Holy shit! That was intense! I've finally rested my mind and body enough to attempt this write up. The Rockstar Challenge is an annual event put on by the Virginia Endurance Series (VES). There are three route options: pavé, 165 miles with 10k feet of vert, gravel, 250 miles with 25k feet of vert, and trail, 270 miles with 40k feet of vert. All routes are a point-to-point from Harrisonburg (Rock Town) to Roanoke (Star City). The 2022 grand depart was held 6 days ago on April 23.
Several months back, I had dangled this race in front of the Bad Idea Club and, to my surprise, I actually got a bite. Justin Mace decided to just go ahead and sign up for the race and then tell me the ball was in my court. Well, I happily obliged, opted for the team category, and preparations began.
As April arrived, and several bike trips/races had come and gone, Justin realized his life schedule was just too busy and he didn't have the time for the full event but still went with me and devised a plan to have his car on route to bail to at the end of day one.
As far as bike and gear, we both decided to ride single speed. I had heard how much hike-a-bike (HAB) there was and that a lot of the stuff had to be walked whether on gears or single speed. I rode my Pivot LES with a 32:22 gearing, recommendations courtesy of SS sensei and 2021 rockstar unofficial overall winner, Chris Joice, who had run a 34:22 and felt that even that was too stiff of a gear. Justin rode his trusty purple-power Trek Superfly.
Another friend and SS-extraordinaire, Graham Skardon, drove up from Atlanta, to my house, and rode up with me. Justin and I drove separately due to his limited schedule. So, Friday rolled around and we headed out. We dropped my car in Roanoke near the finish and headed on to Harrisonburg. Once there, Graham and I attended the rider's gathering at Ruby's Arcade while Justin dropped his car around mile 75 of the route and got a ride back from a friend.
It was great to see all my friends from the bikepacking community that travel from all around the southeast for these events. At our hotel, we roomed right next to Joe Wharton, Michael Rasch, Andy Roberts, and Jason Vance. I may be forgetting someone, sorry if I am.
Anyways, Saturday morning was upon us and our start was set for 7am from Black Sheep Coffee. We made an early arrival as to avoid 40+ people ordering and using the facilities of a small business. I had a goat cheese/tomato and bacon/egg/cheese biscuit and vanilla latte, which were incredible. Bathroom break, brief riders meeting by director Rob Issem, and we were off! I'm not sure how many people were doing the trail route but I had counted 14 on track leaders a few days prior.
After navigating a short, technical section of in-town trail, we had about 15 miles of pavement, through stunning rolling farmland, to get to the Alleghany Mountains, which run along the West VA and VA border. Graham, Jason, Justin, and myself were all on single speeds and had decided to ride the first day together if our paces were similar. Unfortunately, our paces differed a bit and the pavement separated us by enough that we ended up in separate groups early.
After an hour and a half or so, we began climbing gravel, making our way to the beginning of the newly added section of trail that would take us up to Flagpole Knob, at an elevation of 4,190' and then just past it, to Reddish Knob, the high point of the route, at 4,397'. As we split off from the gravel riders onto our first trail, we saw the fifth single speeder, Morgan Holland. He was stopped, making some adjustments, but quickly came back around us and that was the last we would see of him for the day. We had also passed Andy just before we turned into the single track, so, at the top of one of the first climbs, I applied some insect repellent and waited for several minutes, hoping I'd see him, but no luck. There were three other guys there, one of which was Marty, who would later become an integral part of my completion of this route.
From here, we hit a really short but steep descent and then right into what I thought was the steepest HAB that I would ever see; we were struggling to keep our footing, having to hold front and rear brake while inching our feet up the loose rocks and leaves, then inching our bikes forward, and then repeat. It was crazy. Spoiler alert: we would find some stuff that was even steeper in the next couple of days, at around 3:00 in the morning.
We finally made it up to Reddish Knob around 33 miles in, where race director, Rob Issem, was posted up with some awesome neutral support, including water and snacks. There was a female there with him but I never got her name or relationship to Rob; my apologies, but thanks for being out there!
Rob had a recent ACL surgery but was still out there in his Handup shirt, which is just awesome.
From the knob, we dropped down a sweet, technical piece of single track. There was a photographer there who caught a sweet shot of Justin's tech skills while rocking the Handup Jorts.
This trail was called Timber Ridge trail and it was a monster descent with everything from technical rock sections with drops to high speed banked flow trail. It brought us down to Tillman Road where there was a parking lot with several trail heads. Just before the parking lot, we stopped at a creek crossing to get a little more water and I adjusted my cleats, sliding them back some, as I was getting some pressure pain in my big toes. As we tinkered, Marty rolled up for some water and a brief chat, and then Justin and I rolled on.
At Tillman Road, which was the Wolf Ridge parking area, it was straight back up something called, that's right, Wolf Ridge. The trail was nice, hard packed, and well maintained single track with scattered exposed roots and ample amount of switchbacks to keep the gradients lower. We made quick work of it as we were at the top before we knew it. From the top, it was a "beginner level" flow trail all the way to the bottom, returning to Tillman Road. There was a creek crossing at the bottom and this was where we caught up to Matt Mustin. He was having a strong day but unfortunately suffered a flat and lost some of the leaders he was running with. We rolled on as he was filtering water, but he quickly caught back up and joined us for most of the remainder of the day. This was only Matt's second bikepacking race, which was super impressive! We are facebook and strava friends but I had never met him in person until the rider's gathering the night before.
A couple of miles of gravel and we were at our next single track turn, which was Lookout Trail. We made our way along the river to a swinging bridge, and then began our HAB technical, rocky ascent. It didn't take long before we encountered several groups of on-coming riders who were quick to ask us why in the hell we were riding the trail in that direction. All we could do was laugh and shrug and keep moving forward.
Oh, I haven't mentioned the weather yet. A week prior to the race, it was showing mid-70's and sunny every day. Unfortunately, this changed and the forecasted highs had moved up to the mid- and even upper-80's. There was a freaking heat wave specifically during the first three days of this race. SHIT!! If you've read previous write-ups, you know I HATE the heat and don't do well in it. Luckily, I brought a bag of Redmond's Sea Salt to add to my water bottles. Any who, this climb up Hankey Mountain on Lookout Trail was when it began to get pretty rough with the sun exposure and heat. At what seemed like the top, on the ridgeline, we could see a packed out Stokesville Lodge and Campground below us and hear Chris Scott on mic for the NICA races. We opted to take a break and cool down in the shade here.
Matt Mustin laid out for our break
Salt deposits
I think I speak for everyone when I say we were feeling pretty rough at this point. And, mistakes were made. Justin and I didn't get any water at that swinging bridge we crossed, and it would prove the be a longgggg stretch, in the heat, across Hankey Mountain and down to the first resupply just off route around mile 64. I think we were only around mile 52 when we stopped to break.
With more HAB and climbing to go, we pulled a little ahead and lost sight of Matt; I think it was just the heat that was getting to him. Justin and I continued our way across the mountain, finally hitting a ripping descent off Hankey down to the Dowells Draft trailhead in West Augusta, VA. About a mile or less off route was the Mountain General Store, which was our first resupply. We were in rough shape when we pulled in. I was feeling terrible after having to ration my water for the last 3-4 hours and not eating enough calories. We were completely depleted. And when I get this way, it's hard to eat and it's hard to bounce back. I took my time time, slowly taking in some hydrating liquids and drinking all the juice from a jar of pickles, and then started to eat some solid food. Marty rolled in. Then Matt rolled in. Then Jason rolled in. I think everyone was feeling pretty bad. The day had been brutal! Unfortunately, Matt had gotten so depleted that he felt carrying on was unsafe and decided to pull the plug. We hated to see him go but totally understood. He had a hell of a first day for only his second ultra race! Kudos Matt! I know we will see you again at future events, you man-beast!
From here, Justin had 10 more miles or so with us before getting to his car. It was probably 7pm or so, which means it took us 12 hours to go 64 miles...that's how slow going this route is. He was supposed to see family that night and knew continuing on the trail would put him at his car well after dark, as we had another long HAB that would take at least an hour. He opted for 5 miles of road instead, to maximize his time with the fam. We said our goodbyes and he took off.
After over an hour at the store, trying to come back to life, I purchased a few bacon cheeseburgers to pack away for later, filled up the bottles, filled pockets and bags with sugary and savory snacks, and we headed out. Our next resupply was 70 slow miles away, at Douthat State Park, which could easily take 12 hours of moving time, and that doesn't sleeping time!
Marty, Jason, and I made our way back to the route and turned into the Braley Pond Campground area, which I later learned is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in VA. Pretty happy it was still daylight, sheesh. I don't do ghosts.
We briefly chatted with a couple of people who were staying the night there, who were doing the gravel route. We met Zoe here and chatted briefly about her ride and ours; we would see her again at Douthet State Park. We said our goodbyes and pushed our bikes up the steep, rooty single track ascent underneath the setting sun.
As the sun's glow disappeared over the ridge and darkness descended upon us, Marty and I were moving a bit faster than Jason, as he wasn't feeling all the well, so we rolled on (read: walked our bikes uphill), making our way towards Road Hollow trailhead, where Justin's car had been parked, around mile 70. The speedy dark descent was a blast, with several sudden technical sections to navigate. I suddenly came up on some steep stair steps and came to a sliding stop. We walked down and found the large creek crossing. This was where we first met Susannah Cadwalader; she had bypassed the store while we were there so she was ahead of us and was stopping there next to the creek for the night. We chatted briefly and carried on, taking our shoes and socks off to cross the creek. We went down to the actual trail head parking lot to look for water that we didn't need to filter, but had no luck. But we did find a box of honey buns, which was trail magic, left by Justin, sitting on the side of the trail. I grabbed a couple, we filtered some water, and then we started our next steep single track HAB ascent.
During our water filtering, Jason had gone back ahead of us and started the next single track section, which was more off-camber HAB preceding a short descent. We caught up to him and went just a little bit ahead of him before reaching the Confederate Breastworks Interpretive Area. As we rolled up to the small archeological area situated along side the Shenandoah Mountain Highway, the first thing we saw was a pit toilet. The door swung open and out came Cameron Swengel, who had been sleeping inside for a couple of hours, waiting for someone else to come along to ride through the night with. Not 10 minutes later, Jason rolled up as well. We discussed options and Marty and I decided we felt it was best to rest for a bit. It was about 10:30pm so we were a little over 15 hours in to the first day. We initially planned to sleep until 3am or so and then get rolling but, as it often occurs, we didn't really want to get out of our "cozy" beds, and stayed in bed until 5:45 or so. Cameron slept on the ground for an hour or two, until Jason, who was hacking and coughing from bronchitis, decided it was time to go get up and go around midnight or 1am.
Cameron Swengel
Jason Vance
So, that concludes day and night 1 of the 2022 Rockstar Trail 270. Since this whole thing will be pretty long, I'm going to leave you all hanging here and I'll be back with the next installment, which will likely be day 2 and 3, which include the Shenandoah Mountain Trail, a heat stroke, Little Mare (nightmare) trail and the 14 mile climb to a fire tower, and epic sunset descent into Douthet State Park, a reunion with Graham, not one but two crashes by me, and a Price Mountain meltdown at 3am. See you all soon, thanks for reading!!!
Well, it had been a while since a real adventure, and, in a moment of weakness, I apparently put my name on the Trans-North Georgia Adventure (TNGA) start list some time last year. This race is mainly off-road and usually ridden on a mountain bike and runs east to west, from Clayton, GA (at the SC border) to the Silver Comet Trail where it crosses the AL line. It's 355'ish miles and has 40,000+ feet of elevation gain using forest service roads, gravel, single and double track, pavement, and whatever Honcho calls that shit at the top of Hickory Nut. Just kidding, I like that section. And if the route itself weren't difficult enough, the event is held the second weekend in August every year, meaning, essentially, the worst time of year imaginable in the Southeast. After switching jobs in June, life hadn't afforded me the time to ride as much as I typically would. I completed a whopping two training rides the two weekends prior to the race. Oh well, the mind is strong.
Hey friends! Thanks for stopping back by to read about my Huracan Lite 300 race. It was a doozie I tell ya. The Huracan Lite is a 322 mile mixed surface loop out of Shangri-La campground situated on the Santos Trail System in Ocala, FL. There's also the OG route, now nearly 400 miles with a lot of the same dirt roads but also with nearly 100 miles of singletrack and some awesome water crossings that is more suitable for mountain bikes. I raced it last year, finishing in about 30 hours straight through, with a little too much stopped time. My goal this year was a slightly easier pace with less stopped time. In my prep, I planned to tackle the race on a titanium hardtail instead of my gravel bike, as I felt pretty beat up on the gravel bike last year. But, true to form, I decided to change to my gravel bike the week of the race. I kept it super light with only a top tube bag and two feed bags. I carried a Nathan trail running pack with no bladder but instead, warmer gloves, arm w
Covering 290 miles in North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee and climbing a leg-busting 33,000 feet, the Cohutta Cat is a figure-8 loop traversing the gravel, pavement, forest service roads, and single track of the beautiful and challenging Southern Appalachian Mountains and is the genius creation of Georgia-native, Daniel Jesse. The route was created as a slightly shorter alternative to the Trans-North Georgia Adventure (TNGA) and therefore avoids much of the TNGA route, purposefully. Find more information and stunning pictures at Bikepacking.com - Cohutta Cat . So, Fall arrived and it was time for another Bad Idea Club adventure. Yes, we already had one in the spring when we tackled the Monumental Loop in New Mexico, but there's nothing wrong with a bi-annual meeting. Unfortunately, Cody was the only one free to tackle the Cohutta Cat. But I had recently spoken to PJ Terry about his TNGA co-win and reached out to him and was happy to hear that he'd love to join us; he has
Pleasure to read about the adventure so far. Look forward to the next one.
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