A Turn in the Wrong Direction

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A Turn in the Wrong Direction (The Black Bear Rampage) 

The day began with a dreaded 3:30 AM wakeup call. (If you know me at all you will know I am not a morning person. In fact I am more likely to be going to sleep rather than waking up at this time.) It took a minute to drag my lazy butt out of bed, but it was worth it to find my girlfriend making me waffles. By 4:30 my friend Z and I were loaded and ready to start the 2 and a half hour journey.

We arrived, registered, changed, and began to warm-up. During the warm-up I noticed the man himself, Gary Fisher, getting ready as well. He was rocking the Hifi Pro 29er and appeared to have his game face on. Soon we all lined up for the start.

The pros were caught totally off guard with the fast 3 count. We started a minute or two behind them. As we raced the first 2 mile paved climb we began to pull the group of pros in quickly. This had me wondering if they knew something I didn’t, as this was my first time racing this course. By the time we entered the woods a handful of us had bridged the bulk of the gap.   

At this point we hit a long flat blazing section of single track that had me smiling in between gasping for air and mouthfuls of dust. I soon realized that I was about to pay for having to take a month off the bike.

I began to feel the twinge of a cramp setting in so I backed down a notch. At this point I was by myself just trying to find my groove and get comfortable again. After what seemed like an eternity of fast twisty single track I hit some open sections and then began to climb.

Still feeling a touch on the bad side, my legs eventually started to recover from efforts of earlier. I started to climb and continued to do so for a while. When I reached the top I was a little curious as to why I had not seen anyone around me, but continued ahead hoping to catch some of the riders up the road.

I went down the backside of the ridge I had just climbed and came across a man who looked like he was putting up a course marker. I asked which way and he pointed for me to continue on straight ahead. I kept going but began to wonder why he pointed me this way but the marker pointed the other way.

A little further down I ran into another man who looked extremely confused. I asked him which way and noticed the marker said to go the other way. As he stared at me with a deer in headlights look I wondered if there was something hanging out of my nose and then I asked him if any other riders had come through this way. He said no.

With frustration building, I made the choice to start climbing back the way I had just come from. After a little while, I made it to the spot where the first guy was only this time it was a lady. She immediately made a call on the radio to let them know she had found the lost rider.

I asked her who the first guy was and why he sent me the wrong way further and she said he was a volunteer and I had caught him by surprise so he just pointed the direction I was going. After a while of communicating back and forth the organizer decided to send me on my way back down to continue riding.

At this point the frustration had just about spilled over but I decided not to quit and use this blown race as training miles.

Soon I was on track and feeling better than ever (which figures). The legs were moving and I felt like I was firing on all cylinders as I weaved my way through the other riders who had gone the right way. I continued on for the last half of the race still enjoying the course and the beautiful trails that area has to offer.

I finally made it to the finish line three hours and thirty something minutes later. As I rolled through I found Z who finished 3^rd in the pro group. Congrats. Also, congrats to fellow crew member Dave for 2^nd in the SS category.

It turns out his group had the same problem but one of the guys was a local and knew the course. They stopped and found the course marker lying in the grass and propped it back up so no one else would go the wrong direction. It had blown down again by the time I went through which allowed me to ride five more miles than everyone else plus the time of figuring out what the hell I was doing.

All in all this was a great ride to get back in shape and a great learning experience.