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Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race - Stage 2
Posted by: Shannon Boffeli
|October 11, 2011 9:23 PM
 Pisgah Mountain Bike
Stage Race – Brevard, North Carolina
Stage 2 – Land of Waterfalls Loop Day two of the Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race began much like the first. Warm temperatures and sunshine burning off an early morning mist. Today’s race featured some of the toughest climbing of the 5-day race with over 7,300 feet of total elevation gain. This stage included a healthy mix of singletrack varying from smooth and fast to down right treacherous. The worst section no doubt being the Farlow Gap downhill.
Riders eased off the line a little later than usual but the action picked up right from the start.
Early on it was clear Cannondale rider Jeremiah Bishop
wanted to get back the time he had lost on the previous day.
Bishop hammered off the front pushing the pace early on and
shedding the top contenders including Adam Craig (Rabobank/Giant). Craig did
take an unofficial honor by reportedly being the only rider to clean the entire
Farlow Gap descent. Conquering the steeps and boulder fields of Farlow is a
rare feat for even the best rider, especially one who is new to riding in the
area.
Race leader Sam Koerber (Verizon) stayed with Bishop the
longest but it was clear Bishop was having a great day and he’s known to take
advantage of good form when it comes his way.
Jeremiah is capable of riding at cross country pace for well
over 3 hours and that is just what he did today. Powering the climbs and
negotiating the challenging terrain, Bishop increased the gap to his closest
competitors.
Although Koerber was the last challenger to fall of the pace
the effort cost him dearly as he faded late in the race allowing Craig to catch
and pass him before the finish.
In the end, Jeremiah Bishop took today’s stage and the
overall race leader’s jersey with a time of 3.30.27, over 8 minutes in front of
Craig.
Adam finished with a time of 3.38.31 while Sam Koerber came
home in 3.42.57.
Drew Edsall (SuperCoolBikeShop) finished in 4thfollowed by Wes Dixon
"I wanted to stick with Melanie today. I started off with
her on the opening climb but she climbs like a mountain goat. I couldn’t keep
her pace,” Potter said, referring to race leader Melanie McQuaid.
McQuaid climbed her way to an early lead and stayed out
front over the technically demanding course.
Technical riding is clearly nothing new to the Canadian who
began her career racing mountain bikes all across British Columbia and western
Canada.
McQuaid now has a healthy lead in the general classification
adding another 14 minutes to the 9 she picked up on stage one.
Despite losing more time on the leader Potter said she felt strong today and enjoyed the demanding course layout although she is looking forward to tomorrow’s slightly shorter mileage. Katie Button finished the day in third with a time of 6 hours. Stage 3 – Carl Schenck Loop At just 25-miles, stage 3 is the shortest of all the stages in this year’s Pisgah race. The stage offers a remote start/finish location north of Brevard. The loop includes some great singletrack riding around the North Mills River and offers up 3,200 feet of climbing.
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