P”ain”BAR 2010

This year I thought I was more prepared for PMBAR than ever. I had some long road rides under my belt. We did a 7 hour PMBAR training ride two weeks before the race. It was going to be the year we went big and cracked the top ten! Then about 10 days before the race I hear second hand that my teammate has severely sprained his ankle and may not be able to race. Not good, but we have been through some pretty bad things before. Why should this year be any different?

So…

Friday I left the house around 1:30 and got to the campground at 4:30. Jonathan was already there preparing his things for the race tomorrow. This shows that he is maturing or that my AR (anal retentive) tendencies are rubbing off on him. Normally he prepares everything the morning of and forgets at least 3 things. The next order of business was tapping the keg. This is when I noticed that his ankle was not in good shape. As we carried it to its hiding spot, he limped most of the way. Not a good sign considering we would be doing a lot of hike a bike tomorrow. Then the statement was made, “you need to drink and have a hang-over to equal out my sprained ankle”. It took little persuading for me pour my first glass and my last was not until 6 hours later. Suffice to say there was some trash talk and BS flying before I hit the sleeping bag that night.

Saturday I woke up around 6:30 got dressed and we rode out to the start / finish. Despite having poorly hydrated the night before, I felt pretty good and ready to race. Eric handed out the maps, said “Go”, and we were off up Black again. Riding a SS behind geared riders really sucks!!! Eventually I just gave up pedalling to climbing and started hiking most of the way up. We got to Pressley Gap in about 40 minutes and then started down Maxwell. At the intersection of Maxwell and Claw Hammer there were teams going in every direction. Half were going towards the horse stables and the other half towards the top of Black. Bruce, “Denny” came through and his partner had taken a left towards the stables without letting him know what direction he was going. He looked at me confused and asked what direction he went. I told him the correct way, and Bruce looked at me like I was BSing. I assured him that it would be “F”d up to lie about that and really he went to the stables. They ended up with a 4^th place finish. Maybe I should have lied. Then this lady comes by me a few times and starts cussing that her “Dumb Ass, Teammate, Husband left her”. Since I did not know who that was I could not give her any information and she started climbing Claw Hammer. After changing and eating I started my climb up. Feeling pretty good at this point, I just kept the pedals turning and made it to the top to meet Clay and Toby coming over the top of Black. I waited on Jonathon and then we followed after down Buckhorn. At the intersection of Buckhorn and S.Mills we made a team decision to stay on Buckhorn and grab Pilot first. One reason is the climb up Pilot is a bear and there were potential thunderstorms that evening that would really make Pilot treacherous. The climb up Pilot went well. The views along that climb are some of the best in the forest and the clouds were just starting to break up. Still feeling good, we grabbed the first check point and headed down Laurel. At Yellow Gap we proceeded to 5000 with little hesitation. Stopped at North Mills Campground for one water bottle and then started the climb up. Thanks to the volunteer for the PBR and we headed back down. We learned at that point that most teams ahead of us had already got 2 check points which meant that they made the opposite decision that we did and went Squirrel first. I started doubting our route choice, and completely blamed it on Laroy even though I helped make that decision over 2 hours ago. The climb back up to Yellow was tough. The heat and humidity was really starting to get to me and I walked the first part of fire road right before the gap. I was entering the mouth of the cave. We paused at 5015 for a second and started the descent. Snagged #3 and started our climb up to Squirrel. At this point our paces were about the same and I could feel the cramps starting. I got to the intersection of Squirrel a few seconds ahead of Jonathan and we took a few minutes to gather ourselves before riding one of the most demanding trails in Pisgah. The long technical climb up was very taxing. I was making stupid errors while riding and then cramping up when trying to dab. It was a balancing act to keep moving without balling up in a mass of cramping muscle. Once we got to the 4^th and our final check point, all I could think of was keep moving and get back to the start / finish. I knew exactly was lay ahead of me and it seemed I had done it many times before. All we had to do was climb out of Squirrel, up S. Mills and then up Buckhorn descend Claw and then the final climb up Maxwell. On a normal day this is a fairly easy ride, but today it was pure metal and physical torture. At the bottom of Maxwell we started our climb. I climbed most except for two places where the grade was just too much. While standing, my calves and quads would cramp, and while sitting, the insides of my thighs would cramp. At this point, the only way to not cramp was to walk. Then I turned around and saw 4 racers heading my way. All I could think was that I was about to cost us two positions. So, I got back on the bike and fought on. They passed us, but must have been waiting on other riders, because they stopped at Pressley and waited. We kept going and started the sweet descent down Black and to the finish. We made it in 9 hours and 46 minutes for a 19^th place finish out of 100 teams. This is right in line with where we have been the last few years, but this year hurt like it was the first time. Another great PMBAR in the books!

We stuck around for our 19^th place prize, and then we headed back to the camp for the celebration. I wanted to stay and party, but my body made me go to bed. It was a rough night and Sunday hurt too, but I am already looking forward to next time.