F(L)ATS

If you haven't heard of FATS, well it's time you freakin heard about it.  There is a total of 37 miles of singletrack for one to enjoy, although most tourists (us included) focus their time and energy on the bottom three loops which consist of more "bang for your buck" flow.  FATS is designated as an IMBA Epic trail system, so come on down and check that bad boy off your list.  FATS is located in Sumter National Forest in South Carolina, just over the border from Augusta GA.  From Charlotte it is about a 2.5 hour drive.

I suppose I should give you a head up on the list of characters involved in this ride.  Coming from the Charlotte area we had myself, Good Guy Greg, Tom Tom, TheMutt, and Denis.  From "up north" we had D-Wayne.  And we even had a local in our midst, Dustin Gaddis of Southern Wheelworks.  While the majority of us met up in Rock Hill to form a bike caravan on the way down - making it an easy 2 hour drive together - Dustin was pedaling around the trails we would not ride that day so that he could join us for our adventure when we arrived.

A mile into the trail I already had a question: when are we coming back?  Seriously, just entering the trail system and you knew it was going to be a good day.  For those northerners in the group, kinda had the sense of riding Kingdom Trails... just imagine if all the trails were like Kitchel, Sidewinder, or Webs with just a nice undulating flow and a giant pump track feel.

It was also at this time that we heard the trail had taken it's first victim of the day.  Lunchbox got a flat before he even really got into the trail so TheMutt turned around to help him out - don't worry they would catch up.

About 2 miles later DG stopped to hit up a rock feature and I noticed something.

pretty pink socks*

My rear tire was spewing Caffe Latex and didn't seem to want to stop.  I tried everything.  Of course I held it "spew side down" to try to let sealant pool there.  I tried applying pressure like it was a wound.  I tried creating a nice dirt scab over it... nothing seemed to slow this pin hole from flattening my tire.  My new tire.

Eventually I resigned to the fact that I would have to put a tube in.  So I pulled my Awesome Strap from under my saddle and got to work with my tube.

Me and DG coming to the same conclusion... hole in the tube.

No problem, out of all of us we will have a useable tube!!  Not exactly true.  DG went to grab his spare tube and found a hole in the back holding his tube... and a nice corresponding mark on the tube.  NEXT.  Good Guy Greg threw me his tube, we blasted it with CO₂.  As I was yanking the frozen CO₂ cartridge off my valve stem I slam my hand into my brake rotor... fun.

About ready to set off and it feels soft... maybe I didn't put enough air in it... so I pump the crap out of it.  Off we go.  About a 1/4 mile down the trail and I'm feeling squirrely in the rear.  Yeah... slow leak in the tube.  AWESOME.

I'm not sure how many CO₂ cartridges we went through getting me back to the trailhead (THANKS GUYS!!!) but towards the end I was on a blast of CO₂/sprint my ass off until it was flat again regiment.    We finally got back to the parking lot where DG poured some Stan's into my tire to hopefully set it back up tubeless and be done with this tube nonsense.

Thanks to Tom Tom for documenting the tire debacle both on and off the trail.

We take turns trying to set the bead with a couple different floor pumps, blast a couple CO₂ cartridges in there that almost get it there and nothing.  Finally Tom Tom reminds us that if you take the valve core out it won't impeded the air and a cartridge should be able to set the bead.  BOOM.  It works.  Stan's for the win!!  No further issues for the rest of the ride.

Unfortunately, by this time DG's time to ride has expired, and he has to take off.  We will be back, and hopefully next time there won't be time sucking issues getting in the way.  Who knows, maybe we'll hit up all the trails too!  I think it took over 2 hours to ride the Great Wall and get my wheel handled... yikes.

Back out on the trail we hit up Skinny and Brown Wave.  The trails we awesome.  This is the type of trail that wants you to go fast.  But you have to watch your ass because if you go with the trail blindly you will be in over your head (or way off the trail) before you know it.  I loved Great Wall, despite my tire issues.  Skinny felt like it was a connector between Great Wall and Big Brown.  Big Brown was a roller coaster of a trail.  Fun Fun FUN!

By the time it was all said and done I was HUNGRY.  We loaded up the caravan and headed out to grab some food and brew.  The drive home was a rough one... food coma and a long drive isn't always the best combo, but we all made it home safely.

Prior to heading down to FATS I did receive a little something something in the mail.

I had been bumming a 20t off of TheMutt, so I ordered myself up my own 20t along with a new and improved 18t.  I threw the 18t on for FATS and it was much needed.  There wasn't all that much climbing on the loops we rode so a 20t would have been way overkill.

* Thus far the pink socks have been 0 - 2 between my tire debacle and an endo by Little Miss Sunshine.

16th Annual Hodges Village Dam

After the race... and a beer
(which allowed fro some of the mud to dry up as I sat under the hatch of the pterodactyl)

Rain on a race day... rain the night before, the morning of, during, and I'm sure after.  As I arrived and headed to register the rain let up... maybe we'll get out there relatively dry??  Annie didn't attend the race due to the forecast, and I could not blame her at all.  I called my father before heading out to tell him not to come either - no use having them be miserable in the rain.

As I was getting my gear together to head out for my warm up it begins pouring.  I pause and watch the minutes tick by... will it end??  Eventually I just jumped on my bike and started out on the course.  Puddles (and I use the term lightly) are huge, spanning the sandy road to start the race.  Following my pre ride of the course on Saturday I had commented that a bit a of rain would be nice to help firm up the long sandy road which got extremely soft before heading back into the woods... but by no means did I mean for this much rain to hit.  I'm not actually sure if the rain helped or hindered on that road... as now we weren't contending with soft sand, but rather standing water.

Ok, so the race.  At the start I ponder if wearing my glasses will do anything as vision was slightly skewed from droplets on the lens.  My field started off quick and I was content in riding the back off the start knowing there were miles to go and plenty of time to pass.  As soon as we complete the first climb into the rocky doubletrack mud rendered me blind.  Not because my glasses were covered, but because mud somehow got up under my glasses (thus rendering them useless) and into my eye.  With my right eye burning and blurry I could feel the pack pulling away - catching glimpses of them as I turned corners.  The pain was too much and with wet muddy conditions I couldn't keep taking risks, I stopped.  My camelbak isn't much help as the hose won't dispense water into my eye, so I ripped off my glove and fill my cupped hand with water and attempt to rinse out my eye.  I had some success and get back to racing, for now.  I'm still not far off as I come up to a short steep climb I see riders from my class.  I push forward, but with constant rain washing mud and sweat into my eye my vision continues to deteriorate... I start thinking of calling it.  DNF... This season I didn't want a DNF or a DFL in a race, and at this point it looked like I'm destined for one of the two.  

As I exited the forest for the stretch of sandy road the rain starts to let up a little... my eye gets some relief from the barrage of pain and I'm able to get through the second half of the course without too much hesitation due to the eye.  Before hitting the start of lap 2 the rain is back so I make a deal with myself... get to the water station, flush out the eye, and then decide if I can continue or if I have to call it.  

After flushing my eye I figure I can continue so I push forward.  As I hit the short climb into the forest I see a rider ahead of me... is that someone from my class??  Can I climb back into this??  As I come upon the rider I discover it is my friend Pat from the age group below me - he's be having issues with his contacts, so I pull him along for a while before losing him in some muddy descents and corners.  I do my best to push on all roads and strive to have a better 2nd lap.  

Throughout the second lap I am forced to make two stops to again flush my eye.  The trail was looking less like a trail and more like a river as the rains continued and puddles merged from their individual entities into a constant stream at some points.  Eventually I come upon a rider in my class pushing his bike, I pause to see if I can help, but he has a torn sidewall so I push forward.

I'm bummed that my eye held me back as I felt conditions, although WET and muddy, weren't really a factor holding me back from being able to race my race.  I am happy that the wet conditions didn't cause me to overly back off or fear the wet roots as I did at Weeping Willow.  I'm not sure where I would have ended up had I not had eye issues, but it would have been a bit more fun!!  So even though results don't indicate a success, I think this race was a great experience for me as I start looking forward to next season.

Hifi not looking so bad, but sounded TERRIBLE with sandy guck rendering my brakes useless on the second lap.
Check out the camelbak, with it's mud covered bottom and whatnot

Earlier I mentioned waiting for a package... well it arrived on Saturday before I left for the pre ride.  Extra tube and tire levers nice and secure under the saddle thanks to my sweet orange Awesome Strap... Now to get a co2 cartridge to pack in there so I can take the pump off the HiFi.  I like the idea of being able to store that stuff for quick easy access (not to mention less to stuff in jersey pockets/camelbak)

Grossness all up in the tire levers