dude, you rode well! besides, we do get to sleep before the 1200 starts. at 4am! see ya there,
G- On Jul 3, 12:52 pm, "Tim & Susan" <[email protected]> wrote: > Ok, one day I'm gonna bite off more than I can chew. That was brutal on the > fat guy! We cycled 252 miles, over 16,000 feet of climbs, all in one day, > barely. (23 hrs. 25 mins.) We started out with about 30 riders from all over > the country. We had 200K, 300K, 400K or a 600K option. A dozen riders went > with the 300K including John o. It was a midnight ride start so that we > could ascend the mountain before the sun made things even more difficult. I > like that part but it was hard getting any sleep before the ride. My goal > was to let the fasties go and ride my on ride, but ended up with the front > group for the first 100K through the foothills and getting to the "Oklahoma" > which is what the locals call the climb getting up to "Roaring Gap" near > Sparta. It's a 5 mile steady, 1800 feet of climb. The first 4 miles were > like one long "Target Hill". Then we had ¾ mile "Conner Hill" followed by a > ¼ mile of "Snake Mountain". And yes, the fat guy walked up the last 50 feet. > There were a half dozen riders that got away from me there. I caught up > with them in Sparta and we had a big breakfast. John and others being > smartly conservative showed up about 30 min. later. > > Only a dozen or so riders were to continue on deeper into the mountains to > Jefferson. I think 2 or 3 riders bailed out over breakfast and were looking > for the shortest route back off the mountain. I had a long breakfast stop as > Geof and I waited around for Bryan so that we could stay somewhat together > for the rest of the ride. It was a beautiful mountain ride to Jefferson and > Laurel Springs. I had a lot of fun for most of that until the heat set in > mid-afternoon. Only one missed turn for an extra mile. We ate lunch in > Laurel Springs. A half dozen guys in Lycra shorts amongst a couple hundred > dressed out in Leather. I think they liked Geof's bike the most because he > had shiny parts that resembled chrome. Back to Sparta where we watch some of > the 4th parade, then around Cumberland Knob near Virginia where we finally > descend back down to the foothills where more long climbs wait for us there. > I am so tired of riding 7 mph in my granny gear! I'm really feeling it the > last 50 miles. I have a few good sections where I can let it rip but now I'm > barely making it over the hills. > > We skip dinner because we're ready to get this done, and we'd like to finish > the same day we started. The last 30 miles I spend watching the computer. > It took forever to chisel off those miles. My body ran out of food and I was > not feeling well the last hour but we coasted into the barn at 11:25pm. This > is a similar route to be used for the first 400K of the Carolina 1200K. I'm > having serious second thoughts that I could do another 800K after that. I > did enjoy most of the ride. The scenes were awesome. Just wished I wuz > skinny! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en.
