3 State 3 Mountain Challenge

Motionbased Ride Data Link - (gps was off during the first 5 miles)

For months I have anticipated this challenge of doing the 100 mile ride and most specifically Burkhalter Gap, which I have either heard about through my riding buddies or by reading blogs from other cyclists. May 3rd finally was approaching and this time the obstacle was not only the mileage and the three climbs, but a severe storm front was coming in from the west that had already damaged a lot of property. We hoped that it would blow through early, but as we arrived in the parking lot a little after 7 in the morning the skies were looking very ominous. Lighting was lighting up the dark skies and some said they heard tornado sirens off in the distance. After we signed in and received our ride numbers we headed back to the truck to put on our gear. Hundreds of cyclists were already starting to line up for the mass start as the rain started coming down fairly hard. Gary, Mike and I jumped in the truck with half of our gear on and waited. Phone calls from other riders passing information to us as to a delayed start and then another delay, but the mass of cyclists that were already in the rain started ahead. As we sat there hoping for the rain to ease up a little we saw other people in the parking lot begin to leave. I thought to myself I have spent too many hard hours training for this event. Close to 8:40 AM, we had our gear on including rain jackets and collected at the parking entrance. The core group consisted of Gary Quellet, Mike Quick, Edgar Lebron, Jack Shippee, Keith Kudlac, Martin and me. We pretty much stayed together throughout the 100-mile route with the exception of Edgar splitting off to finish the metric route. Within the first few minutes traversing through the city streets of Chattanooga we were soaked, but thankfully the organizers had the intersections blocked for the cyclists. In that first number of miles as I passed people I could hear those talking about bailing out or how miserable they felt, but the only thing I could honestly think about what was ahead of me. I felt for the many we passed that were changing flats in the rain.

Before I know we are at the base of Suck Mountain. I don’t know who named that mountain, but it must have been a cyclist that named it while trying to climb it in a cool rain. Actually it wasn’t that bad. It is a 5-mile climb with a typical gradient of 4% to 6%. At this point our little group was starting to pass many of the cyclists that had started well before us. During the climb I was most appreciative of those that I trained with leading up to this ride and more specifically Gary Quellet, who mentored and encouraged me through each hard training event that made this first climb feel pretty easy. By this point the rain is more like a drizzle, but the rooster tail of water coming of the bike tires in front of us were still keeping us wet. Descending off Suck Mountain would have been fun, but again I was being extra cautious because of the slick roads.

The second climb was Sand Mountain, which is shorter and steeper than the first. To be honest I must have been in a zone at this time because I don’t remember much about the climb. I do remember that I was determined to go the full 100 miles and most importantly reserve energy for my biggest challenge yet. All I can think about was the words from a Pink Floyd song, “comfortably numb” and that is what I felt like. I was deep into a zone. The weather, soaked feet and clothes nor the cool air hitting wet clothes did not deter me from the goal ahead.

Once we finished Sand Mountain I knew there was only a stretch of mild road ahead and then the turn onto Burkhalter Gap Road. I was looking at my odometer and the map line on the gps as I watched us come closer to the turn. I remember one blog writer stating the turn and then the death march of cyclist heading up a straight two-mile section of road before hitting the wall. His statement was dead on accurate. The picture that everyone had painted as an image was now a reality as we turned. As soon as I turned on the road my legs began to burn like crazy as the sun suddenly comes out and began baking down on my neck. The gradient didn’t look all that steep, but with this climb located 80 miles into the ride I believe most cyclist like myself were becoming pretty fatigued. I dropped to my lowest gear, which was a 28 that I loved having, but out of discomfort my hand kept hitting the shifter as if there was another lower gear available. I knew that I had to keep it under control as much as possible to have something left for the wall ahead. I passed only a couple of riders and those who passed me did not distract me. I kept thinking about what Gary had told me a ton of times. Do your own pace and don’t use up too much too early. I had the gps map zoomed in fairly tight and I had a summit symbol preloaded so I had an idea that I was getting closer. I later told Gary it wasn’t like in times of past where your brain can mess with you like thoughts of stopping and giving up. This time my legs were on fire to the point my brain could not assemble a thought of discouragement. I could hear the cowbells and cheers from those in front. I was starting to see riders walk the remainder to the summit. I just kept thinking, “keep going, keep going.” I was turning the cranks over so slowly that I was barely able to keep the bike up right. I glanced over to one rider walking up and he was staring at me as if I was nuts and that I should get off the bike and walk up with him, but I quickly looked away from the defeated cyclist and kept a focus on the cheers from those on the other side of the road. No way was I going to give up now, but each pedal stroke was an immense struggle up this 20% to 22% road gradient for the last 500 yards. I could see my group standing at the top in the sag area and that was a relief to see them because I knew I was just a few hundred feet from the top. As I entered into the sag area I unclipped from the pedals, my legs were literally trembling and my heart rate was through the roof. It took me several minutes to regain some composure, but deep inside I couldn’t believe it that I climbed Burkhalter Gap on my first attempt.

After spending a few minutes chunking down some fruits and cookies at the sag stop my legs were now calmed down and my group patiently waited for me to regain a little strength. We were now ready to finish the last 15 miles. As soon as you pull out of the sag stop you are immediately faced with another climb that looks pretty bad, but as I climbed this hill felt pretty insignificant compared to what we just encountered. My legs actually started feeling a little better. The next thing I know I am with Keith and Martin doing a mid 20’s pace. As we were halfway down the Lookout Mountain descent I tried my best to keep my speeds from reaching the 40’s on the wet roadway. I was able to grab a couple of quick glances at the city below. As we entered Chattanooga the police had the intersections blocked off and we were sustaining 20 mph speeds though the traffic. As we entered the stadium parking area the ride officials were getting our numbers to register our ride times there were people lining both sides of the road cheering and from the crowd I began to distinguish voices of friends cheering as well. I just couldn’t believe it. Not only did we finish this challenging ride, we did it with additional hurdles like the weather and wet clothing.

On the ride home I kept thinking about the training leading up to this ride. There were two distinct things that played over in my mind as to why I was able to go forward and accomplish this goal. The first has to be proper training, but it was encouragement from my wife to train hard for this event, from riding friends, from family and again specifically from Gary Quellet who really kept me going and was with me on virtually every single training event leading up to this ride. Before the ride started I prayed to the Lord for our safety and after the ride I praised the Lord that we did finish safely with great joy and a sense of accomplishment.