Dragon's Tale: The Singlespeed Perspective

David, Jeff and I headed up to the 2012 4th annual Dragon's Tale in New Castle, VA, put on by Chris Scott of Shenandoah Mountain Touring. The day started with a 4 a.m wake up call, followed by meeting David and Jeff at the Rockville park n' ride. After a couple of pit stops, we rolled into the parking lot about an hour or so  before the start. We got our packets and did the usual pre race necessities. David and Jeff both rode their 29ers with their "fancy" suspension parts and gears. I opted to kick it old school and ride a rigid singlespeed. I rode a 34x21 gear ratio, which felt pretty good considering all the climbing that we had in store. The race started at 10 a.m with a neutral roll out through downtown New Castle. Once we hit the gravel the race began and the big boys hit hard. The first part of the race is about 9 miles of fire road with deep creek crossing and slight elevation changes. The second or third creek crossing was very deep, so I decided to walk it, not wanting to be that guy to fall completely into the creek, trying to ride it. Sure enough, another rider comes flying by, then comes to an abrubt stop and takes alittle swim. Being on a single speed, I can only go but so fast on the flat stuff without blowing up due to my lack of big gear inches. Geared riders came whizzing by left and right, while was I stuck spinning away. Once the road started to go up and down more often, I caught many of those geared riders who blow by me. Toward the end of the fireroad I caught Mike Boyes (Athens Bicycle, masters rider and usually rocks a singlespeed but today was riding gears) who accidently forced me into a rutted gully, I didn't crash, so no harm no foul. After catching him again he graciously apologized and we chatted for a bit. Finally we got to the Grouse trail, the start of the singletrack and big time climbing. Mike made the start official with a "Woooooohhhh it's f!@#ing on baby!" When riding a singlespeed on the road or gravel you spin really fast but as soon as you hit anything that points up your cadence slows to a minimum. Once I hit the first significant steep grade, I got off a walked to give the legs a rest from the  slow grinding. I watched my geared friends go by spinning like mad in their granny gear. Mike came by me once more yelling as he rode away "Aint a g@# damn thing wrong with walking, aint a g@# damn thing wrong with it." I got back on and grinded it up to the top of the ridge walking the tight switchbacks and the steeper sections. Towards the top I was caught by local Sue Haywood (Stan's Notubes), who almost fell right on top of me, by slipping on the gnarly swichbacks. At the top she took off on her four stroke dirt bike, never to be seen again. I rolled down the deer trail which is a super fast descent where I passed fellow Richmonder, beer drinker and good guy, Metro Williams (Bikeman). At  the base of the descent I hit aid station 1. I got some fig newtons, topped off my bottles and started to feel my grove coming back(thanks to everyone at the aid stations you guys rocked!). I began my second assault on the Grouse trail,  this time riding much more, thanks to the pacing of  a rider from the Potomac Velo club (sorry I forgot your name). Towards the top I ran into another singlespeeder, who was none other than Montana Miller. Montana is a super strong rider and when I caught him I knew something was wrong. I finally reached the ridge and rolled with Montana for a little bit longer. The ridge was  rocky and steep at points. Often I would ride maybe 50 to 75% of a hill then walk the rest. After about 30 minutes of riding the ridge Montana asked where the bailout option was, at that point I think he blew up. I told him he could go down the turkey trail, take a right on the fire road and run into Aid Station 2 .Turns out Montana didn't ride far enough down to Aid 2 and ended up riding almost as much, as in the actually race. Feel bad for the dude felt like him getting slightly lost was almost my fault. Sorry Man! Hope to run into you again, next time you'll crush me. 

Anyways, the ridge was very exposed at spots and I could feel the sun beating down on me. Not to mention I was getting cramps in my thighs and calfs. It was even getting hard to walk at times due to the steepness of the trail and my cramps. In the car ride down David told me "After the power lines, it gets tougher with three soul crushing climbs." I finally made it to the powerlines, which was a pretty small feat in its self. I was thinking David is full of it, no way anything can be harder than what I just did. Well go figure David was right and soul crushing was a nice way of putting those last three climbs. After the hike-a-bikes from hell, I finally made it into Aid 2. At that point I was cooked and wanted out. I sat in the shade for a couple of minutes and started to get my head together again and decided to press on  Out of Aid 2 I  began the first of the last two major climbs of the day. I walked all of it but did out hike 3 people. The top of the Ferrier trail is pretty rocky, with a fast descent, that leads into a  couple of dried out creek crossings. Finally I reached Licking Branch trail witch is the last climb of the day. Again I walked all of it but did manage to once again out hike 2 other people, that's something to be proud of I guess? The descent down Licking Branch is awesome, straight and super fast. At the bottom of the descent you pop out onto the pavement for the last 3 miles or so to the finish. Up ahead of me I saw a guy spinning like crazy, which could only mean one thing, SINGLESPEEDER! I spun as fast I could to catch and pass him about a mile before the finish. While the race doesn't have a singlespeed category, I still wanted to beat him, it's a race right? Finally I make it back to the parking lot and ride under the finishing banner. I look over at the time and I'm surprised to see 5:30 on the clock, which completely blows away my expectations. David and Jeff come by and tell me, that a boy. I was the 4th singlespeeder out  of about 8, not too shabby. All and all I've never been in so much pain but I've never had that much fun either. Awesome people, trails and race. 

Congrats to Cheryl Sornson (Team CF) for the women's win and to Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale Factory Racing) for absolutely destroying the men division in 3:36, are you kidding me!? You are so fast it's scary man! Also to my Teammates David (4:22) and Jeff (4:40) who rode super strong out there, way to go guys. Thanks to Chris Scott and his supporters  for putting on the race, Honey Stinger for keeping me alive out there and Industry Nine for making bulletproof wheels.  

Check out the video with me and Metro.  

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=264419600314823