As many of you know mountain biking has been one of my favorite pastimes for the past 10 years. Many of my biking friends have tried to trick me in to road biking over the past few years with little success. This year I decided to join them, in the name of cross-training, so I borrowed a bike from one of my buddies. Somehow, I ended up registered for the 34th Assault on Mount Mitchell before I really had time to think it through. For those of you who might not be familiar with the Assault on Mitchell, www.freewheelers.info/aomm/, it is touted as one of the top 10 most difficult road biking events in the country. The ride spans a total 103 miles from Spartanburg, SC to the peak of Mount Mitchell, which is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. The ride is considered grueling not only because of the 100 plus miles, but the total cumulative elevation gain is over 12,000 feet. To make matters worse, over half of the elevation gain is in the last 25 miles!
After a few training rides and several interviews with past "Assaulters," I felt like I was ready for the challenge. I stuffed the pockets of my nifty road bike jersey with Hammer Gels and Power Bars, filled my water bottles with Heed Electrolyte Replacement Drink, and clipped in my pedals along with 1200 other bikers from all over the United States. We left the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium in Spartanburg, SC at 6:30am on a Monday morning with the common opponent in mind … Mount Mitchell. This event is billed as a ride, not a race, but wouldn't you know that this year the organizers sold 1200 tickets and the Parkway Officials placed a limit of 750 bikes on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Do the math … this meant that 450 riders would ride over 80 miles and not be allowed on the Parkway to finish the ride. That pretty much makes it a race in my book.
I started with my friend Milo and we were able to hang in and draft with a fast group for the first 45 miles or so. We got separated at the top of Bill's Hill, where I stopped to fill a couple of my water bottles. As I was getting back on my bike, I met up with Quentin, another friend of mine, and we rode together with a different pack of fast guys until I got dropped from the group just before Marion NC. Tish met me in Marion with a new supply of Hammer Gels, Power Bars, Heed, and some much needed encouragement. I left Marion and headed up Hwy 80 alone before catching up with Milo at the first water stop on Hwy 80. Milo and I stayed together the rest of the day and we both crossed the finish line with a total elapsed time of 8 hours and 29 minutes! I'm not really sure how to describe the event, but I do know that "Fun" is not the word for it … really.
Next year, I will train harder, ride faster. I followed jonathan pait's advice and did all I could to stay with the pack into Marion. I nearly made it, but fell off some 8 miles short and never really recovered. Truth is, I didn't have enough base miles in, and I should't have been suprised that I didn't have enough gas to go with the big boys. This meant I had to suffer my way through Marion and up to the parkway before my body was able to recover.
I met up with Mark on the parkway, and we agreed there that we needed to work together rather than race each other, because neither one of us would be ending up with a great time anyway... we made it!
This year there was a huge fiasco with the bike returns. It took some people longer to get their bike back than it did for them to do the Assault. This is all some of them will remember about the day...
I on the other hand will remember very little about the day. Tomorrow is the birth of our 3rd child Josiah, who is going to have a major heart surgery minutes after birth... This is my Mt Mitchell, this is the hardest thing I have ever gone through. I am just looking forward to it all working out ok, and being over soon...
I finally had a few minutes yesterday to get out on the bike. If you were watching my twitter account you noticed that I had every intention of going out on the MTB. I decided instead to take to the road. It has been a while since I have ridden the Allez, and I really wanted to spin in the open air for once, instead of in my living room. Also, because of my riding on the trainer, I wanted to see if I could ride at a consistent cadence. This is something I never used to be able to monitor, but when I got the new bike it came with a computer that shows cadence.
I had been training at a cadence of 85 to 95 or so, and this is what I decided to ride at yesterday. I rode from my house over to Paris Mt. State park, which is about an 9 mi ride, then up the Hincapie challenge to the turnaround and back home. Riding at this higher cadence was a very odd experience. I liked spinning, fast and smooth, and it was kinda fun to be changing gears much more often in order to keep the cadence steady. But, it is an uncomfortable pace. I have found that I MTB at a very slow cadence. This transition may be difficult to make. Is it necessary?