot of climbing in just 40 miles (65 km).

Without help from Heather and Todd from Blue Ridge Adventures, I would have had to sit this one out.

Very low key and relaxed, yet started on time, just like the Couch Potato. Most races I do have many classes and age groups, Swank and Couch Potato keep it simple with just mens and womens Open class. It was sort of a controlled start down the fire road crossing the creek on a narrow bridge or a cold shower to start the race with wet feet on a coldish day. Still, some took the creek to jockey for a better start position.  I took the bridge.  The race was on!

I decided to to use my usual strategy on longer races, go hard but not in the red zone. I passed a few after the official start and closed that gap. We had a nice conga line going into the first single track connecting to the Cove Creek climb. Passing was tough, but not impossible. I followed Paula Burk (Eventual Womens winner) while she picked off a few groups of riders. Then I passed Paula (only for her to pass me on Pilot MT later on). I put a good gap in, still well behind the leaders. Then as I made the end of Cove Creek onto 225 to Daniel Ridge.  I saw another rider that was caught up in the pack and had made it through. I forget his name, I believe I did a night ride out of Sycamore with him a week or two back. I tried to stay on him and did so for a while, as he was reeling in another rider. Once things started going down, he pulled away, he rode it like he knew it and I just couldn't go as fast without suspension. I did catch a couple other guys on the way down. I thought I heard Wes Dickson of Sycamore Cycles at rest stop one, later I learned he broke his chain in 2 places on the start. I put in a good climb on the fireroad to Glouster. Joe did catch up just before 471D. We rode and talked a bit up towards Butter Gap. I asked him if he was a good descender and he said I caught him on Daniel Ridge and let me lead on the Butter Gap DH. We slinkied a bit on the rollercoaster climb that is Long Branch, emerging back on FS 475 almost together. Joe stopped at the rest stop. I still had juice in my camel back and bottle and did not want to carry any more. Joe complained a bit that I did not stop, but caught up quickly and we paced each other for the first mile, when I had to go to the granny and watch him slowly pull away. Paula and one other came by before Farlow Gap. I got close to someone a few times, riding more than I expected of the rugged DH hike a bike. By the time I was back on Daniel Ridge, I was alone all the way down to FS 475 and Davidson River Trail. I thought I saw a single speeder there, but he turned left on 475. Some folks were attending to a rider that took a header on Davidson River. I had only been down 475B, a fast DH. The climb was not as bad as I anticipated. I knew it would be about 4 miles up 475B then 4 miles down Cove Creek. What I had not noticed were the descents on the initial climb up Cove Creek, but they became apparent on the way "DOWN". I was happy to clean the final creek crossing. Finishing 21st of 97 starters. Almost an hour out out of 2nd and 3rd, which were 25 minutes off of 1st! Sam Koeber rode all of Farlow Gap on his Fuel EX.

Here is some awesome video from Land of Sky Media


2014 Couch Potato

Couch Potato Videos

After helping park cars, I videoed some of the race start. Later on I pointed folks left after the creek crossing at the end of the Cove Creek DH.

I was amazed at how low key and yet on time the start was.

Some folks got off course. I had no such problem the next day at the Swank. But I could see how one could miss the, even the sometimes HUGE, signs, if due to nothing else, being beat up by the rugged Pisgah terrain. The combination of fatigue, hyper focus and pack following, on occasion, had me questioning my turn choice, even after a big sandwich board sign on a part of the course I was pretty sure of.

As I marshalled the penultimate turn, more than one rider asked me which way to turn while I was pointing and standing next to the left turn sign and blocking going right. They were probably more concerned crossing the creek and the short tech up, just before the the turn. Very few riders made it up clean.

Here are videos I got between the creek and the finish.

DAMN YOU STRAVA!

I generally don't pay much energy on Strava challenges. But they had a 5000 meter (16,404ft) climbing challenge from IMBA. I am in climbing heaven and Swank gave me over 6k ft. And I had worked out a century road ride with 2 HC climbs, netting over 10k. But the spirit was dirt so I went back out and got over 5k each on a Pisgah explore/bushwack, (Walking counts right, forgot my machete) ride and an awesome Dupont ride. So I got the spirit of the challenge, but it took a lot of time and it exhausted me to the point that I am just getting to blogging and video editing.

Damn you Strava!

Swank 65/Couch Potato

My focus has not been on racing this year. As such I don't look for races. The Couch Potato and the Swank 65 are this weekend November 2nd and 3rd respectively. I was riding Saturday and ran into a Mike and Alastair and  rode with them for part of their ride. Today I found Mike's file,which he named Couch Potato. I downloaded his file to my Garmin to do as part of today's ride. I wondered what the name meant, until Chris and Chad rolled up while I was talking to some guys about wheel size. They were looking for the racecourse this weekend and 650b guy (sorry I did not ask their names) gave Chad and Chris directions. I asked them if I could tag along. Then I put together the name of the race and Mikes file name. I heard about the Swank on the Sycamore Thursday shop ride. I just assumed it was far away.

Also, I have been busy riding as, almost all my rides out of our basecamp Adventure Village has been an epic. See them below.

The Couch Potato is the "easiest" of the two races, with only 4,000 ft climbing over it's 30 miles. The Swank spins the dial way past ten, breaks it off and throws it in the fire, ascending 8,000 feet in only 40 miles! Holy crap! Even the easier course is epic, the Swank is EpiHC.

I have to ride Farlow gap, before I decide which one to take on. There is so much climbing in Pisgah that I do not think the SS is an option. On top of that most folks here use full suspension. Chris and Chad had hardtails, they were looking to do the Couch Potato, cause Farlow gap apparently needs a dually. Here I sit with only fully rigid bikes. I may have to put the gears on my Lynskey with the Blacksheep fork, then maybe I would have a chance. I have not ridden SS since I have gotten to this neck of the woods. I rode Dupont SS last November though. Dupont is no Pisgah!

2014 Couch Potato

The Bike Farm Pisgah

I meet some very interesting folks a the weekly ride is led by the tour company "The Bike Farm Pisgah", I know, the name, does not exactly fall off the the tongue. I needed co-owner Cashion's business card to remember it, but I am a bit dyslexic. Although, the tagline is more memorable; " Cultivating good times from the dirt up"  Look them up on the  Web and on Facebook. If you want to get some history on them, read Eva Surls and Cashion Smith's original Blog.

I found out about the weekly Wednesday night ride after a stop at The Hub bicycle shop in Brevard, North Carolina. The ride rolls from from Oskar Blues Brewery at 6 pm. You will need lights this time of year. I pulled out the black tape to help shim one young riders Night rider to his 25.4 handlebars. The first couple miles on the paved bike path would usually serve as a warm  up, but a gusty cold front was pushing through. It was nice to get into the woods. Cashion pulled a light for a rider without one. After the set up we got going down the gravel that slowly became more and more flowy.

This is a more casual, no drop ride. This night we had a dozen or more riders. Some had been out for a few hours already. We went up Grassy and down Sycamore. Eva said that this ride was a little shorter than the usual couple hours, due to that. We finished up at the brewery. I would have joined the others for a pint, but since going gluten free, I have not had a beer. I thought it best not to tempt myself.

 For best results play at the highest quality, 1080 preferably. The second video, in the playlist, is my first time filming in the dark,so I got just a little usable video. Go to the bottom for the night ride on Vimeo. Seems like they do HD with less fuss.
TheBikeFarmPisgahOdarkOclockb from MTB Epic Rides on Vimeo.

Tour de Lilly 2013

More thanks to Travis Olson for sending me out the word on the Tour de Lilly from Blackwater bikes in Davis, West Virginia. In just the nick of time, might I add. This is a pretty low key event on some of the same trails as the Revenge of the Rattlesnake . Low key but high quality and fun. They even laid out  a major spread for lunch out on the trail. You could try, but you would be hard pressed to find a better trail guide than Blackwater's owner, Roger Lilly, and he still gots some skilz. I followed his line more than once.

35 strong, we rolled out from the back of the shop at about 10:15 on a beautiful dry Saturday morning. Particularly in contrast to snow they had one year and the damp, rainy, cloudy summer they had this year.

The dirt starts just out of town, on Blackwater Road. It is a nice warm up on fairly level dual track. The first single track climb was leaf strewn (the season was aptly named Fall), with several logs as obstacles as well as a bunch of natural rock features. While every rock, root and log were ridable, I doubt many cleaned the entire trail. There was just enough mud for variety.

We were treated to a real estate pitch from Susan Hayward, I think she was joking. :-)

We rode part of Plantation to Lindy and after some lunch headed back to town, while the rest of us went down the Allegheny trail to check out how the trail maintenance was turning out. Then back up.

Roger took the main group down the pipeline, while Jonathan took a few of us down Davis. Davis is a rockin DH, that kept you on your toes, demanding total focus, especially on a fully rigid bike. We finished up on the Yellow trail. I can't remember the name, but a slight change of spelling was more descriptive of the technical nature of this short, steep, rocky/rooty featureful trail that led back down to Blackwater Falls Road and back to the shop. Post up if you can tell me the name of this trail. Thanks.

Also let me know if you can tell the difference in quality of the first two videos in the play list below. The were similar on my iPhone, but on a PC they were different.