Cohutta Bikepacking Adventure - Day 3

Food Lion resupply

I did not get a very good night's sleep and woke up with a face only a mother could love.  Nothing like getting going again with a severe bike hangover.  We left our motel around 7:30 am, during school rush hour.  We stopped at the Food Lion to purchase enough calories for the 72 miles back to Eton.  Chugging a Starbuck's DoubleShot, I filled my feedbag with more candy, and shoved a banana in my back pocket.  There was slim pickens for me, but fortunately I had 2 cheese sandwiches in my pack for later. We then commenced playing Frogger, dodging vehicles driven by teenagers and distracted Mom's, trying to get out of Blue Ridge without being killed.

It was another chilly puffy-wearing morning. The first few miles were relatively flat but still painfully lactic-acidy.  Then came the rollers from hell. A mix of pavement and decent gravel, but I swear we straight-lined up and over every stinkin' knob between Blue Ridge and Mulberry Gap.  I even got in a bonus knob, when my eyes were pissin' tears so much in the cold wind, I missed a turn.

Just before we made a left turn onto Boardtown Road, out of nowhere a German Shepherd gave chase.  He was a big boy, and I was envisioning one of us being bitten or taken down, but no, this handsome dude just wanted somebody to play with him. Not a mean bone in his body.  But he kept following us on St. Lucius Road right to where it tee'd into Boardtown.  I tried to distract him with a portion of a PayDay bar, but he followed us.  We tried to outrun him, but in our state, it was laughable.  

So for the next 3 1/2 miles he ran with us.  Now Boardtown is one of the busier roads and this boy had no vehicle sense, so every time a car approached, we would stop and call him to our side.  We were so worried he was going to get hit.  Finally we hit a steep descent and were able to drop him.  I felt like a bad dog Mom, but he had no collar on him and where we first encountered him, there were no homes nearby.  He had to have an owner as he was in great shape and with a beautiful coat. We could only pray he made it home safely.

Wofpen Gap Road

Around mile 21, we hit Wolfpen Gap Road, which caused a little mental confusion.  Did I download the wrong course and now we are in Suches?  Why would Georgia have two roads with the same name? It was a beautiful gravel climb which took us right up to someone's house before veering onto the rugged Harper Creek Road. This short section of double track  had a few puddles to dodge, but was otherwise a pretty pedal through the woods.

Harper Creek

Fortunately I found a walk around

We hit Gates Chapel Road around mile 27 and I finally knew where I was.  Gates Chapel is a lot more lumpy that I remember it.  But I have always driven it, not pedaled it.  Lisa, once again being stronger, forged on ahead and waited at Bear Creek Road. When I arrived, what came out of her mouth was music to my ears.  She said that she had a 4 pm deadline to be home, as her weekend was filled with riding sweep for the GCA races, on both days.  Me, on the other hand, had nowhere to be, but I was just not feeling that tackling another 40 miles was gonna be enjoyable ... maybe FUn, but not rainbows and unicorns fun.  We made another executive decision to ride P1 and P2 to Mulberry Gap and call it a day.

Lunchtime!

Those final 12 single track miles were HARD!  I was spent.  Yeah, I could have ridden P3 - P5, the Fort Mountain connector, Fort Mountain trails over to Holly Creek to Eton, and then the 6 mile pedal back to our vehicles at Mulberry Gap, but I would have dug a hole so deep, that it would take a few weeks to climb out of.  And Zeke's famous saying, "You don't get old by being stupid," was bouncing around in my brain.

So I had absolutely no regrets as I slogged my way up and over P1 and P2 and then that short ass-kicker climb on Conasauga Road back to MG.  And I saw my bestie on Conasauga, the Zekester!

P2

Lisa chilling on P2

We arrived at Mulberry Gap just before 2 pm.  Despite riding an abbreviated version of the Cohutta Cat, we still managed to get in 259 miles and just shy of 30,000 feet of climbing.  It was a good ride to figure out a few things before my big event in 2025 ... TNGA.  

But I have a lot of work to do.  I realized I cannot coach myself, so will be seeking out one for next year.  I also have got to figure out how to get more real food for nutrition.  While I can do sugar with no issues, all that added garbage in the candy and fast food wreaks havoc on my gut:  corn syrup, artificial flavors, food dyes, lecithin, seed oils, TBHQ, dimethypolysiloxane (an ingredient in french fries and also found in silly putty), and I could go on forever.  I just don't eat that shit normally. Perhaps I can get lucky enough and there will be farmer's markets lining the route 😂😂😂

At least I have 9 months to figure it out.

And a big shout out to Lisa, for who I am forever grateful for her strength, patience, persistence, gumption, and friendship.  We have been doing BDR's since 2008.  And she still likes me! She is a mofo BA!  

Cohutta Cat Bikepacking Adventure - Day 2

Old Dial Road at sunrise

Despite me setting the alarm for 5:30 am, Lisa had to wake me up.  So that tells ya just how hard Day 1 was.  Since we would be finishing up our day back at the motel, we packed light.  I opted to roll with just 2 bottles as there would be plenty of places to get water.

We got rolling at 6:30 am, with ALL of our clothes on (and chemical warmers for me), including puffies.  Starting temperature was 31 degrees.  We rode an hour in the darkness, winding our way around Lake Blue Ridge via gravel and the Green Mountain Trail. We then intersected with Long Branch Trail, which dumped us out on Aska Road.  The route had us going on side roads, one of which had a 25% grade, to keep us off Aska as much as possible.  

As we approached our turn on to Shallowford Bridge Road, I did some quick math and realized that I did not have enough calories for the 80 mile loop (no resupply other than a bar at Camp Merrill) we were about to start. So we stopped at the Iron Bridge Cafe. Lisa hit the jackpot with home made banana bread and a cookie the size of a personal pan pizza.  I, on the other hand, was relegated to the candy aisle, where I grabbed some rice krispie bars and M&M's.  Sometimes being celiac sucks!

NFR35

   

After the smooth gravel of Old Dial Road came NFR35, with 6 miles of the burliest gravel I have ever seen.  Loose and the size of a small fist, most of my wattage was lost into the ground as opposed to going forward.  I probably could have walked it as fast as I was pedaling.  I forced myself to smile and think happy thoughts during this hour of torture.  Lisa was far better at making forward progress and so had time to do all the things:  bathroom breaks, shed layers, and have a picnic.  Fortunately once we crossed Morganton Hwy, the next 6 miles of gravel on West Skeenah Road were quite enjoyable.

West Skeenah Road

We stopped at Skeenah Campground on Hwy 60 and refilled our bottles at the spigot.  I asked the campground host first, out of respect.  A nice older gentleman who was curious about our adventure.  He told us that next time we didn't have to ask.  We told him about the grand depart on November 9 and he invited all to refill water here.

Tooni Gap Road was a pleasantly fast gravel road taking us to the Benton McKaye Trail and the Toccoa swinging bridge. We walked our bikes on the Benton McKaye, as we are supposed to do.  It wasn't really rideable anyways.  The bridge was a bit tricky as my bars were wider than it, but wheelied my bike across.

The next big climb was on Rock Creek Road up to Hightower Gap.  And here is where the wheels fell off the bus.  Lisa was still motoring strong, but my engine blew a head gasket.  I had eaten plenty of calories, but my body was saying, "F*ck you, we are sending those Snickers and Rice Krispy bars straight to your waistline."  

Lisa crushing the Hightower Gap climb

  

I thought that if I could just get to Cooper Gap, I could recover on the 4 mile descent.  Unfortunately, it was so blown out that I had to stay out of the saddle in order to negotiate the rugged descent.  With minimal recovery, we hit the Jake Mountain Trails.  8 miles of mostly smooth and flowy single track got me back in the right mindset and I rather enjoyed the route through here. It felt like it was mostly downhill.

We stopped at the church just before the Nimblewill Gap climb. We both refilled our bottles with water from their spigot. The Nimblewill Gap climb was new to me ... and it tried to crush my soul. It was also about this time that all the jetson food I had been ingesting was beginning to wreak a little havoc on my gut, in the form of gas.  Have you ever tried to fart while in the saddle?  So when I would stand up and squeeze my abs to toot, my inner thighs to cramp!  This went on the entire 8 mile climb.

Nimblewill Gap Road

Finally at the top and I could enjoy the Old Bucktown Road descent.  I was thinking this was going to be paved, but ... nope!  Another burly bumpy not so fun downhill.  No recovery for the legs, as I had to stand up the entire 4 miles.  Can't a girl catch a break?

The break finally came with a few miles of relatively flat to slightly downhill pavement to Big Creek Road. Big Creek had a beastly 3 mile, 500 foot climb right out of the gate, but at least the pavement was buttery smooth.  It was followed by a pleasant 7 mile descent along said creek. We stopped at the top to put our puffy jackets and lights on.

Popping out onto Aska Road, we hoped that the Toccoa River Restaurant was still open, as it was approaching 8:30 pm.  We were so happy to see cars in the parking lot.  As we walked in, Lisa was lit up like a Christmas tree with her 2 blinkie lights going full force. We did get some weird looks from other patrons. I was so happy for real food; I got the veggie plate and a Coke. The Coke went down fast and smooth, but unfortunately it chilled my core and I got goosebumps despite still wearing my puffy throughout the entire meal. Lisa got crab dip and chips a sweet potato.  

While waiting for our food, we were both having the same thoughts:  skipping the Stanley Gap loop and heading back to the motel.  We both did not want to HAB Stanley in the dark and arrive back at the motel past midnight, knowing we had another early start with 72 miles to finish. No regrets at all with our executive decision.  For me, I felt that I had been holding Lisa back all day; she probably would have had time to do the loop if she was solo.  She just has been so much stronger than me on this adventure.

The remaining 15 miles was pretty straight forward, retracing the path we had taken out of Blue Ridge.  We arrived back at our motel at 10:15pm.  We hit the bed at 11:30 pm.  I was totally shelled. Mine was a pretty fitful sleep, as I was achy all over.  I prayed for a lot of overnight regeneration, as although tomorrow was less mileage, it was still going to be brutally hard.

Distance:  107 miles

Elevation gain: 12,580 feet

Ride time: 13:47

Elapsed time: 15:45

Cohutta Cat Bikepacking Adventure - Day 1

Everyone has that "friend."  You know, the one who makes questionable life choices and invites you along.  Lisa managed to rope me into riding the Cohutta Cat, a 290 mile bike packing route through the North Georgia and East Tennessee mountains. I said yes, as long as we could motel camp. This body needs a warm bed at night.

 Matthew Schweiker had taken over as "race director" from Daniel Jesse, the original creator.  For 2024, the route has changed some, taking out the Sylco Trails, which have been in severe disrepair, think 1,000 downed trees to climb over, and instead added some additional single track at the Ocoee Whitewater Center.  The route has also been changed a little to add more Aska trails and more flowy trail at Bull and Jake mountain.  So the course now has more single track and gravel, and less pavement.  Single track 20%, gravel 60%, and pavement 20%.

Wednesday October 17, the warmest morning at 37 degrees

Since neither of us could make the November 9 Grand Depart, we saw a good weather opportunity this past week and decided to give it a go. Lisa did the planning and decided we would start in Eton, as this would break up the ride into 3 manageable sections, with 2 nights staying at the Douglas Inn in Blue Ridge.  Since we could not find secure parking in Eton, we drove to Mulberry Gap, left our vehicles there and then pedaled the 7 miles to join the route in Eton. We started a little after 7:30 am, at daybreak.

Grand Depart is at MG, we started in Eton

We both rode our SuperCalibers.  I had a Revelate Designs Shrew seat bag and Mountain FeedBag. I wore a USWE Pace 14L vest, with a 50 ounce bladder.  For day 1, I started out with 2 bottles of LMNT and filled the bladder with 1 liter of Skratch High Carb. Ride food consisted of Snickers, PayDays, Honey Stinger waffles, Cliff Shot Bloks, Betty Lou's fruit bars, and a 500 calorie Amish made granola bar.

Once we hit Holly Creek Road, I knew it was gonna be a hard ride, as Lisa set off on a pace that had me struggling to stay in her draft.  Doing Chris Joice's (Dark Horse Productions) Scruffy Cat the Saturday before plus 2 long days at work had my legs barking right from the beginning.  When will I ever learn? 😆

The legs began to feel better on the climb up Mill Creek.  The Sumac Creek single track was in good shape, with only a few downed trees.  We motored along the relative flatness of Old Hwy 2 and stopped at the pit toilet at Ladd Springs Road.  The sun was out, but most of the route was still heavily shaded as the leaves were just beginning to turn.  I shed only my wind breaker, but still had on a wool base layer and arm/leg warmers.

Sumac Creek Trail

Turning right onto FS 221 was a pleasant surprise, as the forest service has been doing significant road bed improvements.  Smooth as glass all the way up to the Big Frog turn off!  

FS 221 - smooth as a baby's bottom

We stopped at Big Creek to filter water and then continued on to hit the trails at the Ocoee Whitewater Center. Kudos to Ocoee Trail Responders (Mike Johnson and many others) for clearing many many downed trees.  The trails were in great shape! We stopped at the Hardee's in Ducktown to refuel before hitting the remaining miles to Blue Ridge.  I had a hamburger patty, fries, and a Coke.  I think the last time I ate Hardee's was 20 years ago! I think Lisa is a regular, as she knew exactly what she wanted.

From there began a pleasant pedal over to Tumbling Lead, followed by the long arduous climb up to Watson's Gap.  The gravel started out pleasant, but once we began climbing, it became obnoxiously marbly.  And we were both carrying food babies. All I wanted to see was Dally Gap, but around every corner ... more climbing and no gap.  Finally, we were there.  We still had a few miles to go to Watson, but I was able to get back into the right mindset. 

FS 22-2

The smooth part of FS 22-2, Tumbling Lead area

FS 22-2, before it got rough

At the top of Watson Gap, we turned our lights on.  From here, it was about an hour of riding pavement, most downhill, to the Wal-Mart where we stocked up for Day 2.  We then pedaled a 1/2 mile to the Douglas Inn, showered, and then walked over to Wendy's, which was an adventure in of itself.  We had to scramble down a 100 yard steep embankment, walk over to the drive-through window, and pitifully beg to be served, as they had just closed the dining area ... it was 9:15 pm. Fortunately, the assistant manager was super nice, let us in, and took our order.  We then had to climb back up that embankment, which was the worst part of the whole day.  But man, did that square burger and fries taste so good, especially when I spiced it up with some gluten free bread and real cheese.

Dum Dum's at check in ... a little token PTSD!

After stuffing our bellies with a 1000+ calories, charging devices, and prepping for tomorrow, we finally turned the lights off around 11:30pm.

Distance: 109 miles

Elevation: 11,560 feet

Moving time: 11:57

Elapsed time:  12:58

... to be continued.