ORAMM 2010

Well...

Since today is my last day of summer, I have quite a list of things that I would like to do and a equally large list of things that I need to do. So I thought that I would start the day off with writing the race report from ORAMM.

ORAMM 2009 was attended by Gene, Jeff, Vonnie, Steve, Woolie, and I (Josh) but this year after much pondering, it came down to Steve and I. Since the race is on a Sunday, Steve and I headed up to ATL Friday afternoon. Steve set it up for us to stay with Wesley and Alicia in Alpharetta. If you have never met Wesley but know Brian then you have pretty much met Wesley because they are brothers from another mother. Friday night was filled with awesome food from La Parilla, ice cream from the Cold Stone Creamery, and lots of super funny stories about the past and present events in Steve, Wesley and Brian's lives. Needless to say I went to bed fat and happy. Did I mention that I had gotten a massage from Will at Wil-Power before leaving town. That was probably the best massage that I have ever had. I told him exactly where my problems were and he got them worked out along with prepping my body for ORAMM. If you do not already use his business, I highly recommend you set up your next massage at Wil-Power here in Albany.

Anywho, we arose Saturday AM to eat some breakfast and drink some yummy Elements coffee, thanks Calvin, while watching the final TT of the Tour on a ridiculously large TV. Of course Wesley had even more stories to tell and lets just say that when it comes to office pranks, Wesley is like Yoda!

After watching A. Schleck not be able to overcome Contador, Steve and I loaded up and headed toward Old Fort, NC. We arrived mid afternoon and set up camp at Catawba Falls Campground. Pretty darn good facilities and to make it even better it is run by Ricky Sr. and Ricky Jr. which you can only imagine that Steve and I quickly referenced as Ricky Bobby Sr and Ricky Bobby Jr after one of our role models.

After setting up tents and unloading the car but really we were just waiting for the temperature dip a bit before heading out to pre-ride the famed Kitsuma trail. I am not sure of the stats of the trail but I can say that you go up hill for about 40 minutes and get to descend for about the same amount of time on killer fast, steep, technical, and grin creating single track.

On a side note, Steve had to stop at one point because his mechanic had not properly secured the zipper on his new saddle bag that Gene had recommended and thus his spare tube had come out of his bag and wrapped around his rear wheel while descending (SCARY!!!!) which means that he had strategically placed his tire irons, co2 and such in random places up the trail. Then there was the log drop that Steve was determined to ride. Unlike other trips where I generally carry my camera to capture special moments just like this one, I had left my camera at the car so I will just have to tell you that I got so worried about Steve that I almost turned and road back up the trail to find him. =-)

We finished our pre-ride with huge grins and lots of great stories about sections that we were hangin it out and almost lost it or where our Felt Carbon 29ers had just hooked up and ripped the trail to pieces. Did I mention that we started drink beer?!?!?

Dinner consisted of spaghetti cooked over my trusty Coleman camp stove that I bought with my tax return in 1993. After dinner, shower, a quick fork overhaul, and some race food prep for the next day, we hit the hay.

ORAMM starts at 8 AM, so we arose around 6 AM to start the balancing of chemicals. Elements coffee officially starts our day off right followed by some oatmeal and bananas. We poked around the campsite till the last minute which worked out pretty well cause we just pulled up to the race parked and went right to the start for the pre-race meeting. It would have been nice to have warmed up a bit but I just laid my bike down in a spot near the front and stepped out of the tape to do a quick yoga session. Plus you can pretty much warm-up on the ride out of town towards the first climb, you are on pavement for the first 45 minutes of the race. Steve and I had split up at this point but he said that he lined up not to far back behind me.

My goal was to stay toward the front, drafting as much as possible until the road tilted up and then be at the front so that I would not get gapped. All that worked out great and as the final selection was made, I was sitting in second group with the first group having maybe 4-5 people and second group having 4-5 folks. I felt good but since my goal was to finish in the top 5 of my age group or finish in at least 5 1/2 hours, I was happy staying in the second group. We hit the Kitsuma single track climb and a separation was made quickly. A young guy from a town near by lead the way up the climb with me on his wheel while we dropped everyone else in our group. However, one main question was in my mind, "Do you know the line to the first technical root section after cresting the top of the climb?". The night before on our pre-ride, I did not clean the section as it was to scary, so against my best judgment, I was about to ride this section without any previous experience of the best line. I was thinking that I would swing far left and come through to the far right but as we entered the section the guy that had assured me that he had the line, cut far right coming in and came out on the far left. Guess I would have been on my face if he hadn't been there.

I eventually passed and gapped my partner on the descent but we regrouped at the bottom to ride to the next climb, Star Gap. Star gap is mostly a double track that you could ride a 4 wheeler on but probably not drive a truck. At some point it tilts up pretty good which is the spot that I made my move from the second group to no mans land. We had just caught a guy falling back from the first group and he was still pushing the pace a bit but when he came to the hike a bike section, that is exactly what he was doing was hiking. I got my breathing under control and decided to attack. I just bumped my pace up to a jog instead of hike and once I had the gap the guys behind me appeared to just give up and let me go. I never looked back.

At this point most details of the race are pretty foggy, so I will just finish up this right up by telling you about the highlights or at least what I remember.

1) The descents at ORAMM are absolutely awesome and even though there is a ton of paved road or gravel road sections that would leaving you contemplating running a semi slick tire, I would highly recommend a more aggressive tire because this year I ran MAXXIS IGNITORS (29x2.1) and they absolutely hooked up and ripped up the downhills while providing superior traction on the technical single track climbs. Thanks Maxxis for sponsoring SGC!

2) Cameron Cogburn was the last guy that I would be able to catch on this fine day. He had started off with Thomas Turned and at some point lost contact. I first caught him on a descent to easy pass him and form a gap but on the next climb he easily reeled me in and cruised by me. I once again passed him on the next descent but was determined to make sure that he did catch me on the next climb. I almost achieved this goal but at the top of the last gravel road he was able to close the gap and as he came by me ATTACKING, I said that he need not worry about me because I was racing in the 30-39 age group and that we should work together. At this point I did not realize that he and I were going for second place. I was just happy that it appeared that I was going to accomplish my goals and I still had some gas in the tank for the last brutal singletrack climb up Kitsuma. As we approached Kitsuma, Cameron was leading the way but relinquished the job of leading up the trail to me. I knew that if I crossed the top in front of him that I would easily take him on the descent, he is a Cat 1 roadie!!!!!!!!!! and we all know how well roadies descend. I was able to gap and ride clear of him on the ascent of Kitsuma and never had to look back.

3) As I descended Kitsuma, my watch read around 5:15 and the realization came upon me that I was going to meet one of my goals. Although after coming off the singletrack you still have a good bit of pavement to get back to town and I always forget about the first part which is a false flat climb that will almost make you get off your bike and give up. As I crossed the finish line at 5:23ish, the race organizer, Todd Branham, was wondering where Cameron was and I told him that he had fallen behind on the climb up Kitsuma. He then congratulated me on finishing second to Thomas Turner. It wasn't until later that I found out the Thomas had not only won but improved his time by 3 or so minutes to go sub 4:50. You do the math on how much I got beat by. But like I said I was just happy with my personal goals the other was just an added bonus.

4) Beer and the creek! That is what I did why I waited for Steve. Steve didn't have the ride that he wanted and got caught out in the rain which made the last descent on Kitsuma. From the looks of his bike, it must had been like riding on a mud pie. SLIPPERY! Either way he finished! But when he came across it appeared that he had gotten a touch of heat stroke because he was sweating but had the chills and was shaking like a fish out of water. To all our faithful readers, I must apologize once again because I failed you and did not get any good video coverage to share. It might have been because of the FREE BEER!!!!

We hung around the finish area after we got Steve cleaned up and ate some spaghetti. Then we headed back to the campground and passed out!

Monday AM meant pack up and head back to Albany!!!!!!! Another great year at ORAMM. I hope that next year the stars align and more of SGC is able to make it up to North Cackalacky for ORAMM.

Please excuse any typos or poor grammar, I was in a hurry and didn't feel like proofreading.