FLCC> Ride Report - Brasstown Bald - U.F.O.- correction

Sat Mar 22 23:43:12 EDT 2008

there is a stretch called the wall that is about 20%.  the first time that
hill was used in a race was in 1988.  it was part of the athens pepsi
twilight criterium weekend.  i was in grad school at the time (TN) and
went to a braves game the weekend before mainly to scout the hill on the
way home.  our team (thompson photo) was one of the few to have decent
gearing.  i used a 42-26 to finish 11 over all as a cat 3 (just a good
race and semi adequate gearing).  i remember the coors light guys begging
to buy cogs before their race.  it is steep.  not sure a 39-27 is
adequate.

tom

> You have learned well, Grasshopper.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Charles Hamilton" <cph1 at cornell.edu>
> To: "FLCC at icycle.org" <flcc at icycle.org>
> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 5:50 PM
> Subject: Re: FLCC> Ride Report - Brasstown Bald - U.F.O.- correction
>
>
>> Quick correction, Eric Smith rightly pointed out that 1700 feet in
>> three miles is not 20%, more like 10% overall, parts sure felt that
>> way though.
>>
>> There was another bit of fanciful, fantastical, fabulous, frivolous,
>> flippant, far fetched, fiction in that write up, but I can't seem to
>> recall which bit it was... Maybe I had too much feta on the brain.
>>
>> Thanks for reading,
>>
>> -Charles
>>
>> On 21/03/2008, Charles Hamilton <cph1 at cornell.edu> wrote:
>>> Very lucky to be in Helen, Georgia for the weekend.  High of 64 today,
>>>  bright sunny skies.  I left Thursday morning in a snowstorm, can't say
>>>  I'm too heartbroken about being far from home today.
>>>
>>>  Ride today was 5.5 hours,  and included three major climbs, elation at
>>>  making it to the top of what may be the steepest road I've ever
>>>  climbed, and the agony of the third climb taking over an hour when I
>>>  was completely bonked.
>>>
>>>  Being on vacation, I didn't leave until the temp outside had climbed a
>>>  bit.  I headed north out of Helen wearing a wool jersey, shorts and
>>>  arm warmers.  The road out of town runs next to the Chattahoochee
>>>  river for a while before starting the climb about 1500 feet up Unicoi
>>>  Gap, I'm feeling good and don't even have to resort to the new 28
>>>  tooth cog I had just put on the bike yesterday.  Descending down the
>>>  other side of the gap there's a group of 4 shaved leg road riders
>>>  followed by a pace car coming up the other side, the first riders I've
>>>  seen for a while, I'm wondering who they were as I turn left to begin
>>>  the gradual rise to the base of Brasstown Bald.
>>>
>>>  Another rider coming towards me waves from a distance and then looks
>>>  straight ahead, Phonak jersey, square jaw, expensive glasses, I swear
>>>  to myself that I just saw Floyd Landis riding in the other direction.
>>>  Shaking off my psychosis, I look back just as I start the gradual rise
>>>  about 1/4 mile away and notice the phantom Floyd just at the edge of
>>>  my vision, turning around at the corner to come back my way.  Well
>>>  Floyd or no Floyd, I'm feeling good so I get a good cadence going as I
>>>  move up the risers.
>>>
>>>  So a couple of turns before the base of the climb, sure enough, Mr.
>>>  Phonak is gaining on me fast.  I'm doing my best impression of
>>>  someone-at-the-rivet-trying-not-to-show-it, as he pulls up next to me,
>>>  hands on the top of his bars, not breathing heavy at all.  "Howdy" he
>>>  says and I turn realizing that it is actually Floyd, not my
>>>  imagination: jersey, helmet, jaw, grey bike with the logos removed,
>>>  the whole bit..  He asks how I'm doing, I stammer something, he nods
>>>  and rides away from me quickly, like, like... well he rides away from
>>>  me like a Tour de France winner riding away from a 35 year old cat 4.
>>>  I'm still pinching myself, wondering why I didn't say more and realize
>>>  that he likely didn't want to engage in the same old regular guy to
>>>  super-biker conversation that he must alway get.  I spin as best as I
>>>  can, but he's away from me well before turn to Brasstown comes into
>>>  view.
>>>
>>>  Ok, Floyd F. Landis just rode away from me and I'm looking up this
>>>  mountain saying, 20% grade?  They must be kidding, everyone says 20%,
>>>  but can it really be...  Well check out the ride profile from the Tour
>>>  de Georgia: (http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=3969).  I
>>>  really never knew they made roads that steep.  Damn.  I think I
>>>  divorced Linnie and proposed to my meager 28 tooth cog halfway up.  If
>>>  I had access to a triple half way up that climb, I likely would have
>>>  traded my entire bike for it.  As I start up all I can think is
>>>  where's the sky?  It seems to be entirely filled with road, straight
>>>  up and away from my front tire.  Think the very steepest part of the
>>>  turn on Blakesley only straight and 3 miles long.   Three miles and
>>>  maybe 1700 feet total gain?  If it had been any steeper it would have
>>>  needed a fricken escalator.
>>>
>>>  So I'm doing track stands on my 39/28 slowly going up the switchbacks
>>>  as I approach the first mile marker at 12 minutes into the climb, a
>>>  speedy 5 miles an hour by the back of the envelope of my blood
>>>  deprived brain.  Ok, I think, maybe the second mile isn't as bad.  All
>>>  I want to do is not get off and push, maybe avoid doing the back and
>>>  forth weave would be nice too.  Around a corner I look up and the road
>>>  is straight up for about 200 meters.
>>>
>>>  I don't think my first car could have climbed that grade.  There's a
>>>  rider resting at the top wearing a bright yellow rain jacket, I grit
>>>  my teeth and roll slowly up.  Mid-way I try the weave with no luck,
>>>  the turns on each end of the weave are so steep I'm about to fall over
>>>  and I realize I won't be able to restart.  Straight up it is, I just
>>>  manage to catch the rainjacket guy who informs me the section we just
>>>  did was called the wall (does every ride have a wall?) and that it's
>>>  easier from here.  He also has a triple with a 36 on the back, I think
>>>  it was bigger than the front ring...  Mile three is not as incredible
>>>  steep and we make it to the top together.
>>>
>>>  >From here, it's back down and through a valley to a roadside grocery
>>>  and more water.  I run into the 4 person team with the car again.
>>>  They ride for some tavern in Athens, Georgia and are all younger
>>>  looking and skinnier looking than Joe Bailey, shaved legs, sidi shoes,
>>>  carbon bikes, chase car, the whole bit.  Leaving the skinny cats at
>>>  the store I roll back a ways to catch the start of climb #3 and the
>>>  road back to Helen.  My legs feel about 25 lbs heavier than normal and
>>>  every part of me is starting to hurt.  Ok, well how bad could this
>>>  climb be?
>>>
>>>  Well, check the road profile (which I didn't have at the time) and
>>>  you'll know what I didn't.  It's a cat1 climb, 1500 odd feet, ungodly
>>>  grade at the end.  I've never had a longer hour on a bike.  Every turn
>>>  I'm thinking, it must finish just around the corner...ok, maybe this
>>>  corner... but no, another long grade.  I manage not to walk it or
>>>  weave it, but damn was I slow.  I could have walked faster.  The guys
>>>  downtown on their huge three wheel bike contraptions could have gone
>>>  faster than me.  I was on the edge of cramping the whole time (why do
>>>  I do this to myself?  Why not take up knitting?) but managed not to
>>>  cramp just as I finally made the summit.
>>>
>>>  >From there it was quick descent and some insult to injury rollers on
>>>  the way back to Helen and a hot shower.  Now I'm sitting by the river
>>>  on the deck eating and drinking everything in sight.  No further Floyd
>>>  sightings, but there's always tomorrow...
>>>
>>>  -Charles
>>>
>>>  _______________________________________________
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>>>  FLCC at icycle.org
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>>>
>>
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-- 
Tom Swensen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences
Ithaca College
Ithaca NY  14850

607.274.3114
tswensen at ithaca.edu