Mountains of Misery & Wilderness Road Ride

[Cataboo]

For some reason I agreed to do the mountains of misery.
http://www.cyclingdoubleheader.com/mountains-of-misery

Are you ready to climb?

The Mountains of Misery ride takes place Sunday of Memorial Day weekend (May 30, 2010). There are 2 route options:

* The Challenge Century is 104 miles, with 10,000′ of climbing.
* The Double Metric Century is 200 kilometers, or 125 miles, with over 13,000′ of climbing.

Don’t worry — or maybe, worry — both routes finish with the 5 kilometer, Category 1 climb to Mountain Lake, with an average grade of 11.9%, and sections up to 16%!

www.MountainsofMisery.com

The Wilderness road ride is that same weekend, but the day before:
Wilderness Road Ride

The 2010 Wilderness Road Ride will be operated separately by FCA Endurance of Southwest Virginia. However the ride will continue as usual, on Saturday, May 29. In fact, they’re bringing back the 78 mile route, for those seeking extra challenge! The 14, 29, 38, and 58 mile options will be available as before. As always, all routes will have frequent rest stops supplied with plenty of goodies to keep you fueled.

[7rider]

This is funny - from their website:

Every year we get questions about gearing. A few points:
* If you are at all unsure of your ability to climb steep grades for long distances, use a triple. Compact doubles (34-50, etc.) are a good solution too.
* If you insist on using a standard double (39-53), put the biggest gear on the back that you can. Even fit, professional racers would use a 25t gear in the back. Flatlanders beware!
* The final climb to Mountain Lake is a lot harder with over 100 miles on your legs already.

Sure, a compact or triple would be great, but a standard double and a 25T in back???? A 39-25 would still bust my knees on some of those climbs. A 34-27 ...sure. But to me, a 39-25 is standard for "rolling" terrain....not brutal climbs (especially for those aforementioned "flatlanders").
Maybe I'm just out of shape....

[IFjane]

Three years ago DH and I rode the 78 mi. route of the Wilderness Ride, exactly 1 month post-hysterectomy (for me, not him! ). It was hard but beautiful and very do-able, even with anemic blood. Have never tried MOM but would love to someday.

Good luck & please post a ride report!

[Cataboo]

Yeah. I'm debating what to do with my gearing - I've got a compact double on the litespeed with an 11-28 on the back of it. My carbon bike's got a triple with an 11-25, but I could put the 11-28 cassette on that bike. I should be able to do that big hill at the end with a triple & an 11-28 right?

But I'd really rather be on my litespeed for that long of a ride, but swapping all my components over to make the litespeed at triple would be a mild pain and probably the front derailleurs are the wrong size clamp on the bikes.

I'm not convinced that I can do that ride on a compact double.

I think I need to ride up Hamburg, Gambrill Park Road, and Coxey Brown a few times a day until the end of May. And maybe do the civil war century route a couple of times.

And I'd really rather be out kayaking a lot of these spring weekends.

Since the person that volunteered me for MOuntains of Misery doesn't actually plan on riding it with me, maybe I should just unvolunteer myself and do the wilderness road ride instead.

[7rider]

I'm not convinced that I can do that ride on a compact double.

I think I need to ride up Hamburg, Gambrill Park Road, and Coxey Brown a few times a day until the end of May. And maybe do the civil war century route a couple of times.

If/when you do these rides - call me. I need HILL training if I'm to do the Blue Ridge Parkway this September. Not sure if MOM is in the plans, however.

[Cataboo]

I think I will literally be trying to do them once a day at least. I don't see how else I'm going to be ready to do MOM in 2 months time? I'm pretty sure I can ride 100 miles slowly at this point (I so didn't use my trainer like I should have, and hiking/snowshoeing/skiing is not aerobic enough), but I'm not sure about those hills.

Next week I'm going out to ski at Aspen. But otherwise,I think I'll be cycling on weekends and weekdays. I want to get out to Assateague with the kayak before the mosquitos & ticks come out to play.

I think you're going to be too fast for me (I hate slowing people down) - but maybe you & R can take off and I'll meet you at the top of the hills.

I'll train on the litespeed with the compact, and decide right before hand whether or not to take the triple. I'm mildly gear retarded, so I do a lot better with the compact double.

[IFjane]

Yeah. I'm debating what to do with my gearing - I've got a compact double on the litespeed with an 11-28 on the back of it. My carbon bike's got a triple with an 11-25, but I could put the 11-28 cassette on that bike. I should be able to do that big hill at the end with a triple & an 11-28 right?

But I'd really rather be on my litespeed for that long of a ride, but swapping all my components over to make the litespeed at triple would be a mild pain and probably the front derailleurs are the wrong size clamp on the bikes.

I'm not convinced that I can do that ride on a compact double.

Since the person that volunteered me for MOuntains of Misery doesn't actually plan on riding it with me, maybe I should just unvolunteer myself and do the wilderness road ride instead.

You should easily be able to do the Wilderness Ride with a compact. Mine has an 11-27 cassette & I did it fine. If these old legs can do it, I'm sure yours can too! As I recall, there was a series of three hills called the "Three Charlies" or something like that. They were the most difficult part of the ride. The scenery was amazing & it's well worth the trip.

7 - where are you riding the Parkway? I LOVE riding on the Parkway - great roads, beautiful & lots of fun. All the long uphills are followed by long downhills.

[7rider]

7 - where are you riding the Parkway? I LOVE riding on the Parkway - great roads, beautiful & lots of fun. All the long uphills are followed by long downhills.

The plan is to do the whole she-bang - Cherokee, NC to Waynesboro, VA (excluding Skyline Drive) - in 6 or so days of self-supported biking (w/ two vans running SAG).