Vague Idea Racing: Winter Shart Tarck 2020... pre-crumbles

Member me saying that I was gonna take the Winter Shart Tarck less seriously this year, so I could do things like go to the mountains the day before (and get sick) without having to worry about "performance?"

I member.

I will try to make this brief (and fail).

Wake up Saturday. Ride over to Dr Mike's house. Load up and head west to the Pisgah parts that are never wet after the rain somehow. New route and trails I haven't ridden in probably over a decade. On the way there, we discuss the potential weather, and I find out the downside of looking at Morganton weather for my info instead of one of the tiny towns way up higher in the mountains.

It won't be 54°. It will be more like 32°.

Stop at a Walgreens and buy some nitrile gloves to put under my summer weight HandUp gloves. I can't even think of a decent solution to fix my light socks that just barely fit in my very ventilated Mavic shoes. Obvs I could buy two loaves of bread, but what do I do with the bread while I'm wearing the bags?

We start in the high 50s, but two thousand feet of climbing and an hour later, it's 34°.

Doh.

It was all fun and games and frozen extremities until we got to the creek crossing Bill Nye forgot about. And then the next one. And the next one.

And the next one.

I'd tried to keep my heart rate in check on the big paved climb at the start of the day, but betting out of the abyss we put ourselves in after that fun descent put me in the red. Meh.

An idiot who left all sorts of clothing options at home... even after a winter of just throwing what seemed like everything in my bag so I could figure it out at the trail head.

I kinda went a little too hard out of the last climb... because I like it. 3,900 feet of climbing in 21+ miles. That should be a decent hole to dig out of at the next day's race.

Speaking of holes...

I got home in time to inspect the volleyball sized sinkhole that Friday's rains had made in my back yard. I shoveled down expecting to find some shitty drainage work from the previous owner... and hit something wooden? I'll wait until tomorrow. Fill the hole back in... and that night Boppit came back into the house twice with tell-tale dirt on his nose and stuck in his paws.

Before the race on Sunday, I promised to drop The Pie's car off at the inspection place, because she had gone to the dealership the day before for an inspection and routine maintenance... but they never did the inspection.

Wake up on the couch (coughing again?) at 7:22 AM dreaming that I was being attacked by a seven foot long black snake. Coffee, drop off the car, ride home, start digging in my yard... find logs? Apparently, the previous owner had used logs as fill dirt on the hillside? Seriously? Dig them out... well as many as my head would allow (I'm sure there's more... I don't wanna know), fill the hole back in with whatever I can find that isn't logs, run out to buy grass seed, Boppit-proof the hole, start getting ready for Winter Shart Tarck.

I'm ten minutes from heading out the door... The Pie's car is ready.

Dammit.

Take The Pie over, drop her off, head home, get ready again.

Text.

"My car won't start."

Argh.

"I won't go anywhere until I hear back from you."

The nice Mr Man at the inspection place came out, obviously befuddled by the fact that the car had started three times already that morning... squarshes down the stretched-out battery terminal clamp to the max by tightening the bolt, car starts. The Pie comes home, I take a look...

Guess I'll fix that tonight after the race?

Of course, I tried, and of course, I failed. The bolt snapped off and now I've got something to do later this week.