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| Bear Creek Overlook |
This, by far, is my favorite route in my neck of the woods. I have been doing some version of this every year since 2006 when Zeke Lilly drug my ass around a shorter 65 mile loop while training for the Cohutta 100. I love it for its beauty: the vistas, the multitudes of roadside creeks and rivers, and the wildlife. I love it for its brutality: the relentless climbs, the blistering descents, and only 1% paved. So when Randy Kerr messaged me last week about doing it, I responded with an emphatic "Hell, yeah!" after seeing that the weather was gonna be as close to perfect as November can get.
I started at 6:45 am, in the dark. It was cold at Thunder Rock campground, around 44 degrees, but I wanted some daylight insurance on the back end, in case things went awry. I was figuring on a 10+ hour day, but hoping I could pull out a sub-10. Randy opted to start at daylight. He had plenty of daylight to single speed his way around the course, as his previous time was 8:34.
I opted to ride my 2017 Niner Air 9 RDO, with 50mm Maxxis Ramblers mated to Industry 9 UltraLite aluminum wheels, and a SRAM 1x (32 x 10-50). A SpeedSleev saddle bag carried a two tubes and tools, a Oveja Negra top tube bag and a Revelate Designs feed bag carried my nutrition, and a SpeedSleev Diego handle bar bag was there to pack my extra layers as I would be shedding them as the day warmed up.
My light punched a small hole in the darkness as I climbed up FS 45. The skies were clear and the stars visible, something these days that comes hard to find. The first descent was sketchy because of the darkness, the leaf cover, and the blown out road. I cautiously made my way down, eager to see the sun rise.
The Three Bitches are a series of relatively short, but punchy climbs around mile 5. They are always wet and chunky. As maddening as it is to find "the line," at least today, in the dark, they seemed to pass quickly. Just before the descent to Tumbling Lead, the sun rose over Boyd Gap.
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| Just doesn't do it justice |
It was still semi-dark as I descended down to Tumbling Creek. Once again, conditions were less than ideal, so I kept it well under the speed limit. It was also really cold in this spot; another good reason to not throw caution to the wind.
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| Tumbling Creek |
With most of the leaves fallen, the views along this stretch of road were incredible. No dogs gave chase at the usual spot along the short stretch of paved road, and I made my way into Georgia and began the climb up to Dally and Watson Gap.
This stretch of gravel was more lumpy hard packed dirt, with sections that were soft from the earlier week's rains. It had a light washboard feel, but at least I wasn't fighting loose gravel. It rolled nicely along the ridgeline before dropping down to Watson Gap. This section was loose gravel, but at least not deep.
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| Watson Gap |
I stopped at Watson Gap to shed a layer, take a pee break, and eat one of my rice cakes. Temps were now perfect and my fingers and toes had thawed out. Although I was behind schedule, I was feeling good, and if course conditions remained favorable, I knew I could increase the pace. I climbed some more and then had a blistering descent down to Jack's River campground. I briefly refilled my bottle at the piped spring and then continued on the climb up to Potato Patch. I really enjoy climbing up from this side, as there are breaks where you get to roll along a contour line or enjoy a small descent. And the gravel was "hero."
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| Mountaintown Overlook |
The descent from Potato Patch was also in great shape. It took you 5 1/2 miles and 2000 feet down to Mulberry Gap. It is not an easy descent, as I spent most of it just hovering above the saddle as to avoid any ass-smacking that might come from a sudden dip or exposed rock. My legs definitely did NOT like that short climb up to Mulberry Gap.
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Refilling my bottles at the barn
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I stopped in the office briefly to say hi to Kate, and then made my way to the restroom after refilling my bottles.
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| If you haven't been here, you are truly missing out on a great experience. |
Here I was 41 miles and 5 hours into my day. And a daunting climb back up to Potato Patch. Although my stopped time here was short, 12 minutes, my legs thought they were done for the day and shut down. It was also here that Randy caught me and passed me. He had started at 7:55 am; he was on fire!
I managed to keep pace with him for all of 100 yards. And then my legs said, "Hell, no, you are asking for too many watts!" And suffice it to say that my low moment of the day was the next 50 minutes struggling back up to Potato Patch. I knew eventually I would feel good again, so I just stayed present and enjoyed the ride, no matter how slow.
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| Bear Creek Overlook |
Even though there were still a couple miles left of climbing after turning at the top of Potato Patch, I was beginning to feel better and turn the pedals over quicker and with more force. The gravel over to Lake Conasauga was hard packed and smooth. I put a couple hundred calories in the belly knowing I would have a big descent soon, allowing for adequate digestion and usage.
FS 17 (West Cowpen) was in as good a shape as it could be. The rains had settled the dust and the gravel some, but it was thick in leaf cover, which made it spicey! Not one of the fastest times down it, but I arrived safely at the bottom.
The flats over to Big Frog went by quickly. All that food I had ingested at the top of the mountain was now providing the energy I needed. Just 22 miles left. Turning right onto Big Frog, I climbed up to the piped spring and refilled one bottle and ate my last rice cake for the final push.
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| Rice cakes: life savers |
Big Frog, over the past 15 years, has gone from smooth and gravel bike enjoyably rideable, to blown out I need a full squish trail bike to get through this on a fun note. Most of it is riding over chunks of bed rock and feeling your way through deep leaves and praying one of a thousand loose baby heads doesn't take your front wheel out from under you.
So focused on staying upright I forgot how thrashed my legs were. Up and over the top, I rode the brakes most of the way down the descent. I would rather lose time going slow as opposed to fixing a puncture or making a sling out of an inner tube.
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| Deceivingly enhanced |
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| The top of Big Frog |
Back out on FS 221 I felt renewed. The five miles of rolling hard packed dirt made it feel like I was flying down to Big Creek. I had already figured that a sub-10 was not going to happen, but there was still a chance for a PR. That had me fired up on the steep ass climb out of Big Creek. However, in the ensuing final 4 miles over to FS 45, I do believe those short punchy climbs doubled in number since the last time I rode here. At least that is how it felt to the mind and legs ... the longest 4 miles EVER! F bombs battered this section, as I could see the minutes closing down to a PR.
Finally I began the three mile descent down to the finish. With no thought to puncturing or breaking a bone, I let Freedom scream down the mountain. I bettered 2021's time by 8 minutes.
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| True gain was closer to 14,000 |
I rolled in to the campground and lay on the ground for a few minutes, allowing the body to finally relax. Randy had finished up his day a while ago, and also rode a PR (8:29 on a single speed!). He was busy attending to his body with some yoga. I soon did the same while we talked about our day. Thanks Randy for inviting me out to play. Yet another brutally wonderful experience in the Cohuttas.
