The Group: Diane, Jamie, Tiffany, Nancy, Margaret, Gayle, Alan, Derek and me
The Ride: Like last weekend we started from the Ingles Parking lot in Jasper with a heading toward Talking Rock. The downhill section going out Talking Rock the speed quickly picked up and we carried that speed on out toward Carters Lake. Old Hwy 411 happens to be one of my favorite sections of road going to Dennis Mill Road and then Old Federal on up the base of Fort Mountain. Through all of those sections we carried good speed and even though my power output was low it just did not matter much because the of scenery and I am not much of a scenery type of guy, but it is just that awesome in my opinion. At the turn on Old Federal Road there was a familiar face off to the left side of the road. Sitting on the tailgate of his truck next to a large cooler was Chuck Brownlow, the husband of Jamie. My first thought that rang out in my head was, "DAT'S CHUCK!!!"
The store stop at the base of the Fort Mountain climb Chuck provided cold water, a variety of drinks and cold soaked wash clothes. Wow!! We already liked Chuck, but he just went to the top of the friend list today. Of course he was there for Jamie, but we enjoyed it as well.
I started the Fort Mountain ascent before the group because I am a much slower climber and it did not take long for everyone to catch me and go on up to the summit lookout. Derek came up and stayed with me on the climb and we got to chat a little about the climb. Fort Mountain is such a pleasant climb. A lot of the time I looked down and the Garmin Edge was reading close to 7%, but unlike Burnt Moutain this climb has some spots that flatten out a little and give your legs a break. At the summit the whole gang was there for pictures that were taken by Chuck.
Down the mountain we go and this time I felt my confidence was up a little today with the fast twisty descent, but still not very fast compared to a lot of the group. I still have a lot more improvement to make on getting my confidence back like it was before the accident.
Once we fully descended we were in the six mile section of big rollers heading toward Ellijay. One after another climbing these rollers can be frustrating, but good training and good for me to do the things I don't quite enjoy as I hope to be a well rounded cyclist. I just need less weight on my butt to ease the climbing discomfort. Once we were past the rollers, Diane and Alan had a big gap on me, Jamie and Tiffany so I tried my best to span the gap and take my buddies with me up to the two. I kept pushing as hard as I could and my computer was reading a lot in the low 30's mph, but to no avail.
One more store stop in Ellijay and we hit the road again for the last stretch to Jasper. The group in this stretch was me, Jamie, Nancy, Derek, Diane and Alan and we had a great pace line going. Jamie, Derek, Nancy and Alan did a great pull in the wind. Diane also had a great long pull and the group kept up a solid pace until we hit the intersection of Talking Rock Road. Only 10 miles to go with a 3 to 4 mile climb to Philadelphia Road. I think the whole group had a sigh of relief at that summit and just a few more miles it all ended well. A bit later Gayle and Margaret rolled in and we knew everyone had a safe training day that was also fun. Even if it was a little discomforting at times. We also saw Neal and Glenn (the men who know no boundaries) after they did another bout of Quad-fecta training on Burnt Mountain and Sunrise Ridge.
To the group today I salute you and thank you for making this a great training day.
One more weekend to go and then a bunch of head toward Chattanooga for 3 State 3 Mountain Challenge.
Route Description: Fast downhill sections, some flat sections, one sustained climb, big rollers going back into Ellijay and a nice 3 to 4 mile climb toward the end as we came back into Jasper.
Climb Data: (from Garmin Connect Data)
Total Ride Elevation Gain: 5,898
Total Miles: 80
Fort Mountain - West Side (plus some climbing before we were on Burnt Mountain)
Elevation Start: 787 feet
Mile Marker Start: 35
Climb Start Time: 1:54:38
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Elevation End: 2860 feet
Mile Marker End: 44
Ride Time: 2:59:34
Total Time Climbing: 1hr 5 min
Total Miles Climbing: 8.83
Total Elevation Gain: 2073 feet
Weather: Cool start in the low 60's (F) warming to the low 70's at the end. Skies were sunny and there were some breezes blowing around the pollen. The air was dusty or gritty feeling with such a high pollen count.
Nutrition Intake During and after the Course: (2)24oz. bottle of water with Hammer Heed/10grams Glutamine and BCAA's, (2)24oz. bottle of water refills (1)Cliff Bar, (2) Accel gel, (1)Post Ride 40gram whey protein drink
Power Data: (not impressive numbers but my legs are tired anyway)
Entire workout (105 watts):
Duration: 5:01:21 (5:53:32)
Work: 1877 kJ
TSS: 247.9 (intensity factor 0.707)
Norm Power: 148
Distance: 80 mi
Min / Max / Avg
Power: 0 / 690 / 105 watts
Cadence: 29 / 244 / 71 rpm
Speed: 0 / 39.8 / 16.1 mph
Pace 1:30 / 0:00 / 3:43 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 / 349 / 65 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 / 1129 / 129 lb-in
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