Day 1:
We arrived at our camp spot around 11AM on Friday and were on the road bikes within the hour. 10 of us left for a supposed mid-tempo scenic ride that would take us through parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The first 13 miles were basically a climb from Brevard to the Blue Ridge Parkway with the last 7 or 8 miles being steep and slow. We get spread out and meet up at the top. We are now a group of 8 as two of the guys took an alternate route. We descend like crazy and pass cars and dump trucks. It was a little scary…. We were going over 40mph into turns that were posted for 20. Fun stuff. At the bottom the group gets back together and we start pushing the tempo. A nice paceline forms and we're holding a really quick pace of ~30mph for a really long time. We approach the next major climb and half the group decides to back off of the 98% effort and settle down to a 75%. We had two more days of mountain biking and we were going to be blasted!! In reality, no one slowed down and we continued to push it at 90something%. The final 8 mile climb started and this thing was really steep. We were strung out quickly and it took a solid hour to make it up (I wasn’t DFL up either climb!). As we approach the top there was ice all over the place and I was freezing.
We were now really high up on the BRP and the views were amazing. They don’t even maintain these sections of the parkway in the winter due to ice and debris from trees, so we had the whole thing to ourselves. Maybe the most beautiful road I’ve ever been on and it was closed to motorized vehicles! As we gradually descended the pace was somehow over 40mph for a while on what looked like a flat. I felt like I was now on a gradual incline but my speed kept increasing… this was an intense ‘false incline’ and we were apparently actually flying downhill. We approach a pitch black tunnel and I slow down. There were chunks of ice near the entrance and I couldn’t see anything on the inside. I was just waiting to hit some ice and go down. I come out the other side and I was now alone for the rest of the trip back to camp. It was mostly downhill and fast and I was freezing and beat. Not sure what happened to the guys in front or behind me. I kept waiting to be caught by someone but instead I caught 3 of the guys that were ahead of me. We make it back to the campsite and my computer informed me that I had just ridden 72 miles. That was easily the best road ride I have ever been on – too bad I was completely spent and we had two more days of riding ahead.
Day 2:
The next day we were joined by a few more riders and ~14 of us head out of camp on mountain bikes. I had never ridden in Pisgah and was glad that we apparently had plenty of tour guides. All I had to do was try to keep up – which proved very quickly to be very difficult. My legs were super heavy and by the time we make it up the first gravel road climb, I was wondering what these guys had planned for the day. Some of the group took a right into some nice single track and mention a ‘shorter loop’. The rest of the group takes a left and proceeds to ride straight up some massive water bar stairs. I follow them… this is my first apb camp so I can’t back down… This climb was brutal and I was anaerobic within 50 feet. Most of it was hike a bike (for me) or sometimes I would try to hold onto a tree while clipping back in. 20 feet later and I’d be force back off the bike again. I hike and look up and see a few of the guys hiking above me. We get to the top and they let me know that this is a ‘good preview’. We bomb down a steep downhill section that is covered in a foot of leaves and there were fallen trees every few hundred feet. I don’t think these trails had been ridden in the past year. There were several points where I would just lower my head and use my helmet as a battering ram to get me through a fallen trees limbs that were all over the trail. I have the scabs to prove it... This goes on for a couple hours and I was in pain. I finally come out of the woods and find the leaders of the group sitting and eating – they looked nicely recovered. Just as I roll up they said it was time to go – no rest for me!
We ride some absolutely amazing trails. I wish I had a map or made someone write down the trail names for me. We rode a lot of the trails that I’ve read about. I ran out of water and my bottle of Cytomax was only making my want to throw up – I was on the verge of a bonk. I had a couple really great crashes and spent more time in my small chainring on this ride than I probably have in all of my past riding combined. The ride finally ends and we are back on the gravel road to camp. Over 5 hours and 40something miles had passed…. Then – I look up and see my Faster Mustache crew peering up Bennets Gap. They had arrived that afternoon. I stop and chat and we all return to camp together.
To be perfectly honest – on that day (looking back is a little different) – this ride may have been on my 3 worst days on a bike list. I was blasted from the previous day’s road ride, my nutrition prior to the ride was completely lacking, my nutrition on the trail was non-existent, and the first two hours of hiking and climbing and sprinting to keep up did not start the day off in the right way.
Day 3:
I actually drove into town the previous night and bought some real groceries for dinner and breakfast. I didn’t have quite as many beers and tried to recover a bit. I wasn’t sure what we were getting into on Day 3, but if it was anything like the previous day I was potentially going to be feeling it in a bad way.
We added a few more riders and we now had a group of ~18 heading up the gravel road on mountain bikes. I’m told that today was to be a more ridable, shorter and a more fun day. I had eaten well and actually felt much better than I had 24 hours prior so I was tentatively up for anything, while at the same time relieved that today would be ‘more fun’. We climb up Bennet’s at a snails pace. It was funny because we were in such a tight pack climbing so slowly on the single track. We descend off the other side down to the highway. After a couple miles on the highway I find out that we’ll be doing a Fish Hatchery and Caney Bottoms loop. I’ve heard these are super fun and flowing trails and I’m stoked.
We climb some really long gravel roads to get to the trailhead. The trails were great and fast. The guys leading the way were so talented. I’ve never seen such smooth and powerful riding. I get a flat and change it and catch up and the pack is still tight and everyone is having a great time. We come out of a long fast descent and part of my FM crew was no where to be found. Some of the lead guys were actively training for the Cohutta 100 so I did not like making them wait. I had done enough of that on Day 2. We convience the group to split up and some of the guys stayed with me as we climbed back up the steep descent we had just come down to look for FM. We never did find them, but now we had earned another ride down that sweet downhill! We finished the loop and a couple of us decided to get in another. We took our time and soaked it all up. For the first time all weekend I had the chance to slow down and take in some of the views (with no camera). I can not believe that I’ve never been to Pisgah. It really is amazing up there and I can’t wait to go back.
We finish our second loop and explore some short single track just off the highway and finally get back to camp. Another 5+ hour day on the bike and it’s now time to pack up for home.
I’d like to thank team APB for being welcoming and a lot of fun. I have a huge respect for the team, especially after seeing them in action – we really do have some super strong riders and I look forward to taking more notes from these guys. I also want to thank some of the local crew who were fantastic tour guides. They know this forest like the back of their hands and linked up 3 days and almost 15 hours of ridiculous riding (an example of their knowledge without name dropping: 6 riders on these top 8 teams were at camp). I have to say that we had some the best riders in the region at this camp... A Top10 nationals pro, Trans Rockies winners, and some enduro-super stars. Super impressed and can’t wait for next year!
-time to go already??
-camp APB
-my tire also wanted to throw up
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