PMBAR

[young]

"For people who do not understand what the Pisgah Mountain Bike
Adventure Race is let me explain. The main objective at PMBAR is for
you and your teammate to ride to at least four check points (of seven
possible) in the Pisgah National Forest. Every checkpoint you get
beyond the minimum of four is worth a whopping five hour bonus (each),
but you have to cross the finish line before the fourteen hour cut-
off. Eric (PMBAR Honcho) Wever also makes the call on determining some
roads and trails off-limits for reasons of safety, poach-proofing, and
genuine, painful, inconvenience. You are required to carry everything
you need for the entire day, whether you're going four-and-out or all
the way." -Team Dicky Blog

This past weekend I participated in the PMBAR with several buddies who
had recently done the Cohutta 100 with me. What the above description
does not add is that you do not know where the checkpoints are until
the race starts and each team may link checkpoints in differing
combinations and via differing trails. As such, it is hard to know
where you are relative to others. Also, the race must be done in teams
of two, but we rode as a foursome for all but the last few minutes.

As for my race, I was unable to leave Oxford until 5:45 pm Friday for
the solo drive to Brevard, NC and a date with an 8am start time. Upon
arriving at 3:15am, I rolled into the back of the car opened the
tailgate and received 3 hours of glorious sleep. Most of the early
talk was of the impending weather that had hit Oxford Friday evening.
As it turned out, we had overcast 60s and only the occasional short
sprinkle. As such, conditions were ideal.

Unfortunately, prior to even the start, there was talk of only going
for the minimum 4 checkpoints. Having driven through the night, I was
really hoping for maximum agony and injustice. I tried to pump the
others up for more, but this fell on deaf ears. As for the riding, the
trails are outstanding and unmatched in the East. We logged in
approximately 40 miles in about 8.5 hours (about 6.25 hours of ride
time, a fair bit of hike a bike up a mountain, and a lot of hanging
around). I don't know the amount of climbing we did, but would think I
could reasonably put it in the 10k range. We finished 30th out of
approximately 65 teams. One member of our group bonked pretty hard and
at one point was found staring into the back of his camelback with
little sense of purpose or focus. Thankfully, we had already made the
decision to not head for additionally checkpoints and he was only an
hour or so from the finish.

The only mechanical our group had was my broken chain, which occurred
approximately 1-2 minutes into the day at the very first uphill bump.
While I avoided any notable crash, I did encounter a sizable tree
across the trail at one point. In an effort to not unclip both pedals,
I put my downhill foot down at attempted to use a standing tree next
to me to leverage myself over the fallen one. Not surprisingly I
failed to look up a inspect the integrity of the tree. Upon putting my
hand on the tree trunk (approximately 10-12 inches in diameter, which
is larger than you think, and 40 feet tall) it snapped at its base and
sounded like a gun went off. I then found myself falling in unison
with this trunk off the trail and down the mountain. Thankfully, I
landed in a huge, plush briar patch. It actually did feel somewhat
soft until I had to attempt to extricate myself from it. The result is
that my legs look like I tried to kick my way through a field of
barbwire, but at least the tree didn't fall on me.

Final impressions is that this is a must do event and does not require
local knowledge of the trails to have a great time. The organizer also
puts on two other events. The "Double Dare" occurs in October and is
essentially a two day PMBAR. The other event is titled "The Most
Horrible Thing Ever." It occurs in Pisgah in February and is a 6 stage
36 continuous hour event. One of my old kayaking buddies won it this
spring. His final total was something like 215 miles (on a mtn bike in
Pisgah) and approximately 50K of climbing. Check out the organizers
site at www.pisgahproductions.com and I'll be trying to convince
several (Wren, M. Robinson, Henderson, Valliant) to forgo Syllamo and
taste the PMBAR next year.

Over and Out.