Mountain Cross

Mountain Cross Wintergreen, VA
66 miles
gravel and paved roads



Mountain cross this year had its best showing yet. 150 riders were going to tackle the 66 mile loop. Some were there to race other for
fun and some just happy to finish. I was there to ride hard for a
nice gauge of my fitness level before the start of the cyclocross
season just a mere two weeks away.

The ride starts out as one huge group and breaks apart quickly on the
first climb several miles in. On the start of the first climb the
pace was set by Andrea Dvorak one of the top pro women in the U.S. by the
top of the first climb there was a small group of 12 riders. Things
broke apart on the gravel decent. The majority of the riders were on
road bike. I was on a cross bikes and Jeremiah Bishop was on a
cannondale mountain bike with 25mm road tires. Half way down the
descent I was able to put my ALAN cyclocross bike to good use and open
a gap on the rest of the riders. I knew I wasn't going to try and
solo the whole thing, so when we got to road I eased up and a group of
10 riders caught up to me. We rode at a talking pace until we hit the
next climb. A stair stepping gravel climb that goes on for 8 miles
parallel to Crabtree falls. We were joined by several other riders at
the base of the climb. I wanted to go harder so I pushed the pace in
the first fourth of the climb. I was quickly joined by Bishop and Andy
Guptil of Jamis/Sutter homes and now the Miller School and by rider
828 (Rob). The four of us kept a nice steady pace with rider 828 doing a
lot of the work (later I found out he was a world class runner).
About 2/3rds of the way up the climb Guptil yells
out "I think I flatted," and sure enough he did. Bishop said "change it
and I'll wait for you at the feed station" 6 miles up the road. The 3
of us continued on. At one point Bishop looks at me and says, "we
have averaged 296 watts for 1:15:00". Hot damn I have some good legs I
thought to myself. We hit the feed station. I quickly filled up 2
bottles had a small cup of Coke and grabbed 2 gels and told Bishop and
828 I'm heading out I'm sure you'll catch up to me.

I took off on the middle, 3rd of the course. The downhill was definitely
a lot sketchier than last year. I kept the bike upright on the
downhill and started the endless fine gravel climb up the
Blue Ridge parkway which continued climbing for another 3 or 4
miles. I made way up the gravel climb still pushing a solid pace. I
looked back a few times and didn't see anyone behind me. I hit the
Blue Ridge parkway and it started pouring rain. It was a very surreal
moment where weather, body and spirit came together in perfect harmony.
I rode like a man possessed. I could hear Paul Sherwin in my head
commentating. I was flying and thought to myself, shit I may
actually pull this off and ride in solo. I looked back a lot and
still couldn't see anyone behind. I charged into the feed station
took 1 bottle and 3 gels and started towards the finish.


I quickly started descending the 8 mile stair step climb from earlier
in the ride (with several people still climbing up it). I knew with
the cross bike advantage I had to take a few risks. At this point I
was amazed my legs were still feeling great. Close to the bottom of
the mountain I could hear what I thought was hurricane Irene trying to
get on my wheel. Nope it was Jeremiah Bishop. Once we got off the
gravel and on the paved roads he rolled up to me. He said he could
just see me leaving the feed station where he ate a krispy kreme donut
and started the descent. He said at the base of the fine gravel climb
to the parkway he was averaging 320 watts to catch me. Makes you feel
good when one of the top mountain bike pro's in the country tells you
he was trying to catch you. We kept a nice zone 3 pace till the final
climb before the finish. My legs weren't cramping yet and I was
thinking about trying to take Bishop down. We hit the base of the
climb I shifted into my 28 and started spinning. Then, disaster
struck. No, not the hurricane, but my rear derailleur went into my rear spokes and completely ripped off.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!

Here I am having the ride of my life and this…. why me?

So I did what I had to do. I took my ROAD shoes off (yes I was wearing my road shoes) and started jogging in my red gamjams.net
socks on the gravel climb. That didn't last long and I started
walking and kept walking and kept walking. I was then caught by 2nd
place, Chris from the Miller School. So I kept walking 3rd, 4th
slowly passed me. I started jogging when the gravel wasn't too big
and walked in the grass on the side when I could. I was determined to
make it to the top. More people passed me. After what seemed like forever
I could see the tree line starting to end. The top was near. About
500 yards , Tony Bilotta came flying down in his car yelling "hop in." I said "I've
gone this far might as well finish." Walked to the top of the climb sat
down and put my shoes back on wrapped my chain around the derailleur
and coasted down the mountain. Luckily for me it was all downhill to
the finish. I scootered it all the way back. I was passed by Andrea
right before the finished.

Bummed definitely. I coasted back to the car sat down drank some
water and just sat for a while.

Later I checked the times. Bishop finished 3:50 I finished 4:13 in
10th. So I lost 23 minutes. I'm taking the positive away from this
ride. I got compliments on how well I was riding by a guy who is
racing in the mountain bike world championships next weekend. Pretty cool.

I am ready for the cyclocross season!

After it was all over I enjoyed a beer with my Mother and Father at the brewery

Results can be found:
http://pre-reg.com/Users/RacerMain.aspx?EventID=622&CatID=12043&RegManFinish=Day01Event02