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| Always love the pre dawn starts |
Hi. I am Carey and I am a bikealholic.
I have done this race/ITT 5 times now. I could probably just cut and paste from my previous reports. Even though the DMR YoYo was just 2 weeks ago, I decided to give it a go, as I had the opportunity in the calender to do so. I also had a camping trip with my family that started in 2 days, so I wanted to get all my "zoomies" out of me in order to not have any bike FOMO while vacationing. I invited John Switow to join in my madness, as he is a sucker for BDR's.
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| Must document start and finish |
This is the first time I chose to ride my Niner Air9 RDO. The combination of age and route deterioration had me wanting bigger tires and front suspension. The time I figured I would lose on the road sections would well be made back by the comfort over the long haul and on the fast chunky descents. I rode Maxxis Ramblers 50mm. I chose 2 28 ounce water bottles and was able to put all my nutrition and tools on my bike (Revelate Designs feedbag and Oveja Negro top tube bag).
Even though we started at the same time, I made sure to follow the rules set forth by Kim Murrell and TennesseeGravel.com. The only thing we shared was conversation.
It was a muggy 68 degrees at the start (dew point of 70). Highs were expected in the upper 80's, with only a slight chance of showers (which I was hoping for). As we began the 10 mile climb up Kimsey Mountain Hwy (FS 68), the legs felt surprisingly good, not sparkly, but way better than I had expected. However, what I wasn't expecting was lower back pain halfway up the climb. I already knew this might be a problem, as I had woken up to my usual stiff lower back. Normally, I try to avoid NSAID/s the day of a big ride/race, but I took 2 Aleve.
Occasionally I would stand and pedal, which alleviated the pain. I was hoping that my back would sort itself out over the next hour, because there was no way I could handle this amount of discomfort all day. The sunrise was spectacular as I crested the climb. The beauty of these mountains surrounded me in comfort and awe and I descended Smith (FS 80) with gratitude, for my ability to play these games. Smith had gotten some "love" earlier this year, but Mother Nature was determined to take it back to its chunkified state. It was nice to descend this rowdy section on my Niner.
On the way over to Lost Creek, my back kept getting angrier. Part of me was beginning to have thoughts of pulling the plug once I hit Hwy 30, but the mental game was strong and the other part of me just said to give it some more time. Since the legs were feeling well, I stood and pedaled quite a bit on this section over to Webb Store.
Stopping at Webb's, I pee'd, refilled my bottles, and then stretched for 5 minutes while I waited on John to do his thing. That helped some and then we were off to Hambright Road. Once the pavement turned to two-track, then to single track, I weaved my way around the mud and downed trees.
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| Making use of my fine bushwhacking skills |
While I have heard through the grapevine that some riders opt to walk along the railroad tracks on the gravel, go through the creek, and then continue on the railroad gravel, that is NOT the official route. FYI, the official route is on the mud-hole filled, over grown road bed, which lies 10-50 feet from the railroad. If you want an official ITT time, you must take the more difficult path.
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| The crossing was almost chamois-deep for me. |
Climbing up Starr Mountain, I began to feel the warmth of the day, like a hot heavy blanket draped over me. My back pain came back with a vengeance, and once again those thoughts of quitting entered my mind. "I could finish this gravel section and pedal on nice flat pavement back to my truck. I don't have to prove anything to anyone. Haven't I done this route enough?" While these thoughts kept playing on repeat, that gritty and gristled side of me wanted to prove to my weaker side that I could endure and persevere. I told myself, just get to Coker Creek, enjoy a Coke, and stretch some more. The pain will eventually leave if it realizes it is not going to win out.
I was able to rally on the ridgeline and felt good on the gravel descent down to the pavement. I slowly pulled away from John on Ivy Trail; I think the heat was beginning to get to him. Those 10 or so miles on pavement felt so slow, probably because of the mountain bike I chose and the fact that I was thinking I should be able to go at road bike speeds.
I made it to the Coker Creek visitor center and ate a rice cake ✔, pee ✔, apply Chamois Butt'r ✔, soak head/face in sink ✔, drink Coke ✔, refill bottles ✔, stretch back ✔. I multi-tasked to be more efficient, but it was kind of hard to eat my rice cake when I was bent over touching my toes 😆. John arrived while I was almost finished and told me to go on, as he was in the middle of dealing with his own pains, cramping specifically.
That 13 minute stop was what I needed and miraculously I had no more lower back pain for the remainder of the ride. The miles over to Buck Bald were quite pleasant, as the gravel/dirt was hard packed. It was a slow go up to Buck Bald, as the heat was sweltering by now. But knowing that this was a day for adventure and not for PR's, I was in the right mindset, and I embraced the warmth.
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| Toasty! |
The 17 miles back to Reliance was tough, not gonna lie. The heat was getting oppressive and I did not want to blow a head gasket, so this was one of my slowest sections. I stopped along the Hiwassee and cooled off in Towee Creek for about 10 minutes.
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| Keeping the bits happy after cooling off the engine. |
I cooled off once again at the piped spring (mile 107) by sticking my head under the pipe. Man, that felt so good and refreshing! By now early evening was upon me, leaving me with the final climb, but a doozie at 11 miles, with the last 4 being spicy! It was still warm, but the sun's rays were no longer searing hot. As I turned onto the double track of death climb, it was hard not to love life and hate it at the same time. This is a beautiful stretch of road, but rugged as hell. I was elated to have persevered through the pain earlier in the day, where I had thought of quitting 13 times, but now it was replaced by extreme fatigue. I was trying to remember how many steps there was to this climb: 3? 4? Try 5! Every time I thought that this was the last, I would round the corner and the road went back up. Finally I hit the short little descent that would drop me out on Kimsey Mountain Hwy (FS 68). And I felt like a pinball , pinging off the gazillion baby heads.
This section of Kimsey, that climbs for 2 miles back up to the intersection of Smith Mountain was no better. Because it was essentially a Paris Roubaix-like cobbled climb. All the dirt had eroded, leaving a conglomeration of wicked, lumpy rocks. I couldn't hold it in any longer and my sailor mouth erupted in expletives. That actually made me feel better and I bounced my way back up to the intersection. From there, the road smoothed out and I knocked out that last little bit of climbing with renewed energy; guess I was smelling the barn.
The descent was SO MUCH MORE pleasant on my mountain bike. My teeth didn't feel like they were gonna rattle out, and my eyeballs weren't bouncing around in my skull. I was able to sit on the saddle quite a bit, which then allowed me to hit those few little kickers towards the end with gusto.
I finished with a time of 13:35 (moving time of 13:01). It never is easy (well, maybe the 2018 version), but I swear it keeps getting harder as I get older, although today's difficulty was probably a combination of the heat and only being 2 weeks recovered from the DMR YoYo. But deep down inside, I love these challenges.
I rested awhile on the concrete; it felt so good to just be still. I waited on John, figuring he would probably be about an hour behind me. But when dark thirty approached, I started to get nervous, thinking the worst. I should have gotten the link to his Inreach, but later he told me it had died several hours ago, so it wouldn't have helped anyways. Finally around 9:45pm, I saw bike lights off in the distance. Whew! John pulled in, looking like a corpse. He had a helluva second half, working through cramps and ended up walking more than he wanted. But he stuck it out and finished this beast.
