Every bit as epic as it was billed to be! Three days before the ride, the entire state of WV was declared in a state of emergency due to powerful storms and flooding. I debated not going to the race, but I'm so glad I did as it turned out all the flooding was well south of here. The two loops were totally different. The first one was the gnarly one: Little Indian Creek "road" (including creek crossing), jeep/atv trails, and numerous hike-a-bikes. The top loop was a surprising amount of pavement, normal gravel roads, and one atv trail that thankfully was dry. Each was completely epic, though, and even the gnarly parts weren't too over the top. I had to hike a bike some mud sections, one wet rock climb, and one big stair-step rock descent, but other than that it was all ride-able. It wasn't horribly muddy, either. I had three goals for the day: don't crash, finish, and don't walk anything I was capable of riding. I met all three, with the slight exception of a stall on a climb that I couldn't clip out of and fell over. Plus I had fun! After all the anxiety leading up to the race, wondering if it would be too gnarly, I did really enjoy it and just laughed at the occasionally ridiculous course. We rolled out neutral for a couple of miles on rolling pavement, then hung a left on to gravel where things quickly blew up on a super steep climb. Just like Tour of Flanders, the road was too narrow with too many people, so I ended up hiking this and parts of other early climbs as well, just because I couldn't avoid stalled riders. Every other climb I rode, though, when LOTS of people were walking. I stopped fairly early on to offer my pump to a guy with a flat, this caused me to end up really far back and I got nervous I'd be spending the day alone, but thankfully I was with people pretty much all day and I even did a good job of being social! Little Indian Creek "road" was ridiculous: ankle deep mud soup, a portage creek crossing, sometimes barely wide enough to get through the weeds and tree limbs. I managed it with smile though and got into aid 1 in good shape. All I recall of the section leading into aid 2 (the start/finish) was some steep, rocky, wet stuff that had to be hiked (up and down, also site of my tip-over) and some DEEP gravel. After aid 2, I headed out hoping that the gnarliest was behind, and it was. All the pavement in the upper loop was a blessing, and not a single hike-a-bike! I started getting early indicators of leg cramps just as we crossed I-75 for the first time and got worried. Thankfully I'd snagged some Endurolyte tablets from the rest stops and they totally worked! Although they nearly came on a few more times, they never fully did so. There were some amazingly scenic parts on this upper loop, not surprisingly given all of the climbing. I felt good coming into aid 4 and knew I could finish. After pringles (I had them at every rest stop all day; they were my jam!), a popsicle, pickles (finally! amazing!) and part of a Red Bull, I took off. Not to steal Red Bull's slogan, but I totally had wings and felt as good as I had all day. I killed the last few climbs and the ATV trail section, then time trialled the last two paved miles into the finish, passing probably 8 people along the way. I rolled in 70th in Men's Open out of 96, with 11 DNFs. It was a hot and humid day (heat index over 90) with lots of sun (though thankfully the shady areas often felt like the A/C was on!) and not a lot of wind, so I'm sure that contributed to the non-finish rate. Met some nice folks riding along the way and shared pizza (Little Caesar's never tasted so good), beer (dark only but who cares?!), and fresh-grilled hot dogs (so amazing) with them afterward. It was a battle and we all felt good accomplishing it together. Wore my Road Apple Roubaix shirt and met the folks who put on that race; they took my picture in the shirt and then went out and won the co-ed duo class! The Haanjo was awesome. The Nanos shed all but the peanut buttery-mud quite well, shifting was flawless all day, and the disks saved my life on the downhills without making my hands too ridiculously tired. No mechanicals! Really well run event. Well-stocked aid stations (though the lack of bananas and pickles until aid 4 hurt!), awesome volunteers, great course markings, most intersections marshaled, etc. They really put on a good show. Having the course come back through the start was brilliant as I was able to put on dry socks, re-sunscreen, pick up food, put ice in my bottles, etc. There were also plenty of people out cheering too and the locals were amazingly courteous in their cars! Don't hold me to it, but I may have to consider doing this again, but only after waiting to see the weather!