7 August 2010

On Saturday I convinced unsuspecting teammate Brian Morrison to join me on a ride. The truth be told, I wouldn't have subjected him to this ride if he had chosen before the 3.5 hour mark that this was the longest he had been on the bike. As it was though we had almost 2500meters of climbing planned, four longer climbs and two to three smaller ones, over 108km.

We left from my house around 7:30am, which was neat because I never get out that early and looked forward to climbing above the clouds on the climb. A slight chill was in the air as we headed from Candler towards Canton along 19/23. Once in Canton and through West Canton the rolling warm-up was over as we hit Crabtree Mountain Road and headed north towards Pisgah National Forest and the Harmon Den Wildlife Management Area.

The first climb of Crabtree Mountain Road was from kilometer 23 to 26.9. Ridewithgps shows the gradient as being a tame less than 20%. That could not be further from the truth. The climb starts nice but turns brutally ugly. It is the kind of climb that makes you undo your front brakes, wonder which cassette you have on, and makes you think you should have used your lighter wheels instead of training wheels - as if that would help. At first I looked at my Garmin, but as the gradient [accurately] started counting up to percents of 20, 21, 23, 23, 24 and onwards, I stopped. Mostly because I had to stand up and lean far forward that looking at the screen wasn't much of an option. In fact, this climb was a little like a circus and making it to the top did not do much to dissuade thoughts of cutting the planned route VERY short. Brian was not far behind me which made me think the whole shebang today may not be in my legs enthusiastically. But time and descents heal all and I was ready for more. Now being above the clouds we descended through some very low visibility at the still early morning hour which made the descent more hairy than it need be. At the bottom we turned onto Upper Crabtree Mountain for Rush Fork.

The climb of Rush Fork runs from around 36.5 to 41km. It is not a remarkable climb but has you climbing for more than you realize. The descent runs to Betsy's Gap which is where some real climbing begins - long and consistent and steep with a great descent.

Betsy's Gap from 44 to 50 km mark was the climb I was curious about. I had thought this one contained obscene gradients - it did not, pleasantly surprised was I. It did however contain a tough gradient that allowed you to get into a rhythm though with most of the climb shaded until you neared the top. Great views were probably directly to my left but I was rocking along - and we were above the cloud cover anyway. On Rush Fork Brian started dropping off my wheel some. He recovered on Betsy's Gap for most of it before being dropped a couple of minutes behind. While waiting at the top, I met a nice lady who had grown up from where we came (Crabtree Mountain), which led me to tell her how ridiculous, thought pretty, it was. We descended Betsy's Gap all the way to the beginning of the next climb of 63 which would lead us to Leicester. To note, the second general store along the way awaits you there - a perfect opportunity to refuel if you need.

63 is a climb similar in difficulty to Betsy's Gap and runs from 59.7 to 67.8 km. This climb has some great views and is made more difficult by the amount of climbing that runs before in less than 60km. It was at the very beginning of this climb that Brian told me "this is the longest I have been on a bike." I was feeling it and felt like I went up the climb full of energy. At the top I met a 50-60ish year old and I presume his father around 80-90ish years of age who grew up in the area. We had a great talk while I waiting for Brian. This is where Brian hit the wall hard. He was throwing food down his throat to no avail and soon after this ran out of water. I almost went back for him after a considerably length of time when his bobbing rocking head came over the rise. The descent of 63 is fantastic and a great opportunity to practice.

Thereafter it is an uneventful, though pretty, ride to the end of South Turkey Creek where you meet Potato Branch Road topping at the 94km mark. The first time I did Potato Branch I came from this direction - it was hard. However I think the opposite direction - south to north - is far more difficult. Maybe it was Crabtree Mountain putting things in perspective, but Potato Branch wasn't that hard. Brian was definitely struggling on this really short climb and I hoped he wouldn't totally come undone on Hooker's Gap which was immediately to follow after the short descent and valley road.

Which leads me to a point I made, there are great roads and riding out this direction, but once you are there you are committed!

So, Hooker's Gap from 96.6 to 100km is a fixture for me, mostly since I live so close. The north to south direction I consider much more difficult, and longer in time, than the south to north direction. It is steeper and changes pitch more. You are also more exposed to the sun. After feeling better at the ~ four hour mark than I thought I would, I topped Hooker's Gap and waited for Brian. From there it was a ten to fifteen minute ride back home.

We finished the day just a few meters shy of 2500m (according to Garmin, could be higher or lower) and thousands of calories burned later. This was a fantastic ride with some new favorite climbs but it will be admittedly difficult to do repeatedly given the length, difficulty, and distance to get to those climbs.