The Pisgah Project: Race Report: HuRaCaN 15

The highest density of bad golfers in the U.S. live right there in the middle.

I tried not to think about HuRaCaN for the week following CFiTT, instead focusing on recovering and getting fatter on Christmas treats. The first weekend in January was planned for The Spanish, a 525 mile route from St. Augustine to Fort DeSoto, which I was going to ride on a conventional single-speed...coasting from coast-to-coast. I was still committed to ride the HuRaCaN fixed, but promised myself it would be the last time. After all, I'm just here to grab low-hanging fruit. Nobody's done it, set the bar low, then sit back and revel in the suffering of others who come afterwards (that's my motivation).

The HuRaCaN is Singletrack Samurai's (Karlos) marquee event. Held on the first weekend of February, multiple route options (Lite 335mi, Original 380mi, WTF 400mi) and nearly 200 attendees, including some of the fastest ultra-endurance riders in the southeast and lots of adventurers and party-pacers. It feels like a reunion of sorts, lots of comfort in seeing familiar faces.

Joe (left) and Matt (middle); idiot (right).

I camp out with the usual suspects. Joe Wharton and I have pedaled hundreds of miles together across Florida. Some days we're competing, other days one of us is having a bad day. Joe would finish the Original route in first this year! Matt Mustin is another good friend who's shared hundreds of miles riding about Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. He's recently taken to single-speed riding and this is his first HuRaCaN on one gear. We rode together for about half of the route. Matt took a wrong turn early on and rode the Diggins loop backwards (Santos) and didn't catch up to me until the Ghost Trail. We rode together through ONF, Seminole and eventually crashed a Waffle House in Apopka; he then sought out a sheltered location to take a nap and I rode on towards Clermont. We would ride separately for the next 22 hours or so, probably never more than about 10 miles apart. Matt would catch me again in the Croom singletrack, and we rode the remaining 70 miles together to the finish.

Maggie Jones Rd (photo: Matt Mustin)

Tricycle, homestretch in Santos (photo: Matt Mustin)

Entering Shangri La for the finish (photo: Joe Wharton)

Matt and I finished in 48h:39m (45h:39m including the 3-hour bonus for the Ghost Trail), unofficially tied for 4th place, and unofficial fixed-gear FKT. The singletrack in Santos, Paisley Trails and Croom (all but a few trails) were low-tech and could be ridden fast(!) on a fixed-gear. But, like with CFiTT, riding fixed over 380+ miles was an extra level of hurt from not being able to coast, not being able to rest your legs, and any attempt to get pressure off your butt requiring extra leg-fatigue. It's done and I'm done with it.

It was great to see lots of friends and familiar faces. Big congrats for Joe to pull off the win (unofficial) after a frustrating and challenging previous year. Peter Kraft set a tremendous FKT on the WTF route. Ben Carpenter picked up the win on the Lite route, and Mike Root was laying down a blistering time on the Original route before a nail killed his tire. I leap-frogged with Tim Fahy and Kristin Apotsos throughout the race, which kept the competition interesting...Matt and I got the edge by taking a short nap and getting out of Lake Lindsey while Tim and Kristin were bivied up. Gary Cors pre-empted his weekend with an ITT on the Original route, finishing on Friday; then, started the Lite route on Saturday...700 miles of riding! He set a high bar with his 'Cat 2 HuRaCaN' and is hoping somebody comes out to try a 'Cat 3'. That's the kind of stupidity that piques my interest! Chritine Stone knocked out her 2nd ride towards completing her Samurai Cross within a calendar year...one long ride to go! And, always great to see Rasch, Andy Roberts, Kim Ranallo, Chris Hudson, Eric Henderson, and Jerry Metz! Great riding, all of you!