Smoked on the Tygart

APRRS #4

Smokin' on the Tygart is the fourth race of the Appalachian Road Race Series. It's a sweet course, with rolling terrain, newly-laid pave, and moderate climbing; well, moderate climbing relatively speaking, that is: this is Appalachia, not Kansas so climbing abounds, but just not as severe as "normal" climbing from typical APRRS events.

The drive down to the town is easy, mostly straight south on I-79, with the town about 20 miles of the interstate. But you never know what you're gonna see on the interstate:

Here's a truck that I passed on I-79.
Taylor Swift's Mean was on the radio.

A close up from the side of the truck

The town itself is also quaint and pleasant: Phillipi is a historical town with old buildings and covered bridges that sits along a crook in the Tygart river. The main covered bridge, pictured at the bottom of this post, is the signature landmark of the town, and it played a role in the Battle of Phillipi 150 years earlier, almost to the day of the race, during the Civil War. Phillipi is pronounced Fil-eh-pee, not Fil-i-pie. Why? I didn't research it, but this is West by God Virginia, after all. Everything's slightly hammerjang down-a-here, but in a nice way.  

The race is billed as the main event for a chilli cook-off festival in town at the courthouse block.

And main event it is: we headed out from the start-finish line and go straight up a 3 mile long hill. This year and also for last year's race, the leaders did not set an atrocious pace up the hill, so the group stayed together. 

But after the first hill, there follows a succession of short spiky hills that did blow up the main group, and of course, I went off the back also. I managed to ride with smaller groups that I encountered, here and there, and ultimately finished in tenth, for 16 points, which keeps me in the top ten overall for the series standings.

Here is the Strava profile:

Phillipi is the venue for two of the races in this series; the second race is two weeks after this race.

One of two covered bridges that the race passes through.
This one is long, and historical, also.

The town's old train station. Now it's an office building I think.