2013 Assault on Mount Mitchell Recap

 May 20, 2013 marked the 38th running of the Assault on Mt Mitchell ride, leaving out of Spartenburg, SC.  We arrived at the starting area about 6am to get ready for the ride.  Rolling up to the start line with about 15 minutes remaining before the start, the weather was foggy, but the temperatures were decent.  As folks lined up on Church Street, the anticipation mounted.   We had a wonderful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, and then we had a count down.  Even though I've been in several large rides so far, this one seemed bigger for some reason.  Somewhere around 1,300 riders were there; some just for the trip to Marion, the rest taking on the mountain.  The plan I had worked out was to try to stay in a solid group up to Marion, making it to the campgrounds in between 4 and 4 1/2 hours.  I had been advised that my time to Marion would be an indicator of my final time.  My final goal was to complete the ride in under 9 hours.   

The timer reached zero, and after a few seconds we were off.  The pace was strong, but overall solid.  The first hour was rather uneventful, as the terrain was relatively flat and the groups remained pretty calm.  The fog created a little bit of an issue, as everyone had to figure out how to adjust to the moisture.  I had to remove my glasses, as the condensation made it hard to see.  Several folks were fighting with the condensation actually dripping into their faces off the front of their helmets as well.  

After about 75 minutes, a large peleton had formed on the road, enveloping the smaller group that I was in.  This group reportedly had somewhere around 400 riders in it.  The danger of a group this large is that it ends up having a mind of it's own, and you end up having a large amount of speed changes.  These speed changes can drain you of energy unless you can absorb them.  I ended up at the front more often than I wanted, as I knew that taking turns pulling would take a lot of energy that I needed to save for the climb to the summit.  I did attempt to pull a few times, as I wanted to do my part if I ended up there.  My wife had kept our two younger girls out of school today, and the goal was for them to drive to the spectator spots and try to view me riding through.  As we reached the first of the spectator spots, I didn't notice my family as we rode through.  I figured that we had just missed the timing.  

The first real challenge of the ride was going to come near the 45 mile mark, as we got near to the climb called Bill's Hill.  This is where I expected any group that I was in to break up, and I'd have to be careful about finding a good pace to keep going.  There is a slight climb, then a descent, before heading into Bill's Hill.  Once we reached the climb it was obvious that the massive group that we had been in was going to break up.  Many folks decided to make a stop at either of the rest areas around Bill's Hill prior to making it into Marion.  I had mentally decided that I didn't want to stop until at least the campgrounds in Marion, much to my own detriment as I learned later int he ride.  I managed to stay with various folks until around Marion.  When I got to the Campgrounds I had decided to stop to say hi to the wife and kids if I saw them, but I didn't feel like I really needed to stop.  I was still riding strong, had water in my bottles and food in my packs.  I didn't see them again, so I kept on riding.  Looking back on it I wish I had stopped for 5 minutes, as we probably would have met up and the rest would have done me a lot of good.   

I pushed on towards the Blue Ridge, knowing that there was a good place to stop and rest before the real climb on Highway 80 kicked up.  On the way I witnessed someone working with a personal SAG vehicle.  We were warned to not have people following us, and just watching this interaction really showed how dangerous it could be on this ride.  This rider put himself, me, every other rider in the field, and other drivers on the road at risk just for the sake of having snacks when he wanted them without stopping.  I wanted a good time on this ride, but not at that cost.  I took a moment to mention that if the ride officials saw him that his day would be ended prematurely, and left it at that.   My next stop was the rest area.

After getting a rest, I moved on to the top of Highway 80.  I have read that this area is

known as Devil's Whip, named for how dangerous this area is to navigate.  There is a photographer up here that takes photos of the cars and cyclists as they ride by.  This section really put me to the test.  As I reached it, most of my resolve started to wane.  My foot started to really ache, and I was completely drained of energy.  As I look back I wonder if I had taken more breaks and made sure that I was properly fueled and rested that I would have felt a little better after this section.  I struggled to the top, and took a break at the rest area.  By break I mean I got off the bike, laid down on the grass, took off my right shoe, and admired the view for a while.  I had gotten my shoe too tight, and didn't recognize the symptoms until way too late.  My foot ached as I let it rest, along with letting my heart rate drop.  

Once I felt strong enough to try to keep going, I got back on the bike and started to ride on the Parkway.   This is one of my favorite stretches of road, as the views are incredible.  Even with the wonderful views, at this point every mile felt like it took an hour, and it was a struggle to just keep my pedals moving.  I started to take rests at the overlooks to keep my heart under control.   I was determined to finish, so I just kept taking it one step at a time.  I got to the rest area on the Parkway, and took some extra time to just rest.  This particular stop has a view of Mitchell, and I could see

that the summit was still covered in clouds.  The forecast had called for a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, and I had worried about having to finish in the rain.  At this point it looked like that could be a real possibility.

After the rest stop there is a wonderful downhill section that lasts for a few miles that felt incredible, giving me a bit more energy.  From there I struggled the next few miles to the water stop at the turn off of the parkway towards Mitchell, and got off the bike again to let my foot (and the rest of me) relax.  At this point I had wished that I had taken a bio break a the previous rest stop.  It was only 3 miles at this point to the entrance to the park, and I figured I could take another full break there.  I ended up having to stop at each of the pull over areas again to catch my breath.   At this point there started to be a cool breeze pushing me forward.  I thanked God for the encouragement, and I worked my way slowly up to the top.  I knew the 8 hour mark was out of reach but my main goal was finishing, not getting any particular time.  

I reached the entrance to the park, and took another good break.  I used the facilities,

and risked having a coke.  I wasn't sure if it was going help or not, but being just 2 miles from the summit I knew I could continue to the top even if it soured my stomach.  The good news was that it didn't, and that along with a banana and the time off the bike really helped out my situation.  Also having the first 3/4 of the trip in the park having a low gradient, I got some momentum before I reached the top.  Hearing the cheers as folks urged us on felt good.  Making it to the top made me feel better.  

After I made it through the chute, I handed off my bike and got my patch.  I was instructed up the stairs where my dry bag waited.  I got some tomato soup and took off my cycling shoes, finding a cool spot to sit.  After a few minutes my wife and girls found me, and we celebrated the end of the ride.  I put on some street clothes, and we made it to the bus back to Marion.  At the bottom we got some BBQ to eat, and I reclaimed my bike.  

I have a lot of take aways from this adventure, most of them in how I need to prepare for events like this.  My personality is such that once I get on the bike, stopping is a challenge.  I did better with eating and drinking than I had in other long events, but I think I can do better.   I have no doubt that I will want a rematch on the course at some point, as I think I can improve as I get stronger on the bike.  I hope that when I tackle it again I can enjoy it more and spend more time riding with friends along the route. 

Not the typical "High" for 4/20

When most people think of getting high on 4/20, the end result is not to think about a bicycle ride.  No water purifiers or rolling paper was utilized as a part of the experience!  That said, this year I was invited on a ride to scout the final 30 miles of the Assault on Mount Mitchell, which is where it all starts to become uphill.  

As a recap, the Assault on Mount Mitchell is a cycling event out of Spartanburg, SC.  After riding approximately 75 miles, you reach the base of the Blue Ride Mountains, and start climbing up to the top of Mt Mitchell.  Mitchell happens to be the highest point in the eastern United States, located just outside of Asheville, NC.  The goal is not just to conquer the Beast of the East, but to do it after riding through the foothills for several hours.  

For the sake of this ride, I got to experience the trip starting with semi-fresh legs.  I say semi-fresh, because I had gone out Thursday during lunchtime and worked on some climbing on Paris Mountain outside of Greenville, SC, not intending to do any serious climbing for the weekend.  Originally I wanted to do repeats after work, but when the weather looked transitional, I squeezed as much of a ride as possible into my lunch.  Thus I pushed hard up the mountain.  I was then invited by a few folks I had met during the AOMM training series to ride up Mitchell to get a feel for what I'd need for effort after making it to Marion.  

We set out early Saturday morning, and parked just off of Highway 80 in Marion, NC.  After getting the bikes set up, we started up highway 80 towards the Blue Ridge Parkway.  This ended up being a good warm up section, and we kept the pace reasonable.  The obvious goals today for me were to keep my efforts in check, and to get an idea for the pacing and total effort required to enter the chute during the actual event.  I wasn't out to set any personal records at max efforts.

The final 5 miles of Highway 80 contain a decent amount of climbing to them.  Strava rates this segment as a Category 2 level climb, similar in effort to Ceaser's Head.  The overall grade was reasonable, and I didn't really notice any major double digit gradings on my bike computer as we climbed to the top.  There are 2 switchbacks to deal near the end of the climb, but they were very manageable.  The views at this point were pretty, I noticed a really awesome dam as well as a reservoir and fishing communities on the way up.  

At the top is the junction with the BRP, and we took a real short break.  We made the turn onto the parkway, which to me marked the second segment of the ride.  You spend approximately 11 miles riding along the majestic roadway.  I was captivated by the constant view of the surrounding area.  It made the climb go by quickly.   This section has 3 segments of climbing, and 2 small descents.  Again there were no double digit grades to deal with, and here there were no switchbacks.  There are also plenty of pulloffs to stop at to admire the scenery or just catch your breath if needed.

Fantastic views, and a couple of tunnels to ride through

More fantastic views

At last we reached the first major sign of the goal:  The turn off from the parkway to the Mount Mitchell State Park.  

Turning off the Parkway

To me, this is really when the ride started to take a toll.  The hardest part was keeping the goal in mind mentally, and not getting ahead of myself or my intended pace.  Also, at this point I wasn't thinking about the efforts needed at higher altitudes, and we were almost a mile up from sea level.  Strava states that it is approximately 3 miles from the turn off of the parkway to the actual front gate of the state park.  The climb is considered category 3 by Strava, which is similar in effort to Paris Mountain.  The average grade is slightly steeper than the previous efforts, but again no major double digit grunts to deal with.

Are we there yet?

As we entered the gates, the temperature difference from the bottom was getting to be noticeable.  Several folks that we rode past asked "aren't you cold?", to which we shruged and said "not really."  By this point I had unintentionally created a gap between myself and my riding companions, as I was just attempting to keep a steady pace going.  The downside to this was the mental aspect of not quite knowing how much further I had to go, and what efforts I was going to need.  I made the decision to just keep on the main road to the end, as there were no additional markers stating that the summit was on any of the turn offs.  I also decided to not surge or try to push myself as I climbed.  This definitely was a wise choice.

The Summit was in view!

During the trip up, I had noticed that we had seen ice in the shady parts of the parkway, and that the temperatures were definitely chilly.  It wasn't until about halfway up the summit road that I really took notice of the conditions, though.  The smells and sights climbing the summit were outstanding.  The smell of fresh pine, the crisp  air, being able to see out for hundreds of miles, the sky that was so blue that you'd swear God was using PhotoShop that day.  It absolutely took my breath away.  The pine trees also looked different, to which I noticed that they were dusted with frost/snow on the tips.   The difference in climate was definitely something to take note of, as I would have to accommodate for that as a part of my packing for the trip.

I reached the top with no major incidents, although I did end up having a gentleman have words to me.  He attempted to pass me in a blind curve (on the road to the summit, 6700' above sea level) and was unhappy that I wasn't all the way over hugging the shoulder stripe.  I apologized for being in his way, and offered that passing someone in a blind curve is not the best concept on a mountain road.  Shortly after reaching the top the others in my group arrived, and we took a few minutes to admire the scenery and take some pictures.

I wish we could have spent more time up at the Summit, but we were not prepared for the chilly conditions that we encountered.  I quickly pulled the wind vest out of my back pocket that I brought for the descent, and we headed back to the car.  

The trip down was mostly uneventful, and very speedy.  I did learn a few valuable lessons on the way back, though.  The few places where we had small descents on the way up became small climbs on the way back.  After resting on the descents (we were already going speeds fast enough to need to ride our breaks on the way down, so there was absolutely no reason to pedal), putting effort into the climbs was a little tricky.  My stomach wasn't ready to go from zero effort to climbing like that, especially after a long duration climb that I had gone through previously.  The rapid change in altitude I'm sure didn't help that much, either.   Luckily I was keeping this in mind as we went, and I made sure to continue to eat and drink along the way, and take stops every so often.  Likewise I learned that the 3.5 hour grind to the top was near the limit of what my knee was willing to take, and that I need to be careful with it on the actual Assault.  The last thing I want is tendinitis now, or a flare up during the actual event.  I also had to ride my brakes a bit more than I probably should have along the way down as well, and as such I need to spend more time working on my slow descent skills for future events.  This part isn't going to be as big of a deal for the Assault on Mount Mitchell, as once we get to the Summit they truck us and our bikes down separately.  

I'm glad that I got to opportunity to take on Mitchell before heading up there on the Assault.  Knowing what level of effort is going to be required, and keeping that in mind as I'm keeping pace on the way to Marion will be critical during the event.  I don't think we could have picked a better day to do the run, either.  With or without the Assault, Mt Mitchell is on my "must ride" list for anyone that is serious about riding picturesque landscapes.  The efforts are not as demanding as some of the other hard climbs I've done in the past year, but the long term demand of climbing for over 3 hours will definitely take it's toll.  The view was totally worth the effort.

2013-03-30 AOMM Training Ride Recap

As a part of preparing for the Assault on Mount Mitchell this year, I am participating in as many of the training rides being offered through the Spartenburg Freewheeler's cycling community.

This was the 3rd of 5 training rides being offered, each of them increasing the distance and climbing in preparation for the Assault on May 20.  This ride promised to be approximately 75 miles long, and encompass at least 6,000 ft of climbing.   The featured climb that this ride was adding was Green River Cove.  Steepclimbs.com describes Green River Cove as:

One of the toughest climbs of the area is covered by trees and has 17 tight switchbacks. The grade is between 8-10% in the toughest spots, and steeper if the inside of the switchbacks are taken. Be careful of opposing traffic when climbing. The climb ends near the I-26 Saluda exit.

The part I was looking forward to was that the final 20 miles were pretty much downhill, so if I left it all on Green River Cove, I wasn't going to pay for it on the way back to the car.  Mostly I was looking forward to being rewarded with a massively fun descent down the Saluda Grade.  My major goal for this ride was to be prepared for fueling, and to try to not make any major mistakes that would make me feel ill during the ride.  I'm not going to make any massive changes in fitness in 7 weeks, and knowing how to get the calories I need for a sustained ride effectively is much more my focus.  

;

The ride left out of Landrum, SC.  We met there, and got our instructions from the ride organizer.  A very large portion of the instruction time was spent on Holbert's Cove, for very good reason.  This is a tricky descent, and it was very clearly stated that you needed to be actively braking throughout, and not trying to speed down.  There is a switchback about 3/4 of the way down that is very unexpected, and if you are not aware of it you will crash into the trees and more than likely need to be air-lifted out by paramedics.  It's happened on the training rides before when folks that are unfamiliar with the route do not pay attention and go barreling down.  After the instructions were done, the A group started out.  The B group took a bit longer to get ready, as we had a few people show up late and weren't quite ready to roll when the A group left, so we waited an extra few minutes and go the show on the road.

The trip from Landrum to Tryon is a pretty familiar route at this point, and for the most part is uneventful.  This is the shortest distance I've used for warm up heading this direction, but after 6 miles we made the turn onto 176 for the Saluda Grade.  This is the third time I've gone up the lower section of the Saluda grade, and there really isn't anything ultra challenging about this section at this point for me.  It's about a mile and a half long, and averages around 5% grade.  My goal here was to keep a steady pace, and to be prepared for the trip up Fork Creek Road.  I did enjoy being able to see the waterfall about halfway up the climb, which is usually obstructed by the trees.  





After making up to Pearson Falls Road, we regrouped and started up Fork Creek.  I am much more familiar with this as a descent than as a climb, but climbing it definitely tests your mettle.  It's not all that challenging, but at an average grade of 6% immediately after the lower portion of the Saluda Grade, it definitely gives you a workout.  It didn't help that we had traffic on the road today, but I'm very grateful that we didn't have a lot of folks descending after situations like this:



Seeing a truck pulling a camper rounding a switchback in the oncoming lane was just nuts.  I'm just glad the traffic coming down was sparse enough that no one got hurt. 

We regrouped at the top of Fork Creek, and continued on to Mountain Page Road.  Instead of turning right on Mountain Page Road and going into Saluda, we descending down the Greenville Watershed to Old Highway 25, and then climbed back up to Flat Rock, NC.  




In Flat Rock we made the turn back onto Highway 176, and made our way to Saluda.  This was mostly downhill section, but there were a fair number of rolling hills.  Once in Saluda we made our first store stop.

It was also at this point that I knew that my fueling plan was not working as well as I had intended.  I had been attempting to make sure to have gels and jellybeans along with my sports drink, but by the time we reached Flat Rock I was starting to not feel the best.  Looking back on it now I'm pondering that I wasn't getting enough calories in, instead of it actually being sour stomach.   At the store stop I refilled 2 of my water bottles, and had a little more to eat of the food I brought with me.  

One of the big challenges I was trying to work out was how to get to the food as I'm going.  What I've found is that opening up these "100 calorie packs" of the sports food while riding... sucks.  The best I've found are the tubes that the Perpetuem chews come in.  I've kept the packaging and reused them for the sports beans, which seems to work pretty well.  The gels aren't too horrid to deal with, and trying to have enough variety in flavor of gels in my flasks may be unreasonable.   At this point I took 2 of the sport beans packages and put them together into one envelope, so I just had to reach for the one thing while on the ride.  I also mixed the caffeinated ones with the regular beans.  For future rides I think I'm going to pre-load them into tubes, and mix the sports beans with normal beans to cut the amount of electrolytes I'm getting from food.  The beans are a nice consistency, and are easy to handle because of the harder shell, but since I'm keeping sports drink with me I don't need a steady diet of them.  

After the store stop we worked our way down Holberts Cove.  This is definitely not just a nice easy drop down to the base of the Green River.  First of all, about 1/4 of the way down there's a nasty .3 miles of climbing at 11-20%.  Definitely enough to make you build up lactic acid quickly, and exhaust your legs.  Second is that the descents come quickly, with a couple of very sharp curves.  When the ride organizer said "you had better be careful", he wasn't just overreacting.  Right before a ~90 degree turn there is a drop that you will gain a LOT of speed on if you aren't careful.  By the time you see the "slow" that someone put onto the pavement, the grade has already gotten steep.  By the time you see the road sign, you are in trouble if you don't have your speed under control.



After the hairpin curve, we made our way down to the base of the Green River, and started our way up to the climb at Green River Cove.  

This section is relatively flat, and today it really looked like a area that time forgot.  There are numerous cabins that line the road here, and during season this is a very popular tubing and kayaking spot.  There were a few folks out to Kayak in the water today, but for the most part we had the road to ourselves.   Once we had gotten comfortable with a nearly flat stretch for about 6 miles, the fun starts!

Green River Cove is known for it's switchbacks.  Steepclimbs.com states that it famously has 17 switchbacks, and while I haven't taken the time to go onto the map and count them, I know that they are marked on the pavement as you go up.  The numbers start at 23, and every turn the numbers decrease until you reach 3.  Why it starts at 3 and ends at 23 I'm not entirely sure, but I know those numbers are there, and I use them to determine just how much further I have to go.  I also attempt to not look up or down too much as I'm climbing, as you can typically see 2-3 levels of the climb at any given point, showing you just how steep the grade is.  The thing about switchbacks that I've found is if you can manage to get through the switchback itself, typically there is a spot of lower grade where you get a small reprieve to be able to spin and recover.  That is, you get a 8% grade to recover on.  


About halfway up the climb you get a longer section that is 10-12% with no real recovery areas on it.  At this point in the climb I really was pondering if I needed to stop.  I had been dealing with nausea on and off throughout the climb, and at this point I was really not feeling like I could continue very well.  I decided I would take it one switchback at a time, and looked down to see that the number on the curve was at around 13.  I really concentrated on those numbers.  I have only had to stop on one climb so far, and that was on Skyuka Mountain Road.  I was determined to not end up needing a second stop.  I slowly made my way the rest of the way up without stopping, and went ahead to the store stop to rest.  I got off the bike, sat down, and had some water.  By this time I was miserable, to the point of pondering if I needed to use the SAG.  

After we were done with the store stop, we worked our way back to 176 to go down the Saluda Grade.  I was the last of the folks in the group to make it to the grade, as I was just taking it easy and trying to keep down whatever I could to stay hydrated.  I knew the descent was fun, though, so I didn't want to give up just yet.  
That plus at this point the ride was mostly downhill, with a few rollers left between me and the car.  I'm glad I pushed on.  I ended up working my way down the grade faster than most of the group, and had another chance to rest at the meet up spot.  Once there I decided that I needed to try a gelpack, and either I'd bring it back up or it would help.  Gladly, it helped a lot.  At this point I was tempted to have another, but I opted for a few of the sports beans and some water to wash it all down, and worked a few more beans as I went on the last few miles.  The further we went, the stronger I started feeling again.  I never did entirely get to the "not feeling ill" point, but I was able to keep with the front of the pack all of the way back to the cars.  

We made it back, and I packed up and headed home.  Overall this was an extremely valuable learning experience for me, and I definitely have some good take away points to work on for my next long ride.  The Assault on the Carolinas is in 2 weeks, and will be my next long ride.  With only 3 more long rides planned before the Assault on Mount Mitchell, I need to take every chance I can get to work in testing of my plan to make sure I can keep hydrated and properly fueled for the entire ride.