Six Gaps - September 28th: who's in? (Page 2)

Brian...

I've got this on my radar screen, though not sure if doing Three or Six.  Didn't get to do it last year (out of town) and did Three in '06 in the rain.  Descents were interesting...

Question: presuming everyone starts off on the first leg together, where is the split between Three and Six Gaps?

Unfortunately, it's fairly early...Six goes straight, toward the back Three, after descending Neel's, Three heads to Wolfpen and Woody...

The turn off for the 3-gap fifty is just below Vogel State Park on Wolfpen Road on the back side of Neel's Gap.   I do not know why they do it, but you have to be on top of Jack's gap by 11:00 to be allowed to continue.  I would think that they would check you on the turn at Wolfpen.

Brian, refering to downhill speed.  It is hard to get much more than 40 mph on all of the gaps except Hogpen.  I got up to 52 mph there and could have gone faster, but I did not have the nerve or as I prefer to look at it, I had more sense.

The only "downside" is that you may lose some top-end speed when descending.  It is unlikely that you will max out your 53-11 combination on flat roads ... and if you do then riding the Gaps certainly wont be a problem, Mr. Stadler 

The "upside" is that you will have a bigger gear to spin up the hills in - and that will make all the difference on the front side of Wolfpen.

For reference, I am building a road bike with a 12-27 on the back.  I am contemplating switching to a compact crank for this ride. 

I did the lower gaps on my tri bike with a standard set up with no problems.  When I got to the upper gaps and Hogpen I saw the value in a compact crank.  If I could, I would swap to a compact in a minute.  How often do you max out your standard crank?  Not that much and it's for a short time.  Neal Phelps loves to watch me suffer as he spins his way up the hill in zone 3. 

btw,  I think it has been said earlier, but Neal is the biggest sand bagger.

Slight Hijack:

After experimenting with several different combinations I decided to switch to compact cranks on both bikes. I live in the mountains so my normal daily training routes contain several long steep climbs. A pretty reputable local coach suggested that I look into compacts to help increase my cadence and reduce my tendancy to "push too heavy of a gear".   So I did and the improvements were huge. Not just climbing, but flats and rollers as well.  I DO spin out at around 35 mph on descents but honestly, how often is an amatuer or AG athlete pushing gears at 35+ mph.  So for me it was a good decision. Unless you're a Cat I-III or looking to permantly change your gear combinations, I personally think changing a cassette or cranks to do one ride is sorta silly plus its pretty expensive.  My recomendation is don't change what you've got for one ride. Just suck it up. Regardless what your gear combination is the Hogpen still sucks.

Last comment. If you can do the Roswell 40 on what you have now, you can do 3 Gap.  My humble opinion....Oh yea, Neal is a sandbagger.

Since several of you wanted me to let you know when we ride the gaps, I thought I would post to this thread. I will start threads for these two rides. 

David O'Rear and I are going to start at Turner's Corner Sunday morning the 24th at 7:00 am and do Neel's gap, Jack's gap, Unicoi gap, Hogpen gap and then Neel's gap again, but from the other side.  This is a strenuous 68 mile ride that will fairly well approximate the climbing on Six Gap Century.  Woody's Gap is not really much of a climb and doing Neel's from each side kind of sort of makes up for not doing Wolfpen.  All of you are welcome, but I would not recommend the ride if you have not done Hogpen yet(refer to LisaB's earlier post on Hogpen).  This would be an excellant training ride for the Six Gaps Century.

Lawyerchick (Meredith) and I and possibly David are going to do the bottom three gaps at a comfortable pace Wednesday.  We have not discussed the details yet.  This would be an excellant first time gaps ride as Meredith has only done them once over a year ago.

I have two camping sites reserved at Vogel State Park ... back before my friends bailed on doing Six Gaps.  PM me if you are interested and I will see if I can dig up the reservation.

Other than that you might be hard pressed to find available camping sites as this is a peak weekend.

Okay, there has been lots of back and forth of people contemplating the race. Time for a roll call ... please indicate whether you are doing Six or Three Gaps by adding your name to the appropriate column.  Thinking it might be possible to get a group picture at the start?  Potentially another at the crest of Hogpen?

Six Gaps:
Brian

Three Gaps:

Six Gaps:
Brian

David (with T-run afterwards...ughhhh!)

Lou

Three Gaps:

Six Gaps:
Brian

David (with T-run afterwards...ughhhh!)

Lou

Three Gaps:
bcart (other Brian) - driving up in the morning, gonna be early.

another Brian (biggsmoothe), also driving up there in the morning

 Jessica,  I personally would suggest that you go ahead and ride.  Two things... I am sure that it would be ok for you to use their rest stops.  The other thing is that we do three gaps all the time without rest stops.  David and I did all six a couple of weeks ago without sag support.  The three gap ride is only fifty miles.  There is a store on top of Neel's  gap and a couple of stores in Suches.  You just do not get the cool T-shirt that says Six/Three Gap Century. Call me.  I will ease all your fears so that you will come.  

 I am doing all Six.  David suggested to me that we meet at the flagpole in front of the school at 7:00.  I am game for meeting up before the ride.  See you guys there.