Reliance Deep Woods Gravel Race - Stage 2

After a restless night's sleep (achy legs), Sunday morning I drove back to the venue with my Trek Checkpoint sporting 45mm Continental Terra Speeds.  They would be a little sketch in some areas of the course, but with 23 miles of pavement and mostly smooth'ish gravel (relatively speaking), this bike was gonna be fast, as long as I had the legs to power it.

Today's course was 60 miles and 7300 feet. It was another fast start uphill on Hwy 30.  Having a 45 minute lead over 2nd place, I took it easy and settled in behind a group of ladies.  Chelsie took off like a missile.  I miss those days where just one good night's sleep and I was ready to hammer again the following day. I spotted a fellow Scott's Bikes jersey and introduced myself. It was Sara Fletcher, who I follow on Strava and kinda knew about, but finally got to meet her in person.  We chatted briefly during those pavement miles.

After some initial rollers, I felt my legs begin to come around.  Having happy legs made the 10 mile Kimsey climb more manageable and I was able to pull away from the group of women I had ridden the first few miles with. There was a fella riding just slightly harder than me on this climb, so I stuck to his wheel and let him tow me up the mountain.  A nice comfortably hard pace, but not one that required any match burning. Once at the top, I prepared myself for the chunky descent down Ditney, which we had ridden up yesterday.  Those 4.4 miles I settled into a conservative "don't wanna flat" speed.  Halfway in, I came across two ladies, one helping the other who had flatted.  I think I may have slowed down a bit more after that.

My pacer just up ahead on Kimsey

Heading down to Farner, I was in no man's land.  Very lonely for this 5 mile stretch of rolling pavement. Turning right onto Hiwassee River Road, I was on a dirt road as smooth as a baby's bottom.  Man, if only I had the power on the flats, but I had to settle into a nice tempo pace. Sara ended up catching me on Shuler Creek Road and we chatted a bit to pass the time on the flats.

Shuler Creek

Once we turned left onto the Unicoi Turnpike (Joe Brown Hwy), so began a 3.5 mile climb up to Unicoi Gap where the aid station was.  I thought Sara was behind me, as I heard a second set of wheels, but it was the fella that paced me up Kimsey Mountain.  So I hopped back on his wheel and finished the climb with him.

At the aid station, Matt partially filled a bottle for me. I was in and out in less than 20 seconds. The descent down Joe Brown to Cooper Hollow was fast and furiously smooth. Legs were feeling fairly good so was able to make quick work of the pavement over to Ironsburg Road.  Ahhh ... fresh buttery smooth pavement!

I struggled a bit on the initial climb up Duckett Ridge.  But also ran into the owner of the Swedish looking red house on the right.  Paid him a nice compliment as I passed by as I have always admired that house.

Along the second half of Fingerboard, with all those short punchy climbs, the wheels started to come off.  My low fuel light came on. But I could smell the finish.  Just get up this final friggin' tar n chip climb.  Ooomph!  I hit the Towee Pike descent to Childer's Creek.  Who the f*ck put all those rollers on Childers?  I didn't remember those!  Yep, I was tired and ready to be done.  Up and over, up and over, up and over I pedaled until my legs filled with lead.

Rolling past the JMT trailhead, I was at 4:55.  I challenged myself to get to the finish under 5 hours.  It hurt like hell, but I managed to squeak it in at 4:59.  I had to yell out my number at the finish.  This was old school watch timing.  And the timer was busy talking to someone who had finished just before me 😆.

And with that, I wrapped up a win in the Master's category with a combined time of 11:06.  

With the win, I scored some $$, a cool trophy, and a free entry to next year's race.  

Once again, I want to thank Shannon and Celeste for a wonderful weekend of fun sprinkled with a wee bit of suffering.  Overall, I was extremely satisfied with my performance.  These past couple of years have been a bit of a struggle having sparkly days.  You know, the kind of race where it feels almost effortless.  But with dialing in my sleeps, nutrition, recovery, strength training, and trail running/hiking, this body has become stronger and more resilient. Just gotta stay on track.