This sign pretty much sums it up -- taken at the bottom of one of our climbs.
Steve Watkins (aka Watty) and I created a cycling route in the NC mountains that we named "The Loop of Truth". The reason for the name is that it tells you the truth about your fitness every time you ride it. There is nowhere to hide on this course. Your fitness and nutrition are totally exposed and you will find out what you are made of by the day's end. We've only actually completed this course once before and the other two times have had to cut the day short due to major mechanical issues (shredded tire & broken chain). "The Loop" takes a toll on the body, mind, soul, and bike. Here are the stats and notable climbs for The Loop of Truth:
STATS:
Distance: 102 miles
Total Elevation Gain: 18,500 ft
NOTABLE CLIMBS:
George's Gap 1: 1.85 mi @ 773 ft (7.91 ave grade)
George's Gap 2: 1.92 mi @ 821 ft (8.09)
Rominger: 1.98 mi @ 905 ft (8.6)
Clarke's Creek: 1.25 mi @ 884 ft (13.3)
Shulls Mill: 4.82 mi @ 1853 ft (7.28)
Parkway: 5.76 mi @ 983 ft (3.23)
Hickory Nut Gap: 4.39 mi @ 896 ft (3.86)
Beech: 2.84 mi @ 1474 ft (9.82)
Pinnacle Ridge: 1.93 mi @ 1428 ft (14.01)
Pinnacle Add On: 1.07 mi @ 513 ft (9.08)
Back of Beech: 5.83 mi @ 2221 ft (7.21)
The toughest part of this course starts at the bottom of Beech......we climb Beech.....descend the backside......climb Pinnacle & Add On.....descend Pinnacle & Add On......and then climb the backside of Beech. We have many nicknames for this part of the course such as "The Valley of Death", "The Gauntlet", "The Trench", "Blood Bath", etc. The elevation gain on this part of the course alone is 5636 ft over 11.6 mi climbing for an average grade of 9.14.
Since we had a long weekend for the Labor Day holiday we decided it would be fun and challenging to do the Loop of Truth 3 days in a row and call it "le tour de truth". Since we were staying on the top of Beech Mountain we decided it would make the course even tougher by finishing the course with "The Valley of Death". Below is a summary of how the weekend went.
FRIDAY:
Jen and I packed up the Honda Element and drove up to Banner Elk, NC after work. The drive wasn't all that bad and probably only took us 2.5 hrs even with a good bit of traffic heading out of Charlotte. Met up with Steve and Amanda at the cabin and made some homemade pizzas and a couple of beers and were off to bed to ensure a good night's sleep.
Just a relaxing trip to the mountains minus the 22+ hrs of cycling.
Steve and Amanda's picture turned out better than ours.....boo you.
SATURDAY (DAY 1):
Distance: 110 miles
Time: 7:46:35
Total Ascent: 19,056 ft
Steve and I got started at around 8am and were on our way in good spirits. We decided to stick to the HR cap for the weekend so things didn't get out of hand as they usually do. Our main goal was to make it through the weekend in one piece. I tried to keep most climbs under 150 bpm and did a pretty good job of this. We made a stop at The Ham Shoppe for lunch at 50 miles and I took down a turkey sandwich, PB & J, and a lemonade. This set me up nicely for the second half of the ride. I really like the idea of eating lunch midway through the ride. Otherwise I feel ill from just eating so much sugar all day with nothing substantial. On our way to Hickory Nut we decided to do a little exploring around Sugar Mountain and added on about 5.5 miles and didn't find any great climbs. We were trying to get over 20K ft of climbing for the day. We stopped at a gas station just before the start of the Beech climb and I loaded up on Mountain Dew. Unfortunately it didn't kick in for the climb and I was the first to falter on Day 1. I bonked pretty hard going up Beech but then rallied for Pinnacle and The Backside to finish off the day strong. Watty did just the opposite as he was very strong up Beech and faded a bit on Pinnacle and The Backside. Overall a solid day in the saddle with great conversations and we finished off with dinner and a campfire with our lovely ladies.......you can't beat that!!
Watty climbing the "easy" part of Pinnacle.
Fire safety 101 - Watty prepping the grill for some burgers.
Jen is prepping her marshmallow stick for battle in the campfire.
Amanda means business -- sharpening her marshmallow stick.
SUNDAY (DAY 2):
Distance: 105 miles
Time: 7:31:52
Total Ascent: 18,719 ft
It was a little tougher to get going this morning so we got started at around 8:25am. The agenda for the day was the same as Day 1. My legs seemed to actually feel better on Day 2 than Day 1. We continued to keep our efforts in check up the climbs as we both knew that the course will take its toll no matter how easy or hard you ride it. We got rained on early in the ride and the course was slick. While descending George's Gap Steve hit a slick patch around a tight corner and went down. Luckily he and his bike were okay and he only came away from it with a swollen and skinned hip. This wasn't about to stop Steve though so we were back on our way. After descending 194 I realized that my tired had a slow leak so we changed that and went back to business. We again stopped for lunch at The Ham Shoppe in Valle Crusis and this time I went with a chicken sandwich, PB&J, lemonade, and Coke. Yesterday they filled my lemonade with mostly ice and a little lemonade so today I said "no ice please" and evened the score. Lunch was just what I needed and ended up finishing the ride feeling very good. Both Steve and I set personal bests going up Beech and felt good through the rest of The Trench. We got back to the house and had a quick transition and went out for a 50 min trail run on a very tough hiking trail. This pretty much finished us off for the day. Dave showed up just as we were about to have dinner since he was to ride with us on Monday. We had another great dinner and campfire along with a few cold beers.
It's not all about the bike. Watty and me by the campfire.
Fire safety 201 -- the bigger the better for making smores.
The finished product -- a golden brown marshmallow on melted chocolate.
Dave seemed nervous for the loop but ended up showing it who's boss hog.
MONDAY (DAY 3):
Distance: 102.5 miles
Time: 7:17:09
Total Ascent: 18,528 ft
We decided to get an earlier start this morning because we had to drive home later in the day so we headed out the door at 7:15am. I was hoping for good legs again today but ended up with very tired legs that were sore to the touch. Watty was in the same boat. This was Dave's first time on The Loop so I wanted to ensure that he got his money's worth but could barely get my HR up to 150 bpm early in the ride. We rode fairly easy for most of the day and sat around 140-150 bpm for most of the notable climbs. The ladies were kind enough to pick up lunch for us and meet us at the bottom of the Shulls Mill climb for lunch. The combination of eating lunch and not enough water to dilute it left me feeling like I was going to throw up. We set a decent pace up Shulls Mill and Watty started to feel good on the parkway so we set good tempo there as well. By the time we hit Hickory Nut my lunch and the Mountain Dew I just drank was about to come back up. We decided to ride Hickory easy to let things settle and hopefully find some legs for the last three climbs of the day. By the time Beech rolled around I just decided to see what my legs would give me and only ended up 18 seconds off of my PR. I could tell that it took a toll though and at the toughest part of Pinnacle I slowly fell apart. I had a bit of a meltdown at the top but luckily the ladies were there again with cookies and cokes. After another Mountain Dew and 8 cookies I was back in business and felt pretty good coming back up The Backside to finish off the day. Dave rode really well today and I think his big summer miles on the bike are going to start paying dividends soon. Watty and I were both pretty well spent after 3 days of that punishing course but were very happy with the accomplishment. After cleaning up a bit we all grabbed some pizza in downtown Banner Elk and then made the drive home and headed to bed.
Watty on the parkway - we've got some great views on this route.
Having a bit of a meltdown on top of Pinnacle. It happens.
At least I don't look as tired as that guy - Watty regrouping.
Overall Totals:
Distance: 317.5 miles
Ride Time: 22:35:36
Total Ascent: 56,303 ft
Overall this weekend was just what I needed to kickstart the 2nd half of my season. I realized that I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought that I might have been and actually set a personal best on the Beech climb. It was a lot of fun hanging out with Watty and Dave during the day and spending some relaxing time with our wives during the evening. Speaking of which....a special thanks to Jen and Amanda for checking on us at various points throughout the weekend with their "sag" vehicle. Their timing was second to none.