Yes, I’m tired… but in a good way tired. Not like burnt to a crisp or anything. After finishing the Grizzly yesterday, I was certain that the decision for me to ride 100 108 miles on Wednesday before all this madness was a very GOOD THING (not to take Martha Stewart’s line, but what can ya do?).

After the fantastic swim on Thursday morning, I was really encouraged. Usually my body handles very hard stresses well, and I get a very good response from all the hard work. In other words, I end up getting stronger instead of more tired… which is odd, but for some reason I do that.

We arrived for the Bear, and the rain started. It never poured down rain, but it was drizzling the whole time. That meant that it was going to be really cold on top of Grandfather Mountain when we got there… because it was only in the 50’s or low 60’s when we started at the bottom.

I started out and felt great, but quickly realized “wow, I’ve not been running enough nor any intensity and I’m not going to be able to hold this for long… and damn, this is getting steep!” So yeah, I pretty much did the fat man fade on the run… girls kept passing me as I went up, but eh, I just kept going and did the best I could with the little run legs I’ve got under me.

When I finally got to the last switchback, I was running up to the finish line… but you couldn’t see the finish line because it was in the clouds. Yes, not the FOG, but the CLOUDS. It was really cool. You could hear all these people yelling for you, and cowbells ringing, but see nothing but the road right in front of your face (because it was that steep). I really wanted to walk, but you’re so close to the end… and then I heard my brother yell, “GOOOO ALISHAAAA!!!!!”

Argh. I can’t walk now. Thanks a lot, GREG.

So I kept going and pushed until I got to the finish line… I ended up running a 42:something? Whatever, I don’t really look for exact times… hopefully you know by now that I’m not a results nazi. I really don’t care about all the numbers and splits and all that, and I certainly don’t compare everything meticulously from this year and that year and this person and that person… it’s cool if you do, but I don’t care for it. I like to stay focused on what’s in front of me.

I think I ended up 7th or 8th. Not sure, but I was happy with it… considering the amount of running I’ve done. Now I’m fired up though. I love the Bear, well… I’m good at going uphill. So, I wanna come back and try to win it next year. I already called Sonni and told him we’ve got a goal.

It was a late night after the Bear… we went to find something to eat, then didn’t get home until 11:00 or later, and I of course had to wake up early for the Grizzly. Yehaw!

The Grizzly is a metric century that starts in Linville, the same place that the Bear starts. The route was changed a little this year… to, of course, add more climbing. There was more climbing at the beginning of the ride and at the end. But, I won’t complain about it because I think these changes made the ride much safer.

I ended up actually staying with the group until the top of Old Beech Mountain Rd, which I was astonished by. I haven’t been able to climb like that in (read this slowly) YEARS. Years.

I was dropped on one of the twisty descents at the top of Old Beech… LAME. I just thought to myself, “you used to be a professional cyclist and did these type of descents ALL THE TIME at like 30+ mph, NO PROBLEM… what is WRONG with you??” Well, like most skills that you acrew over time, “if you don’t use it, you lose it.” I can still descend well, but not in a tight group. I don’t trust others like I used too, and I’m too tense.

So, I was actually glad to find myself alone at this point because then that meant that I could climb the gravel section alone, then hit the steepest climb of the day up to the Beech Ski Area on my own… THEN descend the STEEP side of Beech mountain ALONE (this was really my goal, because locals FLY down that descent, and I did NOT want to feel “forced” to do that if I was still with a group because I would be way too scared).

I ended up with a couple other guys after Hickory Nut gap and we rotated well on the “flats” (these were still big ring climbs). We were moving pretty good and picked up a few stray riders, which was nice. By the time we hit the last climb on the Parkway, I was riding with Kirk and a dude from Raleigh named Aaron. It was nice to just climb up and not really care about the pace and have people to talk to at this point.

We finished around the Grandfather Mountain McRae Meadows cinder track… which was cool. And, after I crossed the line they told me I got 2nd place… so I got a really cool Highland Games Plate! I was really excited about this. They’re very nice awards (I have one from the first time I ran the Bear years ago).

The rest of the day I was lazy. Read stuff online, talked to Deb, went to eat dinner with my brother again in Boone, then hung out at the Woods’ for a bit with Joe. I slept in this morning until 9am, which was nice. Going to go out for an easy ride and then do a swim, and get to do “normal” mountain stuff today.

Tomorrow, I’m back at it. Iron Mountain is in Damascus… check out the slide show of all the single track I get to do! I’m really excited- it’ll be a fun ride.