6 Hours of Unicoi - October 10th

This past weekend marked the return of the Helen Fat Tire Festival and Dirty Spokes was having their finale in conjunction. So we loaded up the truck and . .

As usual, SGC snagged a primo pit area on the finishing straight. We arrived around 8:30 am to begin the pre-race routine of setting up, filling up, kitting up, and warming up. The weather wasn’t looking very cooperative. Start time weather was 68®, overcast, and windy. While we were setting up, an easy-up just down from us was caught by the wind and blown over one car and towards the next row of pits and vehicles. Luckily it was intercepted before causing too much damage. (Stake your shit down! We know from experience.)

Because of the festival weekend, we had a huge support staff. We had all the Neals, McClungs, Julians, present and future Fixs, one Wooley, and a few Gibsons. (Bill Gibson was the original owner of Oconee Outfitters; Steve and I spent several good years racing for/with them.) A strong pit makes for good encouragement. 10:00 am sharp – Off we go!

Josh took his rightful place with the heads of state. He set the pace for the entire field on the first lap. I rode just behind Steve. He was looking strong on his single-speed, while I was having trouble getting my legs under me. It was good having him as a carrot. Wooley and Clark were in the field behind.

I was stoked to get the first lap over and roll into the field. Steve pitted which caught me by surprise. I’d planned on riding at least the first two laps without stopping and was hoping he and I could ride together for a while. I continued on and settled in to a comfortable pace.

Several laps in, a couple of sections became hike-a-bikes. The steepness of the climb combined with the deteriorating conditions made the trail unrideable, at least for me. I used these sections to walk and stretch the legs. I actually found that I was walking quicker than the people who were attempting to ride.

Unicoi is a demanding trail. It receives very little maintenance other than the occasional tree removal. There are several steep climbs, technical descents, one extended climb that takes you from a creek bottom to the top of a knob, and several slick-as-goose-shit switchbacks. One lap consists of about 1300 feet of climbing, which is the equivalent of climbing several of the local gaps. Recent rains had made conditions even tougher. The bottom areas and some of the climbs were sticky, black mud, which by the end of the race looked like twelve-inch deep troughs. The final quarter mile was a rude haul up a fire road that easily was a 7% grade which kicked up even steeper at an s-turn just before the top. Two more slippery downhill switchbacks, cross the bridge, and into the field back to the pit areas. Like I said, Unicoi is very demanding to ride, extremely demanding to race.

My third lap I nudged over the one-hour mark so I knew that six laps would probably be out of reach, but I also felt like I was riding fairly strong so I wanted to finish laps four and five respectably. You never know who’s in front or just behind you so you have to keep riding.

I rolled over the timing mat and dismounting my mud-covered steed. Tim, the owner/operator of Dirty Spokes, was there to remove my timing chip. Tim’s one of the best race promoters I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. He’s friendly; he responds to emails and constantly updates information. He has results posted quickly and always has the racers best interest in mind. It’s no wonder people continue to flock to his events.

Tiff took my bike and I spoke to Nikki, a female racer who finds a way to beat me in every f@$#ing race. She passed me on the last half of my last lap when the cramp monsters were assaulting me.

Wooley and Clark had already called it a day and were cleaned up. Steve finished shortly after. He had an awesome result riding the single speed in hard conditions. Josh finished to a rousing round of applause a little while later. The people beside us even cheered for him. (I don’t think they know why, they were just following our lead.) Josh mastered everyone in the field except for his nemesis, Jafer, who has edged Josh out for the top spot on at least three occasions; two back to back.

We ended the day as we normally do, with some of Clark’s finest cuisine, some post-race debriefing, and beer. Some results were better than others, but at the end of the day, no one was hurt, nothing was broken, and the beer was cold.

Final Results
Josh Fix – 2nd Place; Expert; Solo 6hr (7 laps, 57.4 miles, 5:25:49, 9,100 ft)
Steve Julian –7th Place; Single Speed; Solo 6hr(5 laps, 41 miles, 5:29:25, 6,500 ft)
Vonnie McClung – 8th Place; Sport; Solo 6hr; (5 laps, 41 miles, 5:06:39, 6,500 ft)
Steve Woolard – 26th Place, Beginner, Solo 6hr(2 laps, 16.4 miles, 3:15:47, 2,600 ft)
Clark Neal – 28th Place, Beginner, Solo 6hr (1 lap, 8.2 miles, 1:24:33, 1,300 ft)


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