Pisgah Stage Race- Stage 4- The Queen Stage

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Jen Toops

Friday, April 15th, 2022

The Fox Factory’s Carl Schenck Route aka “The Queen Stage” was 31.5 miles long with 4113 feet of elevation gain. It included the most technical singletrack of all the stages plus a steep hike-a-bike. A cold 40 degree start gave way to sunny skies and temps in the 60’s.

Racers started at the The Cradle of Forestry-Birthplace of Forest Conservation in America inside Pisgah National forest. This stage is named after Dr. Carl Schenck who was brought to the area in 1895 by the Vanderbilt family to manage the forest. The race started on gravel and hit trails: Funnel Top, Squirrel Gap, Laurel Creek, FS5016, Laurel Mountain and Pilot Rock.

Watch the video recap!

Women’s Open:

1st Kaysee Armstrong 3:15:31

2nd Kait Boyle 3:20:41

3rd Taylor Kuyk-White 3:23:33

Kaysee remains in the overall lead heading into stage 5. Taylor Kuyk-White in 2nd and Kait Boyle in 3rd. The women’s open class will be interesting to watch on stage five with Kait, Taylor and Jocelyn all about a minute and a half apart! Jocelyn unfortunately broke her frame heading down pilot rock so she will need to find a bike to ride for tomorrows stage.

Women’s open podium: 1st Kaysee Armstrong, 2nd Kait Boyle, 3rd Taylor Kuyk-White

Men’s Open:

1st Carson Beckett 2:38:10

2nd Kerry Werner 2:38:11

3rd Ian Blythe 2:46:19

Kerry Werner continues to lead the overall men heading into stage 5. Carson Beckett in 2nd and Cypress Gorry in 3rd.

Men’s open podium: 1st Carson Beckett, 2nd Kerry Werner, 3rd Ian Blythe

Stage 4 Enduro- Pilot Rock

The Queen stage enduro was on the infamous Pilot Rock trail. The enduro was 2.25 miles long with a 1478 foot descent, plenty of rocks, tight technical switchbacks, roots, a creek crossing, hecklers, and a steep uphill pedal section at the end. A beast of a downhill to say the least.

Women’s Enduro:

1st Kait Boyle 12:24

2nd Annie Schwartz 13:30

3rd Kaysee Armstrong 13:31

In the overall women’s enduro, Kait Boyle remains in the lead going into the final stage. Kaysee Armstrong in 2nd and Taylor Kuyk-White in 3rd.

Men’s Enduro:

1st Cypress Gorry 9:40

2nd Ian Blythe 10:45

3rd Nick Mackie 10:59

In the mens enduro, Cypress Gorry absolutely crushed the enduro segment and won by almost a minute. He leads the overall enduro heading into the final stage. Kerry Werner crashed heading down Pilot but remains in 2nd overall and Ian Blythe in 3rd.

Men’s enduro podium: 1st Cypress Gorry, 2nd Ian Blythe, 3rd Nick Mackie

CLICK HERE for full results from each stage

Pisgah Stage Race- Stage 3

Posted on April 15, 2022 by Jen Toops

Thursday, April 14th, 2022

Sycamore Cycles’ White Squirrel Route

Stage 3 is sponsored by Sycamore Cycles and is aptly named the White squirrel Route since Brevard is well known for white squirrels. The area was populated with white squirrels after a circus train carrying them tipped over quite a few years back. This stage offers 29.5 miles and 6000 feet of climbing. The forecasted rain held off and racers were welcomed with sunny skies later in the stage.

The race starts at the bottom of Black Mountain. Racers immediately funnel into double track up Grassy Rd and over to a rooty fast decent down Sycamore Cove. From there, they loop back around to Thrift cove and climb Black Mountain. Racers then climb up Clawhammer road and descend down Avery Creek which is a fun technical downhill. After some more gravel climbing racers head down Bennett Gap which is the Enduro for stage 3. One more gravel climb and racers headed down Black Mountain to the finish line.

Women’s Open

1st- Kaysee Armstrong 3:24

2nd- Taylor Kuyk-Whit 3:37

3rd- Jocelyn Stel 3:43

Kaysee Armstrong (Liv) continues to add to her overall lead after her third stage win in a row with a cumulative time of 7 hours 38 minutes. Taylor Kuyk-Whit moves into 2nd overall with a cumulative time of 8 hours 7 minutes, Jocelyn Stel just a minute and a half back in 3rd. Kait Boyle moved into fourth overall but still in podium contention with a time of 8 hours 11 minutes.

1st Kaysee Armstrong, 2nd Taylor Kuyk-Whit, 3rd Jocelyn Stel

Men’s Open

1st- Carson Beckett 2:37:07.275

2nd-Kerry Werner 2:37:07.708

3rd- Nick Bragg 2:54:12

Kerry Werner holds onto the overall lead with a cumulative time of 6 hours 5 minutes. Carson Beckett in 2nd overall with a time of 6 hours 18 minutes and Cypress Gorry in third overall with a time of 6 hours 33 minutes. Nick Bragg is sitting in 4th overall just 5 minutes back.

Men’s open podium: 1st Carson Beckett, 2nd Kerry Werner, 3rd Nick Bragg

2019-PisgahStageRace-OnlineEnduro-Stage3

Stage 3 enduro was a 2.5 mile 1230 ft descent down Bennett Gap. This enduro had something for everyone with a hike-a-bike, pedal sections, rock drops, massive roots and plenty of Pisgah gnar.

Women’s Enduro:

1st- Kait Boyle 14:26

2nd- Kaysee Armstrong 15:14

3rd- Taylor Kuyk-Whit 15:17

Kait Boyle continues to lead the overall women’s enduro with a cumulative time of 29 minutes 55 seconds. Kaysee Armstrong in second with a time of 31 minutes 24 seconds. Taylor Kuyk-White is hot on Kaysee’s heels with a time of 31 minutes 35 seconds.

Women’s Enduro Podium: 1st Kait Boyle, 2nd Kaysee Armstrong, 3rd Taylor Kuyk-White

Men’s Enduro:

1st- Cypress Gorry 9:47

2nd- Kerry Werner 10:40

3rd- Carson Beckett 10:43

Cypress Gorry continues to lead the overall men’s enduro with a cumulative time of 23 minutes 9 seconds. Kerry Werner in 2nd with a time of 23 minutes 59 seconds. Ian Blythe holds down 3rd place with a time of 26 minutes 11 seconds. A very close race in the men’s overall enduro with Carson Beckett, Nick Bragg, and Nick Mackie just seconds from a podium position. How will tomorrow play out after the famous Pilot Rock enduro descent?

Men’s Enduro podium: 1st Cypress Gorry, 2nd Kerry Werner, 3rd Carson Beckett

Watch the video recap!

CLICK HERE for full results from each stage

Written by Jen & Anthony Toops

Photos by Icon Media Ashville

Pisgah Stage Race- Stage 2

Posted on April 14, 2022 by Jen Toops

Wednesday, April 13th, 2022

Athletic Brewing CO’s Promise Land Route

Stage 2: Todays stage started with a police escort out of the Black Mountain trail head on 6.2 miles of pavement leading racers to the Turkey Pen area where the race started full gas. From here stage 2 showcased that true “Pisgah” style with technical roots and rocks. This stage had the highest amount of single track and included popular trails such as Mullinex, Squirrel Gap and Buckhorn Gap. Racers endured a long hike-a-bike up to Buckhorn Gap but were rewarded with the full Black Mountain decent all the way to the finish line.

Women’s Open:

1st- Kaysee Armstrong 2 hours 53 minutes

2nd-Kait Boyle 2 hours 59 minutes

3rd- Jocelyn Stel 3 hours 2 minutes.

Kaysee leads the overall women after stage 2 with Kait Boyle moving into 2nd and Jocelyn Stel 3rd.

Women’s Stage 2 Open Podium: 1st Kaysee Armstrong, 2nd Kait Boyle, 3rd Jocelyn Stel

Men’s Open:

1st- Carson Beckett 2 hours 18 mintues

2nd- Kerry Werner 2 hours 19 minutes

3rd- Tyler Clark 2 hours 20 minutes.

In the men’s open Kerry Werner takes the overall lead, followed by Tyler Clark 2nd and Cypress Gorry in third.

Men’s Stage 2 Open Podium: 1st Carson Beckett, 2nd Kerry Werner, 3rd Tyler Clark

Stage 2 Enduro was the Black Mountain descent. Black Mountain is one of the most popular trails in Pisgah with a mix of flow and technical riding losing 1320 feet over 2 miles.

Women’s Open:

1st- Kait Boyle 9 minutes 12 seconds

2nd- Hannah Arensman 9 minutes thirty-five seconds

3rd- Kaysee Armstrong 9 minutes thirty-six seconds

Kait Boyle took the lead for the overall enduro going into stage 3. Hannah Arensman in second and Kaysee Armstrong in third.

Women’s Enduro: 1st Kait Boyle 9:12, 2nd Hannah Arensman, 3rd Kaysee Armstrong

Men’s Open:

1st- Tyler Clark 7 minutes thirty-seven seconds

2nd- Kerry Werner 7 minutes forty-three seconds

3rd- Cypress Gorry 7 minutes forty-six seconds.

Heading into stage 3, Tyler Clark is leading the overall enduro, Kerry Werner in second and Cypress Gorry in third.

Men’s Enduro: 1st Tyler Clark, 2nd Kerry Werner, 3rd Cypress Gorry

Written by: Jen & Anthony Toops

Photos by: Icon Media Ashville

CLICK HERE for full results from each stage

Pisgah Stage Race- Stage 1

Posted on April 13, 2022 by Jen Toops

Blue Ridge Adventures

Tuesday, April 12th, 2022

Squirts Looking Glass Route

For 2022, a new opening stage was unveiled, making it logistically easier on everyone. This allowed racers to start and finish in the same location for 3 days in a row. The new opening stage had a 5 mile warm up ride from the on the Brevard pathway. After arriving at the Railroad Depot park, the 15.5 mile adventure begins with a heart pumping climb up Bracken Mountain, a mix of machine built trails, showcasing the newest trail Stoney Knob, and a high speed Enduro down Joel Branch.

15.5 miles / 25 km
2,200 ft / 670 m elevation gain
Named for Looking Glass Rock – a nearly 4,000′ tall piece of exposed whiteside granite

Women’s open:

Coming off racing the Cape Epic and the Lifetime Grand Prix, Kaysee Armstrong (Liv), from Knoxville, TN, took the win with a time of 1:20:30. Taking second with a time of 1:23:14 was, Jocelyn Stel (Liv), making the trek down from Canada to race. Rounding out the women’s open podium was, Taylor Kuyk-White (Philly Bike Expo, Industry Nine) with a time of 1:24:55

Men’s Open:

A very close race in the men’s open division. Local Cypress Gorry (Ride Kanuga Specialized), took the win on stage 1 finishing with a time of 1:08:09. Hot on his heels was another local, Tyler Clark (Brevard College), taking second with a time of 1:08:11.0. PSR veteran, Kerry Werner (Kona) from VA, rounded out the podium with a time of 1:08:11.04. This will be an exciting division to watch over the next few stages!

Enduro: Within each stage of the Pisgah Stage Race there’s a timed Enduro segment. Racers are competing not only for bragging rights but also a cash purse given out to the overall top female and male riders at the end of the 5 stages.

Todays enduro was an all-out attack down the Joel Branch gravel forest road. Riders had to manage maintaining speed throughout the segment, with a lack of traction in the corners. The gravel definitly presented a new challenge for an enduro win.