I made it! Well, sort of. Yesterday was the Dogwood 100, a century ride beginning in Winchester, TN. Spending the night in Huntsville made the trip up much shorter before the 8 a.m. start. Thanks mom & dad! It was great to see Becca & Jeff, & my nephew Harrison, too! He has grown more since his 2nd birthday. My name is now officially Ick - or, Uncle Ick sounds just a little better.
Anyway, it was a great ride through some beautiful countryside. Though the weatherman had predicted all-day-rain, we mostly had just cloudy - which was great because it kept the sun off of us for most of the ride. It did rain hard for about 10 minutes, but felt great, washing off the first 30 miles of sweat and grime. It only sprinkled a few more times.
I don't know why, but starting out I rode with the fast group. They were rolling a fair bit faster than my usual pace, but riding with a group, you can draft, reducing the work a good bit. After the first ten miles though, the realization that I had a hundred more miles to go occurred to me, and I knew I couldn't keep going at that rate. Finally I dropped off the back on a set of moderate hills. After that I was on my own for a good 45 minutes before a guy caught up with me. We fell in a paced each other, taking turns breaking the wind (no John C., not breaking wind, but breaking the wind - you know, drafting). At the first rest stop we connected with another group and made a nice group of 8 or so.
As we approached the climb up the western face of the Cumberland Plateau the roads got progressively worse - from a nice freshly paved highway to barely passable, teeth-rattling, bits-busting, 10-year-old chip-seal. Finally after 6 or so miles of that we got to Alto Road, which is essentially the back way up to Sewanee (The University of the South), and a nicely paved fresh slice of asphalt. Even though the grades average 10-12 percent, and sometimes hit 14%, we were grateful to be off of the rough road, at least for the first half-mile or so. We kept climbing and climbing, thinking "when will this thing stop? Surely we must be near the top." But it kept on going up - 1000 feet in 2.75 miles. I've climbed some big hills in Colbert County, but nothing like this hill. I guess that's why the call it a mountain. Again, finally, we made it to the top. It felt great to make it - even though my legs were completely fried, and my lungs felt like they might explode - it was a great feeling of accomplishment!
After a very brief breather - you don't want your legs to cramp up - we headed down the main road. You descend on highway 41 which drops the same 1000 feet, but takes about 5.6 miles to get to the bottom. The warning sign for truckers advised that it was a 7% grade. It was great fun blasting down the mountain. It was still a bit wet in places from the earlier rain, so we didn't go all out. It was just a bit nerve-racking for someone who's crashed on wet pavement before, but more fun than scary.
After another 10 miles or so we got to the place where the routes split. The folks riding the metric century were to turn right. I had signed up for the full 100 miles, but after the climb up to Sewanee my legs were shot, and I turned to the right with my riding buddy. Ten more miles sounded a lot better than 45. So I ended up going 67.8 miles, or 100 kilometers and some change. All in all a very good day, even if it wasn't what I'd originally planned on. There are a few more opportunities for century rides this summer and fall. I'm planning on doing the Tour de Wayne next month, and the All-You-Can-Eat 100 in September. Maybe I can fit one in during the July-August time frame, too.
Here is the map of the course.
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