A Two-fer!

First of all, sorry for not posting about my ride on Wednesday. I know everyone was just dying to hear about it! Can you forgive me?

Anyway, Wednesday's ride was a bit of a combination. I started out like I have been lately going up Shallowford to Noah Reid. But when I came back to Shallowford from Cromwell, instead of heading back, I turned right and went to the levee, and rode that and one loop of Camp Jordan, then came back and finished up with Shepherd. So I started a little hilly, then a lot of flat, then a few more small hills. A bit over 22 miles.

This morning, I got up at the ungodly hour of 6:15 am. Got dressed, checked my tires, loaded up my gear and headed out to meet some of the Martians On Wheels and friends to go to Cohutta Ga. for the ride there. This ride is a cancer benefit that they've been holding for some time. The organizers were super nice, and the fire department and others in the community did a great job keeping everything running smoothly.

There were three classes, a 5 mile fun run, a 50km (31 miles) ride and a 100km (62 miles) ride. Considering that Wednesday's 22 was about the most I'd ridden, I chose the 50km route. If my Cateye is anything close to accurate, it was more like 35 miles, and the difference was telling. Not because of the distance, but because of what those last 3 or 4 miles contained (as well as a couple before them). The ride was advertised as being through the "rolling hills" of north Georgia and southern Tennessee. And for the first 30 or so, it pretty much was. There were a few hills, a couple a little tough for me, but nothing too bad. There were SAG stops at about 11 miles and about 23 miles, and that offered a chance to reload on water or gatoraid, narf a banana (not me, they upset my stomach, even though I love them), and rest a bit.

That last 5 or 6 miles though, things weren't quite so "rolling" any more. The hills turned into long slopes of between 1/4 and 3/4 mile, followed by a downhill section that, due to being taken so much faster, seemed like no more than a few inches (well, to me anyway). There were about 6 of these. One must have been the high point of the area, as there was a large water tank there, and those are usually placed as high up as possible. It seemed every time I'd top one, I'd start down the other side only to come around a turn and see another rising up into the distance. I cussed a lot. A lot. I had to stop on the longest one about 2/3rds of the way up (it was I think the third one). I rested for about 4 minutes, then climbed back on and got over it. Another one that length and I probably would have had to stop again, and who know if I'd have started back. As it was, I was climbing them at about 4.5 mph in a very low gear. I wasn't the only one. While I was passed by many, I did pass two people, one lady who seemed to be doing fine but was taking it nice and slow even on the rare flat areas, and an older gentleman who was also on a mountain bike and doing the same speed as me on the climbs (I followed him up three of them). I rode along side him for a few minutes at the top of one hill and we chatted some, but left him behind in another relatively flat area. At that point, I was thinking we were near the end, and wanted to get it over with quickly. Of course, it wasn't even close.

Of course, you probably think this sounds like so much whining, and you would be right. It is whining, but thats not gonna stop me. I was glad to just be able to finish, true enough. And I don't guess you can always expect things to be easy. Just my nature, I always have to gripe about something! ;)