So yesterday I went to Piedmont, Alabama to ride the self-titled, "Toughest Ride in the South". The Challenge was a ride from Piedmont south into the Talledega National Forest and up and over the highest point in Alabama, Cheaha Mountain. The ride was really well organized and the rest stops were great with wonderful volunteer support. The only real drawback was the condition of the scenic byway we rode through the forest and up the mountain. Most of it was little better than chip and seal.
The ride follows an out and back route that I was initially pretty skeptical about. I've done out and back centuries before and the last half of the route is usually drudgery as you've already seen everything. This, however, was a bit different. On the way out, every time I went down something fast a thought would pop into my head, "You have to climb this on the way back." In the middle of the course, this was somewhat daunting. On the way back, every time I descended something, I would marvel at having climbed it. This was especially true for the four mile descent down the return side of Cheaha Mountain. As the summit came at the 43 mile mark and again at the 59 mile mark, I was descending as others were climbing. The looks on their faces was, well, disturbing. I saw several people walking and a couple sitting at the side of the road with their heads in the their hands looking pretty ill. That's a lot to take in while screaming down a mountain you don't know that well at 40 mph. The thought that I had climbed that rise that the others were suffering on was really weird in the middle of a hard ride.
So, was it the "toughest ride in the south"? It's hard to say I think. The other contender (aside from the Assault on Mt. Mitchell" is the Six Gap Century in North Georgia. I've done that one as well. Six Gap has more climbing, about 3000-4000 feet more. The thing is that the climbing is different. At Cheaha theirs a lot more really steep climbing in shorter bursts. There were several sections before the actual climb up Cheaha (on both sides) that were in excess of 10%, each one between 0.6 and 1.1 miles long. On a couple of these sections I was reduced to climbing at about 6 mph with huge torque outputs (my power wasn't as high as my pedal revs were really low). The climb up the mountain was actually easier in many ways because the grade wasn't as steep. The climb was longer (15-20 minutes) but the grade was only 5-6% and I was able to keep my revs up and my power steady. Six Gap's climbs are almost all of this second sort with the one notable section of Hogpen Gap which is unbelievable. My time for the ride was about 5:15 which is comparable to what I did at Six Gap a few years back but I was in better shape then. Road conditions were worse at Cheaha so that contributed as did missing the front group (most of whom I would pass later but who would have been nice to draft with for the first 25 miles or so).
All in all, it was good ride though my left leg cramped for like four hours afterwards. I got to meet Frankie Andreau and talk with him a bit at lunch after the ride. I climbed surprisingly well and passed a lot of people going uphill. I descended terribly, getting passed by a lot of people going downhill. The great thing was that I found that I could climb continuously at a power of 300-315 watts for as long as I needed to. I'm not sure I could have done this for more than an hour but on the climbs where I could keep my power in this range, I had no problem keeping my rhythm and pace for as long as the climb went on.
This week is recovery week with some testing at the end. Time to enjoy rides with little purpose other than to enjoy the scenery.
Thanks for Reading.
