Shaneslogic

From Green Race Saturday

Once again the Green Race comes and once again I am blown away by how cool it is. Just think, a thousand people walked in more than an hour to watch a 130 or so paddlers giver a go for almost no prizes, no money, no chics, and very very little fame. Its all about a perfect weekend giving it everything you got, hanging with friends, and enjoying the whole thing. The weekend began with folks rolling in for the race. My house was full. Old friends, new friends, some spoke english some didn’t, but everyone enjoyed a perfect November weekend in the mountains of North Carolina.

From Green Race Saturday

This event is actually becoming a full on real life tradition. Someday soon there is going to be someone that races on the Green that is younger than the race itself and in extreme racing thats a very big statement. In the photo above you see Polk Dieters (Green Race Vet) with his son Scout checking out his lines for the future.

This year we had all the action and still hardly any injuries (knock on wood). We had the classic nightmares of paddlers of the Green… Numero uno, Swimming over the drop. We also had nightmare numero dos going over upside down. Throw in a couple backwards runs and a few swims, and pitons and you have an action packed day of whitewater racing. The most severe injuries were imparted by the rocks on shore to the asses of folks trying to navigate the throngs watching the festivities, and the punishing blows to the egos of a few of us racers. Nothing a little ice, ibu, and alcohol won’t take care of, as far as I know.

From Green Race Saturday

From Green Race Saturday

From Green Race Saturday

For me race day is a blurr of organizing friends and racers, making sure my spray skirt is in the van and remembering that I am actually racing. We all line up for the photo and then all of the sudden its all about you and the river. Everybody else is focused on their runs and you are left with your thoughts while you gear up and walk down to the river. The thoughts for each of us range from hopes to realities and hopes to fears. The walk to the river is quiet and a little lonely. The paddle down to the start line is focused. We are all feeling ourselves out, warming up, and trying to quiet the nerves. The funny thing is that once I got near the start line my butterflies started to go away. There were 50 paddlers fluttering around the starting rocks so the banter was quick and excited. Its a good feeling. We are all ready to go.

From Green Race Saturday

Little did we know that it would be the “Speed Trap” that would be dishing out the punishment.
It may not have been as scary or dreaded but spinning around caught in the corner of the Trap was a nightmare for all of us racers and this year it was in high form. It created a couple swims, crushed a few race dreams, and sapped the will out of a few that had to deal with its grip I know I watched several paddlers go from slight disappointment, to focus, to desperation as their attempts to exit the “trap” failed. Ross Herr even celebrated after getting past this obstacle.

From Green Race Saturday

Once you have finished your race run there is an amazing rush that goes through you. It takes a minute or two to get past the exhaustion of the race but soon the adrenaline pushes past and everyone is smiling and patting you on the back as you walk up through the crowd to Gorilla. Folks are offering you beers and all your buds are just as jacked as you are. Its a awesome feeling.

The paddle out from the race is something that is hard to explain. If you are doing the hike its like that except we are all pretty psyched to be paddling together. The loneness of paddling the race on your own is gone and everyone is just having a good time. A new tradition has been born in the last few years and thats the Southern Cross at Sunshine rapid. Pick a buddy and cross paths. One goes left and one goes right.

From there on out its all smiles, jokes, and happiness. And then theres a party.
The photos may just speak for themselves.

From Green Race Saturday

From Green Race Saturday

From Green Race Saturday

From Green Race Saturday

Congrats to all the racers. What a showing. No we have to say that on Green Race day there was somebody spanking the monkey every minute for nearly 3 hours. Wow you all rock! Andrew you are an animal. Adriene you have set a new standard for women paddlers on this river. Same goes for you Sprinkle and thanks to all the folks that paddle the LL boats. I think we are on to something. 3 out of the top 4 is damn good. Next time maybe we get that top spot in men’s as well.

Thanks to Johnny Floor and the Wrong Crowd and DJ Clay? for the awesome music.

Huge huge huge thanks to Woody, Sarah, Tim, John, Jason, Chelsea, Cribbs, Perry, and many many others for making this event happen.
And thanks Boyce the Stinger is fast.

From Green Race Saturday

Here is the whole slide show of my favorite shots.
Shane

This past weekend was as nice as we have seen yet this year. Clear skies and 80 degree weather made a great weekend for Jerry’s Baddle. The first thing most folks ask is, “Whats Jerry’s Battle”? First its a Baddle Bike/Paddle and here is the description of what Jerry’s Baddle is from the JB Website. “Jerry’s Baddle is a dual sport race that began in 2006 to honor a good friend, Jerry Beckwith, who had been diagnosed with ALS. The race was born out of a desire to keep his spirit and passion alive by raising money to help fight the disease that took his life and to foster the community he loved.

From that comes an event that is at the core of the paddling community around the Green River.
The Baddle is a very unique event because it combines two very different events, road biking, and class 5 kayaking. I am not sure how many entrants there were but the fact that there were somewhere around 50 people that could both paddle the narrows and ride a bike 26 miles is a pretty cool combination of skills.

Adam Herzog has been the reigning champion of this event for a while and he came into this one no different. The man is a living endurance machine. He has done things that I want to do in a lifetime in a single day. He has run across the Sahara desert and paddled the across the ocean as far as I am concerned and it didn’t look any different at the beginning of this race. Adam was charging right away as was evident in his duel with Green Race Champ Andrew Holcombe. The two traded places a few times during the paddling section. So that meant that Zog was ripping down the paddling course.

Zog making the pass on Holcombe at Sunshine

Mefford Williams had been training tough on the bike for the last several months to get ready for this race and it showed as he powered up the switch backs of the Green Take Out road. Most folks don’t know that he actually used to compete on the road bike before he was famous for floundering around in the mud for Vacation to Hell commercials. He is a regular for the Green Race so his paddling was solid as well. There was also another fast competitor Paul Stamilio. Let me just say that Paul f%$&*#@ flew on the bike and was chasing Mefford down the entire paddling course.

Mefford taking the “Glass Elevator”

Meff powering up the switchbacks

After the paddle everyone had kept their places. Zog was first off the beach, Holcombe was looking good in second but the bike was not a strong point, Mefford had held off Stamilio and they were headed into the heinous climb up the 18 switchbacks of Green River Road. This is where things started to change drastically.

The amphibian transition

This was shaping up to be a good Baddle. Nate and I jumped on my motorcycle to follow the bike action and we were thirsty by the time we got to the top of the hill I can’t imagine what these guys were feeling. Things were changing quickly on the hill.
Zog the dominator was taken down by a flat tire that he changed quickly, Holcombe said mid climb, “I am dying”, but Stamilio was still going hard, as was Mefford. While these guys were giving their all Nate and I stopped for a Gatorade, stalled my bike, and then couldn’t get it started so we had to roll start it. I actually started to sweat after that.

Zog didn’t want to chat

Uh Yeah the Roll Start

After the switch backs up the hill its a long down hill that was scarier than the Green to me. I dropped the bike back a gear and watched as Stamilio passed me like I was standing still. It was a little embarrassing but he was fricking flying. This is where his luck ended and his chain jumped gears, snapped, and broke. Then he threw his bike into the woods.

Stamilio passing me on my motorcycle during the race

Mefford pulling away

To the winner comes the spoils PBR on the head

Here is a link to an interview by LVM with Mefford Williams 2009 Jerry’s Baddle Champ
Click Here

In the end Liquidlogic had an awesome day winning all three categories.
Mefford Williams winning the Solo Baddle
Jennifer Cribbs winning the women’s Solo Baddle
Clayton Gar and Jed Hinkley Winning the Team Baddle
and Adriene Levknecht and Bob High taking third in the Team Baddle.

Here is a link to all the results.
2009 Jerry’s Baddle Results

Jerry’s Baddle, this year has raised more than $5000 dollars and still counting for the fight against ALS.

Congratulations ya’ll!

After a great day of racing we had a few beverages listened to live music at the festival and then went up to The Purple Onion in Saluda for more music and dancing. A good time was had by all.
Thanks again to everyone that helped put on the Baddle. Its an awesome event.

Oh heres the video.

Jerry’s Baddle 2009 from Shaneslogic on Vimeo.

The music from the video was all recorded live.

Thanks to:

The Scoot Pittman Trio
Red Dirt Floor
and
M.C. Suntan Lotion

Take it easy folks

Shane