The Appalachian Journey
After the inaugural event was initially halted by the nuisance that is the pandemic, the long-awaited Appalachian Journey has finally come, and unfortunately gone. This gravel duo event created by accomplished endurance racer and single-speed jedi, Gordon "Quadsworth" Wadsworth and was comprised of 35-, 65-, and 110-mile options. Read more at TheAppalachianJourney.com.
After winning an entry to the event at the Mulberry Gap Turkey Shuffle raffle back in November, Justin Mace and I decided to team up and make the journey up to the rolling hills of rural Floyd County in the (debatably) great state of Virginia. In addition to our attendance, there were several friends from Chattanooga heading up as well: Chris Joice, Tyler Martin, Spencer and Ali Whittier, Thomas Turner, Monica Desjardins, Melanie Blake, Ed Kulbis, Carey Lowery, and John Switow! Hope the only person I missed is my lovely wife who unfortunately couldn't join us for the weekend because she was working.
Friday came and I started packing and getting ready on the day before, per the usual. Things like, changing my stem to a redshift "suspension" stem, putting a new rear tire on, buying a new type of drink mix at Owen Cyclery....all the things you shouldn't do the day before a race. Thanks Owens Cyclery for always taking superb care of me and all of your other customers.
Justin decided to use one of his van shells from Moxie Van Company. We loaded up and headed out. We had a late arrival to Floyd Family Campground around 10:30pm. We enjoyed a natty night cap, chatted for a few, he climbed up into the pop-top, and I arranged my sleeping pad and bag on the floor. Pretty much just tossed and turned all night as I don't sleep much away from my own bed.
We had opted for "The Grand Journey" which was the 65-mile option. About half of us had, with the exception of Melanie, Carey, John, Ed, Tyler, Chris, Spencer, and Thomas, who wanted the extra punishment of "The Long Doggie" which was the 110-mile route. The Long Doggie kicked off at 7:30 but our race started at 9:30, which gave us so much time before the race; it was weird, in a good way. We were up at 6:30 or so to go check in and get our packets. What do I do? Do I have a breakfast natty? Do I do cartwheels in the field? What do I do with my hands? So much time, so many questions. We climbed out of the van to a chilly 31 degrees and magnificent sunrise over the rolling hills of the campground.
We made our way up to the start/finish line to pick up our packets, mingle with friends and strangers, and have some delicious coffee provided by Red Rooster Coffee Company.
After that, Justin whipped up a delicious 'Summit Breakfast Scramble' freeze dried breakfast, we changed clothes a couple of times because he's more indecisive with weather and layers than my wife, and we headed out for a spin around the campground.
We assembled at the start line, where we ran into Ali and Monica, Gordon held the racer's meeting, and 30 seconds later, we were off. Justin and I were on the very front following the moto lead out.
Being a shorter, more high intensity race, I didn't take as many pictures and probably won't be able to recall as much detail as a bikepacking race. I think we were on the front, and even off the front briefly, and accidentally, for 15 mins or so. It felt odd because we were riding a rather easy pace, yet no one had come around us yet. It only took about 20 minutes before I looked back and there was just a select group of 8 (or 4 teams) and no one else in sight behind them.
After letting the whole group get a pretty decent gap on a climb, we quickly realized that we were significantly better descenders than pretty much the whole group. By the bottom of the next gravel descent, we had caught back up to, and passed, most of the group.
In addition to this, we had prepared to not stop at any of the sag stops and just roll straight through. I heard some of the guys asking about stopping at one of the sags. I knew this would help bring the group back together if we just rode our own pace and didn't go too hard, letting them go up the road if they wanted to. And sure enough, after we had let them go, we rolled by sag #2 and there they were, all of them, stopped. We rolled by, taking the time to eat and drink on the bike, and they caught back up to us 4-5 minutes later.
The route had a big 1500 foot descent off of a plateau. Most of the group, especially the juniors, were a bit ahead of us when we got there. This descent was gnarly and awesome on a gavel bike! It had a lot of hard pack dirt, which aids in traction over gravel, several hairpin turns, and a steep grade; all the makings of a rowdy descent. Justin and I let it rip, getting loose in the turns, sliding the back end into some of the make-shift berms, yelling out "on your left!" all the way to the bottom. Again, we passed everyone that was ahead of us with the exception of one who had already made it to the bottom. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the route!
On the flat pavement section at the bottom, which was only a mile or two, our whole group was back together again. We ate and chatted and took it easy. We were headed to our longest climb of the day, back up onto the plateau. Left turn off the pavement into what appeared as a cove, we made our way across pristine, finely crushed gravel and started up the base of the climb. We chatted about our pace and how we did not need to chase them up the climb. We just kept it easy and steady all the way up the 4.5 mile climb, which took us around 30 minutes. We started seeing some of the 35 milers and giving them some encouragement.
At the top, we were rewarded with an incredible view of the rolling hills and farmland on a beautiful bluebird day!
I think we had about 16 miles to go at the top of the climb. We came upon a sign that said "stop for a shot!" and then a tent where they had whisky shots (from what I heard). We weren't stopping. I noticed one of the teams that was in our group. Score! We were now in 2nd place in our category. We navigated the headwinds and punchy climbs that remained and rolled back into the campground and across the finish line with a time of 4:24, which was about 12 minutes behind the juniors and masters that were ahead of us. Looking at the finish times, we were impressed to see that the masters guys actually battled it out at the line with the juniors and finished 1 seconds behind them. Way to go guys!
I gave Gordon a monster hug at the finish line because those were the best gravel roads I had ever ridden and the whole event was so well run. Congratulations on putting on your first race in the beautiful area that you call home, Gordon! And, of course, thanks to his wife, Emily, who played a huge role, I'm sure. And thanks to all the other staff and volunteers who made the race possible!
Justin and I grabbed a post-race picture and headed down to the beer garden to enjoy some tasty cold beer and hot food!
Our whole group had a great showing at the race. Ali and Monica were first in their class, Spencer and Thomas were second in the long race, and Chris and Tyler were first in the single speed long course! Incredible day!
Thomas and Mark Kransz filled in for 2nd and 3rd place since they weren't there...
The race itself was only part of goodness. The rest of the afternoon was spent just lounging in the grass, cheering for people crossing the finish line, chatting with old friends and making new ones, eating delicious food, and taking in all the sunshine.
This was one of my favorite gravel events that I have experienced. I think this race will just continue to grow over the years. The duo format is not as common as a regular solo race format but I really enjoy it. So many times, in races, I can end up in no-mans land where I'm somewhere behind the lead group but in front of most other people, with no one to work with. It's nice to have a friend/teammate there to experience the entire race with. It just provides an added layer of comradery and fun.
Welp, that's it for now. Thanks so much for reading! I'll be back with another writeup in a few short weeks. Back to VA for the Rockstar 270 with Justin, as a team, and then PMBAR in Pisgah in the beginning of May.
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P.S. - I'm going to take some photos from The Appalachian Journey FB page, which were taken by Olivia Norman Photography, Bruce Buckley Photography, and Icon Media Asheville. Thank you all for being there to capture the magic!! They haven't all been released, as of this posting, so I will add more later, as they are available...hoping to find pics of everyone else from Chattanooga.
Carey Lowery
Thomas and Spencer
Thomas, Spencer, Kerry Werner, and Steven Vogel
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