Pisgah Stage Race- Day 2
White Squirrel Loop
September 18, 2013
29 (plus a few extra) miles, 5118 feet elevation
gain
Written by Jess
Video by Joël
Waking up and getting going was a little more
though today than yesterday, but both Joël and I felt fresh and ready to go.
As with day 1, the race started and ended at the
base of Black Mountain trailhead. But the course was much different than day 1.
The race started with an immediate climb; gravel
double track then rooty and twisty single track. Everyone was huffing and puffing with legs
screaming to get a good position right from the start. After a very painful first mile, we were
rewarded with a fast, flowing downhill.
There were a few roots and drops here and there but they just made the
descent more fun. After coming out onto a road and riding a short stint on
pavement it was time to repeat the climb that we started on. During the
previous downhill and road section, Joël and I passed two of the duo teams. It
felt good to be moving up in the ranks.
But this would soon change.
After the original climb, a volunteer dressed as
Darth Vader was directing racers. Somehow an entire bunch of us (some people
estimated as many as 20 riders) went the wrong way. The course was marked for a turn later in the
race and Darth Vader seemed to be pointing that way so that is where we all
went. After a mile or two of downhill we were stopped and told of the wrong doing.
We all turned around and climbed back up to reconnect with the correct trail.
To add injury to insult, it was more climbing which turned into steep single
track and eventually more walking sections.
As with yesterday, Joël gave me a push during
some of the uphills. Today he also carried my bike on some of the walking sections.
He can walk faster while pushing two bikes that I can walking and pushing my
bike on my own. That is what racing as a duo is all about, helping each other
out to go as fast as we can.
The rest of the race consisted of washed-out
technically challenging downhills alternating with long, arduous gravel climbs
with a few creek crossings thrown in just to keep things interesting. Characters such as Spiderman, Wonderwoman, and a gorilla made sure we did not stray from the correct trail as previously. We had no idea how we were doing in the team
standings, because of the wrong turn we took early on we did not know which
teams were in front and which were behind us.
But as the race went on we figured that out. We slowly caught up to and
passed the teams that as of day one were sixth, seventh, and eighth. It felt
good to know that despite adding on a few extra miles (and obviously extra time
and effort) onto our day our overall standing would not change.
Both Joël and I finished feeling exhausted. Was it because of the physical and mental strain of going the wrong way; a more difficult stage; or the fact that it is
day two? Or a combination of all, who knows.
After the race we spent some time socializing and trading race stories
with our friends from Curacao and those who we spent the day riding with. Our final race time was 4:24 putting us 5th for the day and 5th overall.
Joël's recap video for today
Dirtwire/Thom Parsons interview with us