Pisgah Stage Race - Gnar that turned my frown upside-down

Why did the gnar turn my frown upside down? In 2017 I traveled to race the Pisgah 111k event with my good friend Dave Jolin. While I had originally intended on racing the stage race I thought it might be better to spend one day gaining perspective on the gnar rather than be frustrated with 5 days of single track that is over my head. At the time it was the right decision and after having experienced the 111k the trails were in fact way more technical than I could handle or wanted to handle. Honestly, they scared the crap out of me. Fast forward two years, with having taken skills clinics to improve my handling skills, improved bike equipment, and having raced more gnarly single track to continue to work on skills ... I made the leap to take a shot at the Pisgah Stage Race.

That isn't to say that I still felt ill-equipped and low in confidence with my bike handling skills heading into the race, but I wanted to at least give it a go having seen several of my Rescue Racing teammates take on and crush the challenge and conquering it. My teammates inspire me, provide me support, and encourage me to jump outside of my comfort level and I will always be thankful for their friendship.

I registered for the Age Group 40-49 however my ultimate goal in this event was to learn, grow, and spend time with other like-minded folks. Sure, we all like to do well and be competitive and I would be lying if I said that I didn't want to do well and that I wasn't watching results each and every day ... but the end goal was truly to gain confidence on technical trails.

Trail Difficulty Level: Easy, Intermediate, Very Difficult, Extremely Difficult

Stage #1 - CLIF's Looking Glass Route (stage video link)

Trails: Daniel Ridge, Farlow's Gap, and Cove Creek
Breakfast: coffee, oats w/ almond milk & cooked egg on top, banana & PB, sweet potato
Nutrition: One bottle of custom Infint Nutrition blend and one Muir Energy Gel at the start.

Bottom of Daniel Ridge (we descended this)

Well ... here we go! Lining up for the first stage of my first ever stage race ... nerve-racking for many reasons, however, that is par for the course. We had pre-ridden Daniel Ridge the day before so I had a good idea of the race start and what I had in front of me for the first 6-miles. During the pre-ride I took a few risks with riding features that I would have normally bailed on and walked due to lack of confidence. I session'd a few small drops along with the stair-steps and gained confidence all in a few short minutes.  Average finish time for the stage was predicted to be 2:40 and my goal was to be under the average time for every stage. Hey ... it's good to have goals, right?

It had rained quite a bit overnight, roughly 20-hours worth, and into the morning (we did have a dry start though) so I knew full-well that conditions would have changed since we rode the previous day, meaning things were gonna be a slip-n-slide. I had been given some great advice (see below) so used that to my advantage and worked on riding the roots on the embankment side of the trails (awesome advice, it just works!!). Stage one kicked off with Todd (the RD) giving the count down and the pedal mashing began. I quickly got shot off into the middle of the pack and used the rest of the time to pick off riders as I began to get the old'diesel engine warmed up. Of course, when that happens I inevitably get behind riders that are slower than me on the single-track so I had to pick my way through. I did have to dismount a couple times on the sections I had session'd on Daniel Ridge due to riders being dismounted and walking, but instead of complaining I jumped off, ran around them, hopped back on and kept moving forward inch-by-inch.

One of several, chainring bashing, river crossings on Farlow.

The gravel climb was nothing I had not seen in past races so I wound up the spin-bike and spun my hamster-sized legs to the top of where Farlow's Gap lay ahead of me. The aid station was early at mile 8 and me being a bit of a camel and usually taking in low amounts of fluid compared to most, I rolled right on through, passing several riders during the climb. I really tried hard to manage my effort and not go all out as this was one of my key strategies for my first stage race. Do not blow yourself up each and every stage but manage your effort so that when stage 5 rolls around you actually still have a bit left in the tank to race strong. I hit the top of the climb and there it was ... the well-known signage for Farlow's Gap (insert sinister evil music tunes here). I have never ridden this trail and only ever heard tales of the destructive powers and fear that it strikes within the hearts of most mountain bikers (like me). I headed into Farlow's Jaws of Destruction with my dropper post dropped, focus at the ready, and in the full-on attack position. The top section wasn't all that bad but the deeper you work your way into the trail you being to realize the full rawness that this trail has to offer. It wasn't long before I was off the bike, taking it for a nice walk up and over features that only the likes of Jeff Lenosky can clean on a perfect day. It was humbling, to say the least, and having riders pass me, still on their bike, taking on features that I can only wish to have the skills to ride someday was quite inspiring. I gave them props, fist bumps, and high-fives. After a while the trail begins to close its jaws, thus not baring its frame gnashing teeth and I was able to re-mount my trusty stead and finish stage one by descending Cove Creek trail. Fun first day and a bit of an eye-opener with the likes of Farlow Gap trail. I was just over the average predicted time for the race (2:40) at 2:41 + change. Not terrible, but I know that I can do better. So it was off to meet the guys, eat, clean-bike, foam-roll, stretch, rest, eat dinner, rest, and on to stage #2.

Stage #2 - Sunset Motel's Promise Land Route (stage video link)

Trails: South Mills River, Millinex, Squirrel Gap, Buckhorn Gap, Pressely Gap (aka Black Mtn)

Breakfast: coffee, oats w/ almond milk & cooked egg on top, banana & PB, sweet potato
Nutrition: Two bottles of custom Infint Nutrition blend and one Muir Energy Gel at the start.

The weather on tap for today looked great! Cool temps in the morning and warming up as the day moved into the afternoon. Perfect! Knowing stage #2 would be a longer race I loaded two bottles of my favorite custom Infinit Nutrition blends and hit the start line. Having done my homework via Trailforks.com I had a vague notion of the trails we would be shredding today. I was fairly confident nothing would be topping the gnar that is Farlow Gap. Phew!! Once again the RD did the countdown and we were off to the races. A fast start as usual, so I was dropped to mid-pack and as I warmed up began to pick my way through the field that was decimated by the top racers. Even though this stage was longer than Stage #1 it felt like it went by fast. My guess is that because I had so much fun on trails like South Mills River, Squirrel Gap and Buckhorn Gap, smiling the entire way, that it just felt like the stage flew by. The climbs were pitchy, to say the least, and required some solid legs and a bit of the old'man power to ride everything cleanly.  The climbing never bothers me, I love climbing...it's the technical descents that can cause the hair to stand up on my arms and turn my knuckles white with fear. Squirrel Gap and Buckhorn Gap were a hoot and I had a blast riding the trails while managing to pick off a few riders along the way. Anyone that I got a visual of ahead of me became my new carrot and while trying to not blow out my legs, I certainly used them to help me push towards an improved finishing position. 

Black Mtn gnar

Finally, I reached Black Mountain. Now, I "rode" Black Mountain during the Pisgah 111k race in 2017. I use quotation marks because this is one of many trails that scared the crap outta me during that race and struck fear into my soul. As I began to hit the trail I quickly realized that not only was judicious use of my FOX Transfer dropper post allowing me to ride sections that I had not ridden before (ie I walked them before) but the skills that I had been taught by the most awesome coach Catherine Neff, from Ride Inspired MTB, meant I was riding with a new found confidence as never before. Admittedly I did walk three particular drops that I got nervous about, but dang ... I road the crap out of the rest of the trail and I cannot even tell you how happy that made me feel. Got to the end of the trail which is this super fun, jumpy, flowing section that makes every MTBer coming back time and time again!! Sooooo much stoke was happening!! Crossed the finish line in 2:46 and the predicted average finish time was 3:15. Heck yay!! Hit another goal of finishing stages under the average finish times. With the solid effort that I had put in, I moved from 13th (out of 47) in AG to 12th. Yet more frosting on the Pisgah Cake!! I am getting giddy just thinking about it at this very moment.

Stage #3 - Sycamore Cycles White Squirrel Route (stage video link)

Trails: Grassy Road Trail, Sycamore Cove, Thrift Cove, Black Mountain, Avery Creek, Bennett Gap

Breakfast: coffee, oats w/ almond milk & cooked egg on top, banana & PB, sweet potato
Nutrition: Two bottles of custom Infint Nutrition blend and one Muir Energy Gel at the start. 2-GUs

The Queen Stage. It is called that because it is designed to be the hardest, most demanding stage of the race; the stage that will have the biggest effect on the overall results. The origin of the phrase comes from chess; named after the queen, which is the most powerful piece and typically can have the biggest effect on the game. As you can see, stage #3 has the most elevation of any PSR stage for 2019. Elevation never bothers me, as I enjoy climbing, so I spent time studying the trails we would be riding, via TrailForks.com, in order to have a better sense of what type of technical single-track I would be hitting. In the end, it doesn't really matter because I will have to ride the trails regardless of what I figure out, but I like to know more about what I am heading into more as mental preparedness than anything else. It helps me wrap my head around the course and I find it quite useful and calming.

Upper and middle Black Mtn are always challenging along with Bennet Gap, the Enduro portion of this stage. I knew what I was in for on Black Mtn and after talking with a few friends I had a better sense of what Bennet Gap had in store for me. Avery Creek was another fun trail that has been beaten up a little more since the time I road it in 2017, but nothing outside of my handling skills. Good to go! Once again, we all lined up on a beautiful sunny morning, the RD gave the countdown ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... and we were off!! With easy double and single track right off the bat, we bunched up quite a bit but I managed to get around riders and get some space as we entered the Sycamore Trails. I don't recall exactly which trail I was on, I think it was on Sycamore, but there were water bars. Water bars help reduce the flow of water along the trail so as to not wash out a trail and they run perpendicular to the trail direction. When wet, they are like riding on ice which is why you want to float the bike over them and try not to touch them with the tires otherwise you run the risk of sliding out and crashing. I was doing well on most of them, but barely touched the front wheel on one of the last water bars and down I went. Fairly hard and over-the-handlebars (aka OTB). I quickly got back up and got the bike underneath mean when not more than a few seconds later a female racer came along and did the exact same thing. So as to ensure she was ok and not about to be run over like the road kill that we were, I helped by getting her bike up and trying to ensure the trail was cleared out. She was fine but just a bit shaken up like myself and anyone else that has ever crashed, we've all been there. I had lost a few spots, some familiar faces and some not, and my first thought was just to get back on the bike and spin, spin, spin to get the legs moving. I quickly caught back up to those that had passed me and acquired the position I had prior to hitting the deck.

Stock photo from trailforks.com of Bennet Gap

I made my way over Thrift Cove trail, lots of fun here, and worked up to middle Black Mtn. We were not on middle Black Mtn for very long however several sections were not ridable by me in this direction, so it was off the bike and walking like most others and over to the gravel road for the day, Clawhammer. We road down Clawhammer the other day and it is very loose gravel. While I love to descend, climbing this road was much simpler because I did not have to be concerned about sliding out in corners like was the case when descending it. I made my way back to some single-track, which is always motivating knowing that single-track is coming, and hit Avery Creek. Pretty gnarly trail with lots of roots and rocks, but nothing unusual for the area. I passed a few riders on this section of trail and was smiling the entire time. Man, I love these trails!! After Avery Creek, we head up Avery Creek Road, i.e. gravel, and at the top entered Bennet Gap. I had watched videos of Bennet Gap and spoke with those that are familiar with this section. From what I understood most of the trail is ridable however there are a couple of BIG drops that would likely be out of my comfort level. Sure enough, I managed to ride probably 70-80% of the trail and those BIG drops ... yup... those are some BIG drops. I would like to think someday I could ride them but would absolutely need to be sessioning those sections with others because those are places where I could do some serious damage to myself and my bike if not careful. I caught up to the Open Women's leader, Carla Williams, and she let me by but I will say that Carla is such a strong racer that anytime I see her during a race I know that I am doing well. Carla shreds with the best of them and it shows in her results! At the bottom of Bennet Gap we hit some gravel roads and then make our way back onto middle Black Mtn and finished the race in the same manner as in stage #2; by shredding some sweet drops, jumps, and big berms on lower Black Mtn. The average finish time that was predicted was 4:15 and I finished in 3:46 so I felt really good about that. Hit my goal for the day to be under the average finish time, felt great, and had a blast racing on a gorgeous day in the woods. I maintained my position of 12th place in AG and I was totally fine with that!

Stage #4 - FOX Factory's Carl Schenck Route (stage video link)

Trails: Laurel Mountain, Pilot Rock

Breakfast: coffee, oats w/ almond milk & cooked egg on top, banana & PB, sweet potato
Nutrition: One full bottle of custom Infint Nutrition blend and one Muir Energy Gel at the start.

You'll quickly notice that the list of trails is missing three trails as seen on the stage profile; namely Funnel Top, Squirrel Gap, and Laurel Creek. Unfortunately, the course was cut short for stage 4 due to the weather forecast. It had been raining most of the night and well into the morning. I do not know the exact reasons why the course was cut short, perhaps due to late morning T-storm warnings, keeping the trails from getting to rutted (that's an Ohio thing for sure) or just safety for all racers. Regardless, the course was adjusted to race gravel roads to the bottom of Laurel Mountain, include the Pilot Rock Enduro, and then TT it back to the start/finish via gravel roads. I cannot say that I was terribly disappointed because hitting Squirrel Gap in wet conditions would have surely meant a VERY slow time for at least me, however, I did come out to race all planned courses and everyone would have to deal with the same conditions. In the end, it is always the RD's choice and they have to make tough decisions. IMHO, it was a good decision for everyone involved, not just racers, but volunteers as well.

Attitude is everything!

It was raining on and off during the drive to the race start and we had a bit of a walk to the start line where registration for the stage happens. I was pretty much soaked and had not been on the bike yet so I quickly came to peace that I would be wet the rest of the stage and I was totally fine with it. Riding in less than ideal conditions is not always fun but how you manage these types of situations says a lot about a cyclist (or runner for that matter). This event and area was a whole new experience for me so I honestly had a good attitude towards the weather, getting soaked, muddy, and was just looking forward to experiencing it with the other racers towing the line. When we lined up, Todd (the RD) gave us the heads up about the course being shorted and what the plan for stage #4 was going to be. All good with me!

5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...GO!! The start of stage #4, I must say, was way more relaxed than previous stages. Not that I wasn't hurting, due to zero warm-up this time, but it seemed that the leaders were taking a more chill approach to the start. Meaning, while I still had to work hard to try and stay in contact with the lead group, it was at least a possibility compared to the previous stages where I would get shelled very quickly. I was still shot off into the middle of the pack but managed to leapfrog my way onto the back of the main pack and that felt really good! Rare is the situation that I am with the lead pack at the start of a race, so I maintained that position as long as I could muster the strength to do so. After a few gravel switch-backs and perhaps a mile or so before we hit the bottom of Laurel Mtn. I could see that the front was starting to thin out which means that the leaders were beginning to put down the hammer. I settled into a comfortable pace, dropped my raincoat at the bottom of Laurel Mtn (I had overdressed yet again) with Popeye (yes I said Popeye) as he was more than happy to take my coat back to the start/finish line, and I entered the long climb up Laurel Mtn.

Laurel Mtn is 6.5 miles long.

Laurel Mtn...I have quite vivid memories of this climb from two years ago during the Pisgah 111k race; wet, off-camber roots, rocky in some sections, and with significant hike-a-bike sections near the very top. It would make for an awesome running trail ... but near the top ... it's just downright brutal to haul your bike up those sections. Using the advice that I had received from friends on how best to ride wet roots in this area, I stayed on the high side of the embankments and road much more of the trail than I had two years ago. There were certainly parts that I struggled with and did the hike-a-bike thing, even before the very top, but I was quite happy with how well I rode it. I passed quite a few riders along the slog to the top and even passed riders at the very top when I decided to shoulder the bike through the hike-a-bike sections, instead of pushing it. I find shouldering the bike is much easier and faster to get my butt up these sections than trying to not only find a solid footing but also push the bike over the obstacles. What motivated me the most up this trail? Knowing that I would get another shot at riding Pilot Rock with my newfound skills and with a dropper post. I wanted to get to the top as quickly as possible so that I could take my third shot at Pilot!! Oh yay!!

Navigating Pilot Rock descent.

Got to the top where the trail began to level out a bit and scooted over onto the Pilot Rock trail for some sweet technical descending, which also happened to be the Enduro portion of today's stage. Good times!! Totally PR'd this trail and man was it a blast!! Where in 2017 it made me so nervous and uncomfortable, this time around when I reached the bottom I just wanted to climb back up and ride it again and again!! I managed to carve many of the gnarly switchbacks that I could not ride in the past, dropped off ledges that I had to walk before, and rode the entire rock garden section that is around the middle of the descent, flawlessly. Such a great confidence builder! Now, there were a couple of drops I walked and one switchback that I dabbed on, but I took 2+ minutes off my slowest time and I know I can go faster!!  After reaching the bottom and getting back onto the gravel road that would take me to the finish line, I wanted to ensure that nobody would come up behind me so ... full heads down TT mode to the finish!! Passed 1-2 riders along the way and I kept the hammer down as best that I could to get me home. Crossed the finish line in 2:16 which was roughly 30-minutes faster than the predicted average finish time of 2:45. Heck yay!! Yet another stage goal achieved. While it was indeed a shorter day that what was originally planned, I felt good about my performance and was happy that I could have more time to relax, recover, and hang out with friends. I moved from 12th (out of 47) in AG to 11th. Cool! Always nice to see these subtle improvements along the way but I achieved a main goal ... having a blast in less than ideal conditions. #winning

Stage #5 - Industry Nine's Land of Waterfalls Route (stage video link)

Trails: Butter Gap (and Long Branch), Davidson River, Bracken Mountain

Breakfast: coffee, oats w/ almond milk & cooked egg on top, banana & PB, sweet potato
Nutrition: One full bottle of custom Infint Nutrition blend and one Muir Energy Gel at the start.

Photo from Jeff Rupnow as a reminder of the carnage that
 PSR can inflict. This is a fine example of a busted frame.

Ho-lee-crap-o-lee ... I made it to stage #5 and I'm still alive!! The best part is that my bike is still in one piece! Well ... sorta kinda. Meh. At the end of stage #4, I took the bike to Sycamore Cycles (LBS sponsor for the race and just a bunch of awesome & helpful folks) to wash it down as I had done after the last couple of stages. Upon closer inspection, the rear calipers had a rather tight grip on the rotor .. hmm ... extra resistance ... so no cool. Makes me wonder how much faster I could have gone on the final few gravel TT miles at the end of stage 4. Washed up the bike and handed it over to Sycamore Cycles who thought perhaps it just needed a brake bleed so I left it with them to fix. About an hour later I received a phone call ... you know the phone call ... that one we all dread to get from the LBS. The one that means we have to open up the wallet and fork over our hard earned money in order to continue to do the crazy things we so love to do. Apparently, something is busted with the Hope caliper and the pistons are not returning to their normal position. At this point, I just need a working rear brake to race the final stage so after a minor panic attack I had the shop install the cheapest brake they had available, SRAM Level. They completed the install and I was able to pick up the bike before dinner. Life was good at this point because I could at least start stage #5 with a fully functional bike.

The forecast for the day was sketchy throughout the week but as time progressed towards the start of the race all was good. No rain, warm temps, and the sun would poke through the clouds every now and then. Now, this stage had a different type of start than any of the other stages. At 8:30am all of the racers gathered together at the Brevard Music Center and did a slow-roll group ride, with a police escort, to the actual start location which was about four miles away. It was a really cool way to get the start line, with riders chatting and laughing it up along the way, reminiscing about the week, and discussing the final course and portions of trail that we were about to shred. After about 20-minutes we arrived at the start line, which was really in the middle of a back country road. Given that we had 10-minutes before the 9am start time, many riders took a brief road-side-relief break (aka peeing on the side of the road) and then lined up for the final countdown. 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... GOOOO!! As in stage #4, the start was fairly chill in that I wasn't completely shelled off the back and after a few leapfrog moves, with what felt like a herculean effort at this point, I managed to grab the back of the main pack yet again. Felt good to be able to do that for the second day in a row but I have to say ... muh'legs absolutely hated me!! I was definitely feeling the effects of racing 5 days in a row but as much as my legs were screaming at me to STOP THE MADNESS, my heart and soul told me to keep on rolling cuz if I was going to make up any more positions and move into a top 10 finish then I could not let off the gas.

Top of Butter Gap was a total Slip-N-Slide.

This stage had two big-ish climbs; the gravel climb to Butter Gap and then the climb to the final Enduro descent on BRacken Mtn which put us at the finish line. While these climbs were not that long or difficult, on a normal day, today my legs hated about every pedal turn up both of the climbs. I passed quite a few riders along the way up the first climb and made my way to Butter Gap. On the back of my mind, I had been asking myself, why the name Butter Gap? Whelp ... asked and quickly answered. Ever try to ride a bike without studs on an ice rink? Yup, it's sort of like that ... except replace the ice with mud. Ok, so maybe it wasn't that bad ... but it was quite greasy for a good portion of the descent. I managed to pick off 4-5 riders on this section of the trail, but not before slipping out in a river crossing and getting passed by one of the riders I had previously passed. No problem, back in the saddle and motored on to catch back up and then pass before we reached the flatter portion of the course that would lead us into the final climb. As I passed through the aid station I noticed one particular rider off their bike and walking away from the aid station. Now, I know who this rider was, an impressive racer to say the least, that on a normal day is way out of my league, but on this day ... it just wasn't his day. What I knew at the time is that this was the 10th place racer, the one right in front of me that I had to make up 20 minutes on in order to move into 10th place overall. Huh ... well there ya go. Now there was always the chance that the racer just 3 minutes behind me could have such a stellar day that I would still end up in 11th place overall, but I surely was not going to go down without putting up a fight. Not this day!! So I picked up the pace heading into the final climb, regardless of how much my legs told me to stop pedaling, to get off the bike, lay down and just give in. Nope, not me ... I am too flipping stubborn to do that. Along the climb I passed another 3-4 riders ... I continued to pick up my pace and push harder because I knew that at the top of this climb is the fun flowy trail called Bracken Mtn. All I wanted at this point was to shred some single track and so I made every effort to turn myself inside out and push to see that oh so wonderful single track signage.

Once I topped out and hit the single track it wasn't as easy as coasting downhill. The Bracken Mtn single track had a few punchy climbs along the way, which my legs certainly did not appreciate, however all of the flow and big berms machine built into this trail was music to my ears. I ride a few flow trails back home, so I was very comfortable hitting the berms hard and cutting in and out of the tight corners to make my way to the finish line. Once the trail ended I punched it for the finish line and had a finish time of 2:18 + change. What a BLAST!!!! The predicted average finish time was 2:45 and yet again I was well under that time, even after putting in a solid few days of racing leading into this last stage. After checking the stage results by punching my rider number into the computer I had earned a 10th place finish for the stage which ended up being good enough to overtake the 10th place overall spot in the 40-49 age group category. This is WAY better than I had hoped for and expected, so ... yup ... I am one happy camper.

Phew ... this is the biggest blog post I think I have ever had but I wanted to recap each stage so ... there ya go. I have to say ... I still have a huge grin on my face about this event and I can say for certainty that, the good Lord willing, I WILL be back in 2020. Yes, it was that much fun! Please take my money, NOW!!

Having said that ... forget about the fact that this is a race, forget about focusing on pinning it to win it ... my goals for this event were simple; growth by riding with more experienced riders, educating myself by talking to other experienced riders, having fun shredding trails that scared the crap out of me, hanging out with friends, experiencing a mountain bike stage race, understanding how to rest, recovery, refuel for a stage race, and determining if my body can handle the stresses of a stage race. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy racing and while that is the pure focus of many of the participants ... sometimes focusing on the race itself stresses me out so I like to focus on the things that make it fun for me. I love to be competitive but I got burnt out a bit from trying to be competitive in the National Ultra Endurance (NUE) series a couple years ago so I told myself that I would work on re-discovering the "fun factor" with racing and this is how I have achieved that goal. I am having more fun these days because I am focusing on the things that I really care about. Yes, results are great and when you do well it always feels good, but I can honestly say that I had more fun simply learning and growing through the experience than I did from seeing the final placement that I was able to achieve.

I am so thankful for the vast amount of advice and encouragement from the following friends:

• Dave Jolin - Always giving me confidence that I am becoming a stronger rider with improved bike handling skills, as seen at the True Grit race. I am my own worse critic and very hard on myself. I have a lot to learn. Thank you!
• Jeff Rupnow - How to approach recovery after every stage which set me up with a plan; eat, foam-roll, stretch, squishy legs, nap, repeat. I did this day in and day out and it just works. Thank you!
• Carey Lowery - Trust the wet roots, they actually have grip! Carey, having so much experience on these types of trails, provided me some very helpful insights. She was right ... of course. Trust the tires on the roots. Thank you!
• Mike Montalbano & Madison Mathews - Take the high-line over the roots, like 98% of the time. Holy crap ... I drilled that into my head and followed this advice over and over and I rode more wet roots than I ever had and with confidence. Thank you!
• Catherine Neff (from Ride Inspired MTB) - For being a patient, extremely knowledgable, and an awesome MTB skills coach. While I have only had a handful of sessions with Catherine, the skills she has taught me boosted my bike handling and confidence through the roof!! I will definitely be continuing to learn and grow with her help!! Thank you!
• Rescue Racing Teammates - Tire selection is critical in any race but when one is heading to the Pisgah gnar it is even more critical. Many RR folks stepped up and provided solid advice on tire selections that worked for them. (ended up using Maxxis Rekon 2.25 in the rear and a Maxxis Forekaster 2.35 in the front) Thank you!

Look, Catherine!! Elbows out, brake fingers engaged, aggressive positioning, eyes & head up ... woot woot!! #sostoked