Tag cycling

Last year, my goal at the Horrible Hundred was to finish. I didn’t quite achieve that goal. I made it to Sugarloaf Mountain and found myself walking up the infamous hill. At the top I found a shortcut back home and ended up with 95 miles.

This year, after a successful Six Gap under my belt, I was not really worried about finishing. I’ve done a lot of training since then. Taught a beginner cycling course that helped many people complete a century ride or two. Helped my wife in the Florida Freewheelers “couch to century” program. Between the two groups, we helped nearly 50 people achieve that goal.

I decided I not only wanted to finish, but also to set a time record, and beat a few choice riders to the finish line. In particular, one of my “students”, Linda Babadelis, was starting to tear up the roads in her new Cervelo S5 with fancy carbon wheels. I was determined not to let her beat me.

So my goals were as follows:

• Finish in under 7 hours (total time)
• Only stop at 2 SAGs (Support and Gear rest stops)
• and above all, beat Linda!

It was cloudy, windy and chilly in Clermont on this fine November 18th, so I put on arm warmers and pulled up my socks all the way.

My plan was to park at the First Green Bank in Clermont (because they let me charge my Volt), ride down to the lakefront, and start the ride. When I got there I realized I had left my brand new Garmin Edge 500 GPS and my GoPro at home. I made a quick text to my wife Kathleen, who was volunteering at SAG 2, and we made arrangements to meet before the start.

Kathleen and I met up on Third Street, which is about 200 yards in to the ride. After retrieving my Garmin and GoPro I decided to start from there. Patrick Welch was with me, but he said he didn’t expect to keep up so just go on without him. That was a great relief, as I wanted to be free to go as fast (or as slow) as I wanted.

So we heard the announcer counting it down and for some reason we waited till he said “Go” – I don’t know why. It just made the leaders catch us sooner. I tried to stay with a few of them but they were moving pretty fast and weaving in and out like crazy people.

I was passed by Ted Hollander and someone I thought looked familiar. Later I realized it was Bob “Bobke” Roll from NBC Sports Network, former Tour de France sprinter.

Staying with the front pack helped though, as when I got to North Ridge there were no walkers. Walkers had been a traffic impediment the year before. I was able to go up North Ridge without too much effort, although my heart rate did approach max at the top.

This is a video by a couple on a tandem, who go by the handle pedalist53 on Youtube. I appear around 3:28 and stay with them until the bottom of North Ridge, at which point the lighter, single bike climbs away.

I skipped SAG 1, as both bottles were still pretty full and I wanted to keep on pace. The Wall was next, and the video below shows how much nicer it is to be near the front, as everyone keeps moving pretty well. Forgive the music, but this song got us warmed up for many a century this year.

After The Wall we headed down 561, over Scrub Jay and on to Cherry Lake. I caught up to Andrew Petty just turning on to the road before SAG 2, about mile 30. His freewheel hub had broken and he was done for the day. I stopped to hold the video-phone for him to prove he was broken. I felt really bad for him and he obviously felt bad himself. He finished The Horrible Thirty.

I did my planned stop at SAG #2 to say hi to my wife, as she was volunteering, and I just had to see the Elmo Pajamas in action. Video below:

Heading in to the Mascotte area I figured it would be a good idea to find some friends to draft with over the large, flat part of the course, and especially the return trip on Hwy 19 which would be right in to the north wind. I found two guys going roughly my speed, Greg and Kendall, from South Orlando. I stayed with them for quite a while. Probably a mistake. Kendall was a strong rider but Greg would fade on us and we had to wait for him several times.

Somewhere on the road in to Mascotte the unthinkable happened, Linda passed me. I was stunned. I thought I had been moving along pretty good. She and her husband Peter sailed right by, asking that I turn on the video camera. I didn’t have time to fire it up, so I missed them.

I tried pushing Greg and Kendall in to moving faster. Kendall was up for it but Greg was struggling. They insisted on stopping at SAG 3, which didn’t fit in to my plans at all. I stayed at the entrance to the SAG waiting for them to finish up.

Had a chance to speak to Linda and Jim Perry, who I caught up with at the SAG, see video below:

We did get out of the SAG before Linda but Greg was really holding us up. We would frequently hear “Greg is off” and we would slow up and wait for him. I was torn, because I didn’t want to leave the guy alone on his first organized century.

Unfortunately the unthinkable happened again. There she went, right on by.

I stayed with Greg and Kendall until SAG 4. I told them that very soon, I would be leaving them to go catch Linda.

I was worried I left it too late. Just before Buck Hill I began my push. I went up those hills, and Sugarloaf relatively smoothly but I still saw no sign of the white Cervelo ahead. Coming down Old 50 towards town, I saw a rider stuck at the side of the road with a flat. Turned out to be Michael Overman, and I helped him with my trusty pump, and got him on his way. Funny that he was left alone, as last I knew he was riding with Peter and Linda. Hmmmmm. I’m sure she knew I was trying to catch her.

I arrived at the lakefront at 2:55pm, making it exactly 6:55 for my ride, so I beat the seven hour goal. Unfortunately Linda was already there, finishing in 6:39. My Garmin shows me taking 11 minutes to help Michael. Not enough to make the difference so I can’t blame it on being a Good Samaritan. She beat me fair and square. I never did see Greg or Kendall again. I hope they finished without mishap.

It was a bittersweet finish, since I only accomplished one goal out of three but I have my goal for next year …

BEAT LINDA

Before I tell you about Six Gap this year, let me share some history. Last fall, September 2011, at the last minute, Kathleen and I decided to head up to Dahlonega, GA for an event known as “Six Gap / Three Gap”. The official name of the event is the “Six Gap Century and Three Gap Fifty Ride”. Here is some info from their website:

“Coming on September 30,2012 and taking place in Georgia’s Premier Cycling Venue, the Six Gap Century & Three Gap Fifty boasts many of the same roads and mountain climbs as the elite Tour de Georgia. Come ride the Ride of the Pros! The Six Gap Century’s ultra challenging route takes you up and down six of the steepest climbs in the North Georgia Mountains. Test your stamina with more than 11,200 feet of vertical climbing over the 104 mile course. Elevations for the six gaps in this ride range from 1,400 feet to 3,460 feet. The toughest climb, Hogpen Gap, will test even the strongest riders, averaging a 7% grade for seven miles, with sections as steep as 15%.”

It was my first organized bicycle-only event. My previous experience was triathlons and relay races in the 80s and 90s. I attempted the Three Gap Fifty ride (which came out to be 60 miles, oddly) and although the hills were challenging it was a beautiful ride and definitely a memorable experience.

That was fine, but I still had the challenge of doing the “whole schmear”. So all this year I have been training to attempt the century. 104 miles of up and down Georgia mountains, that include the legendary Hogpen Gap, known as one of the hardest climbs this side of the Mississippi.

I had been stressing about it since mid August. What kind of training should I do? Does it help to go ride around the relatively small hills of Clermont? Should I just do interval training? I consulted many experienced riders and other “experts” and decided on a regimen of at least one hard century ride to establish the distance and speed, and a anaerobic spin class 2 or 3 times a week.

I did the End of Summer Watermelon Century Ride in Ponte Vedra in a record time of 6 hrs 18 mins for 102 miles. Kathleen and I started doing spin class Mon, Wed and Fri at a local gym. We had two rooms reserved, expecting four of us to go up there and ride. Strange, that a week before heading up to Georgia, it was only me.

I reached out to my friends at the Eastside Cycling Club. Welcome to join us at the ride John, but our travel plans are already made. A last minute attempt was made to fit me in to one car and have my bike go up a day earlier, but wisely we all decided not to complicate the logistics, since I was staying at a different hotel.

I couldn’t sleep at all Friday night. Finally at 3 am I gave up, got up and started the final packing procedures of my car. By 4 am I was on the road, stressed, nervous, short on sleep and not at my best. It took me 11 1/2 hours to get to Dawsonville, which included several attempts to plug the Volt in along the way, just to get some extra electric miles. I had trained myself not to use gas, and this was just adding more stress.

Eventually, when I reached the Best Western (who graciously allowed me to use a shielded, outdoor outlet to charge my car) I was able to relax – a little bit. A quick dash up to Dahlonega to pick up my packet, look around at the Crit race and back to the room. I took a two hour nap which helped a great deal. The ESCC guys texted and said to meet them at Johnny’s Pizza for the traditional, pre-century pasta carb fest. A nice dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and it was off to the hotel room. Not right to bed, no, had to get everything “ready” – had to pin the number on the jersey, had to put out my water bottles and the prepared mix for them, had to lay out the cycling outfit that would have to keep me warm for the first hour of 50 degree weather and NOT overheat me in the hot afternoon.

The next morning at 4:40 am the alarm woke me and I got prepared. There was very little breakfast ready but I did manage to wolf down some oatmeal, Froot Loops and a cup of tea. I sneaked a waffle in as the batter was brought out just before it was time to go.

Got to Lumpkin County HS at 6:15 am and was lucky enough to get a pretty good parking spot. Right across the lane from the ESCC guys in fact. The next hour was spent unloading the bike, going to the bathroom, pumping up tires, going to the bathroom, eating a food bar and one more trip to the bathroom just in case. Still had to stop by the side of the road before my first stop. Guess I was nervous (but I was also well hydrated.)

Six Gap is not a race but there are some timed segments, and some time requirements. In order to be allowed to do the full course, one has to reach the top of Jack’s Gap by 11 am. It is the second climb and is about 40 miles out. This was one of the things I worried about all year. I knew that I first had to traverse Stone Pile Gap and the cross country path to Turner’s Crossing, and then climb and descend Neel’s Gap. I was worried a little about Neel’s. It was not a steep climb, but very long, almost nine miles from Turner’s Crossing (the first rest stop) to the top.

Somewhere in the first few miles my bike developed an annoying click. Like all things that aren’t going perfectly, it worried me. It definitely affected me the rest of the ride. I resolved to try and ignore it, and carry on. Yeah that didn’t happen. (Note: it was weeks later we discovered at the LBS that it was grit stuck in my seat post. ARRGGGGHHHH!)

I passed Turner’s at 8:43, two minutes ahead of my planned schedule. Surprisingly, Neel’s turned out to be much easier than last year. I was at the top at 9:33. I didn’t get off the bike, but I briefly stopped to switch my water bottles.

I headed down the descent, shown in the video below. Although nervous the whole way, I really enjoyed it. It was probably the most fun I’ve had on a bike in quite a while. Next year, I plan to attack this descent a little more.

The descent was also much longer this year, because unbeknownst to me, the Three Gap turn is not at the bottom as I thought, but about 3 miles from the bottom. Since I was NOT turning this year I got to enjoy a nice long descent. On the negative side, I think this long, cooling descent contributed to a bad cramp in my left leg hamstring. I never did get rid of that for the rest of the ride. Tip: Keep your legs moving in long descents.

We turned on to Jack’s Gap and it was steeper than I expected, at least in the beginning. I had been led to believe it was no harder than Neel’s. It was. I was barely cranking out 5 mph up the beginning, and the leg cramp wasn’t helping. I made it to the top at 10:15 though, plenty of time to spare. I even pulled to a stop and let one of the SAG helpers fill my water bottle. Another SAG helper handed me half a banana as I rode by. Still no complete SAG stop for me yet, as my plan was to rest up on Unicoi – the last stop before the dreaded Hogpen.

I knew I was running low on memory (and battery) in the Go Pro so I took no video of the Jack’s descent or the Unicoi climb. Unicoi was also harder than I expected. It was very much like Neel’s but shorter with steeper parts. It was also much prettier than Jack’s, which had been open, rural farm-type country. Unicoi was more “mountainous” and “woodsy” in nature.

At the top of Unicoi I saw Greg Wiedl from the Eastside club. We exchanged notes as I took my first break, and I stretched it out a bit, trying to get rid of the leg cramp (which didn’t happen of course). As I was waiting, Jason Ingalls came in and kindly took this photo of me.

The descent down Unicoi was very pretty and pleasant. The middle part went alongside a mountain stream which looked very cool and inviting! I wish I had memory left in the camera to take a shot of it, but you’ll just have to do the ride and see for yourself.

About mile 50 I started thinking (who am I kidding, I’d been thinking about it for months) about the 7.1 mile, 2000′ climb I had coming up. The Hogpen. Legendary killer of cyclists. Well amateur cyclists anyway. I’m sure the Tour boys would not consider it much but with several long sections of steep grade, including a two mile stretch with a 12 degree average ascent, it was no joke.

“You’ve been training for this all year” I told myself. “This is IT. Are you going to let a little leg cramp stop you?” As we passed through the USA Pro Challenge KOM starting line at mile 56, I was a little surprised. “I thought this climb started at mile 60?” I said to many riders around me. I heard some answers but none that were intelligible. The pain had begun.

Well it was all that was advertised. It was steep, it was a crappy road, filled with vehicle traffic and the pain was extensive. The long, 2 mile section was every bit as bad as expected. My original plan was to pedal all the way to the top, and skip the mid point SAG, but I just couldn’t do it. Once I stopped there, I stopped three more times before the top. I never walked, but I stopped to let my heart rate sink down from max. The leg cramp and the sore right back hip bone were not helping at all. Here is a long and painful video of that climb. The camera doesn’t really show how steep it was. Notice the loud, 80’s disco music at the top!

The descent was terrible. TERRIBLE. If I do this next year, I am considering taking the shuttle down. It is SO steep and SO winding that I nearly wore out my rear brake. Finally, I used both brakes on a straight section to stop and let my rear wheel cool off before it burned through the tire. I suppose I could have let it build up more speed but there were cars everywhere, a lot of other riders and the road was not smooth at all. This video below is of the second part of the descent, not quite as steep, after I let the rear wheel cool off. At first it was too hot to touch.

Once at the bottom, we had to wait to turn on to highway 19, as four ambulances turned by us, to go back up Hogpen. We didn’t know it at the time but found out later that someone had a heart attack at the top(!) Last we heard he was OK and recovering well.

At the Vogel Park SAG stop I finally found a mechanic who had some chain lube, and tried to get rid of the annoying clicking in my chain. It disappeared for a while so that was a relief. I turned on to Wolfpen and started the 3.1 mile, 2000′ or so climb. I expected it to be hard, being at mile 75 and all. It was not that hard at all. I kept it going all the way up and was surprised to see the top so quickly. The timer shows me doing it in 33 minutes, as compared to 45 minutes last year.

Took a bit of a rest at the top to eat some food, fill water bottles and to thank all the volunteers for giving up their Sunday for us.

I expected the section between Wolfpen and Woody Gap to be pretty easy, as there are no long climbs in that part and it was easy last year. However, it is important to remember that a section of road last year at mile 40 is not the same as this year at mile 80. It was draining. I wanted the climbs to be over. I felt that I had accomplished all the important climbs and now just wanted to get HOME. The crowd was thinning out too, as for most of the segment I was alone.

All I can say about the last 20 miles is that I hated every one of them. Several times I said to myself and the occasional rider I caught up with – “Next year I think I’ll just tear up the $45 and kick myself in the nuts 100 times instead.”

Resisting the urge to flag down a SAG vehicle every time they rode by, I made it past Woody Gap, did the long descent that followed, went through the three rapid and sharp 180 degree turns in the R Ranch, and conquered the numerous “rollers” on the way in to Dahlonega, and finished at 5:03 pm. I crossed the starting line right about 7:37 pm that morning so that puts me at 9 hours and 26 minutes. Far from record pace but at the end I can say this:

I completed Six Gap

Today’s ride was not starting out well. At 4pm I laid down for a much needed nap, having a headache, shaking a bit and other symptoms which I can only describe as “flu-like” – you all know that feverish feeling.

At 5pm, not really having slept at all I got up and gradually began to “assemble my cycling ensemble.” Yes it’s an ensemble. What with the special reinforced shorts, cycling jersey, special socks, shoes, gloves, helmet and of course the all important digital watch with heart rate on it, yes it is quite a preparation.

Left the house at 5:25 armed with some special concoction in my “Clean Bottle” designed to replenish lost energy and reduce lactic acid build up in the legs, which I got from Nutrishop Orlando in Waterford Commons. Also had a second bottle of good old filtered water from the fridge.

I felt awful as I started pedaling down the street. Felt slightly better as I turned on to Waterford Chase Parkway. Started feeling pretty good on Avalon Park Blvd, and whaddya know, actually starting doing 20+ mph as I came in to Avalon trying to beat an approaching rain shower to the YMCA.

The next couple of hours were great. I rode a total of 39 miles, all in about 2 hrs 21 minutes. I pushed it through our time trial route and beat my best time by almost a minute. Here’s a SportyPal profile of the ride.

Had to rush home because I was running out of daylight, and gave the wife a bit of a scare because I apparently couldn’t hear the phone ringing in the back pocket of the jersey I was wearing.

Had a nice dinner and drank four full bottles of water! The flu symptoms are gone, and I feel great :) There is healing power in going out and putting your body in motion.

Feeling lousy? Try a little exercise :)