The $20,000 cash payout attracted a stellar field of Male and Female endurance and XC mountain bikers. Race venues were in the Pisgah national forest which is located about 100 or so miles directly due west of Charlotte.
Ross finished the 5 day stage race in 2nd place in the Elite Masters 40+ category, with more than 18 hours of racing. Jeremiah Bishop took top honors in the Pro men's field and Amanda Carey won the Pro women's race. The race was covered by the Cyclingdirt website and they did a post-race interview with Ross!
Below is Ross' race report in his own words. Certainly a completely different type of mountain biking than what most of us do.
"Why would someone from altitude who prefers cold weather races of less than 2 hours head out to the Pisgah National Forest of North Carolina in the middle of an intense Indian summer to race mountain bikes for 5 consecutive days? . . . For fun!"
"I’ve wanted to experience the growing popularity of mtb stage racing, though I was still hoping it would cool off a bit. I wouldn't be heading out alone either, but with a buddy Ron from Virginia - a friend that I try to do a race with each year. For the first time in several years we would be racing the same category – at Pisgah this was the Elite 40+ class."
"The first stage was a straightforward 12K hillclimb in the Dupont National Forest - predominantly double-track and fireroad. Per usual, just getting to the start after flying in late the night before proved to be a challenge. After a few last minute phone calls for directions, we joined the group of 50+ racers for a le mans style start. Le Mans start? Hmmm, maybe my preferred choice of road shoes was not so great after all. After a good laugh, I jumped on my bike in near last place, but a short section of pavement helped me out and I was quickly up with the leaders. Up we go and the leaders are really getting after it. Into the woods, and now a dry creek bed/road for about a mile. Wow this is rocky - I really needed to get myself together - try to remember how to ride this rocky, ledgy stuff.""Near the top I'm pretty sure I'm leading my class by a nice margin and start to cut the effort a bit in anticipation of the finish. Over the top and looking for the line then oops...time for some bonus single track. Super steep ups and downs (with some stairs and bridges), man this is hard, when is that finish gonna come, why is this taking so long? Should I start going hard again? After passing a few more intersections and course marshals I'm thinking I must be caught in some sort of endless loop, turn to head back up trail, now here comes the competition - idiot, why doubt yourself like that? Back racing on the trail but the followers close quick and they have the momentum. On the last super steep stretch to the finish Andy Johnston goes by and takes the leaders jersey by 7 secs. This is unfortunate, because I wouldn’t get this close to a stage win again."
"Stage two was the first of the Black Mountain venue stages. A convenient 10 minute bike ride from the hotel in an idyllic clearing in the Davidson River valley. On the way to sign-in for the 9am stage starts there would typically be a morning fog/mist that would quickly burn off as the sun climbed through the morning sky. Bang! and off we go for a quick pavement then fireroad start. The pace is really humming with Colby Pearce hitting the road hard, and Andy was quickly away with just a small group of pros on the fireroad. After 6 miles of climbing we were soon on one of the prime singletracks of the Pisgah National Forest – the Squirrel Gap trail. This trail was marked with dense rhododendron and minor technical challenges as it snaked in and out of the ravines coming down the mountain. This is my kind of riding and for most of the race I was having the most fun and made the most time on trails like this. Thanks to all the technical singletrack I would get within 15 seconds of Andy before he punches it to build up a 5 minute lead by the end."
"Stage three began with a quick 20 minute shuttle filled with laughter from fellow riders from Black Mt. over to Kukyendall Camp for the start. An interesting twist to this le mans start as each rider needed to execute either a somersault or cartwheel within a defined area – violators would be penalized. I chose a somersault and didn’t hear of any penalties being levied. We began with a big (12mile) fireroad climb then a descent down the infamous Farlow Gap trail. Once onto Farlow, I found myself riding a bit too aggressively, encouraged as I rode almost up to Andy Johnson who was walking the trickier sections. Turns out he was making the correct call as I went a bit out of control after riding a particularly outlandish section, almost cased a tree (would have been a hospital visit) and then burped a tire badly. Note to self, if Andy is walking there is probably a reason. A big shout-out to Drew Scharns, who came barreling into this section at a ridiculous rate of speed. Amazingly, neither bike nor rider were injured in the ensuing explosion. Much of the rest of stage 3 was followed by big fireroad ups and downs. For the first time the sun and humidity worked me over and I finished in rough shape after battling all day with Garth Prosser – the battle with Garth at least kept it fun and interesting. The clock told the story and after losing 16 minutes to Andy I was no longer legitimately racing for 1st.""Considering how I felt at the conclusion of stage 3 I was truly concerned heading into stage 4. The start was a brutal singletrack climb with a hike-a-bike to the top of Black Mountain right from the gun. The following 20 miles of singletrack were tailor made for me though – super punchy steep ups and downs along the top of a ridge and next to a remote river. The rhododendron was so tight in places it was actually hard to see due to the blockage of all sun and light. Lots of ridable log crossings and cyclocross style run-ups made for a fun time. I had a blast on this section of trail, and was loving all the cool shade. I got to tag along with Drew S. and Colby for some sections which gave it more of a racing feel. Unexpectedly, this was the longest stage on time due to all the singletrack and in last hour I gave back some time, but overall it was my favorite day."
"It got better at the after-stage evening festivities as the evening movie was about the Great Divide race and even 6-time winner Matt Lee showed up to talk about it a bit, and say hi to everyone. Needless to say, Matt is as cool in person as he comes across both online and in the movie."
Check out his race here: http://tourdivide.org
"Only one stage to go and there was going to be no hiding the reality of how my legs felt riding over to the start – I was simply fried. I lined up in the very back for the first time in an effort to get the fullest draft on the opening 6 miles of pavement. Everything that wasn’t on pavement was tough going though, and I was actually concerned that I could lose a place if someone rose up and had a great day. Highlights of the day were riding in a 4 man pack of Elite 40+ guys (the first time we rode together all race) and racing down Pilot Rocks following Amanda Carey. I’ve never seen a woman descend something so brutally technical this fast. She remembered Green Mountain Sports from racing the Front Range 50 earlier in the year and had good things to say – keep up the good work guys and congrats to Amanda on another win. I crossed the line with a 5 day total time of 18:08:49 – my biggest weekly hour total for the year in just 5 days."
"Most people thought this was their favorite stage, but I was so out of it for most of the day that I can’t really remember too much. I even napped through the final podium presentation which was kind of a bummer – I guess Pisgah got the better of me in the end. The final post race party was a great time chatting with fellow racers and most everyone was happy to not have to race the following day!"
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