[Staff note: Unsupported FKT for the Catawba Triple Crown set during duathlon from Blacksburg.]
I passed a few tents and a group of students hiking on the way up Dragon's Tooth. Hit the top, climbed the tooth, then headed back down. I tried to down a liter of water in this section so that I could tank up and top off at 624. Filtered at 624 and set off with 2 liters. 624 to Catawba Creek is long and dry, but I was determined to not waste 10-15 mins dropping down to Pig Farm to get water. The PUDS (Sawtooth Ridge) rolled by and I took a 2 min break at the 311 lot to switch bottles and eat some solid food.
A little low point climbing the knob, but was quickly remedied by putting on headphones and ripping the descent to Brickey’s Gap. Most fun all day. I started to notice the effects of rationing water on the climb up to Tinker Cliffs, but was in great shape otherwise. Another 2 min stop at Tinker Cliffs to fire off some text updates and eat a pepperoni roll. The descent down Andy Layne should've been another crusher, but cramps started to kick in on the stairs as I ran out of water. Made it to the creek, but lost 5 mins or so struggling to unscrew the lid off my filter. The thought of drinking untreated water from here was less than appealing with all of the Cement Co. signs and wading cattle. I willed the lid off eventually, knocked back another liter (not enough) and filtered 2 more for the North Mtn. section. Total stop may have been closer to 15 minutes.
The climb up North Mtn was awesome, but once I got to the ridge things started to crumble. Killer quad and calf cramps from there to Grouse. Spirits were high, body just wasn’t quite cooperating. I knew it was under 5 miles downhill from Grouse to my bike, so I finished the last of the water and went for broke to go under 8 hours on the run. Seemed to work and the descent down North Mtn was a blast.
00:00 North Mtn Trail at 311
00:40 Top of Dragon’s Tooth
01:20 Rt. 624
02:29 Rt. 311 McAffee’s Lot
03:23 McAffee’s Knob
04:27 Tinker Cliffs
05:25 Andy Layne Parking
07:54:05 North Mtn Trail at 311