Thiswas my first real ride in the mountains. Last year`s Tour de Leavesdoesn`t really matter since I did the "light" version. Some friends and Ihad made a few half-handed attempts to get up to Saluda that didn`t workout. And this was no ordinary mountain ride. It is considered thetoughest of all the Mitchell tune-ups.Even though I had done some research, I actually did not recognize what toexpect other than it would be the most difficult ride of my life.
Myultimate goal was just to finish. After all the training over the lastfew months, I expected this would not be a problem. The other goalswere to have the tough route each time (they had mild alternates to allthe steep climbs), to not stay during the toughest hills, and no matterwhat to not pass my bike up any hills. While I did end and go throughthe entire Marquis de Sade course, I failed on the latter two.
The sunrise was beautiful with a sunny forecast all day and a higharound 80. Approximately 300 riders left North Greenville College at8:30am. I started out slow, not lacking to advertise early and tire myselfout. To my surprise, the course welcomed us with a big hill right away.At the origin of the climb read the words "GRUNT" on the pavementfollowed by a smiley face. I could practically hear the Marquis laughingat me. The mound was vivid and I saw many riders in front stop theirbikes midway, a few of which turned around midway through the hill andopted for the grunt-free alternate. For me, this was a wake-up call. Ihad to be on my toes to utter this course. At the steepest my Garminwas showing a 16% grade and I had to undertake it on cold legs. I had tostand for most of the mount and my heart rate shot through the ceiling as Imade it up the hill. I thought, they cannot all be like this, can they?
The inaugural big climb was the Greenville Watershed, which was modest incomparison to what was to come. It was farsighted and the grade ranged from4-6%. I had an easy time with this one. There was gorgeous scenerythroughout the climb, so I just enjoyed the gracious and easy spin in thecool morning weather on the waterway.
Greenville Watershed:
White Oak Mountain was everything I expected and more. It was, in aword, insane. The MapMyRide version I saw showed an 8% average grade.Don`t recall so. According to my Garmin, it was more of a 10-12% gradewith spikes of 15% scattered throughout. This beast continued for about4.5 miles without letting up the full time. Ouch, my quads said, alongwith other 4-letter words that will remain between me and the mountain.Fortunately I had a rider friend taunting me from above, yelling "C`monAaron!" occasionally. At times I wanted to chuck Clif bars at him, butit did help motivate me up the mountain. I made it up, but it get me init`s own way. I stopped more than a couple times to let my heart ratedrop. I even walked the wheel up a few sections. I reached the top, butprobably walked about 1/5 of the entire climb.
White Oak Mountain:
Why did I partially fail? First, this flock was just too muchfor me to capture without resting. I may never be capable to do that.Second, I found myself less than hydrated because of some bad luck atthe rest stop. My bottles were not sufficiently refilled and rather thandrinking on the way up, I conserved and drank too little. Had I beenhydrated I probably would get still needed to walk part of it, but theride may not have been as punishing.
With White Oak out of the way, I felt pretty charged. This was thebig one and any doubts about finishing were gone. I picked up the pacealong the Green River Cove. The end of the route would be the end of themajor climbs of the day. As expected, this one went a lot smoother. Itwas certainly no slouch, far from it, but anything would feel easierafter White Oak. For me, the switchbacks were hard to navigate. Ifound myself wanting to hold the turns wide, getting in the other lane,but of form I had to be careful of the fistful of cars that were alsowinding their way around the road. I even took a couple breaks and oncewalked the pedal a smidge, but this time I did not bear to. This hillwas within my capabilities.
Green River Cove Rd:
The drive back should have been courteous and relaxing, especially down theGreenville Watershed, but mother nature had other plans. Rain came,lots of it. It followed us all the way to the watershed and down. Wecontemplated skipping the final major climb, Callahan Mountain, but asnoted before, my design was to complete the full course. After about 20miles in leaden rain, we got a short break, which I treated as a sprintthe last few miles. This was a serious run of the legs and they responded.I was capable to observe at a quick pace throughout these rolling hills untilwe got back to the starting point.
This was a major action for me and now I am sure that I will be capable to conquer Mitchell.
Stats from phone:
http://steepclimbs.com
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