I have been away from the blog for some time and honestly have had no interest in it. I felt that what I have been doing lately was pretty boring so no need to post about it. Well things may be starting to change. I started doing solo endurance races in February and for my first attempt I finished second. Not too shabby. My next endeavor was the Snake Creek Gap time trial in Georgia. It's not so much of an endurance race, but it is a long event. They have two options, a 34 mile and a 17. This past weekend I opted for the 17.
My story begins with us being one of the last groups to be dropped off at the start of the 17. The weather was great, sunny and cold but not freezing. The route starts with a long climb right out of the blocks. It wasn't excessively steep but it was long. Probably at least a mile or more. I was able to climb comfortably in my middle ring at this point without feeling overly taxed. I'm not a fast climber by any means but what I learned in Costa Rica applies here, "slow and steady, because you're going to be climbing all day". After the initial climb came a series of ups and downs that were fast and exciting. The fun ended with a fast and twisty downhill, then a series of shallow creek crossings and some easy climbing on an old fire-road. At this point I had arrived at the "half way" sag stop. I had gotten there much quicker than I had expected and thought "Damn, I'm flying and feel good, I'm going to crush this".
Then the fun stops, or starts, depending on how much you like to suffer. You transition through a steady series of smaller ups and downs for several miles. Then you come to what's referred to as "the Wall". I see the wall looming ahead of me as I approach and see several people already walking up it pushing their bikes. I was pretty tired at this point and had yet to realize that I hadn't eaten anything and was on the verge of bonking. I approached the wall and considered making an attempt to ride up but decided to try to conserve energy by walking. Well let me tell you, that thing is STEEP! I'm bad at judging distance, especially when I am that mentally tired, but I would have to say that the climb is at least 1oo yards long and at least 60 degrees of incline in spots. When I got to the top, I was gassed.
I got back on the bike and arrived at the rock gardens. The first areas were nothing difficult but they progressed from small "baby heads", to a field of boulders that you had to navigate around and over. What made it more difficult is that as the mental fatigue sets in, I started making poor decisions. My line choices sucked, I couldn't remember to get my butt back off the seat, and several other mistakes that would cause my to stop and walk the bike. It got to a point that anything that looked complicated, I just walked for safety's sake. Rest assured, I was not alone in this decision.
After the rocks you worked your way up to the top of the mountain. My friends told me, "once you see the radio towers, you are home free". So I was happy to see that I had climbed right up to them. From then on it's two blistering fast down hills. One on a gravel road and one on the paved street. Without pedaling, I reached a top speed of 39mph. The road takes you right back to the parking lot where the finish line is. Warm campfires, hot chili and peach cobbler, and beer, all FREE, await the finishers. I was pretty bonked out when I got there and could only partake in one free beer. My final time was 2:41:58. I never thought that it would take that long to ride 17 miles, but I have a new appreciation for the Pinhoti trail system. All in all, a great event and an outstanding time. Definitely on my radar to do again next year.
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