We rolled out on grass. With the recent rains, the ground was quite soft. At least two people lined up in front of me went down before the start line. I scotched up and clipped in right before the start line.

We had a short gravel section about 4 miles into the ride followed by the 3-ish mile Lake Falls gravel climb at 7 miles. This was followed by a fast, fun Mt Olivet descent (where I achieved nearly 38 mph) all the way to Tuxedo. It was mostly flat with one little bump until just before the Green River Road gravel climb. The first feed zone was just before we got on the gravel part of Green River Road and started the climb. I stopped briefly to pee and then was on my way.

The Green River part of the climb was a long and gentle climb of about 3.5%. The road was in good condition and the field was spread out. We then turned on to the Pinnacle Mountain gravel climb (still going up!) which got progressively more chunky. As I was riding on Pinnacle Mountain Road, I had some doubts that I was on the course. I mean, I knew that I was but there were no riders in front of me and there were not riders behind me. I thought to myself, "Am I doing that well or and I doing that badly?" There were two sections where there were so rutted that it was almost a culvert across the road and I wasn't sure about riding through. I got off and walked a few steps to get over one. Of course, this is where other riders appeared! The other one I kind of dabbed through. It turns out that if I had not unclipped, I could probably have made it but from far it looked like there was not line. Anyway, I got through both safely. By the end there was just rock gardens until finally -- finally! -- I could see Sky Valley Road. All told, the Green River/Pinnacle Mountain climb was over 7 miles.

The second feed zone was most of the way up the climb. I stopped and had half a PB&J (cut in half uncrushable from the table there) and refilled my bottle (added Skratch).

After finally making it to Sky Valley Road, we enjoyed a five mile gravel descent before turning onto DuPont/Staton Road. (Interesting factoid, it's DuPont Road in Henderson County because there was already a Staton Road there. It's Staton Road in Transylvania County because it's named after the person who advocated for the road to the DuPont plant that was located there and is now DuPont State Recreation Forest.). We faced two shorter climbs on the DuPont/Staton pavement -- one 1 mile climb at 5.5% and one two miles at 4.8% before turning onto Cascade Lake Road. But first -- I hit the pavement to gravel transition with too much speed and the bump was larger that I expected. I ejected my phone and food from my bento box (since replaced) and had to stop to retrieve them. The phone still worked but the screen was cracked (since replaced).

Cascade Lake Road is a gem. I've ridden on it before and it's just so pleasant. I think that I've said before, Cascade Lake gets the bad Pinnacle Mountain taste of of my route. The gravel section is just under five miles and then we hit pavement for a little bit. I stopped at the third feed zone and got more water and another half of PB&J along with a pit stop before tackling the last gravel section -- where the race leaders (doing the Waffle route) passed me.

And then there was Jeter Mountain. According to Training Peaks, I had my all time 5 minute power and all time 10 minute power on Jeter Mountain... until I cracked. I saw some other riders were walking and then I saw a place to unclip and that it was steep steep steep. My heart rate was super high (192 which is pretty much my max heart rate) and I cracked and unclipped. I've never had to walk a section during an event before (not counting the previously mentioned ruts because I think of that more as getting over an obstacle). I got back on the bike as soon as the grade was shallow enough I could actually get started again. I don't personally know a single person who cleared Jeter Mountain. I'm sure that a good number of riders did but no one that I know.

The good thing about Jeter is that it was almost at the end! The finish line was about seven miles from the top of Jeter and that was mostly downhill.
Ride time (including feed zones) 4:58:03
Moving time: 4:$2:27


Equipment
Cervelo Aspero with GRX 810 48/31 crank and 11-speed 11-34 cassette
Panaracer GravelKing SK 700x38
Reserve 32mm DT370 XDR wheel set

Nutrition Plan
3 x 1.5 Skratch (2 bottles on bike plus a bag with more)
5 x servings shot bloks (2 with caffeine) (pack 6)
1 Clif bar or sub on course pb&j
Plam to get a coke on course

Nutrition Actual
3 x shot blok
3 x scratch
1 coke
1 uncrushable pb&j

Weather
Start: Broken clouds, 64°F, Feels like 65°F, Humidity 97%, Wind 1mph from W
End: Clear sky, 78°F, Feels like 80°F, Humidity 80%, Wind 2mph from N

The finish area was nice and they really did turn the Kanuga Conference Center into party-like biergarten. The had lunch for the riders plus food to buy and free (and paid) beer. The announcer did a nice job. I picked up my finisher shirt, special BWR-branded Siera Nevada beer, had some lunch, visited with some riders and generally soaked it all in.



The course control was excellent, the route signage was top notch, the post ride setup was great. The expo has great potential.

That being said, like most inaugural events, there is room for improvement in terms of pre-race communication, parking, and route planning (it was billed as a 77 mile route until just before the event). Also, as a North Carolinian, I'd love to see a "best of North Carolina" course.

That being said, I'd do this one again.