We had perfect weather after a night and early morning of bad storms. We started out about 10am by having Bill sign us out by recording our start time next to our names. We were to record our own finish times when we returned because Bill was not about to miss out on the ride.
About a week before the time trial I realized it was on the same day as the Double Top 100 mile and 100k utlramarathon. I had quite a few friends running in the race and thought it would be fun to see them on the trails and Forest Service roads while on the bike. I have a few big mountain bike races coming up and need to put is some long miles on the mountain bike so I decided early in the year not to run this inaugural race. Hate to miss a 100 miler this close to home.
One of my running mates, John Barker, was running the 100k race and since he and I are running the Dragon's Back in Wales together in September, I offered to pace him the last 19 miles after I finished riding. During the first 10 miles of ride I came upon many running friends. All asked why I wasn't racing and Susan D. even called me a traitor! Most of them don't know I was a biker long before I was an ultra runner and still have a passion for mountain bike riding and racing especially the long races like the upcoming Cohutta 100.
I caught up with Jon Barker near my turnaround at the top of Potato Patch. He was running strong up the mountain and gave me an estimate of his arrival time at the 42 mile aid station. I hit the turnaround and took off back down the mountain to one of my favorite mountain bike trails, Bear Creek.
I was enjoying the big downhill when I looked up from the roots and rocks littering the trail to see a woman, Ashley, coming up the trail with a race number on. I knew what she had done, taken the Pinhoti trail section from Forest Service road 90. She was going the wrong way. I stopped and told her the bad news. Ashley wrote about the race and explained her reaction better than I could. It is definitely worth reading:
http://ashwalsh.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/double-top-100-lost/
As we were talking another runner came up. More explaining and some map work and I was off again. A couple minutes down the trail another four runners including two friends, Liz and Scott. A quick explanation of where they were and I was off again. A few more minutes and yes...more runners. I turned around 11 runners. I know how demoralizing it is to go off course when you are running that far, you don't need bonus miles. At each one of these interactions I was looking over my shoulder for the other riders to catch me. It wasn't a race but bragging rights were at stake.
I was able to make good time to the end and sign my finish time in. 2.5 hours, 23 miles and 3700 feet of climbing made for a good ride but I decided to ride back up the mountain and see if I could find Jon and see how he was fairing. As I was heading up, the first place 100k runner was coming down and moving fast. I rode on up the mountain and didn't see Jon so I decided to go back to the truck and get my running clothes on and grab something to eat. I changed and was talking to the other bikers coming in when I saw Jon coming up the Forest Service road. Time to go! Should have ate instead of running my mouth.
Jon was running strong and we made good time through the next two trail sections. We got to his 51 mile aid station and decided to leave the headlamps and run hard to make it before darkness that would come around 7pm. The next section had a great downhill, but with all great downhills come a great uphill. Jon pushed hard and we made the finish at 6:52pm. He was second place with a time of 11:52. It was great to run with him for the last 19 miles. Added another 4200 feet of climbing to the day and 4 more hours of play time in the mountains. What a way to spend a Saturday.
Pinhoti Trail:
sweet tire!
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