When its day three of racing in pouring rain, driving wind, and garbage conditions, and you’re still grinning from ear to ear, either something is really wrong with you, or you know you’re doing exactly what you’re made for.

This was the realization I came to in the middle of stage three of this year’s Pisgah Stage Race. The first three days of racing were literally a monsoon, yet, despite being drenched, muddy, and completely sans brake pads, I was having a blast.

I’d never raced the Pisgah Stage Race before, nor ridden most of the trails covered in the event, but loved the gnarliness of the Pisgah backcountry–especially in the wet and rowdy conditions. Sure, the amount of climbing felt outrageous at times, but each and every descent (except perhaps the gravel “enduro” on Stage 1) made everything worth it.

My race bike this year is the Rocky Mountain Element, and maybe its the wind-water-fire vibes, or maybe the bike is just that good, but I never felt like the bike was outmatched by the trails or the conditions.

For the bike-nerds out there:
Frame: Rocky Mountain Element C70, size large
Brakes: SRAM G2 RSC
Drivetrain: SRAM XX Transmission, 32t chainring, 165mm cranks
Wheels: Industry Nine Solix M UL300
Tires: Maxxis Ikon (front) & Maxxis Aspen (rear) w/ CushCore XC (rear)
Suspension: Rockshox Pike Ultimate 130 fork, Rockshox SidLuxe Ultimate 120 shock
Bars/Stem/Grips: Industry Nine stem; OneUp 35mm bars, ESI Extra Chunky grips, Mountain Togs
Dropper: Rockshox Reverb AXS 170mm
Weight: ~28lbs

Stage 1: Looking Glass (16.4 Miles / 2,026 FT)
Coming off of a 70-mile gravel race the Saturday before, my legs admittedly felt a bit heavy on Stage 1, which also happened to be the shortest and least-technical stage of the week. This put me a bit on the back foot, as I struggled to hang on through the climbs and had no real opportunity to make up time on any notable descent. I finished the stage in 7th out of the 8 women racing Pro/Open, and 5th on the enduro.

One of my goals for the week was to finish my planned nutrition every day, and on this point, I started the week strong, managing to get in approximately 110g of carbohydrates per hour of racing. My other goal was to be competitive, but mostly to have fun racing epic trails with epic people. On the very first night, before the race even started, I reconnected with old friends from past races, and met some friends of friends who I very quickly identified as “my people”–competitive, but there for the joy of mountain biking. We ended up spending most of the week eating dinners together and swapping tales of each stage’s adventures….mostly the fun we had ripping each day’s descents!

Stage 2: Promised Land (27.2 Miles / 3,802 FT)
I started Stage 2 by making the title page of Dirtwire TV’s highlight video when I came into a blind corner with a 45-degree wet log/water bar in it way too hot, slamming my head into the ground in the process. Despite feeling good up until that point, I was a bit rattled, and felt like it took me a solid 30 minutes or so to feel balanced on my bike again, which meant a lot of hesitating and dabbing through the wet roots on Squirrel Gap trail. Once I regained my confidence and balance, it was a climb up through the legendary hike-a-bike on Black Mountain which was every bit as long and terrible as people said it was…but worth it for a ripping descent. I managed to get 3rd on the enduro for Stage 2, despite thinking that it had ended way before the actual end of the enduro stage and moved up to 6th on the stage and 6th in GC.

Stage 3: White Squirrel (31.2 Miles / 5,659 FT)
Stage 3 was the day that stands out as my favorite of the week, despite my legs feeling like absolute and total garbage at the start. I eventually warmed up (somehow, as it was not warm, poured rain, and was either sleeting or hailing sideways at the top of the one ridge), and tried to just hold a steady pace on the climbs. The profile of the stage suited me, with 3 climbs followed by 3 alternating descents. By time we hit the first descent, Avery, the particular squeal coming from my brakes warned me that I had no brake pads left, and the mud accumulating in my eyeballs prevented me from actually seeing the trail. My response: “send it.” There was really no point in trying to brake in the mud anyway, so I squinted, attempted to at least see the general direction of the trail, and pointed my bike downhill. That was my only time ever riding Avery, and my lasting impression was that I’d like to ride that trail again when I can see where I’m going! Then it was up to Bennett Gap, the one trail of the whole week that I’d ridden before, albeit always on a “big bike.” I passed a couple of the other women on the climb up, and pushed hard through the climb, knowing that I could likely hold my lead if only I could get to the singletrack first. I did, and I slipped and slid right down the mountain. Somehow, despite being on the “little” bike and crashing twice, I set a PR on the Bennett Gap segment, and maintained my position in the race. The only thing left was a climb back up Maxwell to Lower Black, which proved to be the most terrifying descent of the day, despite being the least “technical.” I crashed a third time for the day, just sliding out on a corner, and by the end of the stage could barely see the finish arch through all the mud in my eyes. I moved up to 4th on the stage, and finished 2nd in the enduro, moving up to 5th in the GC.

Stage 4: Carl Schenk Route (31.6 Miles / 4,090 FT)
According to my coach after the fact, Stage 4 is when I fell apart. Haha. He’s not wrong. I had nothing to give on the climbs, so just tried to keep it as steady as I could (despite catching one of the women ahead of me at the base of the first descent, I couldn’t even begin to hang with her up the climb and lost enough time that I never caught her on the final descent). I also struggled a bit more to get all my nutrition in, and the fatigue in my hands was enough to force me to dial it back on the enduro stage for fear of losing my grip on the bars entirely. Still, it was the first day with no rain and the trails were in surprisingly good condition. It was also my first time riding Laurel-Pilot, and there’s a reason that’s an iconic Pisgah route. WOW! Pilot was super fun, and I’d love to go back and hit that again, even if the hike-a-bike to get up there is nearly as awful as the one on Black. Maybe worse. Still, I managed to finish 5th on the stage and 2nd on the enduro (not bad for never having seen the trail before!), holding my position in 5th for the GC.

Stage 5: The Land of Waterfalls (27.4 Miles / 2,956 FT)
Despite falling apart on Stage 4, I felt surprisingly good on Stage 5–at least once I got going. One of my fellow racers commented that I have a terrible start. Again, not wrong. Haha. As we started up the first climb, I saw the 3-Day Open Women’s leader pass me with one of my competitors on her wheel. I knew that if I wanted a chance at moving up, that was my moment. I dug deep and put in an effort to latch onto the train, eventually catching another woman, at which point we had a “ladies train” of four women, which was pretty rad! Towards the top of the climb, it was just Liz (3-day leader) and myself, and when we crested the top and dropped into the singletrack, she graciously let me go. I managed to pass the third place woman on the first descent, and we battled back and forth all the way to the top of the remaining climb, where I knew I had to give it everything I had to get to the descent first. It wasn’t a technical (or long) downhill, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to gain much time on the descent–but should be able to hold my position if I kept it clean. I played it safe on the descent, pushing just hard enough to not be caught, and landed my first stage podium of the week, finishing in 3rd on the stage, 4th in the enduro, and with a 5th in GC and 3rd in Enduro GC for the week.

In the end, I may not have finished as well in the GC as I optimistically hoped for, but I accomplished my goals. I had insane amounts of fun, made new friends, enjoyed some epic singletrack, got rowdy on all the descents, and raced my little heart out. I don’t know what next year’s racing will look like, but I certainly hope it has more races like this in it!