Race Day

As I said yesterday the alarm came early, 5:30! We raided the continental breakfast bar and loaded the truck again. Old Fort 20 minutes later and unload the truck. Kelly and Chris get ready and I walk around and take a few pictures. First thing I see is a monster ambulance! 4 wheel drive and all, what kinda race needs a wagon like that......Hmmmmm.... Made me wonder.. 

The plan is for me to help them at check point 1 and 2. Then I would go back to Old Fort and park the truck. From there I would ride back to checkpoint 5 and ride the remainder of the race with them. So I wasn't even riding till around 1.

the start....

chris on left luke sugar on right...

Start at 8 and they where off. Chris lined up at the front and Kelly fell in a little further back. At the first checkpoint Chris was sitting in the top 20 and Luke was in top ten. Kelly was around 100, which ain't nothing to sneeze at! With 5 hundred people racing I would love to have been in the top 100. Things went well and then it was time to head to checkpoint 2.

I get there and it's around 10:30. Things are going well. Chris comes through and he's still in the top 20. Then he pulls the plug! He's using this race as a training ride for Leadville Colorado. "THE Leadville 100" Yea he made the field for this year's race.

So he does the climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and turns around and comes back to pickup Kelly. He plans to ride the rest of the race with him. Kelly comes through and he was in about the 140th position. After they leave I am on my own.

Back to Old Fort and I park the truck and get my stuff together. I have plenty of time to kill before I meet up with them. About 3 hours. I call the wife and chat a little and head to the store. I get a few snacks and eat then I head out. I have about a ten mile road ride to get back to the checkpoint I am meeting them at.

I get there take a nap and hangout for a little while, they come through about 2:15 and off we go. There's about 15 miles left to go, I have never riddin these trails so it's all new for me. Of course Kelly has ridden the whole thing so he's pretty whacked by now!

Chris has been keeping him in check and he's still kicking. So I get to ride Kitsuma trail and a few others, damn theres a lot of climbing in Pisgah! All the climbing comes with a lot of descending! The fun part !

When it's all said and done Kelly has managed a top 200 spot and finished in 7:29! Not bad for his first time and no training! So we load the truck for the last time and head to the house. I would call that a good weekend, maybe next year I might try it......