I pulled into Mulberry Gap around 4 on Friday and unloaded my junk into a cabin. Ran into Brian and Shane
(race promoters/single speed bad arses) and Dickman (1/2 the man he use to be btw) who were fixing to head out and
mark the course. I suited up and headed out with them.

The course was hard...really hard, but the every climb was rewarded with an amazing descent. I bailed out early cuz I didn't
need to be riding so hard the night before a race and I didn't want to miss diner.

I made it back just in time to grab some delicious grub served in the upper barn by the house. I chatted with some new friends
over beers and turned in around 10 pm.

Race day and the place came alive. The Kicklighters pulled in with their pop up and pup's. The Pisgah crew was there. The Bump crew was there albeit for other than racing reasons. Some other bad arse ladies such as Carey Lowery and others I didn't recognize but have heard of.

The race started on the gravel road in front of the camp ground. We rode up the hill toward Pinhotti 3 bypassing it and P2 on our way to Bear Creek trail head. It was a long gravel and fire road ride to get there. There was a dude way off the front turning a huge gear and I was in the chase group of 3. Me, Wild Bill, and Crispin Del Nero(sp) were trading pulls on the gravel and only losing ground to the leader. Once we arrived at bear creek it was a very hard right to climb a steep wall, basically riding the loop in reverse of the normal direction. This climb was perhaps ridable, but not for me. Crispin unclipped, I unclipped and wild bill kept riding. We walked 70% or more of this monster of a hill. My legs were not there that day. I couldn't climb it if I wanted to. We reached the top and regrouped.

Crispin pulled us along the fire road at a good clip as I just struggled to stay on. Wild Bill moved into the lead of the chase group and bumped the pace a bit at Crispin's urging. It was funny he was encouraging Bill as one friend might another up a hill. Bill backed off and moved to the back then let us put a gap on him.

On a steep fire road we caught sight of the leader struggling up. I got pumped up and crispin gave me some quick coaching. He said wait, he's gonna blow up, we're gonna catch him at P1 and he'll be walking while we ride. So I backed off. As we approached the descent I passed Crispin as we ran into a huge log across the trail. I passed the leader on the descent and continued to bomb toward P1. I made the hard right 160 turn up P1 and my legs would not allow me to climb it. I dismounted and hustled as Crispin passed and put a gap on me. I struggled through the rest off P1 legs feeling like noodles.

I bombed the descent and turned up the fire road toward P2. I came around on the climb and really started to hammer. It was the perfect grade for my gearing and cadence that day. I made short work of the 2+ mile climb up and even shorter work of the greatest descent ever coming back down the other side. I can't stress enough just how much fun it is to bomb down P2. it's in perfect shape and just flows perfectly.

Popped out of P2 on the road again and headed back toward MG. Up the last gravel climb the promoters snuck in a new piece of single track. a nasty steep climb straight up. they were kind enough to leave a pile of beers at the the top. the brand new single track was short and led down the hill and popped out on the MG driveway by the barn. we raced down the driveway to the road, hard left and left again back into the gravel road that leads along the cabins, then switches back and climbs back up to the barn and the short steep finish.

It was a hard 25 miles. I haven't had cramps like that in a while. 3 of the top 10 finishers were women with a 4th, Becky, coming in at 11th. Awesome. The race was billed as a ride, not a race and had no entry fee's or cash prizes for legal purposes. The Promoters Brian and Shane, couldn't see going a year without one of their favorite races, the Ga State Single Speed Championship, so they started their own thing and hopefully, will continue as it's own thing for next year.

I grabbed some lunch and beers, took a quick nap, regrouped at diner where we swapped stories, some were entirely inappropriate but funny, then retired to the campfire where we sat till around midnight tipping beers and telling stories and acting like fools.

The plan was to ride sunday morning, but we woke up to lots o rain. I slammed a delicious breakfast, said goodbye's, and headed back home.

Very successful weekend. Made new friends, rode some sic single track, and made some awesome memories. I earned a new nickname. Number Two(must be spoken in a Dr Evil voice), for my second place finish to Brian (promoter) at Snake and his buddy Crispen on Saturday.

Sorba post by Adam Queen