A Good Laugh

I was going to go out and back on Black Mtn. to Turkey Pen Gap trail today after work but I was tipped off about a blog from the Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race where a professional racer wrote:

"At one point a dude marshall said, "Its all downhill from here!" I said "No, really? He said, "Well there are a few little climbs and then its all downhill!" This is a recurring scenario in my racing career. Sometimes marshals lie. They don't mean too. They just don't know. He didn't know."

If you go back a few posts you will see that I was that 'dude marshall' (sic). I find this really quite funny. I had nothing to do with the race, I was just out for a ride and thought I'd offer up some positive reinforcement to the stage racers as they passed me. When I told her it was all downhill from here we were at the first overlook past the top of Clawhammer Mountain and other than a few little climbs (Black Mtn. and Hickory Knob, respectively) it really was all downhill from there. But obviously I 'don't know' what I am talking about. Lol!

She wasn't the only racer I encountered who was upset about having to push her bicycle up the backside of Black. No wonder the stages were made considerably easier than what was initially announced. Imagine if they would have started Stage 3 by going up Black to Turkey Pen! Highway 280 was a good call, as was dropping Farlow from Stage 4, lol...

So what was I trying to say here? Oh, yes, so since I 'don't know' Black Mtn. I decided I had better play it safe today and did Sycamore Cove clockwise instead. It was raining and a lot of fun, but not as much fun as climbing Black!