My mission was to get up early and drive to Bristol, TN and race the CX4, 35+, ss race and then drive to Pisgah to help out with Jon and Shawn while they raced the Pisgah Mtn. Stage Race. I got up at 6-6:30am on Saturday to a cold, rainy and windy morning which I'd actually planned for due to my lack of fitness but some what skilled bike handling. I was hoping to use my massive skills on the bike to level the playing field but to no avail. I got to Bristol and noticed that the track was a bit drier than anticipated.
I signed up for CX4 and SS but since I'm not 35 I got denied at registration. Next time I'll embellish my age on the form so that I can suffer more! Anyway, I got 4th out of 20 in CX4 and 3rd out of I think 10 in SS. I caught and past the 3rd place rider in the 4 race at the 2nd to last lap but I lost air in my rear tire while trying to break away and got past. All in all a pretty good day at the races.
I got on the road to Brevard, NC at 3:00 and arrived at the team house around 5:30. I hopped out of the truck and started cleaning my cross bikes then attacked Jon and Shawn's race bikes. While I was shining up the rigs Jeremy and Miguel (the man in yellow with the enormous coat) cooked up a mess of food which kicked off a chill night of hammering beers.
I woke up and hung out with Jon and Shawn while they prepped their kits and started their way to the start of the final stage of the day. Now, the previous stage was 66km and on top of the mountains snow had fallen making a hard day in the wood even more taxing. But the final stage was completely retarded! I looked at the stage map and thought to myself, well that's not so horrible. Jon then mentioned that the stage is almost an out and back effectively doubling the mileage I thought wasn't so horrible. I changed my mind pretty fast after understanding the entire scope of the 77km stage. Pretty gnar...
Jeremy, Miguel, and I headed out around 9:00am to the closest check point to offer support and check out the race. Jon and Shawn came by us around 10:00 and Jon was all to HELL! As promised we had two beers (Old Chub 9%) waiting for them when they came through and to my surprise both soldiers killed the beers and headed off. We followed the team over the next few gravel road miles while Shawn pushed Jon up the trail until they jumped in to the remainder of the stage. Apparently, on top of the final climb Jon had some issues with his bearings but he regained his composure enough to destroy the final descent down Black Mtn. The team missed 2nd place by 51 seconds! Pretty rad given the amount of riding and terrain they covered.
My mount after the CX4 raceI signed up for CX4 and SS but since I'm not 35 I got denied at registration. Next time I'll embellish my age on the form so that I can suffer more! Anyway, I got 4th out of 20 in CX4 and 3rd out of I think 10 in SS. I caught and past the 3rd place rider in the 4 race at the 2nd to last lap but I lost air in my rear tire while trying to break away and got past. All in all a pretty good day at the races.
I got on the road to Brevard, NC at 3:00 and arrived at the team house around 5:30. I hopped out of the truck and started cleaning my cross bikes then attacked Jon and Shawn's race bikes. While I was shining up the rigs Jeremy and Miguel (the man in yellow with the enormous coat) cooked up a mess of food which kicked off a chill night of hammering beers.
I woke up and hung out with Jon and Shawn while they prepped their kits and started their way to the start of the final stage of the day. Now, the previous stage was 66km and on top of the mountains snow had fallen making a hard day in the wood even more taxing. But the final stage was completely retarded! I looked at the stage map and thought to myself, well that's not so horrible. Jon then mentioned that the stage is almost an out and back effectively doubling the mileage I thought wasn't so horrible. I changed my mind pretty fast after understanding the entire scope of the 77km stage. Pretty gnar...
Jeremy, Miguel, and I headed out around 9:00am to the closest check point to offer support and check out the race. Jon and Shawn came by us around 10:00 and Jon was all to HELL! As promised we had two beers (Old Chub 9%) waiting for them when they came through and to my surprise both soldiers killed the beers and headed off. We followed the team over the next few gravel road miles while Shawn pushed Jon up the trail until they jumped in to the remainder of the stage. Apparently, on top of the final climb Jon had some issues with his bearings but he regained his composure enough to destroy the final descent down Black Mtn. The team missed 2nd place by 51 seconds! Pretty rad given the amount of riding and terrain they covered.
Greg Casteel CX3 in the rolling woods section after start/finish
Greg Casteel on the march 
The blue tent is the start/finish
The top of the long climb/slough from the woods 
Upper section of the track
Steep run up before the long descent
Casteel descending to the start/finish
The mud section coming out of the woods
Singlespeed race
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