A Tale of the Dragon that got crushed

Having opted out of the 4 hour mudfest the weekend prior, I was left with an edginess that needed to be calmed.  Not a day later a received a text enticing me to race the Dragons Tale in NewCastle Va.  I had been there before in 2010.  I remembered that although not too long mileage wise the course made up for it by offering lots of steep climbing and  hiking.  However, what I remembered most was the awesome tight, narrow, mossy, off-camber Appalachian sidehill singletrack that run’s a tight and rocky spine like ridgeline.  Perfect, I love to ride stuff like that!

And love it I did.  I loved it enough to crush it a whole 26 minutes faster this time around!  ”Hey Churtle”, shouted Sue, “You did it in 4:20.”  That time earned me 1st place female, 17th overall, and lots of laughs.  I felt amazing.  Now I need to harness it all back in and prepare to unleash again at the NUE opener Cohutta 100.

A big shout out to Shenandoah Mountain Touring for putting on a great race.  They are always first class.  Check out their website for more race recap, pictures and video.