Eric's Ride Log

Last Saturday Rich, Josh, and I did an awesome, memorable ride. We met at Andrew’s Guyser, took the pavement to the bottom of Heartbreak, went up to Star Gap, down, up, and over the grassy road of death, up Curtis Creek to the Parkway, up the parkway to Heartbreak, and back down to the cars.

30 miles 8775' climbing 

Rich wanted to start at about 6:45 but traffic pushed the start time back a half hour. As we started the rain from the night before was just finishing up.

We had a pretty easy going warm-up, Rich and I were geeking out about his wheels and sharing stories while Josh kept up the rear looking pale as a ghost and smelling like a bum ‘not an englishmans ass’ (thanks Rich). We cruised through all the switchbacks heading to Star Gap and I took the lead heading down to the grassy road of death. That was a bunch of fun, I almost ate it pretty hard once but somehow pulled it together for the save. The alcohol had been forced out of Josh’s system at this point and he was starting to feel good. Dicky started to sprint away testing his new wheels:

and Josh was looking to chase. The pace really started to pick up and we all hammered to Curtis Creek road. That was a mistake on my part. I have to say, Curtis Creekis probably the one place where I can get to the point of having ZERO fun on a bike. Uuhhh… It goes on and on for 9 freakin’ miles of H-A-R-D climbing. Josh and Dicky pulled away from me once we hit the campground. I tried hard but my legs weren’t responding. I guess that’s what happens when you stay off a bike for two weeks. The next to the last day of the TDF was going on and I couldn’t even get an image of Flandis crushing an Alpine climb to help. The first signs of leg cramps did slow me down to a snails pace, though. I tried to keep a positive attitude and did stop not just for rest but also to take in the beauty of whatever late July flower this is:

We met up with a rider that was scoping Curtis Creek at the parkway and he must have seen that I was suffering following those singlespeed freaks. He offered up all the Gatorade and kind words as he had available for us. Thanks man!

Next was just over five miles of Blue Ridge Parkway and it completely wrecked me. There was even a downhill that was a mile or two long but it wasn’t enough rest. As soon as I would put ANY power down I would lock-up. I got off the bike a few times and stretched, ate a gel, and just soldiered on and the five miles were over. Rich and Josh were waiting for me but they had a curfew so I told them to just head on. I figured I would just be holding them up at this point. I decided to not stop and rest and followed them up the hike-a-bike to Heartbreaker. Since I was there and currently my legs weren’t cramping I decided to stay with them for the descent. I go in front and decided I may be able to go fast enough that when they did finally catch me on the climb, I may have had time to walk to the top before they arrived. Well, It worked. I hardly touched my brakes except to steer and blasted down the mountain. I really felt great and as long as I wasn’t climbing, my legs were fine. Dicky caught me after a few photos at the overlook, but he was walking, too.

We regrouped after the second little up and everyone bombed down the final couple miles of Heartbreak. I pulled a few tricky maneuvers, went far far far faster than safe, and chickened out on a 45 degree log crossing. I railed a few more switchbacks with Rich on my tail saw another 45 degree log crossing, and went for it. Ooohh man, that was a baaaaad mistake. My front wheel got over, my rear wheel did not. I went over the bars at a very high rate of speed and landed directly on my face. I got my arm underneath myself just in time to really screw up my elbow, too. I rolled off the side of the hill and came to a pretty abrupt stop. I really am not a fan of getting hurt. I was nauseous, my forearm hurt pretty bad, and I knew I had seen that white flash that means yes, the bell has been rung. I decided it was a good time to take a photo:

Thousands of tiny beads of sweat formed all over my arms after a few minutes and for some reason or another I thought that was pretty neato. Rich helped me after I dropped my helmet down the hill and they both checked over my bike while I checked he helmet for visable signs of damage (i.e. cracks). The helmet was fine and my bike was fine except for the bent seat rails. Whew! That sure was exciting! I haven’t had a wreck like that in a long time. Once my head was on correctly I hopped in the lead and continued to ride like I had something to prove. We all came into the camp at the bottom really hot and Josh missed the tree by inches.

Thanks for coming up and torturing me guys! You’re welcome to come up and drag my sorry ass along wherever you go. Just wait for me at the top, O.k?

another one down, another one down, another one(hundred-fifty dollar part) BITES THE DUST!

The next day I woke up with a slight black eye, and my elbow was swollen and very stiff. I volunteered at the Off-Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell and watched and helped 350 folks do the exact ride that I did plus another 30 miles.

Erinna rode her way into 5th place Open women, 6th woman overall in the 2006 Off-Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell! Way to go Sweetie! Here she is at the start with other bio-squaders Mike Brown, Ben Poss, and Matt Johnson: