Went up to Thomaston, GA with Chris, Jim and Darren saturday morning to recapture my youth at one of my favorite race courses in the southeast. We met our insulin challenged friend Phil at the race course and thus commenced a classic boys weekend of camping, story telling, eating, drinking and racing.

I’ve been trying to go over in my mind what the course looked like. On a course this demanding the really hard parts stick out and everything else, while still hard, tends to get forgotten. There are several 100ft ascents that on any other course would be memorable but on this one with a 500ft, 400ft and and a couple of 200ft climbs they are forgettable.
I was worried the turnout would be very low and it was but the competition was pretty good since both Andy Johnston and Peter Joski showed up.
Everyone rolled off the line real easy. It was the easiest XC start I think I can remember. Phil and I took the front all the way down the flat, rocky, sandy and sometimes muddy double track along the flint river. I can’t remember if Phil or I was first into the singletrack but I remember Phil saying, “I can’t get out of my big ring”. That’s a big problem since the singletrack immediately goes up a technical switchback climb of nearly 500ft in less than a mile. He stops to take care of the problem. So I’m at the front and just try to keep in mind that I’ve got to do this 3 times and kept the pace under control. The climb takes about 8:45 and then it’s all the way down the other side on a slightly sketchy loose singletrack downhill. There was a couple spots where you come around a little curve and the trail splits around a tree but my bike always wanted to go right at the tree. I hit one of them on the preride but managed to avoid them on race day.
Once I was at the bottom the course doubled back along a creek and I could see up the downhill and saw Andy J coming. This was a soft muddy false flat with slick roots and a few logs to hop. After crossing the creek the second big climb came. It was a little technical at the bottom just because it was muddy but after that it was a pretty steady and non-technical 400ft gain in about 3/4 of a mile. This is about a 5:45 – 6 minute climb which dumped out onto a fast slightly downhill doubletrack. This is where Andy J made contact with me.
We say our hello’s and hit the second downhill singletrack section. Super fun seat-of-your pants kind of stuff. There’s a fine line between going fast/low risk and faster/dangerous on this stuff. I opt for the former and since Andy isn’t all up in my hind parts I figure it’s a good enough pace.
We dump out onto a smooth gravel road that climbs a little but nothing too crazy. We chit chat a bit. Mostly about KHS dropping the Cycle Youth team and why. Good to hear that GT has stepped in to help this junior devo team. I guess we slowed a little too much cause I look back and here comes Joski.
The three of us ride along together mostly silent now. It seems that Joski is rolling the flats and mellow grades good but suffers a little on the steep stuff. He’s a nice guy but decided I would try to shed him on the 3rd big steep climb that comes at about the 7 mile mark. I hit it pretty hard with Andy on my wheel. It’s about 300ft but less than 1/2 mile so it’s very steep. I get the gap and keep the gas on to the last memorable climb. It’s a short but very steep little leg burner with lots and lots of baby head rocks all over it. The key is holding momentum and picking a good line so you can keep traction. After that it’s a fast 30 mph rutted clay road to the last short section of singletrack that dumps out at the start/finish.
Andy takes the lead to begin our second lap. All is good except when we get to the switchback climb I bung the first switchback. He gets about 20 feet on me then I bung the next one too. I end up bunging 2 more after that. I don’t know if my rhythm was thrown off or what but I lost 45 seconds up that climb. I’m able to hold that gap the rest of the second lap.
Starting the third lap Andy was out of site. Thankfully I get my groove back and clean the switchbacks this time. I’m told at the top of the second big climb he has 1:15 on me. I saw Don Davis from the HG crew and said, “EMBRACE THE PAIN!!!!!”. Hah, I thought it was funny. I decide to take a gel 30 minutes into the last lap to avoid a meltdown on the last climb. Unfortunately it hadn’t kicked in yet when I got there and I was hurting bad. I see Darren on the climb and yells encouragement and tells me Andy just passed him. I’m hurting so bad though. Then I get a stick in the rear wheel and have to get off. I top the hill and I’m at the point that getting my bike to go where I want it to has become a chore. I bung a critical drop into a gully. It’s one of those momentum things where you have to make it or you’re losing substantial time getting up the other side. I went into survival mode just trying to concentrate on the trail and make my bike go where it needs to go. Suddenly I’m feeling good again. The expresso gel has kicked in. Hooray!!! I knew the race for 1st was over but I was really dreading going up the steep baby head climb all blown up so being able to finish out the lap strong was cause for celebration.
Lesson learned…. it takes me about 20 minutes for a gel to kick in… not the 10 minutes I thought. Not that I would have caught Andy anyway. I pretty much lost the race on the second lap when I messed up those switchbacks.
This is a must do for any mtb racer in the southeast. There really is nothing else like it around these parts. It kind of feels like I’m in an abusive relationship though because it just beat the crap out of me but I want to go back.
All of us got rocks for our efforts. Chris was 1st c-dale, Darren 2nd SS, Phil 1st Ex 19-29 and Jim 1st Most Loved. Don Davis ended up 1st Sport 19-29. That’s Jim’s rock on the left. It’s a little smaller. Official results here.

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