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Another Lame Ride ReportJune, 2006by David Meek, CBC President 2006Each spring I set out on a one day bike journey to gauge my fitness level prior to the 3 State 3 Mountain Challenge. In the past, I have ridden alone because I have not had enough power of persuasion to recruit any of my buddies. This year, I decided to post my ride on the CBC ride calendar and print up some flyers for the bike shops. I figured this approach would be easier than taking a Dale Carnegie power of persuasion course. I chose the day after the 3S3M for this ride because I was a volunteer this year but still wanted to actually ride my bike on Chattanooga’s biggest bike weekend of the year and thought that it might also attract a few out of town riders here for the 3S3M. I called this ride the King of the Mountains Challenge, fitting for the task at hand. The goal was to climb as many different mountain passes as possible in one day, setting personal records to remember for years to come. Awakening on ride day to pouring rain was a bummer, but I posted the ride as rain or shine so I had to at least be at the start in case anyone showed up. At the start, I had two brave riders show up, Matthew Davis and Jonathon Dennis. Ty Geren called; he was riding from home to conserve fuel and would meet up with us on the route. The radar indicated that the rain would break for three to four hours and by start time the rain was over and we were off on our adventure. We headed to Lookout Mountain and proceeded to level off the Och’s hwy climb without any problems other than the fact that those two young whippersnapper riders were setting a pace faster than most of us normally climb on a one or two mountain ride. We returned down the Mountain into St Elmo and met up with Ty Geren at the base of the Incline Railway, From there, we started up the Scenic hwy climb again with out difficulty other than myself purposely allowing these guys to open a gap in hopes that they may back off the pace a little to keep the ride leader from being the caboose. Wishful thinking, we regrouped at the top and set our sights on Raccoon Mountain. The Raccoon climb from the pump station on the river to the reservoir was steep and isolated from residential development. Near the top we became entombed in a thick mountain mist. Watching the silhouettes of those riders dancing on there pedals in and out of the fog was a sight for a picture book. We headed down Raccoon and crossed over to Elder Mountain road and rode it down to the base where Ty had to depart for home to make it to a previous commitment (thanks for the support). The three of us started our climb up Elder Mountain and by the time we reached the summit we called agreed that Elder Mountain was the toughest climb thus far. Perhaps the fact that it was our fourth climb effected our conclusion. But on the way back down when the speedometer hit 47 mph while coasting I knew it had to be a steep grade. After Elder Mountain we headed back into town and took a sag at the stadium before crossing the river on the walking bridge in route to Suck Creek Mountain. By this time, it was raining again and upon starting up Suck Creek Mountain the bottom fell out of the sky pounding us with an impressive thunder storm. We continued up to the picnic area at the top of the climb where we regrouped and considered returning to the start. Our rationalizing was as follows: we were already soaking wet on top of this great divide, and if we descended into the Sequatchie Valley at least we would be forced to get in six climbs just to make to back home. So down the back side of Suck Creek Mountain we headed slowly in the driving rain. Turning around at the bottom, the rain slowed and gave us encouragement to continue our trek. The climb up the back side was a little steeper than the front but with the rain diminishing we did not complain. As I climbed through those dangerous turns near the top, my thoughts were with Scott Boyd the rider seriously injured in 3S3M the day before & with Terry Trecartin one year earlier. Both of these riders had fallen victim to these high speed switchbacks. I recalled the time a friend of mine asked me why I do these crazy long rides and runs and I answered simply “because I can“. Every since I suffered a serious hand injury that left me minus a few digits, I have had heightened compassion and awareness for anyone with life changing injuries or illness. If I hear an ambulance I think of the person inside and when I see a disabled person I am reminded of how fortunate I am. Somehow, in my own selfish way, I like to think that when given the second chance all the Terrys and Scotts out there would be right by my side climbing these mountains. Before we knew it, we were over the top, down the front side following a rainbow up the Tennessee River. The easy pedaling in the lowlands was beginning to take a real effort so it was time to squeeze down more go gels and get ready for Signal Mountain. After a painful start up Taft Hwy, the legs come back around and we make it to the top where we sag at a local store. A mother and her son stop to talk, we tell them what we doing, and they were most impressed and will be looking for us during the upcoming coverage of the TDF on OLN. After the sag we remount and ride along the brow and down the W road. The legs don’t want to cooperate on the rollers and tighten even more coasting down to the round-a-bout at the bottom of the Mountain. As before, I was able to get it back together on the climb and actually make Matthew work to be the first to summit. The farther we went it seemed that the sustained climbing efforts were not as traumatic on the body as were the rollers and intermittent efforts in between. Stopping at the top of the W road after eight climbs Matthew, Jonathon and I, rally at our accomplishment and I asked them to continue on and do something few riders ever attempt on a road bike even with fresh legs. I was talking about the notorious Roberts Mill Road climb also known as the Gap. I looked down at Jonathon’s gearing and discovered that he was climbing all these mountains with a 23t cassette, very impressive to say the least. I told Jonathon that it was all but impossible to climb Roberts Mill with that gearing but he said that he was willing to give it a try. First we had to get there; the canyon on Sawyer road on the way to the top of Roberts Mill was a real test for what awaited us. On the decent down the mountain Matthew got a flat and we all got a well deserved break while he changed the tube. At the bottom we turned around and prepared for the challenge ahead. My odometer said 97 miles and my mind said one more climb for a personal record but the legs did not want to put out any power. It takes brut power to climb this climb, my 25t cassette required a stand up twisting and torqueing of the body but with the wet road it would just spin the tire. I had to remain seated to keep traction, my speed was 1 to 2 mph, barely enough to maintain balance. Somehow Matthew and I made it to the top without coming unclipped. Jonathon was forced to walk only on the steepest section near the top when he lost traction and was unable to remount. We regrouped at the top, celebrated our victory and decided to call it a day. We may have had one more climb in us but it was not worth the risk of one of us cracking. It could have been psychologically devastating, perhaps even a career ending blow to go that far only to be left behind on the slopes of the North Chickamauga Creek Pocket Wilderness with vultures circling over head. We put our competitive egos aside so as not to break the bond we had developed through teamwork and encouragement. We cruised back into town by the flattest route possible; the computer said 117 miles in 8 1/4 hours of ride time. The elevation gain on this ride of nine different mountain summits was 17000 feet. All said a ride that would be remembered long after the pain subsides. Get on your bike and ride, because you can, while you can, David
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