July 28th, 2008
*ORAMM is a 63 mile mountain bike race with 11,000ft of climbing around the Mt Mitchell area of NC*
What can I say? I already can’t wait to do this ride again next year. I had so much fun! And I saw a lot of people that I knew out on the course… I bumped into several people from Raleigh, and a few people from the mountain area that I hadn’t seen in a long time.
I did this ride with my friend, Deb, and we had a great time together. She whopped me on the single track… but she was really nice and waited for me (the good friend she is!). I was really cautious on all the downhills because I’ve only done part of these trails ONE time before. The trails are very technical and tight, and a lot of times you are riding on the edge of the mountain (the trail being about 2 feet wide). There’s just not a whole lot of room for error, let’s say. And me, just wanting to survive this ride and live to see another day, I didn’t really feel like pushing ANY of that stuff… maybe next year when I get a chance to ride those trails a little more.
Our husbands SAG’ed for us the entire route… which was AWESOME. We saw them at pretty much all the rest stops. It was cool to see them so many times, especially the first time up Kitzuma.
The course itself is absolutely brutal, but also some of the prettiest and wild country you’ll ever see.
What more can I say? I really enjoyed the entire day… it was a long one. I just rode and had a good time out there, not really caring when I finished… just making sure I had fun along the way.
I’ll definitely be doing the ride next year, and maybe then I’ll try for an actual time.