Trans North Georgia Adventure (TNGA) Race Report. Part 4 - Day Three to Finish

This the fourth part of my race report for the Trans North Georgia Adventure mountain bike race.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

I woke up to my alarm this time at Mulberry Gap and I was not ready to go. Folks, there is one terrible thing about Mulberry Gap Mountain Bike Get-Away and it's not their fault. They are just too damn good at taking care of their guests and making them comfortable. Once you check in there, it is SO HARD to get moving again. Between Ginni's cooking and being basically at your car, this is the easiest place to bail out of the race. I stuck around for breakfast and then for WAY too long afterwards. I ended up taking care of some bike maintenance and made three attempts to leave, only to realize at the bottom of the drive way that I forgot something. The last time I had to sneak in to grab my phone which I had left on the counter so as to avoid ridicule after coming back twice already. When I finally got moving again I was about an hour behind the people I had been riding with.

I started in on Pinhoti 3 and noticed my cleats were not disengaging well from my Shimano clipless pedals. I almost ate it several times because I couldn't unclip. I decided to rest at the top and fix it. I hopped off the bike to tighten down my cleats. I sat down on a log on the side of the trail and took off my shoes. As I started in on the second shoe, I heard a buzz and saw a large flying object about 3 feet away. I turned and looked and much to my surprise I saw an Asian Giant Hornet flying towards me. Asian Giant Hornets are not native to North America.

2 inches long with a 3 inch wingspan, fueled by pure hatred for all other living things,

They have been spotted many times all over the east coast, so it's likely a few hitchhiked here from Asia at some point. It didn't seem like it was ready to attack, but it was definitely checking me out. I also noticed it had a few friends nearby. Not good. In Asia these things have the nickname "the Yak Killer Hornet." They murder entire hives of honey bees for food and take out other wasps and hornets as well. The sting has been compared to having a nail hammered into the area of the sting and then it feels that way for 4+ hours. They are very aggressive and should be avoided. Did I mention they are the size of a large hummingbird?

I was quickly back on my bike and out of there. I did not need that additional complication to my journey. I motored on and popped out onto Georgia Route 52 where I ran into one Eddie O'Dea. He was out for a little ride on the Pinhoti trail system trying to clean up what he could of the blow downs from the huge storm that had hit the area two nights before the start of the race. Eddie holds the record time for the Trans North Georgia route. At the time though I was pretty sure I was hallucinating. After all I had just almost been attacked by hornets that shouldn't be in Georgia, and it definitely seemed more than a little weird to run into the record holder for the race I was participating in on a year when he was not racing it, whether he is a local or not. There is also the fact that if he was racing, I would not be seeing him either, because he is way, way faster than me, and does not sleep. It turned out that he was indeed there and we would actually end up leapfrogging each other several times between Georgia Route 52 and Dalton.

This photo is either proof that that Eddie was really there, or that hallucinations can take pictures.

We rode together on Pinhoti 4 where he rode out ahead of me and got the above picture of me. After P4, which was a relatively short trail, Eddie was gone, off ahead some where and I trudged up Tatum Lead, which, if I recall correctly, was a fairly miserable double track climb. I continued onward and the double track went up and down a few times until I ran into Eleanor and Chris. This section was kind of blur to me until it got exciting. After I got off P4, there was A LOT of double track. I would occasionally catch up to Eddie when he stopped to do some trail work but then he would light off down the trail again and I wouldn't see him again until the next blow down.

Lets stop here and talk about the blow downs. There was an enormous amount of storm damage on the early sections of the Pinhoti before Dalton from thunderstorms two days before the race start. Derek Kozlowski and Andrew Gates put in a heroic effort and countless hours clearing blow downs from Bear Creek to P4, clearing those sections just before the first racers got there. Hats off to them for making the race possible this year. Derek also helps organize a lot of the administrative functions of the race. Andrew and the rest of the crew at Mulberry Gap Mountain Bike Getaway provide awesome pre and post race support and offer a great place to crash right about at the mid point of the race.

Derek and Andrew and the Georgia Chainsaw Blow Down Massacre (Source: TNGA Facebook Page)

 But back to the blow downs, have you ever seen any of the crazy pictures of some of the early passes on the Tour Divide route with trees up rooted and scattered around all over the place in the trail? Think that kind of thing looks impressive in pictures? Wait until you see something like that in person and realize that pile of trees is about 25 feet tall and impenetrable. The only ways to the other side are around or over. I had needed to go around a smaller blow down earlier and then I came to the mother of all blow downs on Peeples Lake Road. It looked like a tornado or landslide had created a 25 to 35 foot tall wall of downed trees across the trail, and all the way up the side of the mountain next to me. The only way around was down into what looked like a field, but was really a collection of a every thorny, spiny, and poisonous plant on god's green earth. It was a nightmare, and it was the easiest way. Chris and Eleanor were with me at this point and we slowly picked our way through the nasty thicket of blood thirsty foliage.

When we made it out to the other side of the massive blowdown, we encountered a new challenge. We had made it back to what appeared to be the double track but there was supposed to be a turn according to the GPS. There was no trail, double track, or road anywhere to be seen where my GPS wanted me to go. There was however, a well beaten down path through a field where it was obvious a lot of traffic had passed, so I eventually settled on that as the proper route. Chris and Eleanor came to the same conclusion. so we all made our way to down the narrow path and ended up back on an old grown in double track that took us out to a gravel road. It was not the correct route. Fortunately two wrongs would make a right. I accidentally turned the wrong direction coming out of the wood back onto the track and rode all the way back around to the other side of the mega blowdown. Not realizing it was the same blowdown, I tried to figure a way around it and settled on trying to climb over it. It was not my best ever plan. I was about 25 feet off the ground balancing my forty-ish pound bike on one tree trunk and myself on another when Chris, Eleanor, and Eddie showed up. They yelled up to me that I should probably come down off the pile of trees before I got hurt. I agreed and came down and zoomed out on my GPS and realized my mistake. Luckily I was back on the track less than 100 feet for where I had left it to take the little detour around the blowdown, so I was back on course and had stayed within the rules, even if I had done it unwittingly. I can't believe I tried to climb over that blowdown, it was a really dumb move, and I could have gotten hurt badly.

This is a small blowdown. It felt like there were hundreds of these to deal with.

 From what I heard, I wasn't the only person to have a hard time in that section, a lot of people got lost there, and one the friends I made down there in Georgia nearly lost his bike when he put it down and walked away from it in the dark. That section was probably the most challenging little piece of the journey up to that point. I was relived to finish out the remainder of the double track there and get onto the single track towards the end. I had a good time ripping down the single track and then it spit me out on Dennis Mill Road, which started the short pavement grind to Ramhurst, where food awaited. I stopped in at a gas station and just bought everything that looked good. A few BBQ sandwiches, 2 orders of every deep fried appetizer in the hot box, some skittles, a few cokes, and went to town. Eddie caught up to me as was sitting down to stuff my face.

 

Thinking back on that meal kind of sickens me a little bit. Somehow, at the time, it didn't make me feel slow or sick. It's very weird the things your body tells your brain to ask for when you stress it this much. I probably put down a solid 4 or 5 thousand calories here and then hopped directly on my bike and pedaled off time trial style to try to make it to Dalton. Normally after eating that much and that heavy of food, my stomach would rebel. but it was fine that day. I ended up passing Scott and Tristan on the road to Dalton and caught up to Jim Rivers at Sonic just after I entered Dalton. He was packing up to leave as I was pulling it. I wasn't hungry thanks to my deep fried fat fest back at the gas station, but I ordered a cherry limeade and some sort of slushy frozen drink, both the largest size possible to try to get some fluids and sugar into me. I took the opportunity to work on my shoes and dry my socks. 

 

I knew after Dalton would come Snake Creek Gap which is one of the toughest sections of the race. I figured I wold catch up to Jim in this section, as over the previous sections of the race I had been a bit faster than him through the single track. Before I left Dalton, I stopped at a gas station and topped off my bladder and bought three 1 liter bottles of water and stuffed them in my jersey pockets. I was told ahead of time that there were no services and very little water on the Snake. It turned out to be a wise move to stock up on water that heavily going into the Snake in the evening.

I had a little more than 6 liters of water total heading up the highway road climb out of Dalton. If I was riding this section in day light, I would probably need about half that. When I got to the top and cut off of the pavement onto the service road that led up to the cell towers that are up there I was relieved to finally be off the highway and out of the busy traffic. I stopped briefly to rehydrate and snap a photo of the first decent view I had seen in all the of the hundreds of miles up till that point. 

When I crawled out onto the rock where I sat to enjoy some water and take this picture, I accidentally dropped one of my 1 liter bottles off the cliff, and there was no way to get down there to get it safely. I was down to 5 liters of before I even started the Snake.

I was told horror stories about the beginning 7 or 8 miles of the Snake. I was told it was super rocky and technical. I am from Pennsylvania. My particular area of the United States sits directly where the glaciers

deposited all the rock scraped up during the last Ice Age. When somebody tells me that a trail is a 7 mile rock garden. I think that they are talking about 7 miles of what is shown in the picture below:

Sizes range from soccer ball sized to large pumpkin sized

That is a rock garden. Now don't get me wrong, Snake Creek Gap, especially the first section, had a few rocky sections. But nothing on it was even remotely close to what was pictured above. There was nothing on that section that was that difficult to ride if you are used to riding rocks. It is the roughest section of singletrack though. The only compounding factor that added difficulty to it was fatigue.

I made it through that first 7 mile section of the Snake and popped out at a fire ring. I sat down to eat a little bit and fix my shoes again. My cleats kept getting loose for some reason and weren't releasing properly so I decided to change them out. I took stock of my water. I was down to 1 liter bottle and whatever was left in my camel back, which was not much. The sun started to set and it was dark before I knew it. This was the first night of the race that I would be riding alone. I intentionally try to stay with others at night, because it makes it easier to keep focused and keep moving. This time I was relying on the fact that I wanted to catch Jim to keep me moving.

I eventually popped out at a trail head parking lot along route 136 and saw there was a public bathroom. I was really excited to see that, because it meant I could get water there. I was almost out, down to a few sips left in my hydration bladder. Except I couldn't get water there. The public restroom was not plumbed for running water and just had chemical toilets and hand sanitizer. It kind of bummed me out that there was no running water but I sat down next to my bike. I was a mere 20 miles down the route from Dalton and I had drank about four and half liters of water and a liter of Coca Cola. I needed to figure out where I was going to get water.

Luckily, my GPS unit indicated that there was a reliable water source within the next few miles on the back side of the next ridge I had to climb over. I ate my last BBQ sandwich from the gas station in Ramhurst and set off across the high way to trudge up the next climb. Once I got to the top of the ridge I thought I was going to be popping out on a road for a bit, I could have sworn I saw a vehicle's headlights moving a few hundred yards ahead of me, but a road never materialized. It could have been Jim, but I think it's more likely that I was hallucinating.

What the GPS said right before things started getting weird.

 I started down the ridge line and now that I wasn't climbing I realized the that the spiders were going to be an issue. This area of Georgia has some really damn big spiders that like to come out at night an build their webs right across the trail. Just really big, ugly, golf ball sized, nasty suckers, that love to be right at face height. Now eating spider webs is a normal part of mountain biking solo or at the front of a group, and I have desensitized myself to it somewhat. Spiders however, are the one thing I can think of that I am unreasonably bothered by. It's not a phobia, or even really fear. I just really do not like them.  When I am extremely sleep deprived and physically exhausted, it's a really bad time to be catching giant spiders with my face. They didn't spin fine whispy webs either. When I hit one, I knew it. It almost felt like running into some really low pound test fishing line. The webs I could deal with and normally I would see them just in time to catch a face full of web and miss the spider. Every once and a while though, I would not be able to react in time and I would catch on of those big suckers right on my face, which would result in a full panic stop so I could make sure I got it off of me. Call me a wuss or whatever, but doing this section of trail in the dark in August is not that much fun thanks to the spiders.

Eventually I made it down off the ridge and found my water source. It was a small trickle of a stream that must have been fed by a nearby spring. It was like this spot was designed for me to stop and refill on water. I stopped and filled my hydration bladder, and filtered a bottle of water with it. This is a useful trick if you use a Sawyer Mini or other filter hooked up inline on your hydration pack hose. If you fill your bladder and hang it up with the hose-side down, you can quickly filter water into bottles for those times you need to carry more than 3 liters. just pinch the bite valve and let gravity do the work. You can apply pressure to the bladder but it doesn't really speed things up all that much.

I finished filtering water and had a snack then pushed onward. The spiders got fewer and farther between after I got off that ridge, but I kept hallucinating the glint from spider webs across the trail that had me ducking, weaving, and some times stopping to avoid them when they were not there. I also hallucinated a few snakes that turned out to be sticks or twigs. I kept moving until my GPS indicated that I was at the top of a long descent that would take me out of the Snake. I had to decide if I wanted to go to sleep or just push on. I called into mtbcast.com and left a dazed, sleep deprived message before deciding to set up camp for the night.  (You can listen to it here)

I moved to what I had thought was off the trail and pulled out my bivy and ground sheet and passed out in it. This was my first night of true wilderness camping in the race and to be honest, I think I might do this more next time, because I definitely didn't oversleep. Sleeping in comfy places with services is great, but I'm just not disciplined enough to not allow them to turn into a huge time suck. For the Tour Divide though, I think I'm going to go with a tent. I didn't really care for the bivy sack, so if I'm going to actually stick to a plan of avoiding hotels, a tent is in order.

When I woke up three hours later, I realized in the early morning light that instead of moving off the trail, I had actually slept right smack dab in the middle of it. In my olive drab bivy, it's unlikely that I would have been seen until it was too late by any riders passing in the night. Oops. I got on with packing up and getting ready to go and ate a iced honey bun and a bag of jerky for breakfast. Ah the luxuries of back country ultra-endurance racing, what a nutritious and delicious way to start the day.

I had about 60 miles to cover before I was finished with the race.

Once I got completely packed I set off down the 3 or 4 mile downhill I had stopped at the beginning of the night before. It was nice to start with an easy section to get the legs warmed up and spin out some of the soreness from the past 300 miles. It was mostly double track until I got out of the Snake back onto pavement for a little bit. The pavement didn't last long and I was back onto double and single track. The race ends on a bunch of ridge top trails that sort of undulate and are really pretty awesome. Unfortunately it all kind of feels the same so I don't remember a ton about them just that it's a lot of gently rolling (compared to earlier in the race) single track along the top of these ridges. The only bit of this long section I really remember vividly was when I made a disastrous navigational error.

Ok so, it wasn't really that bad, but in the state I was in it felt like the end of the world when I realized what I had done. I was cruising down a fire road toward where the route drops down on some really fun single track to where US Highway 27 goes through a gap in the ridge. Except I didn't know that it was single track and I was happily coasting downhill on the fire road. I blew the turn onto the single track, and I was in a daze, not paying attention to my GPS. When I finally looked down again, the navigation line showing the route was not there. At first I thought maybe my GPS was acting up, so I zoomed out hoping it would refresh the track. How wrong I was. The GPS was fine. I had missed the turn and gone downhill almost 2 miles off route, and I would now have to climb all the way back up the ridge to find the turn just to come back down again. I wanted so badly to catch Jim before the finish. He had only left an hour before me from Dalton, and I hadn't done much stopping at all since then. I was actually surprised I hadn't caught him yet. This setback could mean he would be out of reach. I climbed as fast as I could on completely destroyed legs to get back to the top and I now realized it was time to dig in deep and leave the rest of my energy on the course. I only had a little more than 20 miles to go and the end is about 10ish miles of flat unmaintained rail trail.

I got back on course and when I crossed Highway 27 I had to go back up to get on top of the ridge again for the final single track push. I was met by a nasty 20% to 30% grade that was eroded and a general example of how not to build a road. It would be the last major climb of the race. It was tiny compared to the monsters in the first third of the race, but it hurt every bit as much now that I had all of those climbs seething and boiling in my legs. I was greeted by this sign at the top of the road which made me angry and made me laugh at the same time:

If that was a quality job, I need to be a road building contractor in Georgia.

I found the entrance to the trail and hammered away, it didn't take long before I was out and onto the road heading to start of the rail trail. I was moving at a good tempo pace on the road and as I rounded the corner to jump onto the rail trail, there he was!

I had caught Jim, and the only thing that I could think of to do was to pass him and make sure he didn't keep up. I had spent so many hours chasing him since Dalton that I was a little salty about the fact that he had eluded me for so long. I went from tempo to a little bit above threshold and pegged it there. As I passed him turning into the rail trail he said something but I didn't quite catch it and just gave it everything I had left. I was moving at quite a good clip in my highest gear. I was going to make it to Alabama first, if for no other reason than I spent most of the past 24 hours just trying to catch up to him. I hunkered down, hands on either side of my stem, as aero as I could get and just gave it everything I had left. I made it to the line about 15 minutes or so before Jim. I had finished, and it was completely worth it! I'll save my closing thoughts for the post race report but I'll leave you with this. That was the hardest thing I've done in my life. Mentally, physically, and emotionally, the TNGA will test anyone who attempts to race it.

Jim and I at the finish!

5 Common Bicycle Mechanical Problems...And the Best Ways to Avoid Them

1. Seized threads/pressed in fittings

So you're tearing down your bike in your garage and one of pieces you need to remove from your frame is stuck. Like really stuck. Do you know why? Chances are the culprit is corrosion. The most common example of this often happens with seatposts. Many seatposts are made of aluminum, and unless your frame is also made of aluminum, it is likely to become subject to galvanic corrosion. This even applies to an aluminum post in a carbon frame, or the opposite. When you have two different materials with different amounts of electrode potential and introduce an electrolyte, galvanic corrosion occurs. Sweat is basically salt water, which is an awesome electrolyte. Over time, sweat will get into every crack and crevice in your frame. If that doesn't do it, road salt, and other sources of water will eventually do the job. Once a part is seized in your frame, almost all methods of removing it carry a substantial risk of damaging your frame, and the part is almost certainly ruined. The best way to avoid damaging your frame is to not allow the parts to become seized in the first place. This is accomplished by using a proper anti seize before installation.

Anti seize guide:

Aluminum on Steel: Good old fashioned grease does the trick.
Aluminum on Titanium: Copper based anti seize paste.
Carbon on anything: Carbon assembly paste
Aluminum on Aluminum: Grease

Why use grease on an aluminum on aluminum fitting? Because they might be different alloys of aluminum, which could cause them to have different electrode potentials.

Spread the anti-seize compound listed above lightly but completely coating the entire inside of the female side of the junction. For threaded parts, apply to the male threads from end to end liberally and install the part, then wipe off any excess.

Follow this guide and you should have no issues with seizing parts.

2. Pinch Flats

So you're out for a ride you hit a little bump and you hear the dreaded hiss of a flat tire. You look down and your rear tire is flat. When you go to change it, you notice that the tube has two punctures on the inside of the tube that faces the rim! There aren't any signs of puncture in your tire. You have managed to get a pinch flat.

A pinch flat occurs when the tire compresses when hitting a bump and it compresses so much that it pinches the tube between the tire and the rim. This results is the tell-tale "snakebite" pattern of two closely spaced holes in the tube on the rim side of the tube. Many people that come into the shop see this and think that something is wrong with their rim, that there is sharp burr in there or something is defective about it.

The true cause of pinch flats is under-inflated tires. Bicycle tires are not like car tires. They lose air over time. How long it takes for the tube to lose enough air to be at the point where you are risking a pinch flat depends on the size and optimal operating pressure for the tire, conditions, and rider weight. The heavier you are, the more pressure you need to have. The skinnier the tire, the more pressure is needed. The rougher the terrain and harder you ride, the more pressure is probably needed. Make a habit of checking your air pressure before every ride and topping off the air if necessary. Doing this will help you avoid pinch flats. You can still pinch flat with properly inflated tires if you slam the tire into an obstacle like a pothole or large rock very hard but it's much less likely. Just be careful not to exceed the maximum pressure rating for your tires.

A relatively recent technology for bicycles is the tubeless tire set-up. By using a conversion kit with a compatible rim or a tubeless wheel system and a compatible tire with a sealant, you can ride your bike without tubes! Unfortunately you can still pinch flat! When you pinch flat with tubeless though, the damage is done to your tire. For me this is a somewhat regular experience and tubeless mountain bike tires are expensive! When you pinch flat a tubeless mountain bike tire, you will notice that a small hole is formed just above the bead of the tire and it won't seal with sealant. So is that it? is your tire ruined? No!

You can patch a very small hole in a tubeless tire with rubber cement and a small piece of tube. First you want to remove the tire and clean up the area on the inside of the tire where the hole is really well. Also, clean all of the mold release agent off the piece of tube you are using  Get all of the dried up sealant off the area you will be gluing the piece of tube to. After you clean the area up, take a piece of sand paper and lightly scuff up the area. Brush off the area a little with your fingers and then apply a light coating of rubber cement. Give the rubber cement about 45 seconds to a minute to get tacky, then apply your patch over the hole and voila! You tire is repaired and ready to be aired up again. I only recommend this procedure for very small holes. If you can see daylight through a hole, I don't recommend this technique.

3. Prematurely worn out cassette

It's a fact of life that drivetrain parts on a bicycle are wear items and will eventually need to be replaced. When a cassette gets worn out it often causes sluggish rear shifting performance and skips under hard torque. Have you priced drivetrain parts lately though? If it was just a chain to replace it would be pretty reasonable, but the cassettes are so expensive! I just got an 11 speed drivetrain for one of my mountain bikes and the cassette listed for over $300!

Here's a little secret about cassettes. Even the cheap ones are darn tough pieces of metal. The part that really wears quickly is the chain because it has many more moving parts. As a chain wears, it stretches and once it stretches past a certain point, it no longer lines up as well with the spacing of the teeth on the cassette. once the chain stretches to this point, it starts to eat into the cassette and the chain and cassette wear in together. Once this happens, the cassette is too worn out to use with a new chain, as the teeth will not match up with the new chain and it will cause skipping, which is dangerous.

You can avoid this by purchasing a chain wear gauge like a Park Tool CC-2. This handy little device will tell you how stretched out your chain is. Check your chain every couple hundred miles or so and when it reaches .75 mm of stretch over three links of chain replace it. You can get 4 or 5 chains or possibly even more out of one cassette this way. To help your chains last as long as possible, clean and lube your drivetrain with a proper chain lube frequently. WD40 has no business being near your bike! Use a real chain lube!

4. Grimy components

The last piece of advice brings us seamlessly to the this piece of advice. Keeping the moving parts of your bicycle clean and lubricated is important. Equally important is using proper lubricants. As I mentioned above, WD40 is not a lubricant, and should not be used on any part of your bike. Neither should motor oil, vegetable oil, transmission fluid, or any other random non-bicycle lubricant. Non-bicycle specific lubricants, at best, will attract dirt and grime and accelerate the wear of your drivetrain and other components. At worst, they can be highly corrosive and ruin parts in a matter of days. A proper chain lube will be dry after application and will not allow as much dirt and grime to stick to it. It will also last longer between applications and lubricate more effectively. This translates to a longer wearing drivetrain which saves you money in the long run.

5. Over-torqued fasteners

One of the biggest mistakes I see on a regular basis is over-torqued bolts. There's no excuse for this. Buy and use a torque wrench, especially if you have carbon fiber parts or frames and you do a little work or adjusting yourself. You'll save yourself the hassle of stripped out fasteners, from cracking expensive carbon fiber bits, but most importantly: money, time, and aggravation. If you can afford fancy carbon doodads for your bike, you can afford a basic torque wrench.

2015 Salsa Mukluk 2 Suspension - First Rides, First Impressions

On Thursday, October 11th at 10:47 AM, I got a text message from my boss. It simply said "Ur bike is here." I shoved some food down my face hole as fast as I could and hurried over to Earl's Bicycle Store. When I arrived, there was an oversized bike box sitting at the back door. It was my 2015 Salsa Mukluk 2. My coworker Rylan had gotten me into fat bikes at the end of last riding season, and I had bought a Surly Pugsley, which served me well through the winter. It was great for riding in the snow, but it had a fairly low end spec and the geometry left a little to be desired for trail riding in the non-snowy months. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I wanted a more serious year round bike.

In the time between the end of winter and when I had a chance to preorder a 2015 Salsa Mukluk, tons of things came out on the market. Rock Shox came out with their Bluto suspension fork. Multiple companies were now making carbon fiber fat bikes. Hell, Salsa was even coming out with a full suspension fat bike! I had a lot of decisions to make about what I was looking for in a fat bike, but luckily Salsa made it easy for me. Their 2015 Mukluk 2 suspension was just about everything I was looking for in a fat bike. If I built it up from a frame the way I would want it, this how it would be built with a few small changes. And the geometry looked much better to me than my old Pugsley. Much more slack, for a little more stability in deep snow, and since this is also my rowdy trail bike, good for maximum brappage when shredding the gnar.

On the back of the jeep ready to come home.

The build kit is pretty nice on this bike featuring a Sram X7/X9 drivetrain with a Type 2 rear derailleur, a Surly OD crankset, Thomson seatpost and stem, Rock Shox Bluto suspension fork and wheels built using Salsa hubs and Surly Holy Rolling Darryl 80mm rims with Nate 3.8" tires mounted to them. The only thing I might change about this bike is that eventually I may add a dropper post to it.

After I built it up I took it out for a ride in Bald Eagle State Forest. Since the snow isn't here yet, I can only comment on the trail manners of the bike. The route I took for the first ride had a little bit of everything. Fast descending, long chunky uphill rock gardens, gnarly single track climbs, and nice flowy sections. It was going to give me a good feel for how the bike would perform.

I really like riding fat bikes fast on trail. They are really good at crawling through ultra-techy rock gardens, but I feel like they really shine when you point them downhill. Now that I have one with a good suspension fork and a descending friendly geometry, this really has never been more true. I need to find some bigger, rougher, steeper stuff to ride this thing on. I'm having crazy thoughts like, "Maybe I should take this thing to Mountain Creek Bike Park." On the descents, this bike just makes everything feel slower than it is. It really reminds me of the first time I got on a downhill bike. The only hint of feedback that tells you that your mind is playing tricks on you is that you can hear the wind whistling past you. I was hauling the mail on this thing on descents. It really is a playful bike when descending. Four inch wide tires give the confidence to corner hard at lightspeed on primitive trails with no berms. I set multiple PR's on several single track descents on my first day out on this thing. I really think the slack geometry has a lot to do with it, with short chainstays it's easy to loft the front wheel, and the handling is very playful.

Mukluk in it's element at Rock Heaven

The Rock Shox Bluto suspension fork is amazing. Though it only has 100mm of travel, 100mm of travel on a fat bike feels more like 140mm on a skinnier-tired bike. The most significant thing it adds to ride quality of the bike is dampening, which means I can charge rough stuff and not get bounced around out of control like I did on a rigid fat bike. It feels super plush and was simple to get dialed in. I was originally planning on converting the fork to 120mm, against the cries from Salsa's legal department that I would probably die if I did this, but 100mm is plenty. The fork enters it's travel smoothly and is very progressive in it's stroke. I can run this thing at 25% sag and it feels good. I need to get some bottomless tokens for my 2014 Reba if they'll make the travel feel like this.

Coming off a a Pugsley running a 120 tpi Larry in the front and an Endomorph 120 tpi rear (those are tires, for uninitiated), the 120 tpi Nate tires are a huge improvement and a great choice for a stock tire. Lightweight and supple, with plenty of aggressive tread, these things are perfect for fall riding when the leaves like to make everything a little slick. The 80mm wide Holy Rolling Darryl rims are nice and I think they'll be good for the snow, but for trail riding I think I'd prefer Marge lites or another narrower rim for a little more protection for the rim from rock strikes.

While we're on the topic of the rolling stock on this bike, I guess I might as well get my one complaint about this bike out of the way. I hate the low number of points of engagement of the rear hub on this bike. Part of this is my own fault. I recently built up a dedicated singlespeed wheel for my El Mariachi Ti with a Profile Racing Elite SS hub. It has an utterly ridiculous 204 points of engagement. I've been really enjoying riding it/annoying everyone I ride with because my bike sounds like we're in the middle of commercial bee farming operation. It's also a $700-ish hub. I certainly don't expect Salsa to put a hub of that grade on a bike as stock equipment and I understand the unwritten rule that the wheels on every new bike are just place holders, but these are fairly nice rims, it would be nice if they could build them onto something with at least 36 points of engagement. I've had Hope hubs before and I was fine with the engagement on those. I'm not saying they need to spec Hopes on these, but it would be pretty cool. I'd pay extra for that. Even a made in Taiwan Bitex or other cheap hub with decent engagement would be acceptable. Enough about that though, if you aren't riding high engagement hubs, this probably won't bother you anyway. If you are, you probably already knew you were going to have to do something about the stock wheels anyway.

On the plus side, I think I know where the money that they saved by using uber cheapo hubs went. The bike comes with a Thomson stem and seat post stock, and this is awesome. I have always been a big fan of Thomson stuff. It's stiff, strong, reliable stuff that I place in the same lofty esteem as Chris King headsets and Brooks Saddles. They are tried and true designs that have been perfected, beautifully machined out of aluminum alloy, and no longer need to be redesigned or changed. I would bet that 10 years from the writing of this, you will still be able to buy a Thomson X4 stem, and it will still be the exact same thing as what comes stock on this bike. Awesome move by Salsa here.

I'm really happy that Salsa went with a SRAM drivetrain on this bike, I'm always been a big fan of SRAM in this department. In my experience, their drivetrains have been bombproof, and the only issue I did have they quickly replaced under warranty. The 2x10 is perfect on this bike. I don't honestly know if I would want to go 1x11 on this bike. If I did I think I would need a snow chainring and a trail chainring and then swap them out seasonally. I ride XO1 on my El Mariachi Ti when it's in geared mode and I love it for that application, but a fat bike really benefits from super low gearing, and the 38x11 combo gets used a fair bit as well. The X9 Type 2 derailleur is...pardon the pun...clutch. This thing is super quiet, I only get a hint of chain slap when riding the rowdiest of the rowdy at speeds that are neither sane, nor recommended in the slightest. The clutch also makes the shifting feel a bit more snappy and crisp compared to a non-type 2 unit. The rest of the X7 kit on the bike is functional and does it's job. As much as I've love to see some X9 shifters on this bike, I just don't think it would be worth the added cost, though the action the X9 and up shifters is pretty slick.

This bike came equipped with SRAM Guide R brakes, which are a brand new design. For those not in the know, SRAM is killing the Avid brand off, at least when it comes to hydraulic disc brakes. The Guide series is their replacement for the mid to high end Avid Elixir trail brakes. The ones that come on this bike are the lowest end version of the Guide series, and I would say they are comparable to a Shimano Zee brake in quality and stopping power, but slightly lower in cost. So far they have been problem free for me, they have plenty of bite and power but good lever feel and modulation. I have always been one of those weirdos that liked Avid hydraulic brakes, mainly because I don't really like the on/off feel of Shimano brakes. Being a mechanic has something to do with it too. I know how to install and properly take care of a brake that uses DOT fluid, and a lot of people don't. I do understand that some of the lower end Avid stuff had serious problems though and that's why people avoid them. The noise of the Elixer brakes was what turned a lot of people off as well. I'm happy to report that my Guides have been dead silent, even when wet, which was a happy surprise. If these things turn out to be as reliable as I think they will, knowing what I do about hydraulic brake design, they're a home run. Only time will tell if these will hold up though. For now, all I can say is I really like them so far.

After taking this bike out and thrashing it pretty hard on trails, I have to say that I am very satisfied with it. It is exactly what I'm looking for in a fat bike. I liked my Pugsley, but I had a hard time getting as rad as I wanted to when trail riding due to it being a rigid bike. It was a good bike for what it was designed for, but it wasn't the bike for how I wanted to use a fat bike. The Mukluk 2 Suspension is exactly what I wanted in a fat bike for trail riding. It may even get to do a little enduro racing next summer. Aside from the low number of points of engagement in the hub, this bike is pretty much dialed and just waiting for a dropper post.

Stay tuned, I'll update my thoughts on the bike as I get more time on it in the fall trail riding and some thoughts on how it does in the snow once we finally get some. Meteorologists are predicting the Revenge of the Polar Vortex this winter, so I should get in some great snow riding in the coming winter months.

Trans North Georgia Adventure (TNGA) Race Report. Part 3 - Day Two

This is Part 3 of a my TNGA Race report (Click Here For Part 1, Click Here for Part 2, Click Here For Part 4)  

I woke up to the sun at the campground at Vogel State Park at the beginning of day 2. The small group of racers camped at the pavillion Jim and I had slept at were mostly gone. This was not good. I had set my alarm to allow for 3 hours of sleep.  The fact that the sun was up meant that somehow, I had shut off my alarm, and it was much later. Jim was still there and we fetched out kits from the dryer in the laundromat and changed. He got ready much faster than I did and waited for me to get my stuff packed up. I learned an important lesson the first night. Always pack up as much as you can before you go to sleep, don't leave things out that you don't have to. It makes getting moving in the morning much easier.

We got about 5 hours of sleep total and I was actually feeling really good. We started our day with a climb up Wolf Pen Gap, which I actually quite enjoyed. I lost Jim somewhere on the paved section of Wolf Pen Gap. At the top of the Wolf Pen Gap Climb, the route turns on to Duncan Ridge Road, which is a gravel road and continues to go up for a while. After finishing that climb and coasting down the long gradual descent on the other side, I was kind of bummed we hadn't tackled it on the first night before sleeping. We could have easily made at least another 30 miles or so. I stopped at the convenience store at the intersection of Cooper's Creek Road and Route 60. There were a few other racers there who I chatted with a little while eating some more breakfast. If you are reading this in preparation for and attempt, this C-store seemed like the type that closes pretty early so if you hit this at night, be prepared for it to be closed. I stocked up on food and headed out.

After Wolf Pen/Duncan ridge is one of the two long flattish sections of the race. Cooper's Creek is the first, later in the race, the run into and through Dalton is the next. Cooper's Creek is actually mostly downhill, it's a place you can really cover some ground quickly. Several of the racers that had left before me from Vogel that morning were singlespeed racers or riding with singlespeeders. So I caught and passed them on the section due to the spinny nature of singlespeeds on gradual downhills. I met up with them again at Iron Bridge which is just about the end of the flat section after Wolf Pen/Duncan Ridge. There is a Hostel/Cafe at Iron Bridge. I decided to get a hot meal there and the others all caught up to me there including Scott and Tristan who were a pair of friends who had come down from the Pisgah area to take on TNGA. Scott was riding what was probably the nicest fat bike I have ever seen in person, it was a singlespeed, and even though unloaded it weighed significantly less than the 29er I was riding, that still seems like by far the hardest way to race this route I can think of. Tristan was a super nice dude, he always had a positive attitude. I was pretty amazed they were still on route and in the race after hearing how they had been navigating solely from the cue sheets with no mileage to go off of when their GPS units failed! Scott's GPS started working again after it dried out luckily. I needed to use the bathroom after my meal, and when I came out, everyone was gone. Tristan and Scott were the last to leave and I caught them on the road over to the beginning of where the real mountain biking began.

Shortly after Iron Bridge the single track begins. I climbed up a very short steep little paved road off of Aska Road and was supposed duck right into a double track on the left that looks like a driveway. I missed the turn and continued up, until it became clear at the top that something was not right and I stopped to figure out what was going on. Scott and Tristan followed me up and we all agreed that we should try the little double track we had passed. This took us to the Green Mountain Trail, which was a fun rolling bit of single track until it pitches up into a pretty stout steep climb. After we came down the other side we were at the Stanley Gap trail head on Aska Road. I had a hell of a time on Stanley Gap.

I came into the trailhead with Scott and Tristan, but Scott was having issues with the heat, probably dehydration and had to slow down his pace. Tristan was sticking with Scott so I ended up leaving them behind on the climb.  As I was climbing, my track and the GPS track didn't quite line up and I had a feeling I had bypassed a section of trail. My track and GPS track came back together and right at that point was a trail sign and my heart sunk. The double track I had come up was the wrong trail. There had been a right turn onto some single track that I had missed and so I would have to descend to the bottom and start again.

As I was coming back down I ran into Scott and Tristan coming up the correct way. They wondered why I was coming back down and I explained that they were on the right trail but I had left the course and taken a different route to the ridgeline and had to descend and climb it again on route. This would have been a tough climb in and of itself but it was merely the beginning of the Stanley Gap single track climb.

After reaching the point where I had left the course I turned around and started back up again. About half way up the techy switchbacks, I realized I was out of water. I stopped at a small run off that seemed to be coming right out of the side of the mountain. It was so small of a flow that I couldn't fill my bladder from it directly so I used my bottle to scoop water out of a small hole that I dug and fill my bladder. I was really glad I was using a Sawyer Mini water filter and not a chemical treatment or Steripen here, because the water was very cloudy with sediment. Later, I would dump this water as soon as I could if there was any left if I found a cleaner source. I pushed on a bit farther and finally made it back to the top of that trail where the real fun would begin.

The major section of the Stanley Gap climb was ahead of me and it seemed like an amazing trail! It would be just a fantastic place to ride mountain bikes. If only I was going in the other direction on a 6 inch travel full suspension bike! There's nothing like having to ride up what would be an awesome Super D course going the other direction, and I was already in a shitty mood from having to backtrack the section of trail running up to the ridge. This was probably my darkest hour. The was climb ridiculously steep in many sections, though probably a little shorter than I remember it being, just because of my attitude at the time and fatigue.  I did tons of hiking on this, as it wasn't only steep, but really technical. Once I crested the top, I was relieved to be descending and ready for some fun. I immediately put on gas and started ripping, venting a little when disaster struck. I took a line to the outside edge of the trail where there was a bit of exposure and the trail just collapsed under my front tire. I was moving pretty fast when this happened, over 15 mph. I had no time to react as I was vaulted over my bars...directly off what might as well have been a small cliff at the speed I was moving. My right side and forearm slammed into the ground HARD and then I pinballed off a few trees before coming to a rest about 40 feet down the side of the mountain.

I somehow managed to not hit my head at all during this. When I came to a rest I didn't dare move. I thought to myself "You just fucked up badly. You have to be seriously injured, where are you bleeding, what did you break?" I carefully checked myself where I could reach, trying not to move too much, before deciding that I didn't have a spinal injury and picking myself up. I had a serious bruise just above my hip, a scrape on my elbow, my right ankle felt slightly sprained, a nice bruise on my thigh where my bars slammed into it, cut up knees, but nothing that looked overly serious. I was amazed I wasn't dead. The impact injury slightly above my hip had me slightly worried about the possibility of internal bleeding at the time. Those concerns faded as I monitored my condition over the next few hours. It was actually probably a bit of a ridiculous thing to worry about but after crashing that hard, I just didn't expect to get up and walk it off with scrapes and bruises. I took a solid 30 minutes recovering from that crash before I felt ok to get back on the bike and coast down at a timid pace.

At this point I was done with Stanley Gap. Seriously, fuck that trail. It doesn't like me, and I don't like it. Unfortunately now I was feeling extra sketchy and fighting a hardcore adrenaline crash. I picked my way down the back side slowly. I had never been so happy to see a gravel road as I was when I popped out of that trail. Every bump and rattle the trail threw at me hurt like hell. Eventually I got on pavement and it started sprinkle a little so I stopped for a minute under a covered bridge to check trackleaders and the weather maps and eat some food. If you are new to ultra racing, here is a tip. if you start to feel crappy for any reason, mental or physical, eat something and drink some water, then have some more. Even if you aren't thirsty or hungry, pissy moods, headaches, lack of energy, strong feelings of fatigue, all of these are signs you need food and water and you needed it yesterday. Bonking at the paces ultra's are raced at feels very different than bonking in a high intensity race, it's possible to not realize it's happening until you've been bonking for a while, especially later in the race.

I continued on past Cherry Log on the road when who do I see rolling by in his SUV but Scott Thigpen and Sean Williamson. Scott smiled and gave me the bird as he drove past. What a guy! I laughed a little, I had read Scott's race reports to prepare for the event, and we had a fun evening chatting the night I showed up at Mulberry Gap before the race. Scott and Sean were there doing a mini documentary on the race. He told me later that he was going to try to get the camera out and get my picture but I was hauling ass looking serious and he didn't have time to get it out so he gave me the finger instead. I think he was mistaking pain for seriousness. I was seriously sore from my crash.

After Cherry Log there is a long road section where I caught up to Scott, Tristan, and eventually Jim I think, or maybe Jim caught us. I'm not sure which, it's a little fuzzy, something about me missing a BBQ joint in Cherry Log. Somewhere along Highway 2 we ran into a convenience store. We pulled over to check it out and it was closed. Fortunately for us, one of the people who worked there showed up just a minute or two after we did and let us in and sold us assorted delicious goodies. I used the bathroom and cleaned up all my cuts and bruises and dressed my wounds. I took some Ibuprofen, which I normally avoid at all costs, but I was so sore from that crash that I needed to take the edge off the dull roar from my body telling me that it was time to stop riding. I reapplied chamois cream and I was set to go. We packed up and headed out.

Just after this we got on USFS road 64 and that was the beginning of the infamous Potato Patch climb I believe. About half way up the track lead off down a little trail. Jim informed me that this section of the course was a bunch of crap. We were going to ride a section of trail called the South Fork Loop which is apparently part of the Cohutta 100 race course. On my GPS I could see why it was bullshit. The exit of the South Fork loop was just up the road from where we entered it, meaning it was a completely unnecessary mileage add-on we would be riding. As we dropped down in to the valley along the South fork of the Jack's River the trail was nice and flowy and actually kind of fun. Then it started raining at about the same time we were reaching the bottom. After we crossed the stream the trail turned into a muddy shitshow of steep rooty single track that might have been a good ride at one point before it was destroyed by equestrian overuse and lack of maintenance. I'm confident it is all probably rideable if it's dry and you aren't 200 or so miles deep in an ultra race. I burned a bunch of matches here where I probably should have just walked. It ends with a fairly steep double track climb back out to the road we were just on, about a mile further up the road. My first words to Scott, Jim, and Tristan were, "What a bunch of horse shit!" Jim said, "Just try not to think about it, it's only going to piss you off more."

Soaked and covered in mud and horse shit, we started up the rest of the Potato Patch Climb. Somewhere at the midway point between where we exited the South Fork Loop and the top of Potato Patch the sun went down and the fog rolled in. This was not a good thing for our pace. Our lights were completely ineffective in the fog. I could only see a few feet in front of me no matter how I positioned the light. It was the first time ever where I found myself riding by instruments, paying attention to where the GPS said the road was going next to make sure I didn't miss a sharp switchback and fall to my death. I actually preferred to be climbing at this point. We finally reached the top and I found out that I had been confused. I had thought that this was just one of the many unnamed climbs along the course and that Potato Patch was ahead. Since that climb had taken eons and was quite massive, I was nervous about what Potato Patch had in store.

Luckily at the time, I didn't know we were actually on the Potato Patch climb, so when we reached the top, I asked Jim "So the Potato Patch climb is next?" He happily corrected me that we had just finished it and were going to be heading into Bear Creek, a fun descent. Well, it would have been fun, if we could see anything at all. Jim referred to the conditions as the night-fog-mist, an apt description if you ask me. We dropped down the road to the entrance to Bear Creek where a huge pine tree had fallen across the trail on the gate. We had to carefully weave our bikes through the splintered branches of the tree. I thought that this blow down was pretty impressive at the time, but I had no idea what was to come later in the race.

After we made it through the tree, we started down Bear Creek Trail. It was twisty and flowy in a great way. It was a real shame we had to check our speed so hard due to the fog. once we dropped all the way to the bottom we stopped for a break and there was a steep kicker I motored up as I climbed up to Pinhoti 1. I had a pretty good pace going at this point. I knew we were getting very close to Mulberry Gap, and there was food, showers, a roof to sleep under, and laundry again! I was also starting to feel a little better except for my feet. The bottoms of my feet hurt badly.

I had not made any attempt to keep my feet dry the whole race up until this point. I was charging through stream crossings with abandon. I got rained on for at least half of the second day. I never bothered to try to dry my socks at stops. One of the biggest rules of any multi-day expedition through the outdoors is to take care of your feet. Being in Georgia in August, it was warm enough that I didn't really think about it until it was too late. In addition, a small stone worked it's way into my shoe at some point on the South Fork Loop and I didn't notice it until it was way too late. I had cleaned my shoes out at the top of Potato Patch, but the damage was done. I had the beginnings of trench foot from the wet conditions and I think the stone had compressed my median ulnar nerve in my right foot. This resulted in sharp burning pain any time I placed pressure on the soles of my feet and a painful, electrical shock feeling in some of my toes on my right foot. I just wished they would quit hurting and go completely numb at the time. My toes on my right foot are still partially numb a month later. I was more careful for the last leg of the race, and in the future I will be much more careful, probably carrying an extra pair of socks somewhere waterproof. This is just one example of the kind of thing that can happen if something that is just mildly irritating isn't addressed right away.

We climbed up and descended part of P1 and eventually I stopped after a steep downhill section to take a break, take my shoes off, and have a snack. The others caught up shortly and were all too happy to take a break as well. At this point everyone had an issue of some kind. Tristan was having some numbness issues in his hands, probably from too aggressive of a position and his large backpack, Jim was feeling some heavy fatigue, but Scott was doing the worst. He was experiencing some severe dehydration. He laid down and rested for a few minutes while we all sat around eating. Jim had cell service and called his wife, who he got some confusing information about where we were ranked in the race right now from. We were all clearly pretty mentally fried at this point from the nerve wracking zero visibility descending and the wet conditions. Our physical shape wasn't too great at this point either.

Eventually we got moving down the trail again and came to a stream on P2 that Scott could filter some water from. We all took a break while Scott and Tristan filtered some water and Scott drank a bunch trying to catch up on his hydration. The heat had been extremely brutal during the day, and his body had just not been handling it well. It caught up to him and put him in even worse shape that night. The heat was a huge factor, resulting in a ton of people dropping from the race. This is a race that requires not only nearly constant hydration, but electrolyte replenishment as well. In August, in Georgia, you will be constantly sweating due to the 90F+ temps and super high humidity. I'm very lucky that I handle heat well, but it wasn't all luck that I felt like I had good legs for most of the race. I was constantly drinking water. I probably drank at least 15 liters of water over the whole course, probably more actually. I also used a lot of salt tabs in the first two days of the race when the temperatures were at their worst.

After the break by the stream I was up and off to finish P2. I needed to be out of the woods immediately. I picked up the pace and Jim followed suit. The two of us finished off trail and popped out on Conasauga  Road. We were pretty much at Mulberry Gap at this point. On our way up there, a mangy little pup that had chased my Jeep on the way to Mulberry Gap on the way to the race was out guarding his owner's drive way. He nervously started to chase us. Then he got in front of us and thought we were chasing him. I yelled at him in a gutteral, angry tone I rarely use and he took off back for the driveway. I after this I was done with riding for the night. I was ready to crash. I hammered up the rest of the hill, and cranked down the backside and caught up to Eleanor, the leading female racer, also riding singlespeed, at the very bottom. I cranked up the driveway. Man is that driveway steep! Probably one of the steepest grades in the whole course. I was so damn happy to be at Mulberry Gap!

When I walked into "the Barn" I sat down in a chair, removed one shoe and just sat there. Kate was up and offered to make me some eggs, an offer I graciously accepted. Jim and Eleanor came in and saw me just completely spacing out in that chair and snapped me out of my daze. I greeted them with "I'm so tired I can't even take off my other shoe." which brought forth a little laughter. I was not joking. We were at about mile 220 of the route. Kate brought out the eggs and I asked her about laundry and showers and someone found me a towel and a plastic bag to put my filthy clothes in. I then proceeded to sit there clothed only in a towel and finish my eggs. I went and took a shower and cleaned my shoes out while I was in there. I went back up and stuffed my shoes full of paper towels and placed them by the fan to hopefully dry out. Then went to bed on the floor on my sleeping pad with a blanket someone got for me. It was probably about 3:00 AM by the time I got to sleep.

Stay tuned for the final section of the race and the post race report!

Trans North Georgia Adventure (TNGA) Race Report. Part 2 - Day One

This is Part 2 of a my TNGA Race report (Click Here For Part 1, Click Here For Part 3, Click Here For Part 4) 

At 5:00 AM Saturday morning, my cell phone alarm woke me for breakfast. It was time. Race day. There was a palpable tension in the air. Mostly that's because I'm not a morning person. Do not fuck with me before I've had my coffee, or you'll have one cranky asshole on your hands until I get some caffeine in me. Luckily, once I showered, got dressed and made my way up to the common kitchen and dining area there was coffee available and the caffeine monster was satiated. This also ensured the vital pre-race unloading of Mama's Potato Pie from the Italian restaurant from the night before would occur, which I had been worried about, since it kind of sat in my gastrointestinal tract like a piece of granite. I got some oatmeal, eggs, sausage, a bagel with cream cheese and devoured it. I tempered my urge to grab seconds. I had a feeling the pace from the start of the racers I wanted to be around for the rest of the race would be pretty quick. All mountain bike races work this way. Everyone starts at an unsustainable pace until they size each other up and fall into a group they feel comfortable in. It doesn't matter if the race is 6 miles or 2800 miles, this is just the way of things. Anyway, the point is, that I didn't want to over do it on breakfast and get sidelined by too full of a stomach. I headed back to the yurt to do a final gear check and then reloaded my bike on the trailer to be hauled to the start.

We all then piled into the vans to get hauled to the start line ourselves. We got there about 45 minutes before the scheduled start time and there was a lot of milling around and neurotic rechecking of gear, not that it would matter if you realized you missed something. Highway 28 on the border of SC and GA is in the middle of nowhere, so if you didn't have it now, you weren't gonna have it. I hung out and talked with some of my fellow participants in this truly absurd race. It takes a special kind of crazy to want to race 350 miles over 56,000 ft of elevation gain on a mountain bike. Most people who do this kind of racing are familiar with the plight of trying to find people to ride with for long rides, and I have to assume, knowing at least two fairly talented ultra endurance racers local to me, that it is as difficult for most others as it is for me. So most of my long ride training was done alone. It was a treat to be surrounded by like-minded nut-jobs for a change.

When we piled into the vans, I had run into Chris Joice, who would be racing singlespeed. I had met him earlier in the year at the Wilderness 101 in Coburn, PA about 30 minutes from my home. It was good to see a familiar face. I would spend some time riding with him in the later portion of the race. We chatted a bit at the staging area as we checked air pressure before I wandered of to spin around and loosen up a bit before the pre-race announcements and such. As I was hanging about, ran into Joe Polk, curator of ultra endurance racer call-ins on his website, http://www.mtbcast.com. I gave him a short and nervous pre-race interview. You can listen to it here along with all of the other pre-race interviews. I got a quick shot of my rig prior to the start and it would be the only picture I would take that day.

Pictured: Rig

Then it was time for the pre-race announcements and a prayer for a fallen veteran racer who had passed away from cancer, Ray Porter. I never had the honor of meeting him, but the stories I heard reminded me of a lot of the great riding buddies I have. He is clearly missed by a great part of the ultra endurance cycling community and left a big mark. That's a credit to the kind of person he must have been. I was honored to pay my respects with his friends.

After the pre-race announcements We rolled out to the bridge and lined up on the border of South Carolina and Georgia on Highway 28. And then, all of a sudden we were off, and we were off FAST. The pace of the front group was akin to what I would set for the start of a 100 miler. Most 100 milers don't climb 20,000 feet. The climbing on the TNGA route is front loaded. If you make it 100 miles on the first day you will have about 18,000 feet under your belt. I hung in with the guys at the front on the first gravel climb but soon a group of about 4 or 5 guys slipped away, and I would never see them again. A second group caught up to me as I was just around a wrong turn trying to figure out where my GPS was trying to send me. They passed me up and I turned around and got busy chasing.

Soon enough, wouldn't you know, there's Chris catching up to me on the climb, we settled in a on a decent pace chasing the group that had passed me, shooting the shit and passing the time as we stomped up the gravel road climb. All of a sudden we see the group that had passed me coming back down at us. Apparently they had thought they were off route and had turned around. Chris said something to the effect of "I need to do less talking and more navigating!" thinking we were headed the wrong way. It turned out the group ahead had been wrong. We were on route and good to go. It was a good thing that the group ahead had made a little error, because it contained a lot of the riders I would be spending a good deal of time riding with for the next three days. I settled into the first serious climb. It was my first taste of serious fire road climbing in the Georgia. The big gravel road climbs tend to have a character of being steep at about 20% to 25% average for the first mile and end with a half mile of ridiculously, insanely steep bullshit averaging 35% or greater. I seriously wonder why the hell they even bother building roads to the top at all, as there is no vehicle on earth I would feel safe driving up some of that without a winch hooked up at the top. Normally there's a few miles of reasonable 5% to 10% average grade between those two parts.

After a few more confusing navigational issues on the GPS I reached the top of that first climb and I entered the Darnell Creek Horse Trail. It's a long, fun descent that transitions from flowy and twisty to gnarly and rooty from top to bottom. The bottom section was really techy and reminded me a lot of the trails back here in PA. I did most of the descent with Alex, a New York native. We slowly picked our way through the techy bottom section until he had an issue with his cleats and stopped to fix it. I continued on without him and ran into Jim Rivers after I popped out at the bottom. Jim and I rode together on the road section that would take us through Dillard. Dillard was my planned first resupply point and I had packed light on food since it was only 30 miles in. At least my waypoints said it was 30 miles in. Dillard is not 30 miles in. Dillard is 28 miles in. When you are riding the road after the Darnell Creek Horse Trail, you will come to an intersection with a 4 lane road with a post office on your left. That's Dillard. If you are planning on stopping there for resupply, don't do what I did and just roll on down route thinking you have 2 miles before you are there.

I was still riding along with Jim and around mile 33. I asked him "So where is Dillard? My waypoints say it's at mile 30."

"We passed it 5 miles ago." He replied.

Shit.

I needed water and I discovered one of the most useful features on my GPS besides the track I was following. The base maps I loaded show churches on the map. You can skip a stone all the way across North Georgia from church parking lot to church parking lot. Churches typically have water, be it from a unlocked spigot outside or a friendly groundskeeper who will let you into the rec center to fill your hydration bladder. I quickly located a church and we both stopped and topped up water and took a short break to eat. My water problem was solved, and my food situation was ok for the time being. I knew I would eventually run out, well before the next resupply in Helen. It wouldn't be the first time I had to ride 40 or 50 miles in bonk mode.

We continued on when we reached O.V. Justice Road. Jim had warned me ahead of time that there was a pack of dogs that ran that road that were professionals at running down cyclists. He explained that they had a system that we needed to be ready to move. They were apparently fearless and we did not want to get caught. We got barked at by one mangy looking canine but he didn't give chase. We apparently lucked out. Jim said he wouldn't be surprised if most them had been hit by cars, as aggressively as they liked to chase. It was the first year they hadn't chased him. After that it was on to climb Patterson's Gap Road. I ran into Scott, Tristan, and Monte on the way up. Jim and I had a pretty good pace going and we ended up leaving them behind at that point. Monte hung in there with us for a bit but then I looked back and he just wasn't there anymore. I kept grinding and as I crested the top, I realized I had lost Jim as well. I figured I'd see them again when I was bonking because I had missed Dillard. I ripped downhill and was on pavement back in the valley again. I was starting to look for places to grab some food. Literally anything with calories would do.

On Persimmon Road, I thought I was saved. I saw a sign for a bait and tackle store that promised cold drinks and snacks would be available. I was ecstatic as I cruised up the drive, only to find a very creepy and abandoned looking building with door hanging wide open and junk strewn about everywhere inside. Visions of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre flashed through my mind and I was out of there fast! At some point there had been a shop there, but it was definitely not in business anymore. I continued on to the Tallulah River Road/Charlie's Creek road climb. I ran into a few other racers when I was about to stop and check out a campground for a soda machine. They looked like they had just stopped in there so I asked if there was any food or drink to be had there, they indicated there was not so we continued on for a little bit together. I pulled away from them as it tipped up.

This section of the course is particularly beautiful. The Tallulah River is just awesome to ride along next to and there were tons of people out enjoying the area fishing, swimming, hiking, and four wheeling. When I got to Charlie's Creek Road there was a ford where the creek was wide and shallow. There were several guys around a 4x4 truck trying to get unstuck. I couldn't see the road across the creek so I asked them, "Is there a road or trail over there somewhere?" thinking the GPS might be slightly off in this location. One of them pointed about 75 feet or so upstream and said, "Yeah it's up there, you've got a hell of a lot more power in those legs than I do to be riding that thing up that! Good luck!" I supposed that meant I was in for a climb. I rode across the creek and got on Charlie's Creek Road, which is more of a jeep trail than a road. I got a little motivation about 1/3 of the way up when I heard thunder behind me. Crap. I had to be off this jeep trail before that storm got to me. I did not want to be on that steep jeep trail when it turned into a river. I kicked it up a few gears, got out of the saddle, and picked up the pace. I reached the top and descended the rough backside in the typical fashion, with reckless abandon of all common sense. I made it to the pavement on the other side just as the first drops of rain started to fall.

The GPS indicated another church close by at the bottom so I hurried to it and found a little overhang to hide under and wait for the storm to pass. I could tell it was a typical southern 15 minute afternoon cloud burst. A dry chamois was more valuable to me than the time I would lose waiting the storm out. As I was waiting I saw JP and Jim pass me up. Soon enough the rain let up and I was on my way again. I could see the entrance to bonktown now. If I didn't get food soon, things were going to get ugly. As I turned out on to a main road, I decided to try to see if I had cell service so I could locate somewhere off route I could get food soon. No luck. As I was packing back up, Monte passed me and told me we had about 40 miles to go to get to Woody's Bike Shop, which was right before Helen, where there would definitely be food. This was a distressing thought. 40 miles was a long damn way to go in the state I was in. I could make it, but it was going to take a long, long time.

Luckily, I wouldn't have to wait that long. About a half mile from where I stopped, halfway up the road climb was the Top of Georgia Hostel. They had set up at the end of their driveway with PB&J Sandwiches and Coca-Cola. IT WAS A MIRACLE. Imagine this scenario: You are racing TNGA, you are in the early stages of the dreaded bonk a mere 60 miles in, on a climb, and all of a sudden, in a place where there should be no services for 40 more miles, there's this beautiful tall woman named Tex set up on the roadside offering free PB&J and bottled water and selling Cokes for a buck. It was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. Top of Georgia Hostel, you guys are the best, you probably saved my race and I hope you continue to do this in the future! I downed a sandwich, a bottle of water and two cokes. I bought a coke to bring along for later and I was off again. Refueled and spirits lifted, I charged ahead with Monte up the climb and then we headed down a pretty sketchy section of double track where I ran back into a group containing Jim, JP, and a few others. The coke I had drank earlier was like rocket fuel. I was having a bunch of fun descending this section popping off little rocks and catching a little air in sections.

I lost most of this group on the descent and then once we got out on the road again, I widened the gap significantly before the Wildcat Road Climb. Wildcat wasn't too bad and soon enough I was dropping back down to the Unicoi Turnpike for brief moment before I got on Corbin Creek Road, the start of the Tray Gap Climb. I stopped briefly to get the coke I had bought earlier to gas up for the 10 mile climb ahead. I reached in my CraterPacks framebag to pull it out and what I got was an empty can. Thank goodness I pack everything in ziplock bags in there because it must have exploded on the double track descent before Wildcat. I was upset that I didn't have a coke to drink at the moment, but checking for it alerted me to the fact that I was almost out of water. I checked the GPS and wouldn't you know it, about a quarter mile off route past the turn onto Corbin Creek Road is church on the left.

I backtracked about a half mile to the church. There was a spigot on the side of the building and I topped off water there. I headed back to Corbin Creek Road where I ran into Jim again. We started up the Tray Gap climb. Jim said he probably hates this climb more than any other on the route. It just never ends. It feels like you are steadily climbing for a solid 10 miles, even though there actually a few slight downhill sections. The road slowly gets rougher and rougher as you go along until goes from gravel road to full on washed out Jeep trail. I was riding with Jim and Matthew on this section of the trail. Another racer later described Tray Gap as "one of the most hateful gravel roads I have ever seen." I'm inclined to agree with him. There are steeper climbs and rougher climbs on the route, but none are as interminably insufferable as Tray Gap. Part of the reason it sucks so badly is because Woody's Bike Shop is what is on the other side at around mile 100 and, at that point in the day, you are ready to be there immediately.

We trudged our way up the infinite suck until we crested the top. We were then descending an extraordinarily rough jeep trail. I decided it was a good time to haul ass and I ripped down the the back side jeep trail. It was covered in large basketball sized boulders and was actually pretty technical. I was flying and Matthew was right on my wheel. I went to hop a large rock that was in the middle of what was otherwise the smoothest, fastest line and I must have tagged it slightly with my rear wheel because it threw me sideways into a full on moto-whip at about 18 mph about 8 inches of the ground. Now I know I said I was getting rowdy on the descents, but I draw the line well before whips. I barely straightened it out at all before I hit the ground. When the rear wheel hit I countersteered, but the force of the tail of the bike shooting back the other way ripped my foot out of the pedal. Somehow, I reigned the 40+ lb. bike back under control. I had one of those adrenaline spikes you get when you know you almost seriously injured yourself and barely pulled it out and had to back it off a little bit until my heart rate came down. Amazingly, my rear wheel was dead-on true still even though I landed completely sideways on it. The tire didn't even burp air.

We rounded a corner and ran into some Jeeps four wheeling the trail in the opposite direction, and we slowed way down as we squeezed past them, then it started mellow out slightly until Matthew and I reached what was supposed to be the start of Hickory Nut Trail. The GPS looked like it was telling us to ride up a super steep washed out jeep trail to the right. Matthew and I rode the steep techy climb, only to find a young couple camping up there and a trail that just straight up ended. Clearly we were not in the right place, even though the GPS track said we were right on route. We rode back down, warning the campers to expect more intruders on their peace and quiet that evening. When we got back to the intersection Jim was there and showed us the actual start of Hickory Nut Trail. It was no wonder we missed it, the entrance was constructed in such a way that it was nearly invisible until you were right on top of it. We headed down together. Hickory Nut Trail is obviously not trail that sees a lot of use as the trail tread is overgrown a bit and difficult to see in places. Add to this the fact that it was dusk, and there were soccer ball sized square edged rocks littered randomly all over the trail and it makes for some risky descending. If it weren't for all the random rocks it would actually be a pretty awesome trail. I would find out later at Woody's that the rocks come from the bears and hogs flipping over the rocks on the hillside above looking for bugs to eat. The rocks naturally roll down and stop on the bench cut of the trail. We ran into a racer that was riding back up looking for his SPOT tracker which he had somehow lost. Make sure your SPOT is secure! That thing could save your life out here! It's not just for race tracking! The course is very remote and if you get seriously hurt there is a really good chance no one would find you otherwise.

I was determined to make it out of Hickory Nut before I put my lights on. Jim had caught on at this point that I was a risk taker and fast descender. So after leading for a bit he let me take the lead. I let it roll a little bit and things were moving along pretty well until, wham! I hit one of those big square edged bastards hidden by some plants and low light conditions. I was propelled over my bars directly in to a large patch of poison ivy. Awesome...just my luck. I knew would probably take a spill or two, but the poison ivy was a nice touch. I carefully picked my self up and retrieved my bike. The bars were spun 180 degrees from their proper orientation. I got out my tools to tighten my headset and stem bolts and Jim and Matthew caught up to me. They asked if I was alright and I sent them on ahead of me, knowing I would see them at Woody's. I tried to use some water to wash my exposed skin hoping it might do something to prevent or mitigate the reaction to the poison ivy. I don't react to poison ivy too badly, but I didn't want to be the guy who dropped from TNGA because I crashed into pile of the stuff. I did end up getting a little bit of a rash in a few spots after the race, but it actually wasn't too bad considering. I put on my lights before I started back down again and shortly after was out of the trail and on my way to Woody's.

Woody's Bike Shop is right down the road from the exit of Hickory Nut Trail. If you are not gunning for the win Woody's is an awesome place to stop. They will cook you food, have tons of cold drinks waiting, a place for you to crash if you are ready to stop for the day, WiFi, and spare parts and tools. It's a great place to take a break and all the people there are awesome! It is also, however, a huge time suck. I think next time I attempt this I will skip Woody's unless I have a major mechanical issue that needs to be addressed. There is a gas station and small market down the road on the route that's open until at least 11:00 PM on Saturday. That's definitely the place to stop if you think you lack the time management discipline to make Woody's a quick stop. Jim and I ended up stopped there for at least an hour probably closer to two.

Jim and I headed out together as Scott and Tristan rolled up. I wanted to get over at least the next climb, the infamous Hog's Pen Gap road climb, before I crashed for the night. Somewhere along the line Matthew slipped away while we were at Woody's. We had picked up Alex who I had ridden with briefly earlier in the day. We headed up the road and I suggested sticking together at night. Riding at night can be difficult psychologically when you are alone. It can be hard to stay motivated to keep moving. I'm sure there are people out there that are better off riding alone at night, but I'm not one of them. Jim and Alex seemed to agree that this was a good idea. We started in on the enormous road climb. I highly recommend doing this section of the course at night unless you are just too fast and get there in daylight on the first day. It's cooler at night, I kind of lost track of my sense of scale for the climb in the dark, and you can't see the tops of the extended 20+% grades. Somehow this makes it seem easier. Alex had a different strategy than us. His pace was much slower as we got into the Hog's Pen Gap climb. He planned to ride at an easier pace and not sleep if possible, while Jim and I were planning on crashing at some point for a few hours. Jim and I ended up riding away from him on the climb and when we got to the top, we waited for a little while but there was no sign of Alex, so we went on without him. I felt a little bad after suggesting we stick together but he had said he needed to go his own pace, so there was no point in us waiting and then trying to push him. He ended up finishing well before I did, so I guess it worked for him.

Jim and I screamed down the back side of Hog's Pen Gap and rode the short bit of the route over to Vogel State Park where there was a campground. As we were pulling into the campground, we ran into Chris leaving. We chatted for a bit and I could see he had a bit of a crazy look in his eyes. He had stopped briefly and was headed back out. He said he was going to try to make it to Aska Road or Cherry Log. Then he said, "Maybe I'll try to make it Mulberry Gap. Does that sound unreasonable?" I replied something to the effect that I thought that idea was probably unreasonable. It was only another 100 miles away. If those miles were anything like the first 125 to get to Vogel, that sounded impossible at the time. Having completed the route, it wasn't as crazy as I was thinking, but still a very tall order. Jim had ideas about conquering Wolf Pen Gap before we crashed, but I decided I was definitely done for the day. 20,000 ft of climbing and 125 miles was the hardest ride I had ever done in my life at that point and in my mind was in and of itself an unreasonable task. I was happy to bed down and tackle Wolf's Pen in the morning. For next run, I would probably try to get Wolf's Pen over with on day 1 as it would be easy to get to mile 160 or so once you are over that.

Jim and I rolled down to main services building for the campground and not only were there bathrooms, there was a coin op laundromat! We both hurriedly changed out of our kits and scraped together some change. Starting in clean kit on the second day was going to be awesome. After we started the laundry I mixed up a recovery drink and slammed it and then had a snack while calling into mtbcast and surfing the net on my phone for important information for the ride ahead tomorrow. You can hear my call in here. We then moved up to a pavilion to lay out our bivvy sacks and catch some sleep where two other racers had already set up and fallen asleep. There were outlets so I plugged my light in to charge and turned off my phone. I lay down to sleep and shortly after, extremely close by, I heard a pack of coyotes attacking something. It was very unsettling and I had a rough time getting to sleep after that. Eventually though sleep came and it was a much welcomed when it did. Soon enough I would be waking up to tackle day 2 and I had a feeling things were only going to get harder.

Stay tuned for Part 3: Day 2! (Click Here for Part 3: Day 3)