2018 Willis River 21k / 35k / 50k

I'm a big fan of Dan Pulskamp's races. When he announced on his Virginia Adventures LLC Facebook page he was assuming directorship of the Willis River 50k trail race I signed up almost immediately. The race would be put on as an old-school fatass event. Meaning there would be no entry fees, no race shirts and no medals. Fine with me. Each runner would donate some food for the aid stations. Dan asked for small donations to cover miscellaneous expenses such as insurance. We had to pay the $5 parking fee.

When I arrived at Bear Creek State Park near Cumberland, VA at 7:30 it was a chilly 31 degrees. I met Jeff L. and his wife in the parking lot. When I signed in Dan told me this wasn't going to be a "concierge" event like the Night Train 50k was. He said this would be a "masters level" technical trail run. Somehow I had it in my head that this would be another "rail trail" event. An easy, mostly flat run on a path where there used to be railroad tracks. Wrong.

The Willis River

I met Craig R. right before the pre-race briefing.

Craig and Jim Selfie

The Trail Head

I enjoyed the course a lot due to its variety. A good portion was lightly travelled single track through woodlands and along the river. The trail was marked with single white blazes. You really had to pay attention to stay on course. Well at least I did. I was running solo about 70% of the time. Every so often there would be a double white blaze indicating a major change in direction. Dan and his crew had also put up some white confidence streamers where the trail might be confusing.

On the Willis River Trail

One of several icy stream crossings

Probably the most fun for me was the stream crossings. There was no way to avoid getting your feet wet, unless you searched for a better location upstream or downstream. I think most of us just blasted through. After the first time it was no big deal.

Omar asked me to photograph him crossing the stream

There were some pretty decent hills. My Garmin battery died at mile 17, but going by some other's posts there was about 1,900 ft. of climbing in the 35k option.

There was a dirt road section which was a nice relief from the technical single track.

And there was a section that had been recently logged. I wish I had taken a photo. There was no shade there and it looked like a foreign, muddy war zone.

The green reminded me spring will come

The course was an out and back. On the way out there were some shaded areas that still had quite a bit of snow. I figured I would get some pretty photos on the way back. But no, it had all melted by then.

For most of the way back there were three women together just far enough behind me that I could hear them but couldn't see them. Finally, with about two miles to go they passed me. I think I was the last 35k finisher and my time was about 6:30.

I really enjoyed this event and highly recommend it.

I Bought a Bike on the Internet

As soon as I finished the Outer Banks Century Ride for Life I knew I was hooked on road cycling. I decided to look for a reasonably priced road bike that I could use to do more century (100 mile) rides. I knew I wanted an aluminum frame, disk brakes, wide-ish tires and a Shimano 105 groupset.

I visited a local bike shop but their prices seemed higher than I was willing to spend.

I found a Raleigh Merit 3 on Amazon for over $500 off retail and ordered it. Two days later the box arrived. Raleigh is not a glamorous brand but hey most bikes including the high-end ones come from Taiwan or China.

Bike In A Box

The bike was 85% assembled and arrived with no damage. Basically, you put the handlebars, seat, front wheel, pedals and front brake on yourself. They even include the tools you need in the box.

I put the whole thing together without reading the instructions.

Almost Done

There were a few part parts remaining that I wasn't sure about until I chatted with my son.

Mystery pieces

The black rubber things are for routing the front brake cable through the carbon forks. The hollow tube centers the brake cable on the connection to the front brake. The two shiny pieces are end caps that you crimp onto the cable ends so they don't fray.

It took me quite a while to get the front and rear derailleurs adjusted properly as I had never done that before. I kind of expected them to be pretty close out of the box but they were way off. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and got everything working correctly.

After a couple of short rides I can say I'm very happy with the bike. It shifts great. It has a little bit of elastic in the stem and seat post to absorb bumps. The handlebars are very comfortable due to their oval shape and a lot of cushioning.

All Done