I was going through my old blogs today, and I discovered that I never finished blogging about the September 28th 3 Gap 50 bike ride. I failed to highlight not only the best part of the bike ride, but arguably the best 8 miles I have ridden all year -- the descent from Woody Gap.
The climb up Woody Gap completes the Neels/Wolf Pen/Woody/ "Gap" trilogy. Woody is the shortest and least steep of the three mountains. But the prize isn't the climb. It's the descent. It's long. It's fast. You reach speeds approaching 40 mph without trying. It has decreasing radius turns, sweeping turns, and tight turns. The road is an amusement park roller coaster -- and not a new state-of-the-art coasters made of metal and designed by NASA computers. It's an old rickety wooden coasters that's loud, rickety, and gives you the sensation that at any moment the car could jump the track. It's a ton of fun, but it's not to be taken lightly. The road demands respect.
Once Jim and I reached the final rest stop at the Woody Gap summit, we were reminded of what could happen if you screw up. Behind the table of sports drinks and carbohydrates, was a rider laying on his back with a cold cloth across his head. In the distance the faint wail of a siren could be heard, and it was growing louder. Soon, an ambulance pulled in. After a brief exam, the rider was on the gurney, loaded in the back, and he was on his way to the hospital. Afterward I heard the story of what happened. Reportedly he got spooked by a passing car, misjudged a turn and crashed into a guardrail. A motorist traveling in the opposite direction stopped, gave him aid and a ride back to the summit rest stop. The bent aluminum and carbon fiber which used to be his immaculately tuned bike lay abandoned in the grass. His injuries did not look too serious, but he certainly had a big hit.
Below are the videos of Jim and my descent. I haven't figured out the reasons why, but Jim is faster on the downhills then me. If I am in his draft, I can hang with him. But if I lose his slip stream, I can't catch him. He slowly pulls away.
It took 14 minutes to cover the 8 mile descent. Youtube has a rule that no video can be longer than 10 minutes, so it's broken up into two parts.
Saturday November 1st I participated in the first annual Alpharetta Century bike ride. The ride began and ended in downtown Alpharetta, GA. The route headed north through the back roads of Alpharetta, Cumming and Dawsonville. Many of the roads I traversed I did for the first time. When you venture off the highways you see a very different Georgia from what you usually see. Gone are the strip malls, and fast food restaurants. Instead you see farms, horses, rolling hills, and spectacular views. This was a charity event. All proceeds went to benefit the GA Transplant Foundation.
The signature portion of the ride occurred at mile 48. Here you began the 6 mile, 1400 foot climb up Burnt Mountain. After reaching the top and enjoying a well earned snack you follow the directions on the sign above and head back down the mountain.
Below is my GPS track file from the ride. Click on the "+" and "-" buttons to zoom in and out. Clicking on the "Hybrid" or "Satellite"buttons to overlay satellite photos of the terrain. Clicking and holding the left mouse button while the pointer is on the map, allows you to drag the map. Clicking on the title "2008 Alpharetta Century" takes you to the Bikely.com website where you can view this track on a full screen as well as get the cue sheet, elevation profile, and more features.
This was my first century ride without my riding partner and best friend Jim. This was also the lightest attended organized ride that I have done. The New York City Century in September had five to six thousand riders. The 2007 Seagull Century and the 2005 Tour of Hope also had thousands of cyclists. This ride only had about 400 riders, with half doing the full century and the other half doing rides of shorter distances. In heavier attendant rides, your usually are always in a group of cyclist. Not this day. The majority of century riders were fast, hard core, experienced cyclists. In the first 20 miles I got passed far more than I passed other people. I have read that a rider will exert 20% less energy riding in the peloton compared with riding alone without any drafting help. After my first rest stop where English century riders went one direction, and metric century riders went the other direction, I wouldn't do much drafting. There would be a lot of solo riding ahead of me.
The ride began promptly at 8 AM at the Milton Center in Alpharetta. It was a crisp fall morning, with temperatures in the high 30s. Temperatures would warm quickly after sunrise. Highs were forecast to be in the low 70s with a crystal clear blue sky.
I knew going in that this would be a long day. I wanted to ride as much in the cool morning temperatures as possible. Usually I stop at all of the organized rest stops. I intentionally passed on the first stop at mile 16. I road non-stop for 33 miles to the second rest stop. I pulled in at 10:40 AM to the sounds of gun fire! The ride organizers had set up shop in the parking lot of an outdoor shooting range. I ducked and dodged my way to the Porto-let just like a virtual soldier in "Call of Duty 4".
It was at this rest stop that I learned a neat trick that I'll use on future cycling events. I was wearing my favorite Pearl Izumi cycling jacket. It is light weight, warm, yet breathable, with a lot of really cool zippered pockets. It's also expensive. The problem was it was now too warm to wear a jacket, and I had no place to put it. My Trek 720 hybrid is equipped with a rear tire rack and cycling bag. When I ride that bike, I just take off my jacket and stuff it in the bag. But on this ride I wasn't riding my heavy, wide-tire hybrid bike. I was riding my light, skinny-tire Trek Pilot 5.0 road bike. There was no place to store my jacket. I had no choice but to tie it around my waste, and deal with it for the next 70 miles. I met a guy at the rest stop who was wearing a new $5 sweatshirt from Walmart. When he was ready to get back on the road, he just removed the sweatshirt and left it behind. Great idea!
It was high noon when I arrived at the base of Burnt Mountain. I could see the beginning of a very steep climb in front of me. I peddled past the Steve Tate Highway on my left. This was the road back to Alpharetta. The thought entered my mind to just skip the mountain and start heading back home. The organizers made it very easy to skip. The route has you climb the mountain, but you don't descend on the other side. Once you reach the top, you just turn around and head back down to the base the same way you came up. Never one to avoid a challenge, I pressed on.
This was the hardest climb I have ever done. Burnt Mountain would be an extremely challenging road on it's own, let alone prefacing it with 48 miles of foothills. I usually don't have too much trouble with hills. My usual mode of operation is to find the right gear for the slope, settle in the seat and get into a comfortable, methodical cadence. Rarely do I ever feel the need to get out of the saddle and stand on the pedals and pump. I did this day. My Trek Pilot 5.0 has 27 gear combinations. For most of the 6 miles I was in my lowest gear setting and it wasn't comfortable. There were multiple segments of the climb where I had to stand and pump. My legs were burning, my heart was at a very high rate, and I was breathing very hard. I am not embarrassed to say that I had to briefly stop twice to catch my breath. The road did take pity on us cyclists briefly. In two places it leveled off. Each time the reprieve was short lived. In a matter of minutes I was back in Crank #1, Rear Gear #1. I climbing the mountain with one eye on the road, and the other eye on my GPS display which was counting down the distance to the top.
It took me 40 minutes to ride the 6 miles up Burnt Mountain. It took me under 10 minutes to ride down. I captured the descent on my Oregon Scientific video camera which I had mounted to my handle bar. In order to meet the 10 minute, 100 mb restrictions of YouTube, I've broken the video into two parts. Below is Part 1,
and Part 2:
The return ride to Alpharetta was challenging. It was now warmer. The cumulative effect of the miles and the mountain were taking it's toll. The body began to develop aches and pains. Fatigue and dehydration were becoming factors. Even with constantly drinking sports beverages and eating carbohydrate rich food, you never can fully recapture all the nutrients that you burn. As the ride progressed, it became more of an effort to eat. I ate so many Cliff Bars on this ride I could careless if I ever had another.
I have seen first hand, as well as read on the Internet that a number of people got lost on the course. This ride was held solely on public roads that were also open to traffic. Everyone who checked in at the start received a cue sheet that provided step-by-step turn directions for the entire route. The organizers also painted arrows in the road along the course where there was a change of direction. At some intersections there also were signs posted. The organizers made it clear that it was each riders responsibility to stay on course. I agree, however with that said, the organizers could have made it easier. Given the high number of turns, it's highly likely that one will get missed. Once you are off course, the cue sheet becomes worthless. More signs would have helped.
The more tired I become, the easier it is for me to miss a turn marker. I did get lost briefly on the way back. Thanks to my GPS, I caught the mistake after just a 1/2 mile. Along with a street map, my GPS displays the route and the distance to the next waypoint. The information is updated continuously in real time. After I missed the turn, soon I noticed that the distance to the next waypoint was not decreasing, but increasing. I immediately stopped and investigated further. As I was coming to the conclusion that I made a mistake, another rider passed me. I yelled to him, "Hey, I think we missed a turn back there."
Slowing down ever so slightly, he responded, "No, I don't think so, there are other people right behind us." Before I could respond, he was around the corner, and I never saw him again. I doubled back the half mile, and was back on course.
With about 15 miles to go, I stumbled upon another rider who had lost his way. He told me that he set out to ride the metric century (62 miles), but he had already done 95 miles! He said that he was lost, had bad cramps, and was looking for the next rest stop so he could bail and get a ride back to his car. I gave him the bad news that there were no more rest stops. He didn't believe me. Nature was calling me rather loudly at this moment, so I pointed him in the correct direction, and headed for the nearby tree line. After a few minutes, I mounted my bike and headed out. In a couple of minutes I see a rider heading towards me. It's the guy I just put on course! He still wasn't sure I had put him on the correct road. I told him "Look, see this on my handle bar? This is a GPS. It's telling me to go this way. I suggest you follow me." The three letters "G", "P", and "S" were all the convincing he needed. He tucked in behind me. In 5 minutes we came across the next turn marker (as my GPS predicted), and he was sold on the benefits of GPS technology.
With less than 10 miles to go, I suffered a mechanical problem that nearly prematurely ended my ride. After climbing a hill, I went to change gears from the #1 to the #2 front crank. The chain feel off the gear, and got jammed between the gear and my frame. I wrestled with freeing it for 20 minutes, and it wouldn't budge. I couldn't believe with so little distance left, I wasn't going to finish the ride. It was at that moment, when my new friend, the once lost metric century rider, came up from behind and stopped to help me. Together we freed my chain in just a few minutes, and I was back on the bike. From that point forward I carefully changed gears. The chain was now making a lot of noise rubbing badly on the front derailleur. I didn't dare use the #1 crank for the remainder of the ride. This made climbing hills more difficult, but I managed.
I pulled into the parking lot of the Milton Center at 4:55 PM. Discounting my mechanical problems, I finished in about 8 1/2 hours. The parking lot was nearly empty. But I was glad to have finished, and participated in the first Alpharetta Century. Hopefully we'll get to do it again next year. I'm sure the organizers have learned much from this year, and the event will only be bigger and better.
Below is the video of our descent of Wolf Pen Gap from the 3 Gap 50. If you are reading this from your email application,most likely there is no embedded video viewer. Click here to view.
The descent was fast and twisty. I followed Jim's lead on this descent and used the entire lane. There were a couple fast left/right switchbacks, and decreasing radius turns. Leaving an extra margin for error was well advised. For most of the descent we were both traveling at speeds at or above the posted speed limit.
The Climb up Wolf Pen Gap was steep and slow. It took us 32 minutes to cover the 2.8 miles to the summit. Jethro Bodine from "The Beverley Hillbillies" would take his 3rd grade education and cypher this information to compute a mere 5.25 mph average. Over this distance we climbed 1050 feet for an average elevation grade of a staggering 7.1%.
For the segment of the descent covered in this video, we road 2.2 miles in only 6 minutes (22 mph avg). The descent was 590 feet, which computes to an average descent grade of 5.1%.
Before clicking the video, don't forget safety first. Strap on your helmet and enjoy the ride! Speed is good!
I may change my mind on which of the three climbs of the 3 Gap 50 is the toughest. In my last post, I said Climb #2 up Wolf Pen Gap was the toughest. I went back and looked at the GPS data from the ride. The climb up Neel's Gap is very looonnngggg -- 7.42 miles & 1546 ft of elevation. It took us 55 minutes to make it from the base to the summit averaging a measly 8.12 mph.
The ride down was simply exhilarating. We covered the 3.04 miles of the descent in less than 7 minutes, averaging 26.27 mph. All miles are certainly not created equal. Over those 3 miles I probably rotated the peddles 6 times. Going up the mountain, probably 60,000.
Neel's Gap is also known as Blood Mountain. I just assumed the name dated back to the Civil War. I was certain there was a story about a battle which ended with the typical phrase "and at the end of the day the ground ran red with blood...". But if I was to say this, I would be WRONG! Blood Mountain was once considered sacred Cherokee ground. Wikepedia says no one knows how Blood Mountain got it's name, but most likely it was because of a bloody battle fought nearby between the Cherokee and Creek Indians. It also may have got it's name from the color of some native vegetation that grows on the mountain. Because, I only saw green stuff growing on the mountain, I'll vote for the cooler Indian war name origin.
The photo above is the scenic view from Neel's Gap. Click on the picture to see the full size image.
Finally, strap on your bike helmet and click on the Youtube video below to ride along with me and Jim down Blood Mountain. Be thankful that you get to ride down for free -- We had to climb up!
It was unlike any pre-ride preparation I have done prior or since. The date was Saturday September 29, 2007. It was the evening before the annual 3 Gap 50 bike ride in Dahlonega, GA; a grueling 50 mile ride featuring 3 mountain climbs. Twelve hours before the start I sit in the waiting room at a local "Doc in a Box" thumbing through a magazine. My best friend and cycling partner Jim is with the doctor being diagnosed with bronchitis. He has traveled from his home in Virginia to cycle more miles in 3 days then we have ever attempted. The day prior we had ridden 126 miles from Atlanta to Alabama and back. During the ride Jim complained on and off about not feeling well. I didn't feel like dancing either, but we buckled down and grinded through the ride that day. Saturday he woke up feeling worse. We canceled our plans for a 20 mile ride around Alpharetta. With Jim feeling no better by sundown, we went to the doctor. There would be no 3 Gap 50 for Jim the next day. I road it without him while he hydrated, rested, snacked on antibiotics, and watched football with Julie at our home.
It was now 1 year later and Jim was back. This time he was healthy, fit and with me on the starting line for the 2008 3 Gap 50. It was a beautiful day in the former gold rush town of North Georgia. I had done this ride twice before. Jim was a rookie. He was about to embark on the most difficult ride of his life. He was going to climb more in the saddle the next 6 hours then he has done in all of his riding thus far this year. The little hills in his home of Asburn, VA will never be as daunting again.
The 3 Gap 50 is listed as a 58 mile ride with 6,385 feet of elevation. The route begins and ends at Lumpkin County High School just north of downtown Dahlonega. The route twists and turns through the country side for nearly 20 miles before you reach the signature portion of the ride -- the rhythmic succession of 3 mountain climbs and descents.
The first is Neels Gap where you climb 1,600 feet up Blood Mountain for 10 miles. At the summit you cross the Appalachian Trail. The descent is 3 miles long and fast. I reached a top speed of nearly 40 mph without trying. Cross winds on the descent have fooled me in the past to question if my rear wheel was mounted securely to the frame.
At the bottom of Neels, you make a hard left turn onto Rt. 180 and immediately begin the climb up to Wolf Pen Gap. The most difficult of the three, you climb over 1,000 feet but only over 3 miles. Portions of the climb have an incline over 5 percent. On this segment I thanked the Gods my bike was equipped with a triple crank and a low first gear. When you reach the top, you are at the highest elevation of the ride. The sign at the summit lists the elevation at 3,260 feet. my GPS pegged it at 3,340 feet. The descent is steeper, shorter, and more twisty than the descent from Neels Gap. If you lose concentration, one of the guardrails on the many turns will reach out and bite you.
Of the 1,000 feet you earned climbing Wolf Pen, you only get back 500 in your 3 mile descent to Lake Winfield Scott. For the next few miles you traverse up and down over rolling hills until you reach the town of Suches. Here you make a hard left turn at the corner of Rt. 60 and Woody Lake and begin your climb up to Woody Gap. The easiest of the 3 climbs, you climb 400 feet on the shoulder of Rt. 60 for 2 miles. At the summit you cross the Appalachian Trail for the second time.
It is at this point where the real fun begins. It's now time for the mountains to pay you back for all the hard work you have put in for the past 5 hours. It's hard to imagine where you'll have more fun on a bike. The descent is long, fast, and fun. Sit in the saddle and enjoy the best 7 miles of asphalt ribbon the state of Georgia has to offer. Like the descent from Wolf Pen, this is not for the faint of heart. A demon awaits you on each corner
The remainder of the ride takes you mostly downhill back through the country side to Lumpkin County High School.
As in the New York City Century, I had my little video camera mounted to my handle bars. The video was terrific, and in some instances breath taking. I plan on having separate blog entries spotlighting each of the three videos that capture the mountain descents. I first need to do some post-production in order to meet the 100 mb and 10 minute limits mandated by YouTube.
I know, I know, I said I wouldn't make promises about future blogs. But I really PROMISE to get these videos posted over the next couple weeks. Until next time, remember speed is good, and never shift in the middle of a hairpin turn. See you on the bike trail.
Welcome to my first post on my first blog. I'm still not sure I'll have the discipline to be a regular, but when I friend approached me with the idea of having a blog, it sounded like an interesting idea. To be quite honest I was flattered that at least 1 person might be interested in something I have to say.
I have one objective with this blog - "Don't Be Boring". When I have something interesting to share, and if I'm in the mood to write it down hopefully I'll be able to muster enough motivation to post it. I enjoy taking photos and making videos. I have the attention span of a 5 year old, so don't be surprised if there are more pictures in this blog than words!
This past Sunday, my friend Jim and I took part in the 19th annual New York City Century bike ride. In a little over 9 hours of actual time in the saddle (11 hours of total time), we rode our trusty Trek 7300s 104 miles through Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. I took this picture just after sunrise on the Brooklyn Bridge leaving Manhattan.
If I was to be "boring" I would now tell you about all the grand plans I have about posting a detailed recount of the ride, along with videos, photos, GPS track files, and audio logs. I would then beg you to check back often for this post you know will never come. Doing that would be about as lame as visiting a website with those stupid "under construction" animated gif files. If I was to be President for a day, I would sponsor legislation to ban all "under construction" clip art. You ever notice that people simply can't post a single "under construction" sign. No, they have to turn the page into a clip art museum. But I digress.
I just noticed there are a lot of words on this page. I'll leave you with one more photo from NYC. Here's an "artsy" photo taken of Jim riding past the Ed Sullivan Theater (Home of David Letterman's "The Late Show") on Broadway. It's really a bad photo that one can showcase and then pretend that it was the result I was looking for to "capture the moment".
Hi, my name is Tom. I am going to use this blog to share my stories of running, cycling and my dogs. Yes I have dogs. 4 of them.
Today I am in New York participating in the NYC Century Bike Tour. I enjoy taking interesting pictures on my rides. I am sure I will have some from today that I will share soon.
I was going through my old blogs today, and I discovered that I never finished blogging about the September 28th 3 Gap 50 bike ride. I failed to highlight not only the best part of the bike ride, but arguably the best 8 miles I have ridden all year -- the descent from Woody Gap.
