In short, it was a 62 mile ride with 6000+ ft of climbing, on roads that were 50% paved and 50% dirt and gravel. That 6000+ feet of climbing was also accompanied by 6000+ feet of descended so that suffering going up was repaid with smiles going down. A not so great scan of a fuzzy route sheet is below.
(Click me to get bigger)
Did I have the legs and fitness for a ride like that? Let’s see, no ride over 30 miles or 2 hours since March of 08. Heck no, I suffered. Was it fun? Heck yes.
I did it on my crossbike and I’m glad I did, there was too much sketchy gravelly stuff to do it on a road bike and it wouldn’t have been as much fun. For the uninformed a crossbike is a basically a heavy duty road bike with a lot of tire clearance, larger knobbyish tires, better brakes and lower gearing, In my case the gearing was a really low 34x34 for a nice 1 to 1 ratio. I needed it too with the weak legs I was sporting for the ride.
The drive out to the Devil’s Backbone Brewery wasn’t very eventful. Got to the place with about 45 minutes to spare. Rain was forecast for the morning and it was dry until I parked the car and stepped out, the first rain drops started. Nothing too worrisome, temps right about at 70 made it bearable. It did add some questions to the clothing choices for the day. I went with a summer weight jersey and shorts. I stuffed my vest in one of back pockets just case and also put on some sunscreen to project my pale skin. The vest stayed in my pocket, I never needed it. The sunscreen probably got washed off in the rain.
The ride started with a rather neutral roll out on relatively level roads up towards Reeds Gap. The pace was leisurely and was a fairly good warm up pace. We took a left after a mile or so and then a few miles after that it started. What started? The @#$@##$ suffering did. Nothing like a 2 mile climb with a finishing section at a near 20% grade at mile 4 of the ride. I tried to keep the heart rate down and go slow but as it got steep the HR shot up and I had to suck it up. That was with a 34/34 low gear too! I hit my highest heart rate of the day on the climb, 199, ouch! It took awhile to recover from that. As I rolled over the top of the climb it turned from pavement to packed stone and the road pointed down quickly.
I started the descent and people were poking along. After about 15 seconds of that I let go of the brakes and went for it. It was fun hitting almost 40 on some sketchy gravel. The worst part was passing all the bad descenders. Roadies on crossbikes downhill poorly, very poorly. I think I made up all my time going downhill 2x as fast as everyone else. I saw one guy set up a sweeping right turn totally wrong, start drifting to the left side of the road, dropping into a drainage ditch, riding like a bucking bronco for a little while and then pitching over the bars. His bike made a huge CRACK sound and I heard his tire deflate. I stopped and went to check on him and was he fine. I think he broke the fork or his frame, hence the crack. A lot of people passed me as I checked on the guy, probably the same people I had blown by moments earlier. I started back down and passed most of them again with a smile on my face.
The road was pretty wet and the lack of tree cover made the rain noticeable. A slight uphill and a few rollers made the road spray from the tires even better. A few miles of this and the course turned right and started the near 8 mile gravel road climb.
The climb was winding single lane gravel road with an assortment of switchbacks, short steep sections, nice views of the North Fork of the
After climbing probably 45 minutes or an hour the ride finally dumped out back on to a paved road. Granted it was still climbing but it was easier than the gravel road climbs. By this time the rain had stopped but it was still overcast. Finally the climbing topped out and the road pointed down. The first rest stop of the day came about 1/4 mile later. It was a slight detour off the course but I was in and out in minutes, I only refilled my water bottle.
After leaving the rest stop the descending returned and it went for almost 8 miles (not good, that meant there was 8 miles of going up coming up somewhere….). The roads were paved and you could really open it up, I did take a few turns a little more cautiously because knobby tires and wet roads (corners) are a little unpredictable. Also, I had no knowledge of the downhill so I took it easy in the turns. A short little climb at the end dumped us on to the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP).
Another 8 mile section of heck. I think I climbed for about 90% of it. I suffered, really suffered. Had to dig deep to keep going. I’d climb seated for a while and then I stood for a few minutes and then I’d sit back down. It wasn’t super steep; it just climbed and climbed and climbed. I think everyone passed me on this climb or at least it felt like it. My stomach was starting to revolt now a little too. I knew I had to eat and drink and I just forced it down. I wish I had had some gum to help my stomach and keep my mind off being nauseous. I knew the rest stop was more or less at the end of the climbing so I kept going and planned to eat at least part of a CLIF bar then. I also had to pee for a good part of the climb but there was a decent traffic flow and a few cyclists who for the most part kept passing me. Once again the next rest stop was going to come in handy.
The few downhill sections were nicely placed to rest a little and to spin the lead out of my legs. One problem though, for every down, there was going to be an up. I was getting pretty demoralize and started to wonder if I could finish the ride, I think this was about mile 40 or and with 22 miles to go when I had my doubts. My urge to pee was getting pretty bad now and I saw a sign for restrooms and I told myself it would put me further behind but it was a necessary stop, turns out those restrooms were the next rest stop! I had made it!
I hit the bathroom, slogged over to the food area, filled my bottle and gnawed on a CLIF bar, I managed to eat about a hlaf if it. It helped calm my stomach some too. I switched out ride food (gel flasks) between my camelback and my jersey pockets and drank and took some more endurolytes electrolyte capsules. I overheard two riders talking about what was next and saw that they had a route sheet map, I eased my way into their conversation and learned that the next 8 or so miles were downhill. Yeehaw! I started feeling better already. The sun was started to break through the clouds now some too.
A few short ups and downs on some twisty paved roads were first. After that? Remember that 8 mile gravel climb? Well time to go back down. Holy turd burgers, that might have been the most fun on a bike ever, reminded me of some of those sweet SM100 downhills. I never had my crossbike up to those speeds on gravel, it was one confident descender. The road was perfect, still tacky from the rain and pretty smooth, no big potholes or ruts to worry about and the few bad corners were marked with signs. The thick tree cover did hamper some sightlines through the corners but it was still a @#$#@ blast. Flying, just flying down the hill, passing left and right, grin on my face the whole time, well almost.
Toward the end of the downhill I decided to get a little shot of gel out of my new flask (switched them a little while before at the rest stop) and the first time I went to open it with my teeth a loud pop / snap came from my front tooth area. Seems that the gel flask was “semi-glued” shut with sugar stickiness and was a lot harder to open than the first flask. That pop / snap? Well that was the sound of my permanent retainer being broken away from one of my teeth. I had no idea at the time what I had done and worried that I had actually broken a tooth. It felt really weird but didn’t hurt. I didn’t have a mirror to look. Definitely had a little worry in the back of my mind the remainder of the ride. At the car the tooth was all good!
The “fun” didn’t stop there…..
About 1/4 mile from the end of this super sweet downhill, the first leg cramp hit and it hit hard and then the other leg cramped. HARD! That was a first for me. I’ve had twinges before but no full on cramps like that. I had to soft pedal to keep them from coming back.
I figured I was dehydrated and low on electrolytes so I started throwing back endurolytes capsules and drinking water. I kept drinking and taking capsules and then nothing, the camelbak hose yielded no more water, I was out and I only had a single bottle left that I had luckily filled at the last reststop. I got a little worried about running low on water, dealing with legs cramps and the uncertainty of how my body was going to be on the last part of the ride. About 15 endurolytes capsules later, I got my leg cramps under control; they would still threaten me from time to time with little twinges but nothing huge.
I rode those last 12 miles pretty easy. I didn’t push, I just wanted to finish. A group of 3 riders passed me on the road and I hopped in behind their paceline to catch a little draft but the legs kept threatening cramps so I just let them go. Watching them ride out of sight was slightly demoralizing. Now the sun was out, the roads were dry, I was riding into a slight headwind but the road was oh so slightly pointed down so I could still maintain a pretty easy 20mph pace.
After a few miles of pavement the legs were feeling better but still really fatigued. The course then turned off and rolled back on to some dirt. It wasn’t too far now and just one huge climb to get over before a nice coast home. Up I went feeling better than I thought I would but in no shape to push. After an initial steep climb (going up the badly marked corner from earlier in ride) the road “flattened out a little” and pedaling was easier now. Then I started getting the urge to pee again, strange since I did that less than 45 minutes ago at last reststop. I found a little side path, went under a forest service gate and peed and a peed a lot! Well that was a good sign, I obviously was not dehydrated and those cramps were all about fatigue and maybe electrolyte imbalance. The only having one bottle to finish the ride thought was no longer a worry. Now let’s see about those legs.
Remember that 20% climb from mile 4? Well time to climb it now but unlike the front side, it is gravel but not quite as steep at 15%. I dropped it into the 34/34 low gear and climbed slow and remained seated the whole time but no cramps and I passed a lot of walkers. And then I saw the top, I @#$@# made it. Hot darn, I even did a little fist pump! That downhill was easily 50+ if I knew the turns and I wasn’t on a 35C knobbies at 60 psi, I hit 46 instead.
I turned right on the main road and pedaled slightly downhill to end. As turned in to the brewery’s driveway, I worried about crashing on the fine gravel in the turn, come –on, I just killed all the other descents and now am worried about this? No other explanation besides this: I was tired, fried, cooked, etc both mentally and physically.
I rolled in with 62.7 miles at a hair under 5 hours (4:58:17 official time). What a ride, I was cooked. I managed 72nd overall (126 finishers / 139 starters), far from last which surprised me.
Some dorky bookkeeping info:
- Total Mileage: 62.71
- Maximum Speed: 46 mph
- Average Speed: 12.9 mph
- Total Time, wheels rolling: 4:50:33
- Total Time on HRM: 4:57:52
- Average HR: 171 bpm
- Max HR: 199 bpm
- Total Water: 5 bottles (3 in camelback, approximately 2 via bottles, 1 bottle topped off twice)
- Hammer Gel: 1-1/2 flasks
- Endurolyte Capsules: 45
- Other food: 1/2 Clif Bar
