As many of you already know…this year marked a first for me. For the first time in my 14 years of cycling, I bit the bullet and started to ride a road bike on a regular basis. At the end of last year, I picked up a Blue Competition Cycles Nx7 and went to work. At that point in time, my cycling exploits had been restricted to trail, urban and trials riding for 99% of my cycling career. In the interest of gaining forward propulsion via anything pedal powered and the want to get in a lot better biking shape, I threw on the spandex (tried it with baggies…just doesn’t work) and hit the road in search of a cleaner pedal stroke and another way to indulge my cycling obsession.

What I found is that I actually really enjoy road biking. Will it ever replace the feeling of blasting down singletrack or hucking off a big drop uncertain of the surface below? No…but it does allow me to ride a lot more than I did in the past…and that is a good thing. On top of that…anyone that tells you that there is not a pucker factor to road downhills just is not riding fast enough!

I started my new road biking career with several goals in mind.

• Compete in a local crit.
• Rides the gaps in North Georgia.
• Get in better shape and improve my form for the mountain bike.

Now, I have all but given up on the local crit goal because I just don’t race enough to truly be competitive with those guys. Could I jump out there and try my best? Sure…but the competitive nature that lives deep inside my soul does not let me enjoy getting my ass handed to me like that, so…instead…I let the guys that normally run those races kick my ass on other rides. The third part of my goals started coming true after my third ride on the road bike. Once I got back on the mountain bike, I was in better shape and my pedal stroke form improve dramatically.

Until this weekend…there was only one goal for this year that I hadn’t touched to its full extent. I needed to ride the gaps in North Georgia. I had ridden several of these elevation monsters by themselves over the course of the year, but…to say you rode the gaps means you can not just do one and go home…you need to suck up the pain and hit multiple gaps in succession to truly call yourself a road bike rider in the southeast.

My North Georgia Gaps Ride

This past weekend, there was a large, organized century in the gaps that has taken place over the past 21 years. The original thought was to participate in that century (6 Gaps, 11,000+ feet of climbing over 102 miles), but time constraints due to Laurie having to pick up Roger from the airport and I had to get home because Jenn was leaving town negated the ability to hang out for the full ride. Instead, 4 of us (Me, Laurie, French and RLaz) decided to head up and make our own 5 Gap version that spanned over 66.5 miles with 7,500+ feet of climbing.

The Gaps are basically the peaks and valleys that circle the Chattahoochie National Forest in North Georgia. When you head up to this area on a road bike (also popular area for motorcycles and sports cars), you can basically expect to climb for miles and descend for miles. This area was also made famous for road bikers across the country (and world for that matter) by testing the strength of pro road cyclists in the Tour de Georgia. It is real mountain riding the way it was meant to be. That morning, I grabbed my Blue Nx7 ready for what was about to be a really long day in the saddle.

The morning started off beautifully. A recent flood that had hit Georgia had left clean roads and a cold front. For the first half of the ride, we were hammering out miles on semi-wet roads with great views as the sun broke up the moisture through the clouds. It was shaping up to be a perfect day on the bike as far as weather was concerned. Our first climb headed straight up and over Blood Mountain. My legs were fresh and we were motoring along at a great pace as we took in the sights. As we came blasting down the other side of Blood, I was having a blast riding the turns like a motorcycle without an engine. Big, sweeping, fast turns make it hard to keep your ego in check and ride within your limits. The temptation is to drop the hammer to see how much stress those skinny tires can actually take, but we had a lot of miles in front of us.

During the next part of the ride, I was seeing some familiar landscape. We were heading up to Brasstown Bald and this is an elevation profile that you have already seen on this site. I have done this ride a couple of times before, and…most recently…during my trip to Lake Chatuge. The Brasstown climb spans for several miles but without any extreme pitches, so you just settle in for the ride as you inch your way up the mountain. Once at the top, we…once again…blasted down the other side enjoying the payoff for all of that elevation gain. At this point, we were expecting the A group from the organized ride to catch our front wheel, but it didn’t happen until we peaked the climb. We must have been keeping an ok pace.

The Pain Begins – Hog Pen Gap

All of the rest of this ride is really irrelevant as we continued to go up and down. Irrelevant…until you hit Hog Pen Gap. Hog Pen sucks. I’ll just be as blunt as I can about it. If you can not tell which peak Hog Pen is on the elevation summary from my Garmin Edge 705 GPS, it is the one with the most elevation change that looks like an elevator. In all reality, I brought the wrong gear for this climb (that is my excuse and I’m sticking to it!). My rear cassette’s largest cog is only a measly 23T. While this is great for 99% of my riding, when it gets pitched up like it does on Hog…my bike can’t go under 7 mph without rolling backwards. As it turns out…my ideal speed on Hog Pen is more like 4 mph. What did this equal? A lot of stand and hammer climbing that made me have to stop several times to regenerate power. Luckily, I didn’t walk a single step of the climb, but I would have liked to not have to stop at all. Next time, I’ll have to bring up a larger cassette and go find my ego on the side of the road…where ever I left it out there. I think it is somewhere close to where one guy said “if my 52 year old ass with MS beats you up this climb…that is a bad thing.” Yeah…no shit…thanks for the encouragement! heh…its all good…I know what he was trying to do. I just wasn’t too happy at that moment.

Once at the top, you are greeted by screaming spectators with cow bells cheering you on. It is really surprising how deep you can go when you don’t want to look like the idiot standing next to his bike on the climb. It almost makes you forget that your teeth are tingling and you now have to go back down and find where you left your legs on the road. I am pretty sure my body was about ready to disown me at that point in time. Hog Pen is one of those that you hate while you are on it…but you are glad you did when the ride is done. It is climbs like that…that make you a better rider and stretch was you consider normal.

More miles were pedaled out and we eventually made our way back up and over Blood for the trip back to the car. On the way home, I stopped my McDonalds and picked up the greatest cheeseburger ever invented…the Double Cheeseburger hold the onions. I am pretty sure I earned the pleasure of stuffing a couple of those down my throat!

From Deep Inside the Cranium of 198

There are many riders out there that simply ask…why? Why would you go out and ride something that you know is going to absolutely kill you?

I start every year of my cycling career with the same goal. I want to expand what I consider normal riding in the quest to become a better cyclist. For this year, that meant getting on an unfamiliar bike and achieving the goals I had set for myself. Most of the time, these goals almost seem unattainable at first, but through increased spin time and hard work, I normally end up achieving them by year end. What I am left with is a greater appreciation for cycling and a more well rounded resume that helps me out on the trail. This past weekend, I was able to check another one off the list and for me…that is a great feeling of accomplishment. It was a “killer” ride and I had a blast flying down the mountain descents. Now…I just need to sign up for the whole 100+ and rock it out next year.

All of the pictures that have “Chocolate Girl Photography” in the bottom right hand corner were taken by Laurie (mylifeonabike.com).
Summaries captured with the Garmin 705.