From the Bowels of Berryman

Sinister...the one word that comes to mind with this overwhelming race.  Whoever decided to have an annual race at this gnarly piece of forestry needs a swift kick in the man marbles or a hug of gratitude.  It comes upon us once a year and makes are intestinal tracks pump feces of nerves from our buttons of brown. One either loves this race, or hates it.  

Getting ready...

Cold

Lot's of people getting ready for a punishment.

TRW appeared at the ole' Bass River Resort about 45 min. before launch.  Freezing temperatures made shells of a turtle in our pants hide in their home.  As always the best MO has to offer showed up to grind their gears through this IMBA Epic.  Shivering and quivering we were given the signal to ride and made our way the arduous ascent.  As we finaly reached our way to the trail of Berryman, the dirty bitch greeted us with densley dead-leaved singletrack.  Being the devil of a trail this demon is, the leaves did not make the trail friendly.  Massive rocks, roots, and washouts were left incognito as the sun started to creep through the foliage.  It was freakin' hard to see what beneath your tires.  There was wreckage galore.  The trail was slowly turning into a garden of butchary.

 

Found this on the interwebs...Stoney is in here quite a bit.

After two hours of climbing, climbing, and more climbing the many of us made it to the Berryman Campground. There was an intake of fuel to energize the bodies and once again we headed to the wretched Cortois section.  #1  a number of us rode nearly a mile past the sign guiding us past the trailhead.  This f'n sucked...because many of us flew down a washed out steep hill to a gate that said private property...at this moment every hill in the Berryman corridors were being cursed.  #2 Once we found the missed trailhead we were on the Cortois...in my opinion the most punishing portion of the course.  

Corey at the finish

I could try to sugar coat the rest of this and say the rest of this race was awesome, but I won't feed you full of lies.  I never knew one could bonk twice in a race, because I think I did.  Only the Berryman could do such to a person.  It's so violent it made Turbo hide in the trees to wag a poo from his belly. Dodging shotgun bullets, it left Stoney stranded on the last stretch of gravel road to the finish with a flat.  As always, we fight the fury that Berryman brings and Stoney went Lance and rode in with a flat (minus the roids).  As much as I'm whining here, we all finished.  Corey, Turbo, Peat, Stoney and myself fought the self inflicted twinge.  A big thanks to Noelle and Turbo's family sagging for the crew...damn you Berryman...damn you!

Comments

[Stoney]

Awesome write-up. That was a great race. I can't believe I call myself a mountain biker and had never ridden that trail before.

I was riding behind the guy with the camera for at least a mile before I realized he was taking evidence that I was drafting. That guy was too strong though, he dropped me after a few miles but he did move me past at least a dozen people.

[Corey]

About sums it up Matt! I love that race and hate it both. I wonder how man people missed that turn off. Great work evreyone! AMERICA! F#CK YEAH!

BTW. Did anyone happen to grab my Neck gator?

[Bob Jenkins]

Dude, you're married now. There should only be one person, (other than yourself) grabbing your "neck gator." You Sinner.

[Peat]

I freakin' love the BT Epic. It's hard, there's much suffering but I always get in a groove despite the pain. Even with the 15 minute flat change from hell and rolling past the turn on the OT from Berryman campground (how the hell did that happen anyway??????? to so many racers?????and with the turn clearly marked??????????) it was still a great day on the bike. It was great to see a solid TRW turnout and everyone finished!

And, Bob, you can't turn everything into a sexual euphemism. And it's spelled "gaiter". I don't want people to think TRW can't spell. Sheesh.

[Red Nipple Stains]

I just found this other video of Saturday's race. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqtsDY0VJJw