This is what I told myself as I pulled into the parking lot for the start of the 2025 ORAMM race. My most recent XCM event (Nationals) put me far enough in the hurt locker that it left me reconsidering whether I even wanted to race these endurance events at all, and ORAMM wasn’t far enough removed from that experience for me to be able to go in with an open mind. Jaded, or scarred, is more like it.

The conversations with my coach and sports psychologist after Nationals included using ORAMM and the following race (The Shed Enduro) as training events for goals later in the season, but also separating myself from the results enough to just enjoy the community that is regional mountain bike racing.

Shortly after the start, as the lead group was pulling away from me on the paved climb, I was initially frustrated once again with my inability to maintain the necessary pace or intensity to hang onto the group. Eventually, I determined just to settle into “diesel” mode and see how things shook out as the heat, humidity, and singletrack played their parts.

Though ORAMM is always hot (it’s July in North Carolina, after all!), this year seemed especially hot and humid (my Garmin beeped at me at least 5 times during the race warning me of a “heat advisory”), so my “race plan” for the day was less about racing and more about cooling. I started with frozen bottles and a pack, as well as an ice sock around my neck, then stopped at every aid station, not necessarily for water to drink, but to fill my bottles so that I could pour water on myself for cooling in the time between aid stations. (Side note: The difference between having personal support to have fresh bottles/packs/ice for you and self-filling bottles/packs at aid stations is notable. Enough, based on looking at stopped time, that it could have changed the podium positions this year).

Due to the lasting damage caused by Hurricane Helene, the ORAMM course was altered this year so that it included the Bernard Mountain Trail and Kitsuma twice, as well as many of the new G5 Collective / Gateway trails. By my rough estimate, there was significantly more singletrack this year in comparison to prior years, which I’m not complaining about. I feel most at home racing on singletrack, even when it’s uphill (though I did manage to step off the trail when attempting to dismount before a particularly challenging uphill switchback, which landed me upside down in some bushes and a bee’s nest–OOPS!).

What does “just have fun” look like in a 100k mountain bike race with ~10,000 feet of climbing? That’s probably different for everyone, but for me, it meant finding a manageable, but steady pace on the climbs, then “rocking & rolling” on the descents. I also set a personal goal to “nail every corner,” so focused more on setting up for the turns, body position through the corner, and exit speed out of the corners than I did on pushing the pace on the straights (which sometimes leaves me braking late / overshooting unseen corners).

It certainly helped that after the first section of singletrack, as I rolled up to several other riders on the paved climb up to Kitsuma, they informed me that they didn’t want me behind them on the descents, then, later, as I was descending the infamous “Heckle Rock” on Star Gap, someone with a megaphone yelled: “Abi’s a badass. The guys didn’t look nearly that cool!” There’s nothing like a little encouragement to boost your ego and make you feel better about your singular strength mid-race.

Laura later told me, as we were discussing my self-proclaimed slow climbing:

Being fast on climbs – overrated.

Having all the dudes on the climb talking about how fast you are on the downhills -priceless!! That’s literally what was happening when you passed us on overlook climb – those dudes were talking smack about the guy who was holding us up on the downhill and they said they saw you behind us and didn’t want to be in front of you on Kitsuma. lol. LEGEND.

I’ll take it.

Also, whoever you were with the megaphone. Thank you. Seriously. That was shortly after I had fallen into the bee’s nest and I needed a bit of a morale boost in that moment. lol.

In the end, I managed to set PRs on nearly every trail segment on course, I had some fun conversations on-course with fellow competitors, a friend surprised me at the finish, and I got to hang out with multiple bike friends over the weekend: I’d call that a success! Oh, and I still made it on the podium, with a 3rd place finish!

The very best part of ORAMM, however, for me, was that Megan, one of the women who was a part of my Women’s Race Scholarship, started AND FINISHED her first mountain bike race ever at ORAMM. When I got the message from Megan that she had finished ORAMM, despite it being the hottest ORAMM in recent history, and an absolutely brutal day to do your first mountain bike race, I definitely teared up. Not only did Megan show incredible grit, persistence, and courage to show up, keep pedaling, and finish, but she also got 3rd in her age group! I am so, so proud of her. Congratulations on an awesome race, Megan!