Snake Creek Gap TT

 

Keeping the streak going!

22 years I have been participating in this race.  Driving down the morning of, I was dreading toeing the line.  It was cold (for me) at 30 degrees, and I had only ridden my bike 3 times this year. So I wasn't exactly feeling the bike fitness.  I had more running miles in my legs than cycling miles.  I thought of the gentleman who had run with a Strider bike one year and toyed with the notion of doing that, although where am I going to find a bike like that at 6 am?

The bus ride gave me plenty of time to fell just how unprepared I was for today.  Whatever mojo I may have have mustered was driven deeper into the depths of my psyche by Karen Carey.  She was filling both my ears with inadequacy, ineptitude, and despair. Had it not been for the fact that I would be unable to attend the March race, keeping my racing streak going, there was a good chance I would have bailed today.

After warming up by running around the parking lot, I made my way over to the starting line.  Lisa pointed out that my right shoe and pedal was covered in 💩 ... and human, at that😒. How fitting!

Fortunately, all that negativity left my soul once I saw my favorite peeps at the starting line:  Ray and Tammy Blevins managing the scoring table. 10 pedal strokes in to the race and Racing Carey (aka Taz) flung Karen Carey off the trail.  Jayden came by a few seconds later and I hopped aboard her wake.  I managed to hang onto her until halfway up the double track climb.  Not too shabby I must say.  

The legs felt surprisingly good at a comfortably hard pace and with the trail being in great shape save for loose baby heads, I made good time through the first half, only 5 minutes slower than my April 2025 time.

As I stopped to swap bottles at the SAG, Lisa rolled by.  I quickly hopped back on and slowly made my way up to her wheel.  At this point, I could care less about "racing," but having my best friend to share the second half and provide some stoke, was what I was craving.

I could tell I was struggling a bit in the last 7 miles.  I kind of felt like a pinball on the rocks.  I think it was more to do with rusty technical skills than a lack of fitness.  But the sun was out and I was truly in my happy place, despite my less than stellar performance.

Lisa and I popped out together on the pavement.  Knowing I had faster tires than her, I took the lead so she could tuck in. Still, I out rolled her and crossed the finish line well ahead of her.  But she had started 30 or so seconds behind me and ended up beating me by 2 seconds!  

Jayden ended up with a stellar time of 3:45, and first in the money class.  This kid is fast!

So, although the morning started out crappy, it ended up being a good day on the bike.  And the Snake Pit cooking crew were on fire!  Plenty of food for everyone to replenish their calories.  And some awesome schwag socks to boot!  I still have my pair from 10+ years ago.

Georgia Navigator Cup

This was my third year of competing in this 3 day event.  Friday was a standalone o-meet at McIntosh Reserve Park.  Time to dust off the ole compass and work on my nav skills as I work towards my big A event in October, USARA Nationals in Bend, Oregon!

Temps were in the low 50's ... perfect!  I had just gotten my Tifosi prescription eyewear and was wearing them for the first time.  My brain was a little slow in adjusting to the prescription, so when the gun went off, I had a little difficulty in seeing the map.  I shoulda just taken a bearing, but there were trails, so I started off on them, figuring I would pace count and then attack. Welp, 15 minutes later, I finally found the damn thing.  I did not go far enough on the trail before I attacked and then went to far and hit another trail that served as a handrail.  Jeezy-pete!  My brain just did not want to wake the f up!

Fortunately, I was able to get the remaining 13 controls with ease, each taking about 2-4 minutes.  Total time was 58:53, good enough for third in my class. The one plus I had was the ability to move much quicker off-trail, as compared to last year.  I could actually run, hold a bearing, and hit the controls spot on or within 20 meters.  I attributed this to all the time spent running the Cumberland Trail.

Saturday and Sunday both took place at Chattahoochee Bend State Park.  Saturday's temps were the same, but with cloudy conditions and wind, I layered a little more. Saturday's course was on the eastern side of the park, I was told that the course designer said it was one of the hardest he had ever created.  That gave me pause for concern.  The first 2 controls I nabbed in no time.  The 3rd one gave me a little trouble, as it was hidden in a thicket of small pines at the edge of a large slab of granite.  I found the correct slab, but had a hard time seeing the control.  There were a few of us looking for the same one and eventually a fella saw it.  This one took me a little over 9 minutes to get, my hardest for the day. The others seemed to fly by and I was so proud of my ability to hold a bearing and see features on the map, as I was running by them.

My time for Saturday was 1:16:47, only 4 minutes off 1st place.  And since the actual CUP was a cumulative time for just Saturday and Sunday, perhaps I had a chance to challenge Patty Carrigan.

The temperature for Sunday was a lot cooler, in the 30's.  Why I was so fearful of being cold, I dunno.  I layered perfect and my extremities were happy the entire time.  Navigating to the first control caused me a bit of a headache, as there was almost too much information on the map:  multiple trails, roads, campgrounds, which caused my head to sping.  I had to keep stopping and orienting myself.  In hindsight, it probably would have been faster running up the road, but you don't get a chance to preview the map.  You don't get to turn your map over until the gun goes off.  CP1 was an easy find; it just took 2 minutes longer than it should have.

The terrain was a lot flatter than Saturday's, so it behooved me to stay on my bearing.  Of course, this caused me to go a bit slower.  I was doing good until I went for CP8, about 450 meters from CP7, almost due North. Had I been holding my bearing, I shoulda passed by the water station, on a hilltop.  Never saw that.  I think I ended up straying a bit NW, as I started seeing what I thought was the approach to the river.  I did come upon a control; it was CP9!  Yep, strayed way off course.  At least now, I could shoot a bearing back to CP8, about 250m away.  Nabbed 8, then reversed and went back to 9. This mistake cost me 5-7 minutes.

The last 2 controls were quickly obtained.  I finished with a time of  1:17:30, bested by first by 11 minutes.  Dang it!  

Overall, I finished in 2nd place.  I had an absolute blast.  And hopefully learned from my hiccups.