
I decided to try out ORAMM this year. I’d heard it was a really good test of mind and body. So I made plans to take the family and head to Old Fort, North Carolina which is just South/East of the Great Smokey Mountains. I had never seen this part of the country before and was very impressed with the terrain and views available.
We had a smooth trip to Old Fort and arrived just at 6:00pm… in time to pick up my race packet. Then headed back to Black Mountain to eat some pasta and stay the night at the Super 8. I woke up at 5:30am the next day and started prepping for the day. The family and I got to the race venue at 7am and had 1hr to prep the bike, bottles and body. Plenty of time.
My boys and I fixed a food bottle (6hr bottle of Hammer Perpetuem with the consistency of pancake batter) and two bottles of Gu20.
Then stood in line for the porta potty.

I didn’t do much of a warm up….just rode around the block a couple of times to make sure everything was still working right. I lined up as close to the front as I could and ended up on the front row but had no intention of leading the pack on the start.

Okay, after a short speach by the race director we were off, following the pace car for a neutral start. The pace car dropped us pretty easily, nobody wanting to punch the gas too hard to start the day out. It was almost surreal heading down the road with the lead pack of 70 some odd mountain bikes with knobby tires buzzing.
I saw Team Dickey coming up on my left as he was searching the pack for his competition and the pace lifted as we rounded the corner heading up Old Hwy 70. The sound of tires rubbing together as we rounded the corner had me hoping everyone had brought their bike handling skills. No wrecks though. Okay, the course had been pretty flat up to this point but now we are starting up hill a little bit and the group began to stretch out a little. I didn’t want to put out too much effort here but I remembered jjay’s advice that I should try to get to the Kitsuma switchbacks in the top 40 to 50 riders so I wouldn’t get stuck in the hike ‘a bike line going up the kitsuma switchbacks. So, I settled in and drafted off of others and tried not to get passed up by too many folks as we headed up.
My memory is a bit hazy but at some point we had to dismount and jump over a barracade and then onto some sort of cracked cement jeep road that lasted 4 miles or so. It went left and right and always upward. Every so often I could catch a glimpse of the valley below us and the endless flowing terrain. Very beautiful. I wanted to stop and look but this was supposed to be a race so I kept it moving.

At the top it flattened out for a few minutes but we were soon on the killer Kitsuma switchbacks. These aren’t that steep, but making each turn requires an acceleration and some good maneuvering with the upper body to navigate through the roots and rocks.

You can put yourself into the red zone pretty easily if you are not careful. In hindsight I was in the wrong gear going into these switchbacks and pushed too hard on the first 10 or so and ended up floundering through the rest of them. Going in, I had no idea how many switchbacks there were and so had no good idea on how to pace myself. Once you make it to the top of Kitsuma you have a couple of quick descents. I didn’t quite have my mountain biking head on right and ended up losing control for a moment when I hit the first of the real rough stuff. I ended up having to let 5 riders pass just because I didn’t want to cause anyone to wreck. I jumped back on the trail and didn’t have anymore of that type of problem the rest of the race. I did however blow through a couple of hairpin turns, no biggie though, I chalk it up to not ever having ridden there before.
As the descent continued I really was starting to enjoy the trail. Really fast and narrow singletrack, but really bumpy. I can hold my own on trail like this and felt very comfortable. We finally got to the bottom of the descent and back onto a paved road for a few miles. Here I took the opportunity to try take in some food and drink and put my ipod on. Soon I was at the first aid station but realized that I was already behind by 1 drink bottle. The aid station was well stocked and manned. A volunteer filled my bottle and told me that I was doing well but warned of an upcoming climb. The climb wasn’t anything bad at all compared to what I would encounter later on in the race. At present I just put the bike in a climbing gear and tried to keep my heart rate at a managable level while climbing these switchbacks. I admit to dismounting a couple of times going up these switchbacks. They were very tight and no room for error. Tighter than any around Texas area. This went on for a while and then I came to probably the least impressive portion of the ride. It looked like grown over jeep road. Waist high grass covered most of the area here. It would be flat for a while and then you’d hit a shortish climb and then it would flatten out again. I caught and passed a couple of riders here because this type of terrain is what I’m used to I guess. I tried again to catch up on my drinking and take an Elete electrolyte tablet. Once again now we started to descend. Back and forth. I caught a couple more guys due to my descending skills. After this things began to get very serious.
Unknowingly, I was beginning the toughest climb of the day which I found out was the infamous “Curtis Creek Climb” or as the Tao Duck Man describes it “Col de Sonofabitch”.

This is an 8 or 9 mile climb that ends up taking most people between 1.5 - 2 hours to complete and has a couple of false crests. It starts out simple enough. Nothing too steep, so I just try spinning 1:1 gear ratio. No problems. Then after doing this for half an hour it steepens up a bit. 1:1 becomes a bit more difficult and the work is starting to catch up with me such that even taking an easier gear doesn’t allow me to recover properly. I finally just stopped for a few seconds and got off the bike, changed the gear ratio and was able to continue on till the top. Looking back though, I think if I would have paced myself correctly from the beginning I would have had more to give as the trail pointed up more sharply. Who knows though, I may have just fatigued quicker. But mentally this was the toughest climb on the course simply because I didn’t have a clue when it would end. Every time I turned a corner and saw another section of trail going upward my hopes of “the top” were smashed. When I finally saw the aid station at the top I was very relieved. I filled both bottles here with HEED and took off, getting in front of quite a few folks standing around talking.
The next section was easy compared to the CCC. It was straight down a gravel park road, my bike and I reached high speeds and I put my Magura Marta’s through the ringer braking before each corner for fear of washing out on the loose gravel on the outside of the corners. After the descent I was in a valley and riding on flat. My rear rotor had been rubbing and it was really starting to drive me crazy so I stopped and tried to bend it back. I got it close but it was still rubbing a bit. The thought of my rotor rubbing on my brake pads as I was climbing up the hill started getting into my head. I could stand the thought of working any harder than I had to on these climbs. About that time I came across a rider who was to my suprise going slower than I was. I chatted it up with him about the trail and such. He had just moved down to Black Mountain, NC from Breckenridge, CO and worked for a Solar Energy Company and told me that his wife was also racing. He was battling cramps like I was so we rode together to the next checkpoint. As I was nearing the checkpoint I heard someone behind me say, “Dallas Bike Works, hey, do you know jjay?” Yea, sure I know jjay. I think this was Luis Calderon. He said he was going to look up John’s blog and give him a hard time for not coming to ORAMM this year.
Okay, after CP3 we headed up the Blue Ridge Pkwy for 1.2 miles and the took a turn and went straight up this freak’n ridiculous hike ‘a bike section. I don’t think you could ride this section even if you were fresh as a daisy on your best day. It was severe. Everyone, off the bike and pushing. It took me a good 5-10 minutes to get to the top but the payoff was worth it. A good 30 minute descent down Heartbreak Ridge. This one really gave my arms and calves a workout because you are standing up most of the way and creating suspension with your legs and arms as you go. About now I’m thinking we have to be getting pretty close to the finish. I heard someone say we had only 15 miles to go. Hell, I can do that. I checked my fluids…I had one empty bottle and one full bottle. I’m good, so I skipped the final aid stating and went for it… BIG MISTAKE. I should have stopped at that aid station and drank what was left in that bottle and filled them both back up. The last 15 miles took me approximately 2hrs to complete. I didn’t realize I had to do Kitsuma again before finishing. When I realized what lay between me and the finish line I felt truly defeated. I did something that I rarely do, I got off the bike, layed it down and sat down on the side of the trail. My pride had been left back on the Curtis Creek Climb somewhere and I didn’t care. My breathing was shallow and it hurt to take in a deep breath…not a good feeling at all. It was getting on about 2pm in the afternoon as well and the air was hot and humid. Somehow I managed to make it up the rest of Kitsuma for the second time and once I hit the downhill I started feeling better. I was so glad to see the pavement again too, because I knew right where I was. Heading down Old Hwy 70 back into town and to the end of my first ORAMM. I was 101st to cross the finish line out of 400. Nothing to get excited about but definately leaves room for improvement. I grabbed a Red Bull and laid down in the creek as fast as I could.
Here’s pic of my boys and I relaxing in the creek.

I think I need another crack at ORAMM. I’m not happy with my performance there, so maybe next year I’ll go back and give it another run. Who knows though.

Results:
http://www.blueridgeadventures.net/resources/2008ORAMMRESULTS.HTM