They dropped down down down, and then climbed even higher. With moments of torrential rains, lots of fallen leaves, and a shorter day, Jeremiah Bishop and Sam Koerber had a lofty goal set ahead of them: a speed attempt on the "Ring of Fire".
What is the Ring?
Info about the ring here: http://www.shenandoahbicycle.com/the-ring/
The loop is here: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1812888
68 miles of "barely rideable singletrack" as Jeremiah put it. There have been 2 people to finish it. Sunday night I was in the right place at the right time, and ended up driving around to support them on the attempt yesterday. This thing is cool. If anyone could do it in 12 hours, it was these two. With 15 miles of hell left to go (about 4 hours more), daylight was gone, and the attempt was over. They'll be back to conquer it another day though.
Can a Michaux rider be the next to conquer the ring of fire? All I can say is bring lights, full suspension, and be ready to suffer like you never have before.
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10 comments:
i heard camps did it twice in one day. clockwise AND counterclockwise.
Their attempt was awesome. they'll get it next time
This post would be much better if there were pictures!
Not this rider from Michaux.
That makes me think that we need to substitute camps into all chuck norris jokes, but make them bike related.
Give me a couple days and I'll give you video. Thats like a million pictures squished into one file, or something....
why would you need lights in a ring of fire? wouldn't you need sunglasses and sunblock? jeeze?!?
A friend of mine ran "the ring" earlier this year in a race. He said it was brutal! He won it at 19 hours and 9 minutes. Only 15 people out of 40 starters. That course is NO JOKE. Mad respecct to those attempting it on bikes.
I've ridden most of The Ring in pieces, over many *years*. Some sections are some of my favorite pieces of trail. Some purely suck.
It has always amazed me that the runners have been doing this twice/year for more than 10 years, and until this year, no bikers had done it until Kyle and Carp knocked it out on nowhere near their first attempt. SSO/JoeW has tried it 3 times, once or twice with Wrenchy Todd. Nate has been on a few attempts. Before you cue up the Chuck Norris jokes on my behalf, know that I will never try this in one pull.
At one recent time in my history, I thought I'd like to try a 2-day with a carefully orchestrated overnight somewhere with beer/food/water cached. Now, when I have those thoughts, I just think of a full pull of Raystown instead.
The runners have one big advantage in that they can run/walk/crawl through the night with far less lights than bikers would need. The runners often go as far as they can into the night, then just lay down and sleep until dawn.
The bike logistics always seem harder for some reason
So No one has done it on a OG 26 inch.....?....ohh....
"I just think of a full pull of Raystown instead."
So...when are we going? ;-)
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