Greaser, Livermon Tops at Five-Day Pisgah Stage Race Mountain Bike Race – Results

Prior to this year’s five-day Pisgah Stage Race mountain bike race near Brevard, North Carolina, we did our best to hype the battle between North Carolina cyclocross archnemeses Tristan Cowie and Kerry Werner. Werner and Cowie battled each other locally, across the country and internationally in cyclocross this season and then resumed their battle on fatter, knobbier tires last week.

Despite all the pre-race hype—okay, so maybe it was one Cyclocross Magazine story—it was another Carolina resident and cyclocrosser who stole the show.

Travis Livermon also hails from North Carolina and races cyclocross for the Maxxis-Shimano team. He has been a regular on the UCI cyclocross scene for a number of years now where he has placed in the top five several times a year during that time. Livermon finished just off the podium both days of this year’s North Carolina Grand Prix, which is perhaps how he skated under the pre-race hype radar. Although, to be fair, Cowie identified Livermon as a man to watch in our pre-race preview along with his mustachioed, Tristan alter-ego Tristan Uhl.

Travis Livermon got some practice getting rad at the 2017 World Cup Waterloo Elite Men race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

The Pisgah Stage Race features five straight days of racing on the singletrack and gravel roads of the Pisgah National Forest outside of Brevard. Each day’s course featured 3,000-5,000 feet of climbing over about 25-30 miles and a designated enduro segment on the way down.

The racing started on Tuesday and the cyclocrossers in the field rose to the top of the leaderboard. Cowie led after the first day with Livermon, Werner and Uhl (aka Tex) in second through fourth, respectively. Cowie held the lead again after Day 2, but Livermon finished the stage right with him.

It was on the climbs of the White Squirrel Route on the third day that Livermon made his move. Livermon won Day 3 by two and a half minutes over Cowie to take the leader’s jersey. He followed up his successful climby day by climbing to an even bigger lead on Day 4.

When the dust settled after Saturday’s fifth and final day, Livermon had a 4:32 win over Cowie in the Pisgah GC. Cowie wrapped up second to retain bragging rights ahead of his archnemesis Werner, who finished third.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhkmDY5A8fV/?taken-by=travislivermon

Werner’s consolation prize after finishing third was a win in the five-day enduro competition. Hopefully the win going down isn’t a metaphor for Werner’s upcoming season!

Werner was also arguably the social media star of the week, bringing fans behind-the-scenes coverage from the Pisgah Forest and Brevard via a vlog series. There were many highlights, but perhaps the best was his Easter egg hunt-style search for all the Tristan Cowie Fat Heads in Brevard.

Kerrry Werner went looking for Tristan Cowie Fat Heads. photo: Kerry Werner vlog

Top honors in the Women’s race went to one-time JAM Fund cyclocrosser and now mountain and fat biker Jena Greaser. Greaser won the race in 2017 and made it two in a row this year in impressive fashion. She won the first day by two minutes and then extended her GC lead each subsequent stage. Greaser finished the GC 20 minutes ahead of second-place finisher Ada Xinxo of Spain. Jen Nielson rounded out the podium in third.

Jena Greaser is a JAM Fund grad and now, two-time Pisgah Stage Race winner. Photo by Meg McMahon

Full results for the Women’s and Men’s Elite races are below. For a look at what riders were up against, Blue Ridge Adventures produced daily recap videos.

Women's Results: 2018 Pisgah Stage Race

Men's Results: 2018 Pisgah Stage Race