Six Gap Century, September 24, 2006

[Nanci]

Here's my little trip report:

Many Gainesville riders chickened out after the weather report. My friend Barb came up, but went home Saturday. Others just didn't come up. I planned for warm rain and cold descents and hot climbs. I wore a sleeveless tank, bolero, sandals, socks, Pearl Izumi Calientoes- semi-waterproof toe covers worn over my socks but under my sandals. I carried my Showers Pass rain jacket, and extra dry gloves. I _should have_ carried a big ziplock for my bolero to keep it dry when I wasn't wearing it.

I think it was 70F at the start. It started raining almost immediately, but slow and steady, not pouring. The ride starts out with rolling hills, about 15 miles worth, trending upward, then an eight mile real climb. I made this climb at an average speed of 5.5 mph. The top of the first gap (Neels) is at 25 miles- most of that climbing- so I wasn't cold- though wet. As soon as I stopped, it began to pour. I grabbed my jacket and helmet cover and ran under an overhang. I ran into Pedal Wench from TE there! The really hard rain only lasted a few minutes. I did the descent with my jacket on- it's cold anyway even if not raining because of the speed, but I really didn't get going too fast because I was afraid of the wet roads. I had my usual Michelin race tires and never had a traction problem, even on paint. I also had the new cassette which I think allowed me to climb about 1 mph faster, plus spin faster even in my easiest gear. I averaged about 22 on the descents. I got up to 38 at one point, but my bike, I thought, made a weird noise, so I never went that fast again, and never heard the noise again. I usually descend with my hands on the hoods, on the brakes. I felt like I couldn't brake enough. I had the revelation that if you are in the drops, the braking power increases quite a bit- enough to feel in control again, although I didn't feel like I had nearly as much control over the bike, since I never ride in the drops. Before I figured that out, at one point on the first descent, I had to stop to let my forearms rest from braking. I ended up riding with my hand on the left drop for the front brake, to get the most braking power, and my right hand on the hood, and the rear brake, so enough to keep from skidding, but not much stopping power, but enough steering control to be somewhat comfortable at 22 mph. It's kind of scary when you see speed limit signs for cars that say 15 or 20, and I'm having a hard time holding the bike down to that...At one point on this descent, the wind was very, very strong- I could see it blowing the trees sideways! I comforted myself with the fact that I was already more than halfway done.

I would have made the time cut off to do Six Gaps, but continued on with three as planned. I had thought, Saturday, that the storms would come through about noon or one, and I wouldn't have to deal with rain. I was wrong, and it rained from the start till the second descent. I took my rain jacket off for the second climb, Wolf Pen, which is the second hardest climb of the six. It starts immediately after the descent from Neels Gap. It is only a couple miles, but as steep as Hogpen, with numerous switchbacks, even the hairpin turns! It's gorgeous and shady, though. My average speed on this climb was about 3.8 mph. It was raining, again, but I thought, well, I'm not cold, I'm not hot, my feet are a little cold but not bad, I am not hungry, not thirsty, my legs don't hurt, I can ride the climbs without stopping to rest!! What more could I ask for? Who cares about the rain??? On the second descent, it was so foggy I could only see about 100 feet ahead. Cars were VERY courteous. At the top, I stopped to get some pretzels. The first hundred milers hadn't come through yet. I put my jacket back on for the descent. I still wasn't cold, and my feet were wet, but not cold. On this descent, the leaders of the hundred mile ride began to pass me. I can't believe how they can _pedal_ descending like that!! Just about every single one had encouraging words for me.

After the second descent, there are about 15 miles left, trending down. I stopped to remove my jacket for the last time, and take off my toe covers and socks. My feet were like prunes- they liked being out in the sun instead of cold wet shoes. I was happy I chose sandals. The climb to Jacks Gap is not bad. Then there are about 10 miles of mostly descent back into Dahlonega. My riding time was five hours, and my total time was about six hours. My average speed was 10.5 mph. I think last year I did 9 mph. BF did the hundred in eight hours total. Since we were parked right at the finish line, I had a nice nap in my chair with Dillbird while waiting for him to finish. (They have showers and spaghetti dinner at the high school, too.) Oh, the weather cleared up about noon and didn't rain again until we were leaving at 4:30 PM. There were still riders out...

Friday evening we went to a winery, then out to dinner with BF's chiropractor who moved up there, in Helen, which is in the middle of Oktoberfest.

Saturday, we went to the expo, and two wineries. (Brought home ten bottles of wine!) Ran into a few of the hardier Gainesville people at the expo.

It was tough driving home at 5PM Sunday. I'm glad I had today off.

Here's a pic of me and Pedal Wench!

[stacie]

I've trained like mad for this event. I just wanted to improve on my time from last year. It's the hardest ride I've ever completed. In fact it's the hardest event I've ever completed. Having a new bike would be exciting enough to shave a few minutes. Well, I"m back and that new bike still isn't here. I nearly froze to death. I was folding my rain jacket when my dh and friend convinced me it would be a burden to bring along. I shouldn't need it. At the start, I saw the weather report calling for thunder storms and hail. Three hours off and many riders were opting for the 3 gap ride. I wasn't convinced yet, but rain started as soon as we pulled onto the road. It was almost 2 hours before I reached the top of Neels Gap. It seemed so hard. I was very discouraged as last year I didn't even stop at the first stop. I was shivering and miserable. Felt a little better just getting back on the bike and working. The rains were steady. I was soaked to the bone. The thought of being this cold for several more hours and the idea that the weather would worsen was eating away at me. When I got to the 3 Gap turn off I was a little surprised not to see any of my friends. I decided to press on. Shortly, I heard thunder. I decided to turn back and complete 3 Gap. I immediatly felt relieved and happy with my decision. The next Gap was beautiful and the descent was fun if a little scary in the fog. The weather began to clear and I felt my heart break. If I'd just held on a little while. I honestly don't know if I could have tolerated the cold any longer. I was desperately looking for any way to get some warmth. My friends all completed the 6 and we celebrated at the Lodge where we were staying. My husband managed to improve on his time from last year. That's just amazing in the conditions. I"m feeling a bit down. I've never not finished an event. I was sure I would get a DNF when the bad weather moved in. I gambled and took 3 Gap and regret it sorely. I was prepared for this event and I knew I needed my rain jacket. I should have trusted myself. Lesson learned. Once at the end of the ride, I had no way to get my clothes or a ride. I wasn't expecting to finish for hours. Soaked and freezing I ate my spaghetti lunch. I stepped outside to try to warm up when I saw I guy I had briefly ridden with in a ride in Florida a few weeks ago. He and his traveling companion gave me a ride even though I repeatedly got lost trying to find my cabin. Cyclists are such nice people.
The location for this ride is amazing. Great riding and a cute little town center. My son and one of our friends hiked on the AT while we rode. We stayed in cabins which had nature trails all around. My son was able to wander around in the woods which was a real treat for a city boy. I didn't regret taking my son out of school once we took him on the tour of the old gold mine. The tour guide was amazingly informative and we got quite a history lesson. My son thinks he found enough gold to pay for our trip!

[skibum]

Adding my ride report too...

The sky looked pretty ominous at the start but I was trying to be optimistic. It had been overcast in the morning the day before and turned out to be a beautiful day. No such luck... as others had mentioned, it started raining about 10 minutes into the ride. At first the rain was light so I was thinking no big deal, I can do this. Then it started coming down heavier. I started thinking I would hang a left instead of a right as we approached Neel's to head back to the start when the rain eased up. So, I headed up Neel's, debating in my mind whether to do Six Gap as planned or bail and do Three Gap. At that point, the skies just opened up. My decision was made... I played my "weather weenie" card and opted for Three Gap.

Right around that time, my BF (who had gotten a late start) pulled up next to me. Woohoo! He was holding the car keys. I could get them from him and not stand around wet at the end waiting for him to finish all six. He told me he was playing the "I'm a local, I can do this sometime when the weather's nice" card (sounds so much better than weather weenie, doesn't it??). He opted for Three Gap too.

I always skip the rest stop at the top of Neel's... too crowded and early enough in the ride that I don't need a break. In this rain, I just wanted to get finished so I continued on. The descent wasn't bad... not too many people around me so I felt okay letting myself get a little speed and not having to try to brake too much in the rain. I did slow up well before the left turn onto Wolfpen. That's a tough turn even when it's dry.

Wolfpen wasn't bad. Either the rain had eased up a little or all the trees were shielding me. I stopped briefly at the top but really wanted to just keep moving so I didn't get cold. A bit chilly on the decent but warmed up pretty quickly on the rollers through Suches valley. The rain was coming down so hard through there that it felt like pin pricks all over my face and was really hurting my eyes. I had taken off my sunglasses since the lenses were too dark but put them back on to protect my eyes. They immediately fogged up so I had to take them back off. I think I rode a couple of miles with one hand on the handlebar and one hand shielding my eyes. Thankfully, the hard, hard rain didn't last too long.

Finally made it to Woody's. This climb is just a bump in the road compared to the other two (only about 2 miles) and it seemed to be over fairly quickly. I knew that the remaining 10-15 miles was mostly downhill so I decided to just keep moving rather than hitting the rest stop at the top. I love the Woody's descent and the rain was pretty light by that time so I felt okay taking it pretty fast. Then, just hammered through the homestretch to the finish.

I was so surprised to see my time when I crossed the finish line. I was pretty miserable during the ride and pushed hard because I just wanted to get it over with. Even though I was slower and more cautious than usual on the descents, I had my fastest Three Gap time ever... just under 3.5 hours.

I saw Pedal Wench after the ride. She mentioned that she ran into you Nanci. Sorry I missed you. I think I saw your BF at some point during the ride. Someone pointed out his jersey and said that we should all wear something like that while riding the gaps -- maybe that would keep motorists from treating us like sissies in lycra

[Pedal Wench]

We bailed. And, are still kicking ourselves for doing it. We ended up with a nice 50-mile ride, just not the one we planned!

I'll start by blaming the whole thing on the Weather Channel. All night Saturday and still on Sunday morning, they were predicting the weather getting worse and worse on Sunday. 8:00 showers, 11:00 strong thunderstorms, 3:00 Strong storms with damaging high winds, 5:00 severe weather alert.

When we got to the top of Neels, the sky just opened up and we thought that it was just going to get worse. Ken, my BF had gotten ahead of me on the climb up Neels, and I couldn't find him right away at the top. By the time I did, I figured I should use the potty too. (I know - NEVER stop at the first rest stop, but I had to find the guy, right?)
We tried to wait it out for a bit, huddled under a little overhang in the parking lot, getting wetter, colder and colder the longer we waited. I could feel Ken shivering next to me. That's when a face that looked vaguely familiar huddled up next to us. Yup - I recognized Nanci from her avatar picture - how bizarre is that? Since we thought it was just going to keep getting worse than this, and this was pretty miserable, we knew that we weren't going to do all six. It just didn't seem like a smart decision at that point. We were both really dreading descending in the rain, being as cold as we were. I was having real problems seeing too - glasses kept fogging up, so I would take them off, but still couldn't see because of the rain hitting my eyes. Arghhh. At one point, I was wearing them, fully aware that I couldn't see, and I realized just how stupid and dangerous this was turning out to be.

Ken asked if it would be quicker to just turn around and go back the way we came. I knew it was 25 miles back either way, but we would only have one descent if we turned around, and three if we proceeded to 3-Gap. In a classic case of a couple trying to figure out what the other really wants to do, we ended up turning around. (I thought Ken was leaning that way, he thought I was, and both of us really wanted to do all three, but was trying to do what the other wanted...)

The descent down Neels was awful, because we were both so chilled (waited WAY too long on top of Neels figuring out weather, looking at maps, discussing what was safe and smart) and at one point we both had to slow down because we couldn't control the bikes because we were shivering so much. However, the temperature was warming up as we were descending, which helped. More than a few other folks had done the same thing as we did. Towards the bottom, the rain started to let up. And, we instantly regretted not continuing on. We STILL regret not continuing on.

Two things kept coming into our heads. Although we tend to always to do more difficult things - take the longer trail,hike the harder route, add more miles to our rides, etc., our choices are still always safe, and smart. Sitting in a downpour with a forecast of it just getting worse, we made what we thought at the time was the smartest and safest choice. Do we regret that? Heck yeah! The other thought was something we had talked about the night before while looking at the forecast. Ken had said that if I got hurt because we pushed on against our common sense, he would never forgive himself, and I felt the same way. I think if we were riding alone, things might have been different. Actually, I know it would have been. We were both worried too much about each other. Ain't love grand?

I had really trained for this, desperate to beat my awful time from last year (massive bonk and about 30 minutes of waiting for water at two of the rest stops...), and I'm so bummed that we didn't even do three, let alone six. No one is proud of doing the 1-Gap 50! But, a bunch of us are planning on a re-do, make-good, do-over redemption ride on October 8th, starting at the rock pile and doing all six gaps. Anyone is more than welcome to join us. Rain date is tentatively the 14th.

Skibum - I'm still beating myself up for wussing out. I'm going to take your boyfriend's comment to heart. I can do this ride any time - and I will!

This was the funniest thing I've heard on a ride. Picture 2,000 cyclists lined up for a mass start on a slight downhill. We're lined up way back in the pack. Over the loudspeaker, we hear them start us, knowing it's going to be a good 10 minutes until we even think about moving. A friend of mine shouts out, "On yer left!!!!!!!" Cracked up the whole crowd.

[Nanci]

You know what hurts the worst on me after this ride? That muscle on the forearm that is on the pinky side- from braking! That and general hand pain kept waking me up last night.

Stacie- switching to a shorter length based on conditions is _not_ not finishing. You could have gotten hypothermia if it continued to rain! And it _did_ rain later in the afternoon. What if you would have still been out? I bailed on the stupid Tour de Forts Century earlier this year, and it was an immediate relief. I bailed because it was super windy, tons of traffic, boring, cold. But then I got off course and almost did a whole century anyway...Too bad you didn't know where I was- I could have given you spare clothes or a ride.

Skibum- 3.5 hours- WHATEVER!! Like almost twice as fast as me. I was a total baby about descending, and I'm usually a good descender! I was expecting speeds of 35-40 or maybe more if I felt confident. BF is hard to miss- he's 6'4" on a big yellow Cannondale with CAT stickers on it.

I think the reason I had "fun" and others were disappointed was I planned on Three Gaps from the beginning- even when the weather was unknown.

A. I'm a horrible climber.
B. I would finish a couple hours or more later than BF, and not get a nap in before I had to drive home, getting us in at 2AM or later.
C. I know I can do a hundred mile mountain ride, 3 State 3 Mountain, so I don't feel like I have anything to prove to myself.

I think I'm going for the same plan next year- Three Gaps, not Six.

Maybe more of us will meet up at 3 State 3 Mountain, though!

I'm satisfied with my ride. I had almost perfect clothing choices. My nutrition was perfect. After the sun came out, it was so pretty! Even in the rain, I still took time to enjoy the clouds and fog. I _tried_ to beat my time from last year. I think I was a teeny bit faster. I don't remember if I had to stop on the ascents to catch my breath last year or not- I suspect so, but this year I didn't.

Nanci

[skibum]

PedalWench, don't beat yourself up. You didn't wuss out at all!! It's all about being smart and being safe. I know plenty of people who cut the ride short or bailed on doing it altogether. Also, there were several crashes due to the wet conditions. My BF crashed (minor scrapes and bruises) while descending Wolfpen. It could have happened to anyone -- better safe than sorry!

[stacie]

Pedal Wench, My decision was based on the forecast as well. I could not imagine being out there when conditions got worse. That's why I turned around and back tracked when I heard the thunder.
Nanci, I think we ride in some of the same circles. I haven't done the Tour de forts since the route changed. In the past we could ride over the beautiful Dames Point bridge. There was always a snow cone stop in the parking lot of the ferry. Oh, those were some good snow cones. I met some great people on that ride whom I still love to bump into on rides. Are you doing Swampman?
Glad BF is okay SkiBum. s

[Nanci]

When is Swampman?

I'm doing a non-cycling thing next weekend, brevet around Okeechobee the next weekend, no plans the next weekend, Santa Fe Century the next weekend, Horrible Hundred- that's the immediate future.

[DebW]

I hiked through most of these gaps on an AT hike in May. I was always going DOWN into the gaps and the UP out of them. As as hiker you think "Why are these gaps so low? I don't want to go down and back up". Guess it's a totally different perspective when you have to go UP to the gaps! Thanks for the entertaining report. Enjoyed them.

[Pedal Wench]

Deb, my BF said that he saw a guy with a huge backpack walking around the SAG on top of Neels, looking totally confused and out of place. I could imagine walking into that scene!

Thanks for the encouraging words. I really had my heart set on taking a solid hour, if not more, off my 6-Gap time, so to only do 1-Gap is just going to be a letdown, especially with all the training I've been doing for it. But, we kept thinking that a crash would ruin the season, and we've got some hiking and biking trips coming up that would be ruined with an injury. When we saw Skibum's BF's injury, that confirmed that we made the right choice - he's got so much experience riding, and if HE went down, what could have happened to us?!?!!

We're still trying to nail down the dates for our redo, and I'll let y'all know when it is.

OH! My forearms are KILLING me! The studio I work in has very heavy wooden doors, and when I put my hand flat on it to open it, it's so tight and painful that I can barely stand it. I know it's from clutching my brakes. Ouch!

[DebW]

Deb, my BF said that he saw a guy with a huge backpack walking around the SAG on top of Neels, looking totally confused and out of place. I could imagine walking into that scene!

A southbounder who'd been on the trail for 6 months would have had total culture shock seeing hundreds of bikers (or people, really) at Neels Gap like that. Though the huge backpack argues against the guy being a thru-hiker. But I can certainly understand confusion. I spent a night in the hostel at Neels Gap on my hike, and there were 3 people there. After 5 trail days, the shower and laundry were very nice.