Our new sports obsession: Bicycling

I passed the rest of the trip in a state of near-reverence for those beautiful, peaceful, soulful mountains. The rides were demanding and quiet, and I rode with a pure love of the bike, until Boone began to feel like the Holy Land to me, a place I had to come to on a pilgrimage...I got my life back on those rides.
Lance Armstrong, It's Not About the Bike

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2003 Cycling Page

Cycling cartoons from the webmaster of the Thornhill Mobile HomePage

Tour de Leaves

(October 9, 2004) This is a benefit for the Henderson County YMCA, organized by Frannie Jacobus of BITS fame. This was a last minute addition to my 2004 ride calendar -- I had planned to do it, then thought I wouldn't be able to, then ended up being in town, after all, so I headed out for the "TdL Lite" at only a little over 30 miles. It was a nice ride, made more pleasant by encountering Mary Dunning and some of her friends, so I had a group to ride with that wasn't extraordinarily faster than me. The best part of this ride was buying the TdL jersey, which I believe has eclipsed the one from BS&G as my favorite.

Fabulous Fourth

(July 4, 2004) I turned in my best ride yet -- averaging 14.3 miles per hour. That's not great for many cyclists, but it is for me. I didn't think I was going to do so well, because I didn't start well, but I found a second wind near the Greenville watershed, and "powered" (for me) my way up the climb to Saluda. It was the first time I've felt that second wind effect. I hope I can repeat it some day.

Blood, Sweat & Gears

(June 26, 2004) I debated back and forth on whether to do the 50 or 100 mile route, right up until the start. I decided to see how I felt when I got to the intersection where the two rides split. At that point, I was feeling pretty good: near the back of the pack (actually, way back from anything qualifying as a "pack"), but I was still passing some people on that long initial climb. Turns out most of those people must have been just doing the 50, because I was one of the last 5-10 riders to hit the first rest stop on the century. I was still feeling good until the second rest stop, but by about mile 50 I was wishing that was all I'd attempted.

Snake Mountain was quite tough -- tougher, in and of itself, than any individual stretch of Mitchell -- but I managed to ride the whole way without walking (although I did have to stop twice to catch my breath, and once to tell the SAG driver to go on around -- nothing I hate worse than a car that won't pass me when it's clear, even if it's someone trying to help). I didn't make the time cut-off to mile 82. It was at 2:30, and I got there around 3:15, so I got diverted straight to the finish for a total of 88 miles.

Even though I wasn't able to finish this one, I -did- feel like I was riding better and taking better care of myself than on Mitchell by eating and staying hydrated. My legs just still don't have enough in them to propel me that kind of distance over that kind of terrain in anything resembling a respectable time.

Assault on Mount Mitchell

(May 22, 2004) After last year's "warm up" ride to Marion, this year it was time to take it to the top. Easier said than done.

The first 70 miles went much better and quicker than last year, thanks to David Plunkett reining in his normal pace to ride with me. Even that pace was faster than my usual solo speed, and I cut about an hour off last year's time to Marion. I felt really good at that point, and figured the rest would be a snap. Turns out, I probably pushed too hard on that initial stretch, because I sure paid the price on the remaining miles to the top.

The weather had been perfect, up to the point where the road pointed uphill. Then, not far up NC 80, the skies opened up. Between there and the summit of Mitchell, I rode through three separate full-blown thunderstorms (not the kind of weather that engenders confidence, when one is perched atop a piece of metal without much between one's sensitive areas and said metal). Between the weather and the continual climbing (and the 70+ miles I'd already pedaled), I seriously considered abandoning at several points. At one rest stop on the Parkway, I quit: took off the helmet and gloves, laid down the bike, asked where to find a SAG ride to the top. (Un?)Fortunately, there was not a SAG going to the top -- only to the bottom -- and I knew Tracey had been up since 3am for this and was now at the top waiting for me, so I decided to press on until the next SAG vehicle came by. Another couple of hours of riding and walking (with no SAG sighting), and I rolled in with a time of 11:33:01. I wasn't the last to finish, although I didn't miss by much.

When it was all over, I had no interest in ever trying to ride from Spartanburg to Mount Mitchell again. That lasted about a day. By the next evening, I was already planning what to do differently next year to finish in better shape (goal for 2005: 8 1/2 hours).

The first finishers reached the top in just over five hours. That's nothing: they probably don't weigh more than 150. Try hauling 230 pounds on a bicycle seat for 11 1/2 hours, and then you'll have done some work!

Issaqueena's Last Ride

(May 8, 2004) This was to have been my second century ride, and a good warm-up for the Assault on Mount Mitchell. One hundred miles in the hills around Walhalla, South Carolina (it's another of the ECCC rides), featuring "a cumulative elevation gain of about 8500 feet highlighted by the climb toward Whitewater Falls and Wigington Overlook," according to the brochure. Oh, and the brochure also reads "Please know your strength and do not overreach." Fat chance.

It was a warm morning, but about 20 miles into the ride I hooked up with a great group of riders with whom to share the heat and the misery. Turns out they're from the greater Hendersonville and Saluda areas, members of an informal cycling cult called the Blue Ridge BITS. I rode with them (actually, behind them) for the remainder of the ride. The brochure didn't lie about the climbing, and three of us cut our rides to around 81 miles, taking a shortcut back to Walhalla when our legs cried "uncle" following the climb to the overlook.

BRBC Spring Fat Burners

I took off every Tuesday in April in order to get some long rides in before Mitchell. I only ended up riding two of those rides (although I did ride on three of the Tuesdays).

(April 6, 2004) The first was the loop from First Baptist Church in downtown Asheville, down Bear Creek nearly to Marshall, back out to Leicester Highway and over Doggett Mountain, into Hot Springs, then back on 25/70 and 251 through Marshall and along the river to Asheville. I made it as far as the Alexander Mountain Bike Park, for a total of 80 miles, before I threw in the towel and called Tracey to pick me up. The climb over Doggett was a killer, the lunch break in Hot Springs was too long, and my posterior had not been on a saddle nearly enough yet to carry on. This was also the first of the rides where I began to get a real good idea of the mental aspect of cycling. It was to reappear two weeks later on another Fat Burner, and rear its head with a vengeance during the Assault on Mount Mitchell in May.

(April 13, 2004) The second attempt at my first century was to have been the Caesars Head ride, but when I woke up to a thunderstorm, I decided it was easier to turn off the alarm and sleep awhile longer. A few riders did make that journey, but I waited until the sun came out later in the morning, and rode up the Blue Ridge Parkway from Liberty Bikes almost to Craggy Gardens. I was probably within a mile or so of the entrance when it started sleeting, so I made my U-turn a little early and headed back.

(April 20, 2004) This ride left Liberty Bikes, headed to Rosman on part of the Assault on the Carolinas route along the French Broad headwaters, then up the longest mountain I'd ever ridden up. After Doggett two weeks prior, I thought I was ready for any climb. Turns out Doggett is just a little hill compared to this trek up Highway 215 to the Parkway (hopefully I'll feel that way about this climb some day). I made the mistake of not replenishing water at the last store, which didn't help matters any after I slogged along to the top (finishing only because there was no alternative and no way to get word to the rest of the group that I was just going to keel over and die; this will sound familiar if you're reading this from top to bottom; if you're reading in chronological order, consider this foreshadowing). I'm sure the other riders waited for well over an hour after they finished the climb until I appeared. A few of them went on ahead to the finish, but several waited for me (and then easily left me behind again on the Parkway). I had run out of water on the climb and got thirsty enough that I was collecting water running out of the rocks in my water bottle. That probably wasn't the safest thing I could have done, gastrointestinally, but I came through it with no ill effects. Drink and food hope lay ahead at the Pisgah Inn store -- which turned out to be closed. Fortunately, there was a Coke machine that was plugged in and filled (and whose dollar bill slot worked, since I didn't have any change), and a water spigot on the side of the building also worked, so I was able to get some caffeine and sugar as well as fill my bottles. The descent from the Pisgah Inn was fun, although my slow pace meant we ran into some traffic on the "commuter stretch" of the Parkway. At the finish: 104.5 miles for my first century. Tracey made it even more special by getting a certificate and baseball cap made to commemorate the accomplishment.

Jubilee Joy Ride

(April 3, 2004) Back to the relative flatlands of an ECCC ride. The route for this ride took us on some new roads in the Pendleton area. So far, most of the rides we've done in the greater Anderson/Pendleton area have followed many of the same roads, but this one took us on the other side of Highway 76 (although we did follow a few miles of familiar pavement). Mike Johnson passed us a few miles from the finish, doing his metric route while we cruised along on our 28 miler.
We weren't as impressed with this ride as with the other ECCC rides we've done. The route was well marked, but the start/finish area was nothing more than a registration table and a place to park; a second rest stop listed on the cue sheet never materialized; and they apparently think only small people ride bikes, since the T-shirts only went up to size XL (this also appears to be the case with Issaqueena's Last Ride, the next ride on the ECCC calendar -- nothing larger for plus-sized cyclists). Minor complaints, I'll admit. Overall, still a fun ride.

Assault On the Carolinas

(March 27, 2004) Our first organized ride of the year. The Assault On the Carolinas is a fundraiser for the Pisgah Forest Rotary Club in Brevard, and includes a 100K and a 40K ride. We, not surprisingly, opted for the 40K. The hills, chilly morning and a bout of exercise-induced asthma all combined to give Tracey a rougher ride than she'd bargained for. Despite the challenges, though, she persevered to a fine finish, thanks to the promise of a post-ride stop at Taco Bell. We also continued our luck at the raffle drawings. Today it was a Sycamore Cycles ballcap (to add to previous wins of a picnic basket at last year's NAMI ride and a water bottle at Raptors in 2003).

Read About Our 2003 Rides

We're members of two cycling clubs:

Blue Ridge Bicycle Club in Asheville

Electric City Cycling Club in Anderson, SC