Well. I chose the Soul Stone as the achievement for Rock Cobbler and I definitely made a good choice. I truly feel that I left my soul at mile 42 or after the hike-a-bike section so I guess that just means I will have to go back again next year and try and find it! Hands down this is the hardest ride, race, or event I have ever done on a bicycle. It was filled with smiles and cheer, then replaced by curse words and almost tears, and I hear some blood was shed and I almost puked, but in the end I rode an amazing race, spent some quality riding time with multiple friends, then enjoyed some delicious food and beer before getting back on the Pure Gravel x Rouleur Brewing Co. Party Bus back to San Diego while having a few shots of Henebery whiskey with more friends!
Many thanks goes to both Pure Gravel and Rouleur Brewing Co. for organizing the Party Bus from San Diego to Rock Cobbler and back – thank you Steve, Kris, Shelly, and Rawley and to the drivers of the vans with our bikes! We were all safe and relaxed on the way up while enjoying a few cold pints and after the soul sucking ride we were able to relax once again and many of us passed out from exhaustion. This was an epic way to experience Rock Cobbler as if I had drove up I probably would have had to spend a second night as I was one who passed out for a little nap on the way home. I am looking forward to future events where Pure Gravel will offer similar transportation packages!
I had met Sam Ames for the 1st time on Friday night at packet pick up and told him how happy I was to finally meet him. He smiled and laughed and said that when I see him at the finish on Saturday I may actually hate him. I laughed as well and said there was no way as I heard his race was epic and fun and crazy but I must say even though hate is a strong word I had to agree with him during certain sections of the course. There were definitely some fun, happy, flowy, jumpy segments but there were so many crazy sections that it was mindblowing! After the initial road section including a long climb the first surprise of the day was a go-cart race track to get the party started. Then we dropped into the dirt and at mile 15 we exited a housing area and faced a heavily rutted climb that looked like something out of a horror movie. I saw lots of riders try and make it up only to slip and some almost riding right into a rut. From there it was fun and flowy for a while with a random boat sighting and one crazy steep downhill where I watched Adam from Velofix miss the turn and go into the bushes but somehow saved himself and made it back on the trail. After this there was more dirt fun and we caught up to Tim from Lost Cyclery and went through some fun motocross trail sections including an area with a lot of sheep which both Adam and Tim swear they did not see – from far away they looked like rocks but up close they were definitely sheep. Shortly after the sheep we made it to aid station one, had some snacks, refilled our water bottles, then jumped back on our bikes for more flowy dirt fun. This lasted for a while until we made it to the pavement at which time we also hit the break off for Pebbler riders which is where Tim turned and headed back to the start. Adam and I continued on towards more dirt and a little more pavement before we hit the worst most abusive part of the race. There was a huge open field that we started riding alongside and smiling and having fun and then the course turned 45 degrees and we started riding over nasty ruts that jarred us and made it hard to pedal and even thought it only lasted for .3 miles the abuse was felt for many miles after.
Soon we came upon a large clearing with lots of sheep – there was no way to miss them as they were on the trail and grazing in the fields next to the trails. They sounded like they were cheering for us as we rode past them and slowly around them before heading for the next dirt hill to climb. We spent some more time on some fun dirt sections before getting back on the road and heading to the next aid station which was right before the 1st nasty big climb of the day. When we got to the aid station we were greeted with smiles and cheers and a cold beer and a beautiful pig! Thanks Brown Monkeys Cycling for the epic aid station!
Then came the 4 miles of continuous climbing through an amazing private farmland – thank you Sam Ames for arranging this section for the race as it was like we were in another world. That 4 miles seemed to take forever as we dodged cow patties and some ruts and lots of cobbles. About 2 miles in there was a cow relaxing next to the trail and I took at selfie and Adam yelled at me to hurry and get on my bike as he swore the cow was in attack mode and was getting ready to charge at me. The terrain in this section was gorgeous and looked like something out of Jurassic Park with rolling hills and deep cut valleys. I truly feel that somewhere during this climb is where I lost my soul and procured the Soul Stone for the Power Gauntlet. This was just a long winding segment and the sun was beating down on us and we just wanted to find the top so we could start coming back down to civilization.
We finally made it to the top and started the dirty decent which included a few more climbs and we joined a couple of other riders to push through this section towards the next aid station. The crazy thing was the numbers of crows circling above us and the number of vultures circling in the distance – were they waiting for us to drop over and feast on our flesh? We finally made it through an orchard and managed to meet up with a lot of our friends who had already done the 10 mile out and back segment. Due to time restraints Adam and myself had already decided to skip that section and since a lot of our friends were there we all started to ride back together. Passing through another orchard and riding along the Kern River we started to gain speed as we knew the end was close but we also knew the dreaded hike-a-bike section was coming up as well.
And what a hike-a-bike section it was. Thankfully I had installed spikes on my shoes to make the climb a little easier. The young lady in front of us almost slipped and fell but managed to knee the ground to stabilize herself but I know that had to hurt as she hit the ground hard. Luckily at the top was another aid station and then we were happy as there were only 12 more miles – little did we know it would be a long, hilly, painful 12 miles. We made it to the start of another motocross section which had a big drop and somehow Terry was ejected from his bike but luckily he was not hurt. It was here that we lost Adam as he pedaled forward and managed to finish 24 minutes ahead of us. Once Terry got back on his bike we had a lot of fun flowing to the bottom with some high berms and nice fun dirt before we met the trail gnome who we thought was leading us to the road and to the easy way to the finish. Nope – nothing easy about the last 10 miles.
Over the course of the next 8 miles every time we thought we were heading to the road to pedal to the finish the trail turned back in and lead to another climb. Then we headed back to the road and then another climb. Then we headed into a small canyon section with high berms but we were so exhausted that we couldn’t keep our speed so we rode through the center as we began slipping on the high berms. It was here where a hiker and her family decided it was a good day to climb up the canyon and Terry almost hit her coming around a blind turn. After one more berm we saw the road up ahead and we started to cheer but then the route turned in to itself with yet another climb. Needless to say I was cursing and almost ready to cry and Terry was not too happy as well but we were just watching the miles slowly tick away. The highlight of this dirt section was MORE SHEEP and I swear I heard them screaming BAAAAAAD TERRY!
Finally we made it back to the road, pedaled up yet another hill, then made it to the small cyclocross obstacle course which we barely managed to step over, before heading to the bike path. We got to ride on the opposite side from the morning so we spent more time in the dirt before reconnecting to the paved section near the end. Another surprise was waiting for us as our friends who had finished yelled at us to stay on the course and ride the BMX race course. This was a really cool way to end a very long ride and finally we came around the last bend and there was the finish!
It was so awesome to see our friends Casey, Echo, and Ryan at the finish and they were nice enough to give us their beers! What an amazing way to finish the race and when we made it to the party area loud cheers and high fives and more smiles were waiting for us and some delicious food! I was able to say thank you to Sam Ames and told him I really did not hate him but damn he put together a very tough course! And the finisher prize was a mini- cast iron skillet – so awesome as it is a functional award!
Thank you to everyone who made this event happen and thank you to everyone who supported me for this race and for the rest of 2020. Many thanks to all my friends including some new ones for all the encouragement and smiles and cheers and hugs and beers! Now it is time to get dirty again as the Power Stone is next on April 25 at Epic Rides Whiskey Off-road 50 Proof!
kUDOs for cyclists everywhere! 