Head Cold and Racin'

Jubal got a cold at the beginning of the week. I thought to myself, " Great, that means I will get it just in time for the race." And guess what, I did.

The ride down was great. We took I 40 west to hwy 74 to hwy 64. Hwy 64 winds through the Nantahala Gorge, dark and mysterious. Lined with steep rhododendron cliffs on both sides, the road follows the cotours of the river. I have so many memories of this place. Hwy 64 then passes through Andrews, where there is a Hardees that appears to be in the middle of nowhere. Sweet!!! After passing through Murphy, we get to go through the Ocoee river gorge. This area is more copper colored. Ducktown, just up the road is home to some fine copper mining, and the residues in the surrounding areas, turn all sorts of copper colors. A quick stop at the Occoee Whitewater Center. Another set of memories floods my thoughts as I look out over the river.

We then make our way to Cleveland, I 75 south to Dalton. The hotel experience is much better this time. Nice and warm. I still don't get much sleep. The hotel room is a little warm, because, when one person in a family gets a cold, the whole family gets it. And so we all lay around moaning, groaning, taking meds, and sneezing.

Race morning, the alarm goes off at 7:20am. I could sleep for 2 more hours. I consider not racing, being sick, I don't think that I will beat the time of my first race. This will not be the last time I consider this. Grab some breakfast, pack the car. Feeling a little weird, I am not able to eat much. I wnoder if I should have taken the cold medicine, or drank all that orange juice.

To the finish to check in, and then drive out to the start. Through the rolling farm land, listening to the mellow sounds of Matt Kearney.

Warming up


We arrive to the start, and get changed and ready, then we wait. It seems that the start is later than last time, but I have trouble remembering.
The Start


I am in the first wave of riders to start. Off the front like a rabbit, I get passed by everyone in the first wave within the first mile. They are all on geared bikes, and I end up passing them as the day goes by. The first 17 miles goes by fairly smoothly, other than feeling like a big cottonball. I have trouble getting a rythym, and consider getting in the car at the halfway point. I feel like my downhill skills are improving some. I make all of the switchbacks except one. Down the hill to the halfway point, I stop a little too long to lube my chain and stuff.
Halfway


The next several miles is uphill, some slow and steep. Within the first mile, which is mile 18 of the race, I slow almost to a stop and seriously consider turning around to go back to the car and drop out. But then I consider that Rhonda and Jubal will be gone and I'll have to climb back up anyway. So, I plod on, and though I still feel bad, I begin to feel a little better. To summarize the rest of the race, I felt a lot better on the last 8 mile tech section. I was able to keep some momentum and walk a lot less, often leaning on tress so I would not fall over.



On to the finish line where I eat two bowls of chili and a bowl of homemade peach cobbler. We load up the car and head home only to stop one hour later at a BBQ restaurant. I eat 6 hushpuppies, 1 BBQ sandwhich with slaw and half of Jubal's Grilled Cheese sandwich. We make it home, watch some tv, fall asleep, get up, go to bed and sleep.
The Finish