Blue Hammers Ride Mt Mitchell

jlally1977 May 19, 2016 0 Comments

The Hammer’s Assault on Mount Mitchell

The coffee from 7-11 on Princeton and Orange tasted great at 5am on Saturday May 14th 2016. I set off in the loaded Sienna with Wahoo Kickr, Cycling Gear, Gary’s Jamis, Trek Madone, Bags, three empty seats, Patron Cooler and some good Pandora 80’s Rock. Before I knew it I was past Savannah GA. There was no traffic and I don’t think I have every driven through Jacksonville averaging 70 mph. No Police, the occasional other vehicle and smooth sailing until the I-26. When I joined this beautiful two lane highway the traffic built a little but this was short lived, and after Columbia I was into beautiful rolling hills and countryside to Spartanburg. I checked into the Marriott Residence Inn 4 miles outside Spartanburg and surprisingly the Penthouse 2 bedroom suite I had booked was ready. I had made great time and felt surprisingly good. After a quick run to Panera Bread, a run and a short indoor spin, I settled in for the evening watching some excellent coverage of the TPC Sawgrass and Jason Day doing his thing.

The following day was Sunday and historically was the day that the Assault on Mount Mitchell was held on. However due to the Blue Ridge Parkway being crowded the Park Service and Organizers moved it to the Monday. I drove the Sienna up to Marion, N.C to the Tom Johnson Camping Center in a truly idyllic part of the State. I had never been to the Carolinas and now I understood what all the fuss was about – just gorgeous. Of course being English I must admit the lady in the Dollar General didn’t know what to say when I asked her if I could borrow the key to the toilet. My friend Gary was driving over from Knoxville TN and meeting me in a rental van at the campground. He arrived right on time and we drove to the campground and parked up the rental vehicle and set out on a beautiful ascent of Highway 80 up to the Continental Divide at the Blue Ridge Parkway. Built in the 1930’s during the great Depression it was impressive to see the use of rock in the fabulous bridges which spanned the roads and the tunnels hewn into the mountainsides.

After a slow but enjoyable spin up to this point, Gary and I had a truly fabulous descent back down to Marion and the rental car. It was Georgia 6 Gap Century last September when I last descended on a bike and so I was a little cautious, especially not being familiar with the road. Gary kept turning his head wondering where I was. Not boasting, but I had never descended hills on my Trek 9.5 Madone with Zipp 404 Firestrikes with Ceramic Bearings……all it wanted to do was roll! After a couple of trout lakes and some nice log cabins we were back to the campground. We loaded the Sienna, and leaving the rental car, we headed back to Spartanburg for the night. Don joined us about an hour after we returned to the hotel and fulfilled his pre-ride easy 40 minute spin on the Wahoo. I have to be honest, we did partake in some delicious North Carolina beverages with green labels and some delicious Spaghetti Bolognese.

Race Day

George Hincapie and Jimmie Johnson were about 10 bikes to our immediate right at the start line in Downtown Spartanburg. The local press were interviewing Jimmy following his 500 mile day the day prior in a hot cockpit. He was riding a nice Red Trek Domane RSL and George looked as cool as ever in his namesake apparel. There were approximately 800 riders in front of the Memorial Auditorium. The cool 48 degree morning felt good and after the national anthem and a good luck prayer we set off for the most hair raising 10 miles I have ever experienced. After the initial elevation for the first mile, the peloton under police escort rolled at 25-28 mph out of town and into the beautiful countryside. Gary and I were right in the middle and simply being pulled along with no effort whatsoever. I got a taste of what it must be like for the Pro’s when they have a rest day on a flat stage by simply sitting in the middle of the peloton. This was huge but you still had to have your whits about you as there would be the usual ‘slowing’ and ‘hole’ shouts. About 27 miles in, a dog ran straight out of a driveway and took out 2 riders and a further 10 – we heard the poor rider was airlifted to hospital.

At around mile 35 Gary, Don and I decided to sensibly drop out of the group and into a group a little slower as we knew what was coming. In recent years, Gary was saying he had ‘hammered’ the first 74 miles hard only to struggle up to Mt. Mitchell. We all dropped back and then from 42-68 miles we rode together alone intially but picking up some riders. We eventually came up behind Ocatavio Ocampo and his buddies who had joined us in Clermont on the week prior. However this was to be short lived when Gary’s bottle cage came loose and we had to stop. The beautiful rolling hills were illuminated by the rising sun and every uphill was rewarded with a great descent on smoothly paved roads. The few intersections we came to on the entire 108 mile ride were ALL policed and so you never had to unclip. The police always acknowledged the riders and wished us good luck.

The Campground.

Just after I had said to Gary and Don ‘I wonder where the campground is’ we made a quick right turn (which I left rather late nearly forcing Don to take me out) and smoothly rode across a bridge to reveal a line of clapping spectators. There was the campground in Marion and the rental car. We pulled over and the clock read 4 hours 2 mins. After a quick bathroom break and unloading any unnessesary weight the three Amigos set off up Highway 80 ascending 1600 feet to the Blue Ridge Parkway where we had been the day prior. Today the weather was a little bit cooler but the legs could tell they had 74 miles in already. Slowly Don pulled away from Gary and I with a nice smooth pedal stroke and lying down with his elbows resting on his bars. I never saw anybody else in this position. I was sitting up with my hand one thumb length from my stem and assuming the textbook climbing pose, appreciating my compact chainring and 28 cassette on the back I felt good. I realized that some people are freaks of nature and Don Barber is one of them. Between admiring the trees and view, I couldn’t help thinking how he could be in that position and was comfortably moving up the hill away from Gary and I had very little upper body movement. Before we knew it he was gone.

 

 

The Blue Ridge Parkway

After sunbathing for far too long at the Sag before the Blue Ridge Parkway, Gary and Don (who had waited for us at the SAG) said ‘come on let’s go’ and reluctantly I got up (feeling great but just enjoying the moment and location far too much) and we pedaled onto the parkway. I would say this was the toughest part of the ride for me. Again, I had a good cadence going and felt good, but the road ahead changed in terms of view. Now, instead of hairpin bend to hairpin bend, the riders were greeted with views of the long winding steep road ahead. With the exception of the occasional tunnel, this section seemed to go on forever! Don, Gary and I admired the views and talking had diminished at this point. Don slowly inched away and Gary shouted to me to ‘go ahead James’ – I was pacing myself and knew that Don is a strong guy – did I want to go with him? Yes…..and No. Don is Don, an ex-Army Ranger and although I can ride alone, I didn’t really like the idea of riding with Don and then losing his wheel and being on my own. I also didn’t want to leave my wingman and so Gary and I stuck together and finally crested the Blue Ridge Parkway. After a mile descent (the only one in the entire climb) we made a final right into Mount Mitchell State Park.

‘The Assault’

The sign stated 4.9 miles to the summit. I knew this would be a long 4.9 miles. The road continued to climb and we were reduced to 5 mph. At this point I thought of Landa, Froome, Quintana and the Pros….wow going up this triple to quadruple of the speed of my measly effort. Gary and I took it in turns to rotate with each other and passing rider after occasional rider we made it to the State Park visitor gate. After the most friendly Sag volunteers possible, we rounded a corner and the next thing we knew we saw four Penske Trucks on the mountain side – a strange view at this elevation – there were about 5 people sitting on a wall to our right cheering us on. With the energy they gave us we were soon hammering along at 20 mph before we both said ‘what the heck’! Slow it was. We relaxed back into our 10-12 mph as we followed the road to the right and the finish line. The supporters on both sides of the road were fantastic and encouraging us on to the finish. There at the end was Don who had completed it 30 mins prior to us. The bikes were taken from us and loaded onto trucks to be transported back down to the campground. We congratulated our achievement and the amazing day in the saddle, and after some great photos and a cup of soup we set off down the mountain with another 40 people on one of the provided buses.

It had been an incredible ride. Truly Epic and understandable why many choose this as a bucket list event. We were fortunate with the amazing weather and unlike Gary, Don and I had never ridden this before, but were glad of no rain. The stats were impressive too. 108 miles with nearly 11,000 feet of elevation all in the final miles. Bring on 2017!

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james@bluehammers.com