I've been on a losing streak lately. My first three races in July were marked by general malaise, poor equipment choices, and a bit of bad luck. After a demoralizing DNF at the Fair Hill Classic, I decided it was high time to reverse the trend. It was serendipitous that the next race on my schedule was the Curse of Dark Hollow, a mid-summer classic held in the Michaux State Forest in south central Pennsylvania.
Michaux is one of my favorite places to ride and race. The three Michaux Mega Series races--Michaux Maximus, the Curse of Dark Hollow and the Terror of Teaberry--are all single lap courses, each held in different parts of the State Forest. As the Series progresses, the courses seem to get increasingly more difficult. But they're all brutally hard: no matter how you configure a thirty five mile loop in Michaux, it's always gonna hurt.
The course for this year's Curse of Dark Hollow was no exception. The initial part of the course was the same as previous years, starting on the Wildcat Trail and continuing on to Abbey and Loon, both classic Michaux singletracks. The latter half was a bit different from last year. A new section of singletrack in Canada Hollow was added, and there seemed to be a couple extra climbs thrown for good measure. The tale of the tape: 36 miles, 4000 feet of climbing, and lots and lots of fine Appalachian singletrack.
It's usually hot and humid at the Curse, but the weather gods smiled favorably upon this year's race. At the start, temperatures were in the 70's and the humidity was virtually non-existent. Additionally, the track was in near-perfect condition. The woods had dried considerably from the torrential rains earlier in the month, but brief showers the night prior to the race gave the trails a loamy-grippy surface. It was shaping up to be a great day.
As was the case with the Maximus race, the Pro/Expert purse was offered for the Monster loop. The Michaux races offer a nice payout, and a highly competitive field is always a given. Chris Eatough, Kid Brandon and Harlan Price showed up to shoot it out for the overall win, and twenty guys on one speeds lined up do battle for top Single Speed honors. With Tim Dougherty, Ransom Weaver, Buck, Topher and Big Bush all rockin' single speeds, I knew I'd have my work cut out for me.
The start went well. When I hit the Wildcat Trail descent, I was running 3rd in the Single Speed category, not far behind Tim and Ransom. Buck caught me near the bottom of the descent, but I managed to keep him in sight on the climb up to the Abbey Trail. I continued to keep a good pace on Abbey despite a few minor crashes. I had a spectacular endo about a 1/3 of the way to the reservoir, but managed to quickly pull it back together. Shortly afterwards, I passed Ransom standing by the side of the trail fixing a flat. I yelled to him to catch back on, then slightly increased my tempo. At the end of Abbey, I passed Buck. He was also sitting trailside fixing a flat. Suddenly, I was in 2nd place. As I hit the Loon Trail, I stayed on top of the pace, looking to catch the top single speed, Tim Dougherty.
Over the next two and a half hours, I chased Tim to no avail. As the race progressed, I'd see orange and blue jerseys in the distance, hoping it was Tim in his Cannondale team kit. I'd bridge up, only to discover I was chasing a Gettysburg Cupcake Factory team rider. Though I never caught Tim, I made steady progress through the field. I felt great the entire race, just what I needed to reverse the previously mentioned losing streak.
In the end, I finished in 3:47:03, good enough for 9th overall and 2nd place in the Single Speed category. Topher rounded out the SS podium, finishing a few minutes behind me. Buck also had a good showing, finishing in 4th place in the SS category despite the flat and a short detour off-course. Ransom had a rough day. Five flats left him roughly an hour off Tim's pace. Shortly after crossing the finish line, Ransom rolled over to my car. I immediately handed him an icy cold Sly Fox Pikeland Pilsner as a consolation. It was the least I could do. After losing to Ransom by 40 seconds at the Spring race, I had been looking forward to a rematch at the Curse.
With Eatough taking the overall win, H-Bomb in 3rd, and Tim Dougherty in 7th (and finishing 1st in the Single Speed category), Mid Atlantic Ultra Endurance Freak Show was well represented in the overall standings. Notably missing from the Freak Show was Rob Lichtenwalter (a/k/a Freegan Robbie, Lance Lawnstrong, Vegan Rob, the Hedgehog), who was racing through the cold New England rain to take the Solo category win at the 24 Hours of Killington. Congratulations Robbie!
