2009 Jerry's Baddle

Jerry with friends


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.

Daniel slicking Go Left during the paddling segment

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

Spring is here. Time to get the Biscuits cooking.

Adriene checking out the outfitting in her Biscuit

Spring is here. The Ocoee is running. The Cheoah is running. It hasn't snowed in days. So Adriene and I grabbed a Biscuit 45 and 65 and headed out for the weekend. Its actually been a while since I have really paddled one of these babies hard and it was a pleasure to get it out on the water. We went to the Ocoee on Saturday. It was a perfect day 70 degrees and blue skys. I have to admit that I haven't been on the Ocoee in close to 3 years. It is a good 4 hours drive from the Green river, I am not making excuses. I swear.

Oh I almost forgot. I have a new toy. Its my integral shuttle system. Roll the Motorcycle into the Van and a couple boats and you have a self contained mission. Saturday morning we loaded it all up.
A couple Biscuit kayaks. One Biscuit dog and a Tater dog. The ramp to ride the bike up into the van.
Some sleeping stuff. Adriene just needs Pop Tarts and I just need a decent coffee in the morning.
So here is my added toy inserted in the van with multiple Biscuit options.

The Aqua Scout Fully Loaded with Integral Shuttle and various Biscuits

I don't know when the first time I ran the Ocoee was. I think it was '82 or '83 maybe. I need to dig up some old photos. I have a few that are pretty funny. Uh yeah maybe not. The iconic spot on the Ocoee is the dam to me because when you first start running this river its the dam that scares the crap out of you. Its loud, and there are tons of people running around, rafts putting in constantly, and the ever present wind and mist blowing. There have been lots of paddlers who put in swam in the first rapid and got out of the river. Once you get used to the dam and Entrance rapid its just a pretty cool scene.

Adriene calls me dad. I am not sure how I feel about that.

Wheeling below Slice N' Dice

There is just a subtle difference between wheeling and getting wheeled.


Thats me trying to remember how this cartwheel thing works.
The Biscuit loves to wheel.

Adriene working the shoulder at Double Trouble.
The waves are sweet all three are in fine form right now.

Adriene said, "oh my god, this boat is soooo loose."

The day on the Ocoee was awesome. We hardly saw anyone out there and all the playspots were good as always and some seem to be better than I remember since the last time I was there. After the day on the Ocoee we headed over to the Cheoah to stay the night and get on fairly early so Adriene could make it to work the next afternoon. Sunday was a much more dreary day. It drizzled all day and we were pretty much on our own out there. The Cheoah can be a little pushy in a play boat in places but it is damn rewarding as well.

Adriene hamming it up in the one I call, "You know the hole on the left".

This is a sweet hole you should check it out sometime.

A sweet boof line off the Bear.

From Biscuit Weekend on the Ocoee and Cheoah

This is the wave at Topoco lodge. It is sweet. Nice blunts, loops, etc... You go Adriene.

It was a great weekend and its great to have the Biscuits working in all features and run the river so comfortably. Have I said how bad ass the outfitting is now.

Don't forget Jerry's Baddle this weekend.

Later

Shane