Snake Creek Gap: #3

Saturday was the Snake finale for this year. This was to be my 5th attempt of the 34 mile in 7 tries. I really had no idea of how I was going to do. Training has been limited due to weather and work. The plan was to ride hard, eat plenty and have fun.
Becky, Zoey and I camped again Friday night and had a great time catching up with the Nashville crew, Hodge and Millhouse. The night was gorgeous, which made for great camping. We awoke to moisture in the air, but comfy temps for riding. I sweat a good bit, so I like the weather a little cooler than most. We took off to the start line before the racer meeting, which proved a great idea. We arrived in the Dry Creek parking lot, got suited up and everyone stashed their SAG in the back of the truck so they could retrieve it at the halfway and the finish lines. I had to wait on my bike on one of the trailers. Not sure what I was thinking when I put it on there, but it arrived soon enough to make it into the 3rd or 4th group to start.
Me, Cheweiz, Monster (Scott), All business Jeff, Keith and Meanjoe lined up for the gun. We all took off and I settled into the back of the group. I wore my HR monitor for this race, I normally don't, but I wanted to see what average HR was and estimate my burned calories. So, I turned it on. I took it easy on the flat before the creek and just waited for the legs to warm up. I felt awful on the fireroad climb, and was thinking I was in for another long day. I saw Monster up the climb and I was gaining on him, I knew he was not feeling well and when I caught him before the singletrack he confirmed he was in for a long day. I almost suggested he go back to the car and catcha ride with Becky, but I didn't, he's a grown boy.
Once I hit the ST climb, my legs woke up and I started to power all the little grunt climbs. The trail was dry, I really couldn't believe it myself, this trail has never been dry. I got passed by some folks I recognized and some I didn't. I passed some folks and continued to ride pretty good. I saw Jeffy and his tang bike, he became my carrot and I kept him in sight the rest of the first half. We got out of the ST and it just felt faster than usual. Up the needle climb and now were moving fast. Jeffy got outta site for a bit, but I saw him on the ST after the road climb. The creek crossing felt good. I thought this day may get hot, I should lose my overshorts at the half. We make the next climb and ride the ridge, I am riding most of the trail. I think I had to walk a couple spots, but not as many as usual. I follow Jeffy down the fast downhill watching his wheel and almost going OTB on one of the berms.
My plan at the SAG was too get fresh bottles, eat a PB&J, get a snickers, lose the shorts and the ipod, and put some air in my back tire (it felt low). Best laid plans didn't work out. I had turned the HR monitor over, so I wasn't constantly watching it and doing time calculations in my head. I flipped it over in the parking lot. 1:45. What? I am never this fast. I gotta get outta here. Becky tells me J5 is 15 minutes and Keith and Chewiez are 10 minutes. I have the crazy notion, I can catch them if I hurry. I down the PB&J, Becky unwraps the snickers, I take it, grab my bottles and go. As I make the climb out of the halfway point, I remembered about the shorts, ipod and tire. To late now. I make the climb yoyoing with an Addictive rider and a Voodoo rider. I pass the Addictive rider who is working on his bike. He says his rim is bottoming on the rocks. I feel mine bottoming out, but decide to try and ride it out to the next SAG. I go down the hill and check my time. 2:30. I'll be at the left turn in less than 15 minutes. If I can push, I can make 4:15, maybe 4? Cross the creeks, damn the ST is fast today. The rear rim bottoms out on rock and hssssss. I stop and work on getting it changed. People start to pass by, but I'm still looking good. Get it replaced and Jeffy shows up, throws his bike down and yells. "That sucks, you were makeing great time" all I could say was, I know. I blow my first c02 and the second on didn't work well. Jeff ask Stanley if I could borrow his hand pump and he obliges. Jeff goes on as I try to air the tire, but it won't hold. More people keep going by. I start to put the wheel on to walk up to the SAG and catch a ride to the finish. Day is done.
Hodge rolls up like a superhero. Whatcha need bro? Tube. Got it , give me the wheel. 30 seconds later the tube is replaced and we have to use the hand pump to air it up. We get the wheel on and I wait on Hodge to get on his bike, I thought we could tackle the climb together. I knew my PB day was over. Hodge thought differently. He yelled, get outta here and I took off. I sprinted as much of the climb as I could, got to the top, used a floor pump to fill up the tire and filled the bottles. Hodge is coming up the hill as I finish and yells again "what are you doing here? get outta here. I cram a cliff bar down and start riding again. I hate this part of the trail, it start to get rocky and it gradually climbs. Murder on the SS. I normally go into survival mode at this point, but I felt ok. I kept eating and drinking when I could. I would hammer climbs and expect to cramp or fatigue eventually, but the legs kept responding. My technical skill started to decrease, so I pushed the easy climbs and walked the technical stuff. I passed a couple folks and powerwalked the tough sections. I saw the tower and checked the watch. 4:29. I finished the ST and started the descent down. I played it safe. I was happy with the time, so no need to get hurt over a minute or 2. Into the finish. I was tired, but felt like I had more to give. Probably from the 20 minute tire change break I got. I looked through the photos form the guy at the creek and counted 35 people who passed me. Hodge was the 23rd rider to come up.
In retrospect, I learned alot this race. Be more methodical in the SAG. Wear a watch. Keep eating and drinking. A calculated risk is still a risk.
I reaffirmed some things too. Hodge is awesome. Jeffy is awesome.
Training for Cohutta starts this week. First dirt Hundy.

Fallen

He was killed in an IED attack on February 3rd in Iraq. I served with Lt. Col Garnet (Gary) Derby while stationed at Ft. Stewart. He was the Commanding Officer and I was the loader on his tank. He was an outstanding leader and was not afraid to get in the battle. I learned of his death while watching the news Friday night. It hit me hard as I spent the past week searching out Army buddies on Facebook. See the story linked below.

http://www.militarycity.com/valor/3950005.html

My favorite memory of Capt Derby:
We were doing a live fire exercise in Egypt. At the end of the exercise we were moving unfired munitions between tanks (we could not take any back to the states). I was on top of the tank awaiting a round to be delivered. Capt. Derby was halfway out of the top hatch talking on his headset. I started to hear a series of distinct pings. I knew right away we were taking friendly fire from the infantry unit on our left. I yelled at the Sgt. delivering the round to hit the dirt. I then jumped right on Derby's head and shoved him back into the tank while sliding in on top of him. He was cussing and screaming until he saw my face and heard what I was saying. He got on the air and cease fire was called. He didn't say anything to me until later in the day we were looking at chips the rounds left in the tank. He just walked up and gave me a high five.

We lost an outstanding soldier and patriot. Please keep his family in your thoughts

Decisions

Do I keep riding this?


Or build up this sexy beast


The sun brings out the sexy
May be tooo sexy???


What to do, what to do?

I build wall

Had a day off in the middle of the week. So I decided to tackle a little erosion issue that has been looming in our backyard. Weather was perfect for laying 120 20lb stones.

The before

Wide angle beforeWide angle after

A little closer after

More closer after

More wider after

Need to backfill with some dirt and add some plantings. I still have another issue to tackle in the backyard, but I'm saving it for another day.

Fireroad Free for all

Saturday came with overcast skies and a permanent drizzle that plagued my motivation to ride. As part of my bike training I try and get at least 6 hours of riding between Sat & Sun. That can be any combination, as long as they equal 6 or more hours. I missed the post regarding the Chilly Dawg ride so I decided to get started on some projects around the house and wait for the weather to clear some. I have been doing most of my training and riding solo. Becky rides a good bit, but she went into winter hibernation in late November. Late in the afternoon on Saturday I asked her if she wanted to ride , and to my surprise she gave me a "yes". We decided on the Lanier Islands route, which would give us respectable 25 miles. I decided to take the SS commuter and try keep pace with Becky. Now you should know, Becky is a hammerhead on the road meaning her body does not know how to "just ride along". So I spent the afternoon trying to keep pace with 36 x 16 gearing on a 29er. The sun poked its face out towards the end of the ride and the wind kicked up to keep us in check.
By bedtime Saturday night I had convinced Becky to tag along on a 40 mile fireroad ride in the Bull mtn area on Sunday. Some folks on the Sorba board decided to jump in on the fun. I had no clue how Becky was going to do. She said she was prepared to suffer and she normally does pretty well after a riding hiatus. We met up with our riding partners cRash, Rex and Trudy (funchik) and started out on Nimblewill Gap. Nimblewill is a 7 ish mile climb to where the AT comes out of Amicolola Falls state park. The climb is gradual, but scenic. As I was riding up the first climb I was joined by Rex, he said he likes to climb, I said sweet. We paced each other up the climb talking the whole way. Little did I know we would push each other the climbs all day.
Once at the top of Nimblewill we are rewarded with a rocky, rutted, nasty and fun decent down Old Bucktown Rd. It is an old jeep trail and a great ride. I have to ride up it one day.

The top of the Old Bucktown Descent

Becky out of retirement and railing the downhill

The downhill led us to some paved roads. The paved roads have some of the steeper climbs on this route. The first one is on Tickanetly Rd. It is short, but gets steeper the closer you get to the top. I was able to gap Rex early and hang on towards the top, but he was able to close some of the distance. Becky was not far behind and still smiling, so I was happy. We continued on the paved road to the toughest climb of the day. Doublehead Gap is about a half mile long and is steepest in the middle 3rd. This climbed was used in the Tour de Georgia and has all types of encouragement for Lance, Floyd, Tyler and Levi painted on the road. Bob Roll even gets a mention. I was able to push this climb early and hold on to the top. I was feeling good, the bike was feeling fast and we had one more climb to go.

Base of Noontoola

Noontoola is an 8 mile climb that leads to the base of Winding Stair Gap. It is the most beautiful climb in the area, in my opinion. It follows Noontoola creek and is gradual until the last mile or so. We took our time on this climb, keeping the group together for most of the climb.

Rex and Funchik

The bike enjoys a snack break
More Noontootla grinding (Becky getting ready to attack)
Bike admiring the view (you get 7 miles of this)

In the last 2 miles of this climb the group starts to split up and everyone enters there own little world. Knowing this was the last climb of the day. I wanted to push and I wanted to push hard. I really wanted to see what my legs would give me. I tried to stay in the saddle as long as I could tolerate it. Then stand as the road got steeper. My legs started to burn, then they started to scream, but they never quit moving. I was able to push all the way to the top. Rex came up shortly, then Becky. I was so proud of Becky. This is riding she hasn't done before and she hasn't been on the bike in 3 months. Her legs were in pain, but she was still smiling.

We quickly decended down 77a, they use it in the Fool's Gold route. It is mostly screaming downhill with a small climb thrown in. Rex and I pushed each other to the top of the little climb. We took 28 back to Nimblewill, then back up the road to the car.

This route is Rexpedition approved

Can't wait till next Sunday. I gotta fever and the only thing that will cure it....more fireroad

17 the new 34

Becky, Zoey and I headed up Friday for the 2nd running of the Snake Creek TT. We made great time, got some dinner and joined the Yazoo crew for some beer around the campfire. Lots of laughs and catching up. Before to long the keg was killed and folks were hiding there beer stashes. Becky and I set up camp and decided to get some rest. Zoey proved to be a good little space heater under the blankets so we slept quite nicely.
Morning came and it was time for redemption. I rode so poorly at the last Snake and my snoz surgery riding hiatus left me with the option of riding the 17. I've never ridden the last half fresh, so what better excuse then now. Jeffey jumped in on my idea and to the 17 start we went. A couple lefts, a right, 3 three point turns, another left and we were there.
Jeffey and I lined up and they let us go one at a time. NWGA Sorba was great about the distance change, so our times would count. Jeffey was one person in front of me and would be my invisible carrot for the day. Check in and I'm off. I start hammerin the climb waiting for my heartrate to go off the chart, couple swithcbacks in and I see Jeffey earning some trail karma. I yell, he yell's back and that's the last I see of him. I keep climbing and the legs feel good, the HR settles and I'm feeling strong. This was very surprising, I rarely feel strong and when I do, it is short lived.
I kept pushing and was passing folks along the way. I kept drinking determined to stay fueled. Up the climb to the SAG, they refilled my bottle and to the rocks I go. I run into the Squish, we ride for a bit and talk. I am now riding up climbs I have always walked, my confidence was building by the minute. I hold a glimmer of hope I can catch Jeffey. I pass Scuba Steve and Ruth. I asked about Jeff and they let me know he is way up there, figures. Now I race the clock. Just keep moving. Up the wall hike a bike and ride/ run alot of the sections. I played leapfrog with a guy who was determined to ride the tough stuff. I squeaked by him and saw the tower. I cheesed up for a couple photos, hit the gravel, then the rode into the finish. I headed right over to Jeffey and he was hootin and hollerin about what a blast that ride was.

Pic cred to mtbepic61

We had to wait for our SAG wagon with the beer. Jeff and I were thirsty so we poked around for some beer, Doug roles in with a PR and has keys to a car that has beer. The SAG wagon shows and I began to consume beer and cookies with reckless abandoned. Squish rolls in and offers Jeffey and I "dutch rudders", we decline. The friends eventually rolled in some looking better than others, but all seamed pleased with there times and glad it was over.
Hands down, the best time I have had on a bike in a long time to include the festivities before and after the ride. Mountain biking and mountain biking friends, can't beat it.
Big thanks to Mike and Jeanie for being athletic supporters. Big mucho thanks to the best half for all the help and encouragement. Super duper huge thanks to Zoey for being a big sweety all weekend. (She was braggin about all the kisses she handed out)
Sunday's weather was gorgeous, to sore to ride, I did some landscaping and cleaned the garage. Feels good to be productive.
Training for the 34 starts Tuesday.

Ch...Ch..Ch.. Chili Dawg

Saturday came and I was happy to jump in on another Chili Dawg ride hosted by Mike and family of Cartecay bikes in Ellijay,Ga. The last one I was on ended up being a muddy death march, so I was happy the wet weather was not around. However it was going to be a cold start. My plan was to bring my windbreaker jacket and I can unzip on the climbs. After driving for 20 minutes I realized I had forgotten the jacket. Well shit, I have 2 underarmor layers and cycling jersey, I even forgot the armwarmers. I considered running into Wally World (only place open) and getting a cheap jacket, but I decided just to go with the hooded sweatshirt with the alma mater on the front.
There was good crowd, a mix of geared bikes, cross bikes and SS's. Some goats showed up to check things out. The intitial plan was to ride a 28 mile option that was advertised. At the start Mike says, "everybody up for the 45?". Response "yes". Well looks like I am riding 45 now. We started up a good road climb and headed for some fireroad. Hillbilly Productions was along for the ride so you can expect a video to be released of the ride.
The bike was set up for Snake next week, 32x 21. It was fine on the climbs, but torturous on the flats. The sweatshirt worked out great and proved worthy for long dry rides. The marsupial pouch in the front was used to keep my extra gloves and and as food storage. I may have started a new fad, or I may call it a Thad, given the marsupial qualities of the sweatshirt. I scoured the internet looking for a hooded sweatshirt made of wool, but all I could find was full zip. A full zip would be okay, but the marsupial pouch would not be as useful.
Great ride with a great group of folks. The weather was awesome the roads were in good shape.I couldn't stick around for the chili, but I hear it was good. I'll add some pics as they turn up. Here's the route
(check his max speed)
I am thinking about just doing the 17 at Snake on Saturday. Given my lack of riding since the last Snake, I really don't want to be in the woods for 5 1/2 hours and have a crowd waiting on me to go eat. The 17 could be fun, if I hit it fresh. I'll make a game day decision. Gonna try and hit some ST today, before we head to the outlaws for some food and football