2008 Double Dare - Day 1

I could kiss my Double Dare partner this year without fear of

A: getting clobbered by my partner
B: getting clobbered by my partners partner
C: her waking up

All of the above reasons made for an excellent Pisgah Productions weekend in the woods, and oh yeah, it didn't rain.

I teamed up with my s/o (significant other - not "surprisingly odd") for this years race. It was hard dropping my prior teammate of Jen Rinderle but about this time last year I got all googly eyed for the grocery girl and well...here I am throwing out an invitation to potential disaster. Racing with your girlfriend. Wow. That's a step in direction. To some, it would mean sure separation, but to me, and hopefully her, it was a step in the RIGHT direction.

When I started hinting to Bi-Lo mama that I may extend an invitation to her to race the 2xDare with me, I usually premised the conversation with "how do you feel about riding until your totally spent and freezing and asleep and hungry and in pain?" Her usual answer was "sounds like fun". Each affirmative answer reinforced my strong intuition that Ms. Bi-Lo was at least equally tilted as me.

We started training after returning from a glorious trip to Indonesia this summer (note the crazy bikes at the bottom of the blog and see grocery mama in native tote'n posture). Our training consisted of long rides in Pisgah re-familiarizing ourselves with coveted trails we long for. Within two months of race day, we had hit 85-95% of the checkpoints in the actual race. Not bad for a couple of crackers. Our weekends prior to the race were just as insanely glorious as the race itself.

Racing with your s/o requires synthesis and application of a different and often unspoken rule set that does not apply to your riding buddies, be them male or female. Simple comments like "come on let's go" or "we need to hurry" can wreak mental havoc on your on-trail relationship when delivered incorrectly. Not only was our training "bike training" but it was also communication training. We learned what to say and how to say it. We learned how to encourage in a non-threatening or finger pointing way.

Day 1 started unorganized. We left both our bike locks at the house. Being a piece of required gear, there was no option for an opt out. C mounted up the HO (tahoe) and boogied to Sycamore Cycles (the best shop in the world, located just outside Pisgah, and my only sponsor) for a bike lock. Not long after her return, leg one of the 2008 double dare was under way -- a time trial to the gauging station just East of Pink Beds. We left White Pines and kept a strong pace to the TT (time trial) end. We passed several teams along the way. I always wonder "is my chosen route the best?". After putting aside any doubt you must follow your instinct and roll so you don't lose any time or energy pondering a different route. Sometimes indecision takes longer than riding the 2nd or 3rd best route. Arrival at the gauging station seemed like part two of the mornings jovial atmosphere continued over from our White Pines starting point. Mater and Nancy, Clay and Toby, SMOKE bikes and several other teams had already arrived.

Race format this year was similar to prior 2XDare's. You get your race directions (passport) at the end of the morning time trial. Everyone was hovering over their 780 Nat. Geo. maps intently discussing pro's and con's of each route. We grabbed our passport and laid out a route for the next 11 hours of riding. Given the specific CP's, a Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) crossing was inevitable. Our collective memories of frigid East to West crossings of the BRP, both at night and day swayed our decision to go for a West to East traverse during daylight hours. The gushing wind amplifies the cold and makes you wish for a big sail on your bike. We took off for the Pink Beds CP and ran into Mert, Brad Key and a few other riders heading East from the Pink Beds CP. My intention was to hit the Pink Beds CP and continue West then up 276, but why are all the other riders doing something else? No time for doubting my route choice. I dropped the uncertainty and headed towards 276. The climb was beautiful but it was peak leaf season and the road traffic felt like a late night bike ride down the strip at some redneck riviera beach vacation. Needless to say the dune buggies, motorcycles, FLoridians and constant flow of traffic made conversation w/Cissy impossible.

Once we hit the BRP our route took us East to Pisgah Inn then an out and back hike-a-bike to the Laurel/Pilot Connector Trail CP. During the off camber descent down the top of Laurel, we greeted many of the teams from the TT end. Wow! Those teams were making good time, but they had to push up Pilot Rock. We grabbed a photo to acknowledge being at the CP and rushed towards the Parkway.

Cissy and I trained a lot for this race. The previous 8 weekends included at least 1 full day of Pisgah exploring. I think we explored every trail on the 780 map but we never worked in a hike up Mt. Pisgah. "Hike to the top of Mount Pisgah" was a special test worth one CP. I decided to skip it since I was uncertain of how long it would take. Hindsight shows that we should have got the CP. Oh well. Now I know for next time.

The CP's flowed well after Bent Creek Gap. We hit the Hendersonville Reservoir, Middle Fork, Yellow Gap, Bradley Fields and then back across 1206 for White Pines.

Overall our route choice was average but our ride was excellent. Cissy and I gave it all we had and did the best we could. For Cissy's first endurance MTB race, she did great. We each suffered a par for the course mishap that unfortunately involved almost total submersion in a creek. But you have to love being soaking wet, freezing, sleepy, worn out, hungry and totally spent or this is not your race.

We communicated at a new level by the end of the day. Our ego's fell and our true needs easily shined through. Racing together was definitely the RIGHT decision. Our arrival at White Pines was wonderful. A quick check in and off to dream land in the back of the HO on the best futon mattress in the world. Glorious, glorious slumber! 4 1/2 hours of sleep then back to work on those saddle sores.

Props to Carlos for that excellent piece of steak at the Bradley CP.

81 miles, 10,800+- feet of climbing