3 State 3 Mountain Century ride - Cycle

This will be pretty long RR but there is so much to talk about. The first thing that was cool about this ride was starting in a mass of 2000 bike riders, very neat. The second is that the last mountain we go up was just traveled by the pros 2 weeks before. Lookout Mountian is on the time trail stage on the Tour de Goergia; so that was very cool to know that I would get to suffer along the same route as the pro's did.

Starting time was 8am and we started at a elevation of 598 (this will be put in perspective later). As we started (I rode with a friend from Nashville who had been riding a long time, so I was afraid of keeping up with him) we rode along the streets of Chattanooga, we even got on the highway for a short time and they had one lane closed just for us. As we went thru the end of the city, we rode a lot by the Tennessee river which was very scenic, there were also a lot of people out cheering for us; I am sure 2000 bikers is quite the spectacle.
We rode thru some tunnels along the river and I saw a lot of people having flats and I just hoped my new tires would hold out. It was very neet to ride with packs of like 20 riders and get to draft. I have not rode with a lot of riders before so I was a little concerened about rules and etiquette and such but I ended up doing fine. Whe avereaged 19-20 miles a hour here and I felt really good about the pace, was not Suck mountain (I know silly name). The climb up Suck Mtn was long but I felt really good about the climb, I went to my easiest gear and tried to keep my cadence up by spinning. The climb was a little over 4 miles long and to a elevation of 2,073 ft!!!! yes that is right 2,072 ft. As we decended the mountain we got some really good speeds, there was a lot of switchbacks and turns on the down ride so you could not really let go (I tried not to ride the brakes), I think my top speed was 39mph. At the bottom of Suck Mtn was the first SAG stop but we past it on (it was very crowded). I do want to give a shout out to the SAG crews, there was lots of trucks riding around to help the riders with bike problems and I think every SAG stop had everything to eat and drink there. There would even be kids there that would come up and ask what you wanted and would bring it to you; that was a great touch... Nice to someone fill up your bottles with what ever and then bring it to you. So the SAG stops were awesome, ate a lot of PB&J sandwiches.
At the bottom of the mountain we rode thru a lot of little country towns (were some people would be out cheering for us), seen a lot of flats again, avr speed was 18mph and still felt good. We would latch on to groups and ride them for a while until the group feel a part or they dropped us (there was some damn fast riders out there). At around mile 35 my legs started to get a little tired and I could feel the need to get a little something in my belly. At mile 40 was another SAG stop and we stopped there. This was a huge SAG stop right along Nickajack Damn and the Tennessee River. I ate and filled up my bottles and took a potty break. I think in 7 minutes we were done and ready to hit the rode again. From mile 40 to mile 49 we continued thru back country roads that were rolling, some with some pretty good hills. When we reached mile 49 we crossed over into Alabama. At mile 52 it was time to ascend our second mountian, this time it was called Sand mountain. We went a back way up the mountain, there was some steep parts where I had to stand, again easiest gear and tried to keep my cadence up. There was a lot of switchbacks to this mountain road and no cars. This mountain climb was 2.8 miles long and had a elevation of 1,600 feet. As we neared the summit the sweat really began to fall from my body and it was very salty, I knew I was working hard and was loosing a lot of fluid. At mile 55 we hit another SAG stop, had a kid fill up my bottles and I ate some PB&J along with some chips to put some salt back in my body. This climb was pretty hard but no where was I ready to quit. The down hill after the second mountain was not very steep, very rolling and at times didnt feel like we were going downhill at all. As we past mile 60 we crossed over into Georgia, my legs were know beginning to feel the day. At this point I was trying to pull my friend and I turned around to look and he was way back there, hmmm I thought I dropped him, imagine that. I knew he would catch up with me sooner or later so I just continued on my course. I knew my body was getting tired because the smaller rolling hills egan to become more difficult and I didnt attack them with the same vigor I had earlier in the ride. The steepest parts of the downhill were a nice break for the legs, I usually just got low and raised my butt off the seat some to give it a rest. I even passed this one guy who was peddeling as I coasted by...
We continued thru onto more country roads with rolling hills, I cursed the up hills and the down hills were nearly not long enough. My friend caught back up with me and we talked about how tired we were and I told him about how toasty my legs were beginning to feel. He agreed and said he felt the same way.
At mile 81 we reached a local SAG (was not a scheduled SAG), this was from some of the people who lived at the bottm of lookout mountain. My friend said we need to stop and get a little recharge as weel as psyched up for the climb that would be a mile away. We talked to a guy from Colorado who came here for the ride. We stayed there for a few minutes and then it was time to get this last mountain over with.
We rode ,5 miles and turned left and there you could see what was in front of us. 2.4 miles of pure hell... Lookout Mountain is the mountain that has Ruby Falls and Rock City (yes it really exists... you are supposed to be able to see 7 states from the top of lookout mountain and I was now getting ready to climb it). As I looked up the mountain it looked like a steady stream of brightly colored ants all going in a like weaving back and forth up the mountain. There was little sayings on the road chalked in to give you words of encouragment. The first mile was not bad, as I rode lowest gear sitting trying to remain relaxed. As we neared the mile and a hlaf marker the grade became steeper, I had been told that the last 300 yards is the hardest and I tried to keep my energy for what was to come. I did pass a few people but mostly tried not to wear out my quads, I shifted around the seat a lot trying to find places to work mucles differently or to just give other muscle groups a rest. When we finally reached the last hardest part of the hill, I looked down to see the words "here we go" written in the road in paint. I then looked up to see pure hell... I am not sure what the % grade was but it felt like 60%. I beared down knowing I only had 300 more yeards to go. I stood up, looked down and my cadence was now 37 and my speed was 4.3mph. I was sweating and tried not to look at what was infront of me. As I cleared 100 yards I hit a bump and hesitated on the pedal, I thought I would fall and I unclipped. I got off the bike to walk the rest of the way up the hill defeated. I had sweat dripping from me and my quads burned. As I walked I almost past a rider going up the hill on a bike. We made a turn to the right and I could hear people cheering and cow bells. I know I had to get back on the bike. As I started to a old man asked me if I needed a push. I agreed and he pushed me a few feet so I could get clipped back in. The final 125 yards were steep and hard. The cheers and cowbells cheered me on and I passed the words on the road (chaulked in) "are you having fun yet" Odly enough when I looked at them they were wrote as you were passing them so when I read them the first time I read them back to front and thougt it was some evil Yoda reference and could picture him saying "Yet fun are you having"... I had to laugh when I realized what the words said the right way.
When we got to the top the SAG station was right there. I pulled over unclipped and just leaned over the handle bars of my bike. I had survived Lookout Mountain, a 1,800 foot climb in a mear 2.4 miles. I had made it...
As I sat slumped over my bike, some nice lady went and filled up my water bottles. I sat there a long time trying to get my breath while I waited on my friend to get there. He finally did and rode past me to go and collapse in the grass. I walked over to him and we sat there in the grass talking about the climb, I confessed that I walked 100 yards of it, he laughed and said he had to walk up the the lst 400 yards...
We got up a few minutes later and I said lets get this thing over with.
We got back on the bike we had a mere 13 miles to go. We rode along the rode on lookout, rollong hills more and my legs did not like it. My quards were screaming to me to stop. One guy we passed and talk to for a moment was from St. Louis, he asked if we were close and my friend said yes, I then said "we are so close you can smell it" he then turned to me and said the only thing he smelled was his ass burning... We all laughed.
At this point my right quad muscle on the inside started to bulge and pulsate and I knew I was starting to get a cramp. I tried to work it out and changed where I was sitting to take some pressure off of it.
This was the longest part of the ride for me. More rolling hills with little climbs, I would muscle thru them in the easiest gear. At this point I asked myself why I did these thigs to my body, why do we punish ourselves like this. I mean I get asked this all the time, why am I crazy like this, doing all this exercise. It is at the point the only answer I could give was te feel of pain. I mean I wanted to quit at mile 70 and here I was with less than 7 miles to go in my first century. I think it is the need all of us have to push our bodies well past the limit they want us to. The point where our brain has said, nope I am done but we continue to push and turn the next corner.
At mile 95 we took at right to begin our descent down lookout. This was by far the best part for me. As we started down the hill, it was more straight with less switchbacks and you could really get some speed. I looked down to see my speed at 42.4 mph... WOW how exciting was that.
The ride off the mountain seemed like a mintue compared to the 34 minute climb up it. As we neared the bottom there was a bar and grill with people sitting on the deck who cheered for us as we went by.
We made a turn to the right and headed back thru the streets of Chattanooga for a few miles, as we crossed streets there were police blocking traffic and I made a point to say thank you to every officer.
As me and my friend were talking about the down hill, he asked me if it was fun and I told him somene owes me a ticket because I was speeding coming down the hill (speed limit 35mph, my speed 42). He laughed, we had 1 mile to go and I made the remark that we were going 19mph now and that was funny to be going that fast after 99 miles. We took a turn to the right then a turn to the left and there it was the finish.
As we crossed the finish, the clock said 7 hours and 1 minute.

I had made it... I have to say though, hats off to you IM people because I really dont think I could have put on shoes and went out to run 26.2 miles after that.



The only thing I think would have made me be able to do this better would be have lots of riding years under my belt. This was a very challenging century for my first one; not really sure what I was thinking...

I know I need to ride lots and lots.

Ate pizza, drank two beers.
Sat around and talked to other riders about what we just did.

I still cant believe 2000 people paid money to do that...

We are truely a crazy bunch of people...


in the words of Bear... "Ride lots Ride lots"...


This was awesome. The SAG was awesome and I was totally happy with my time and ability.