A ride with George, for Thea

Greenville is a great place. Not only are we surrounded by beautiful country and great people, we also have some great weather to get out in with those people and enjoy that country! This past weekend was an excellent example. Unfortunately, it started with someone having a very bad mountain bike accident.

Thea, who I personally don't know (but knew of since the bicycling community really isn't that big in Greenville) was riding her mountain bike at the National Whitewater center (where I understand they have some really excellent trails) when she crashed. She sustained some pretty bad injuries to include 7 broken ribs, 1 cracked vertebrae and a punctured lung. These are the big ones I recall - there may have been others. Thankfully, she sustained no permanent nerve damage, but she was in a tough spot as she had no insurance.

It wasn't long before her friends at Carolina Tri decided to put together a fundraiser to help her during this difficult (and costly) time. Thus the Ride for Thea was born. I first heard about it on facebook, but soon after the emails started flying through the online communities and groups. Many of my P3C3 friends were planning to attend and it was a good opportunity to help out a fellow cyclist, so I too signed up.

I'm not sure when it happened, but the news that George Hincapie was going to ride with the group soon spread. If helping out another cyclist wasn't enough for folks, getting a chance to ride with Big George certainly increased the appeal of the ride.

To add to the fervor, Carolina Tri also lined up Thomas Creek Brewery to provide beverages and also put together a silent auction with some really cool stuff. When I checked the facebook event page a few hours before ride start there was something on the order of 150 confirmed guests. This of course was only the facebook contingent - I was sure there would be plenty of others who are not associated with Facebook.

I assembled my gear, got suited up in my cool Michelin Upstate SC Cycling team kit and headed out from the house. I added a technical t-shirt under the jersey as I thought it might be a little cool on the ride out. I am really glad I didn't choose to get fully outfitted in arm warmers, leg warmers and shoe covers! It was only slightly cool on the short ride from home over to Carolina Tri's downtown location. That wouldn't last long - forecast was calling for highs in the mid '70s!

As the crowd assembled in and around Carolina Tri, I was amazed at the turnout. The folks from Carolina Tri probably have a better number, but I'm betting there was close to 300 people who came out to ride with George for Thea. An awesome show of support.

The route was similar to routes I have ridden before, roughly from Downtown Greenville out Buncombe road towards Paris Mountain. The official route would skip Altamont road and continue parallel to Hwy 276. From Travelers Rest, it would link up to Tigerville road and follow that all the way to Hwy 253. Up 253 and through Tigerville. Past Hwy 11 and a right turn on Hwy 912. The route then looped up over Calahan Mountain, down past Camp Old Indian to turn back on Dividing waters road. Going back was reverse of the outbound route.

With Big George in the group, I wasn't really sure how things would pan out. I'm just a guy who likes to ride a bike, but there are a lot of guys who can put down a hard pace. What would it mean to these guys knowing Big George was riding with us? Would it turn into a hammer fest from the start, or would Big George's presence bring a level of calm to the group? I knew one thing - I was going to stay with the main pack for as long as I could get away with it.

With start time approaching, I was finding my friends and we created our own little group. I met some new folks who had come up from Atlanta to check out our excellent riding scene with the bonus of the cause and the ride with George. We rolled out after some brief announcements and a thank you from Thea herself.

I was pleased when the pace started off reasonable. I mistakenly thought Big George was up front controlling the pace. I found out later that he started in the back and worked his way to the front as we approached the fun (read that as 'climbing') portion of the ride. We stayed together as one big group for a long time. I'm sure we started stringing out a bit as we passed Altamont Road and made our way through Travelers Rest. The pace slowly increased as did our distanced traveled.

From downtown Greenville until we made the left turn onto Hwy 253, there really isn't much in the way of hills - some rollers for sure, but as we made that turn, the rollers started to increase in size. Since our pace was still increasing, I felt for sure the fun (read this one as 'hammer time') was about to begin. I was trying to keep an eye on my peeps as we rode along and I took advantage of several opportunities to put myself closer to the front of the pack (and closer to them). I was still pretty far back relative to some of my friends (like Taylor who was rubbing elbows in the front row), but I think I was in the front 1/4 of the pack.

We passed Tigerville Elementary where the rollers continued to grow. I was sitting in just waiting for the attacks to begin. I was surprised to see that we stayed together as a group until we made the right turn on Highway 912.

From this turn, it is a relatively short (maybe 2/3 mile) moderate climb on Hwy 912 to a left turn on to Callahan Mt Road. Callahan Mt Road is a short (1/3 - 1/2 mile), but quite steep climb. I'd like to give a percent grade, but I don't have any clue of what it is. As I turned on to Hwy 912, I saw the riders going off the front.

Big George had made his way up to the front by this time although I never saw him pass me. I figured he was up there with the lead riders. Eric Christopherson (sp?) riding a really cool fixie (yes, that also means single speed) was off the front and my friend Taylor was up there with them somewhere. I thought I saw Ed 'Leggs' Hernando going big off the front, but I couldn't be sure. I stepped up my pace, no thought to catching the lead guys, just wanted to do the best I could from where I started. It wasn't long before I passed Taylor's dad Perry. I lost Jeni, Courtney, Bo, Nikki and most of my other peeps somewhere along the way.

I was making good time up the Hwy 912 hill, passing some peeps, getting passed by a few as well. After the left turn onto Callahan Mt road, it gets really steep for a short distance. I kept my pace and caught and passed Leggs. Some more peeps managed to sneak by me as we passed others. About the time I made the sweeping left curve, I was getting my second wind. I kicked up a gear and started cranking. I began to overtake those who passed me on the steep section and continued to pass others. As I came around the right hand sweeper, I could see that those in front had stopped at the summit. No surprise, Big George was there. As I came up through the stopped bikes, I saw an opportunity to ride up next to him. I told him "Thanks George, we're all loving it right now". He smiled and gave me 5. Pretty cool.

The descent down past camp old indian is super fun. I didn't want to make that descent in a pack of bikes, so I decided to roll on down. Somewhere along the way my computer had stopped working, so I can't say how fast I might have gotten, but I barely touched my brakes - it was a blast!

At the intersection of old Hwy 25, I stopped for the rest of the group. It wasn't long before the Peloton came rolling up to the intersection. I hung back to find Courtney and her Atlanta friends John, James and Jesse. We had planned on riding Paris Mt on the way back and we needed to coordinate a little. I ended up riding with Courtney and John and it just happened that we ended up right with George. I called out to him at one point "George, are you going to climb Paris Mt with us?" All I saw was a raised hand - I don't know what his response was. As we rode along, I managed to snap a photo of him on his cool bike.

Ok, I know, you can't really tell that's George, so you'll have to take my word for it.

We rode near him for a while. It's cool that he was just one of the riders in the peloton with the rest of us out there. Courtney was close to George, John and I were in line behind her. At one point, a small gap had formed between the group we were near and the front group. George saw the gap and made a move. Courtney was right there on him with John and I tucking in right behind. Kind of cool to imagine yourself in a grand tour with one of the greatest riders in the peloton pulling you back into the pack. As we re-gained the lead group, I called out "Good pull George". Not sure what he thought, I was amused with myself. We all joked later that George was our domestique for a few moments - ahhh, the imaginations we mortals have!

The peloton continued, still a rather sizable group as we made our way back towards Travelers Rest. The pace had really begun to increase by this time so the group was slowly dwindling down. A small breakaway of about 10 riders had gone off the front. I was feeling good so I gave chase. The riders who were leading the peloton didn't see me coming, so I had a pretty good head of steam as I went past them. I gave it everything I had for as long as I could, but I started to tire before I caught the breakaway. Not to my surprise, as I backed off the pace, I found I had pulled the peloton within striking distance. Those who were leading the peloton when I passed, took over from me and pulled us the rest of the way to the breakaway group. I tucked in behind a few riders and did some recovery. What a cool feeling.

Soon enough, we were passing the TR Walmart. This was the agreed upon re-group area for Courtney and her Atlanta friends who wanted to climb Altamont road. As I pulled off, I started watching for the others. James was the first one I saw - I called out to him and he replied "I'm Spent!" and kept going. I saw Perry, but he had plans of his own. Once the peloton passed, I looked up and saw Courtney and John on the other side of the road. We assembled in front of the Arby's and waited to see who else we would see.

Soon we saw Leggs Hernando. He had to get back home, so he bid us farewell and continued on his way. Courtney was all bubbly with excitement as she had stayed with the main peloton for the entire ride until we made the choice to re-group. Awesome ride for her. We never saw Jesse, so Courtney left a message on his cell phone and we continued our ride.

I tried to give John the low down on the altamont road climb. I described it the best I could as I didn't really know how things would turn out as we made our ascent - I knew he's a good climber from what Courtney had said, so I wanted to give him as much info as possible in the event I wasn't able to stay close to him.

We made the turn onto Altamont road and started our ascent. John set a pretty good pace and by the time we got near the water tower, I knew that pace was too much for me that early in the climb. I told him "It's all you man, go for it" and he began to pull away as I let off slightly. I still kept a strong pace, but I had backed off just enough for him to open a gap. Just past the water tower, we passed a guy in Hincapie kit. Little did we know the significance of that guy in that kit.

As I continued my climb, pride wouldn't let me give up too much ground to John. It was like we had a bungee cord between us. I would reel him in a little, then he would pull forward a little. Overall, I felt like I was gaining ground, but there was still 75-100 meters between us. I hope my description of the climb was adequate, but as I saw him make the final turn before 'the wall', I hollered "HAMMER IT!!!". At this point, he still had 75 meters on me.

I wasn't done though. I clicked up a gear and started rocking. I was in pursuit mode and whether I caught him or not, I was going to give it my best shot. I was surprised to see how much ground I had made up by the time I made the turn at the base of 'the wall'. I was now only about 20 meters behind. I was close!

Seeing him so close gave me an extra boost of motivation. I clicked up two gears and stood up. I powered my way up the wall steadily gaining more ground. When he crossed the summit, I was within 10 meters of him. Yes, he beat me fair and square, but I saw the look in his eyes when he realized how much ground I had made up late in the climb. He was surprised how quickly I closed the gap.

Ok, friendly competition aside, the really cool part was seeing who else had decided to climb Altamont Road. Yep, Big George had indeed said "Yes" when I had called out earlier asking that question. He's such a personable guy. He was posing for photos with the several riders who were at the summit as we came up. John and I looked at each other and I had to go for it. I asked, and Big George was kind enough to spare a few moments for our own photo op. I asked a fellow rider to snap a couple of photos and I'm glad I did. Here are both of them.


Big George had made a stop at the summit of Paris mountain to wait for his friend - you remember the guy (in the Hincapie kit) John and I passed just after the water tower? Yep, sure enough, George made a brief descent to pace his friend back to the top. As they passed, I asked George what his PR up Altamont road was - 8:45! Wow! That is awesome!

Wouldn't you know it, Courtney had not passed George's friend, so until she arrived at the top (less than a minute after they started their descent down the long side) she had no idea that George had been on the mountain. She was a little bummed, but John and I didn't think it fair to ask George to wait around.

There was one last thing I needed to show our Atlanta guest - the descent! John and I hammered down the long side of Altamont road and had a wicked blast doing it. A (very) brief stop for Courtney to catch up and the three of us continued our ride at a more leisurely pace towards our downtown destination. We met up again with our many cycling friends enjoying the food and beverages at the Carolina Tri store. It was a fantastic day for a ride, with some really great people and through some very beautiful countryside.

Have I mentioned what a great place Greenville is?

Climbing Solo

Today is a big day. This day marks 2 weeks before our departure. According to our training plan this is the last long mileage / hours weekend before we head out (apparently I was wrong about this last week!). For the next two weeks, we'll be tapering to allow our bodies some recovery time before we really hit it hard.

In the last few days, I've had some great rides. Thursday evening, I met up with Gavin and Perry's son Taylor for a little jaunt up and over Altamont Road on Paris Mountain. It was a very straightforward out and back route that I have ridden numerous times. We did the optional climb on Lake Circle Drive and up to the towers before crossing the summit. It's always fun on the descent down the Furman side. At the bottom I turned around and checked my time. I was well rested and thought it would be a good time to see about a personal best on the ascent.

I quickly passed Gavin and Taylor. I was finding my little climbing zone and they weren't in it. I felt really good going past the water tower. There is a steep(er) section there and sometimes if I'm not feeling it, it drags me down. It didn't this time. In more than one spot I kicked up a gear (in one spot I kicked up several gears) to carry as much speed as I could. I pushed through the wall and checked my time - 13:20. This is my best so far. I'm very pleased about that. Our total mileage for the ride was just over 22 miles.

Yesterday, I decided to start with the Sunshine Bike Shop Hour of Power ride. This is a fun ride that ends up being about 30 miles. Usually, several members of the Piedmont Orthopedic Associates squad shows up to this ride. I never really have had a chance against those guys (in the sprints), but I was interested in pitting myself against them after all this riding I've been doing (it's a relative thing right - how far back from them would I be this time?). Unfortunately for me, they were out enjoying their last big event of the year, so none of them showed.

There was a number of regulars who always turn out a good performance. Most notably, Tyler and Art. Phillippe, A co-worker I had recently met was also there along with about 7 other riders. I was very pleased with this portion of my ride. In the sprint zones, I was right up there with Tyler and Phillippe (who is very strong) and Art. At the rock quarry, Phillippe showed how strong he really is by just motoring away from all of us. We had no chance to catch him.

After the Hour of Power ride, I headed up over Paris Mt again. Just past the CVS, I pulled over to check on a fellow rider and saw that it was my buddy Steve. My plan was not to ride too aggressively, so I decided to ride with him. We tacked on about 23 miles together, then the final 3 I rode home. The total on the day was 56 miles.

Last night, I was looking for someone to ride with, but alas, no-one responded positively. I decided then to go ahead with my plan to climb Caesar's Head. However with one small modification - I would ride directly from home rather than starting from Furman. I thought this would add about 20 miles to the total distance.

The great part about the route I would travel is it included three of my favorite climbs - Altamont Rd from the State Park side, Caesar's Head and Altamont Road from the Furman side. My goal was to just have a fun ride. I knew I wouldn't be setting any personal records as I generally ride a fair bit slower when I am by myself - especially on a longer ride.

I finally got out of the house at about 10 till 8. This was a bit later than I had planned, but the bike did need some maintenance and I had not done that the previous night. It was a great morning, albeit a little cool. I started off with my bib shorts, a jersey, arm warmers and the C3 wind vest. I was a little cool for a lot longer on the ride than I thought I would be. I think I would have been comfortable with my long fingered gloves.

I really enjoyed the ride up the State Park side of Altamont road. I pushed a little, but not near as hard as I have done in the past. I found out it is just about 11 miles to Furman from my house by this route. I didn't actually go onto the campus though, I went straight along New Roe Ford Road.

From there, I pretty much took the route we intended the first time I climbed Caesar's Head. It is really beautiful countryside with very little traffic. I had my new camera, so I had to take some photos to test it out....Ok, I'll have to download additional photos later, but here is the obligatory shot at the state park sign.

I checked my time at the base of the climb so I could see how fast I might climb today. I really wasn't feeling it, but part of that is because I didn't have anyone pushing me up the hill. I was surprised though, I still did the climb in about 45 minutes and 30 seconds. I felt good about that.

I took a break to eat half a clif bar and fill my bottles. Then I re-traced my route back to the house. Once you cross Hwy 11, it really is just rolling hills all the way back to Altamont road, but I was not pushing hard. I know I'll have to do better with my nutrition on the ride to Austin. although I did not bonk, I did put my body in energy conservation mode. I spun to take advantage of any downhill and pull my average speed up, but on the uphills, I really didn't push at all. I just kept clicking down on the gears until I had a nice cadence.

I made it to the Furman side of Altamont road, and I knew I was going to be slow. I was so slow in fact that I added about 50% more time to the personal best I set just a couple of days ago! It was good though, just grinding out the climb with a reasonable respiration rate and I'm sure a reasonable heart rate.

I finished up the ride home and looked at the clock on my cyclocomputer. It showed an elapsed time of 5h50m. It also showed a ride time of 5h8m. That means I spent about 42 minutes stopped. Hmmm, I'll have to improve on that. Finally, it showed a total distance of 75.9 miles. This little experience has shown me that even working together as a team, my Polka-dot team-mates and I are going to have a big challenge to travel significant distances in a 6 hour shift!

However, Bring on the ride! I'm ready!.

A kid, his bike and a long climb...

I love climbing. I need to get that out now - just so you can understand where I am coming from. I love climbing on my bike (road or mountain). It's on the climb that I experience the true joy of riding. While climbing is great even in a pack, it's absolutely best when it is just me, my bike and (preferably) a long climb up the mountain.

Labor day, my mom came in town. Family always trumps anything else, so I did not join either of two P3C3 rides on that Day. The larger group, led by Tedd, did an epic ride from Furman up to the back side of Ceaser's Head. They got in something over 6000' of climbing in a route just under 80 miles.

The other group was made up of my P3C3 team-mates Jeni, Ed and Perry. They left from Ed's place on an epic 107 mile route with over 7000' of climbing. Jeni texted me later that day to say 'my ass hurts'. I was jealous as that might be the biggest ride they will do before we depart for Austin next month.

I was fortunate to be able to get out for a great ride on thursday from Oakview. A great group for sure. At that time, I didn't know the plans for the weekend other than what Tedd had posted about Walnut Grove and the Little House on the Prairie. I knew they would get some climbing in, but they were leaving from Simpsonville and while there are some hills, I was fairly sure I needed something more sustained.

Thursday night, Courtney, Gavin and I talked about riding together. It wasn't until friday night (about 9pm) that we had a plan together. That plan was to meet at Tigerville Elementary at 630am on Saturday morning. I spent a few minutes reviewing routes I had ridden in the past from that location and made my decision.

The route we would take included: Packs Mt, Callahan Mt, The Saluda Watershed, Mine Mountain road and down to Pearson's falls road, up the Saluda grade (on 176) to a break at the Bakery. Also to be included was a loop I had read about on the other side of I-26 from Saluda. I had read this loop was about 20 miles. It included Holbert Cove Road and Green River Cove Road. On the map, Green River Cove Road had a series of switchbacks that I knew would satisfy any craving I had for a nice climb!

From the elementary school, we headed south on 253 to pick up some roads that would take us to the south side of Packs Mountain. I had never done Packs, so I was in for a surprise! It was dark when we left at about 645am so we were all running with lights. The fog was pretty thick in spots, but the traffic was very thin. As we rode through the beautiful countryside near tigerville, the sun was coming up. It really was an incredible morning.

There was no need for our headlamps any longer as we made the turn on to Bramlett Road and then the left onto Bomar Road. As we came around a turn, what a sight! It looked like the road went straight up! At first, I thought it was someone's driveway, but soon I realized that was our ascent up Packs Mountain. There was a time or two I was unsure if I was actually going to be able to ride up that road! It was tough!

All three of us were able to make that climb - thankfully it was quite short. We had a little more climbing to make it to the actual summit of Packs Mt but it was quite easy in comparison. The downhill on the other side was fast and fun, but ended at a stop sign that seemed to sneak up on us a little. Thankfully, there was actually enough road to get a full stop safely.

From there, we headed along South and North Packs Mountain road to tie us in to N. Barton road. We skipped back over to Tigerville road and headed towards Callahan Mt. I selected this route because I wanted to take them over Callahan mt, but I wanted to get that short climb that is to the right on old Hwy 11. The climb up Callahan Mt is always fun and I think everyone enjoyed it. Rocketing down the other side makes it worth it.

We took the right to make the climb up through the watershed. What a great morning. Very little traffic, still a little cool as the morning progressed. This is the climb I really needed - something that went on for a nice sustained distance. There are certainly more difficult and longer climbs in the upstate, but I really enjoy this ride through the watershed. As I climbed I really started to feel great - I wasn't sure I could feel much better after Packs and Calahan, but this climb really put me into a good place.

After crossing the state line, we made the right turn on Mine Mountain road. This is a fun road as well and has a couple of nice climbs and one killer descent as you make your way towards Hwy 176. This is a really nice climb that drops you right into the town of Saluda. I enjoy this climb and met Kip who had done a cross country bike ride with his wife last year. Great guy. He and I talked about the Austin trip a little before I went on ahead.

We made a quick stop at the Bakery for a raspberry thing (very tasty!) and to refill our bottles. We talked a little about the loop I had heard about. We decided to head under the interstate and see what Green River Cove Road was all about.

It was all about switchbacks for the first 2.5 miles! Unfortunately, we descended these switchbacks first, but as I rounded the first and saw the second, I knew I had to climb this road. We re-grouped at the bottom and decided to head down the road (which paralleled the river) until we felt like turning around. It's a beautiful road and it was a great relaxing ride for about 9 miles or so before we turned around.

We rode together most of the way back up the road until we got to the switchbacks. I think everyone was as excited as I was to do this climb. It was beautiful! As the road would make a right hand switchback, I would attack the very steep section in the middle of the turn. I had a great time on this climb. I'll have to go scout the route for the full loop that ends with this climb. That will be really fun to do.

Once again, we re-grouped at the top and rode back to the Bakery to top off the bottles. We decided to take the 'classic' Bakery route back to the Elementary school. It was great just riding along, chatting with my friends - very relaxing.

I as started this blog earlier this week, I had to get the route up on Map my ride. The distance is a little off as we went out Green River Cove Road and turned around - in my map, I didn't quite get the turn-around quite right. I marked what I think is pretty close to the Bakery, but it could introduce some error as well. None the less, the route described is pretty much what we did on Saturday.

Unfortunately, I'm a bit disappointed with total climbing on the route. It turns out that the walnut grove ride had about the same (maybe even more!) climbing on it. I was pretty sure we would have more altitude gain than 4200 feet! That said, I did get what I needed and that is some longer sustained climbing. The climb up the watershed is a true classic and it is about 7 miles or so of decent climbing. The other hills we hit were fun, but not quite as sustained. The real gem in this route is the switchbacks coming up Green River Cove Road.

Next time I do this route, I'll add some more into it. Coming up the back side (next to camp old indian) of Callahan mountain is a nice climb, plus there are a couple of other places I can add in some more altitude.

In the end it really was about 3 kids, their bikes and some really nice climbing - you really can't ask for a better day.