Assault on Mt. Mitchell - Cycle

The ride started right on time to the second, which was too bad for me as I did not roll up to the start until about 4 minutes before go-time, which put me about 500 deep from the front. Normally that would be OK, as I would just hammer for 10~15 minutes, but as I had no idea what to expect from this ride I just sat back and rode easy at my base effort. In some ways this was great as it set me up so that I would be riding through folks all day. Within about ten miles I was in a pretty good group that swelled quickly to about 75 riders. I diligently sat just behind the group of guys that seemed happy to work on the front, but did not do any work myself - my instructions were to sit in and ride my efforts and go to the front or solo if my effort made me. It was admittadlly difficult, but with IMLP just around the corner I have to get refocused on doing my thing and ignoring what is going on around me. Of the countless things I have learned over these last three years of long course training and racing, that is rule number one.

The weather was great, a little morning humidity and low 70s early with a good bit of fog that made for a lovely ride on the back country roads. The humidity and temps would drop all day as we headed north and gained elevation. There are not too many turns on the course, which is nice, but the guys in front got caught out not really paying attention to the markings. As my Garmin was giving me a warning that a right hand turn was coming up and I was signaling to those behind me, the worker bees just rocketed right on past the turn.i yelled ahead and made the turn (fortunately I was queued up on the shoulder) and chaos ensued. Most of the lead guys were down the road, half of the folks behind me kept on and about half turned with me, and we were on a fairly long descent. I sat up and freewheeled awhile waiting for the group to get back on as I really did not want to be on the front just yet. I cruised along fairly easy for a while, but the group never really formed back up - I am not sure what happened to the front guys, I assume at some point they figured out their mistake, but after about 10 more minutes it began to get really hilly and what was left of the group fractured. Typical stuff, I watched power and rode a fairly consistent curve both up and down, while most everyone around me yo-yo'd the ups and downs: way too hard up and way to easy down. With the first biggish climb coming around mile 47, I figured this was a good enough place to pick up the effort just a little bit and start riding across from small group to small group. I would occasionally pick up a few folks that would ride with me for a while between groups, but then they would fall off - I couldn't get anyone to work in, which was fine and fair as I knew the grippier bit of the ride would be solo due to the sheer nature of the final climb.

About 60 miles in I rode up to a group of about 25 or so riders and I was sitting in catching my breath for the jump around another dude that was also jumping across came blowing by us like we were going backwards. I jumped on his wheel and he made a massive heroic pull across to the next group. He didn't slow down at all but instead just went around, so I went with him, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. As soon as we get past, he flicks me around, which you have to take up after the dude did as much work as he did. So despite my better judgement I went around and did my best to match his effort, which really put me on the edge for a bit. We got to the next group and were both happy to sit in for just a moment, but as own as we hit the next hills he was gone up the road - way, way out of my league if I wanted to finish well.

Around mile 72 is where e ride gets fun as you reach the toe of Mt. Mitchell just as you ride through the town of Marion. Since the route up the mountain is rather narrow and there is not a lot of parking at the top, Marion is the parking and shuttle point for most of the riders and their families. So II is a great way to start the climb as there is a very large and festive crowd there watching the riders come through. After the spectators watch their riders come through they can board a bus and ride up to the top to cheer some more.


From this point on what has been a nice scenic ride then tops itself and gets crazy-beautiful. You ride past streams, rivers, and mountain lakes as you climb through the lush mountain laurel and up toward the clouds. With 22 miles to go we hit 5500 feet of total climbing and it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks the difficulty of what we were doing: because we had another 5500 feet to go. Oof. I just kept watching my power, HR, and cadence, and just kept climbing. I was very, very happy to have borrowed my wife's climby wheels and most particularly her 12-28 cassette (I normally climb with a compact/12-25). Having those few more RPMs was fantastic, particularly since it was going to take me almost 3 more hours to get to the summit.

I will admit I despaired just a little when after 45 minutes of steady climbing I passed a road sign that said "16 miles to the Summit." For a brief moment it just seemed impossible. The aid stations were steadily getting closer and closer together, but as the mountain continued to turn up they took longer and longer to get to. The nice thing is that you were going so slow they were giving hand-ups if you wanted so you didn't have to stop. I was still steadily catching folks, which of course is motivational, but it was surreal - no one was saying a word: you would drift slowly by one another, shoulder-to-shoulder for a moment, but silently locked in your own battle against the mountain. Every effort went to legs and lungs - there just was nothing else to say to one another. At 8 miles to go the real carnage began; around almost every corner there was a grown man sitting alone, helmet off waiting for the inevitable ride down the mountain. It got extra-quiet when we would pass these fellows: the only time I have experienced that sort of thing is during the run portion of Ironman - it was totally unexpected on a bike ride and more than a little surreal.

With about 3 miles to go we finally broke through the clouds and could see the top of the mountain. I was still feeling good and lifted the pace a little more. With two more miles to go guys would sit on for moment and we would offer words of encouragement to each other, and then I would be gone to the next person, and the next, and the next. With less than a mile to the summit, I passed a helicopter hovering just off the road with a film crew aboard cheering and waving, which was awesome. Just for the cameras, I made one last push to the top which came surprisingly fast after operating in timeless slow motion for the last 3 hours of the ride.

Crossing the finish line I handed off my bike for the shuttle back down the mountain.

I do wish I had gotten to the line early enough to go out with a faster group, but I am also happy that I was able to ride as conservatively for the first part of the ride - I felt that I did very well on the climb, had lots in the tank, and paced it very well. I would definitely like to do this again and get out on the edge a little earlier next time though.

Quickly gabbed my dry clothes bag. Before changing I downed an ice-cold Coke (heavenly) and two steaming cups of tomato soup (evidently a ride tradition) that was divine. I changed quickly and boarded the shuttle bus for Marion - I did not want to linger too long on the mountain top.



I am going to call this one good. I didn't really analyze this ride going in, but somewhere in the back of my brain I figured I would finish inside the top 100 riders. While I did get off to a slow start, I think I found out that while I am still a fairly decent rider for a triathlete, I still have MILES to go as a cyclist. I am still toying with the idea of going bike-focused for the next couple of years; it would be interesting to see where that would get me on a ride like this.


This is an awesome, awesome ride. Incredibly well supported and organized. As it is a hard timed century lots of big guns show up to race at the front, so the volunteers really work to make that happen. I think I spent about 8 minutes total in aid stations on the whole ride - they really hustle to get you in and out quick if you want to. The only really dreary part of the whole day is the end when you have to shuttle down the mountain. On a slow-going school bus that takes an even longer route back to Marion so as not to impede the riders still coming up. It took us about an hour and forty-five minutes. Then a long wait for the next shuttle to fill up to head back to the starting line in Spartanburg. Another hour-and-a-half. But at least that is a nice coach bus and there is lots of good food while you are waiting. In the end a small price to pay for such an epic day.