Southeast - How would you rank Mountain Centuries in the SE

I rode in the Six Gap Century in Dahlonega, Ga yesterday and can check that one off the list of the 100 mile "mountain organized centuries" I've completed in the Southeast. There are a few more I'd like to add to the list but am curious about how you would rank those you have done in order of difficulty.

Here is my ranking and brief thoughts around why I placed them where I did (most difficult ranked #1). For those that have ridden other centuries (like Tour de Tuck, Roan Mountain, etc) it would be very interesting to hear how they compare to these and where you might rank them.

1-Mountains of Misery-The really steep/long finish says it all. The first 100 miles just sets you up for a very, very miserable last 3 miles.

2-Assault on Mt Mitchell-While there isn't anything really steep for the entire ride, because so much climbing is in the last 25 miles plus going uphill for about the last 20 miles (with the exception of the short downhill) is as much mental challenge as a physical one.

3-Six Gap Century-Over 11,000 ft of climbing-the most of any of the rides. A lot of solo riding as the terrain makes it difficult to group up.

4-Blood Sweat & Gears-Lots of climbing the first 40 miles followed by Snake Mountain-very steep for 1-2 miles.

5-Bridge to Bridge-The 13 mile climb up Hwy 181 plus a very memorable 2 mile climb up Grandfather Mountain. However, adverse weather can certainly move this ride up a couple spots in degree of difficulty.

6-3 Mountain Madness (95 miler)-The middle mile of Pilot Mountain that deep into a ride really makes you hurt. Not only are there 3 challenging climbs but there is just a lot of other climbing throughout the ride. It can also get pretty warm.

7-Brutal Blue Ridge 100-The steep section on Buffalo Rd plus the addition of the 2+ mile climb on Hwy 194 makes this a more challenging ride.

8-Hilly Hellacious (was not held in 2008)-A number of different climbs spread throughout the ride and since it was held in August the heat could become a factor.

9-Foothills Classic-Between 8000-9000 ft of climbing spreadout throughout the ride.

10-3 State 3 Mountain-Three very distinguishable climbs with one steep, fairly long section.

11-Cheaha Challenge-A terrific early season out and back century with come very good climbing plus one steep climb. A unique route with 20 miles of pretty level roads at the start and end.

12-Issaqueena's Last Ride-A terrific route on good roads with a couple of distinguishable climbs-one with a steep section of 12+% for a mile.

13-Fletcher Flyer-While it is in the mountains, there is minimal climbing and you can do a sub 5 hour century if you stay with the front group. The generally less humid conditions make this a real treat.

Note: Marquis de Sade is only 85 miles but if they were to add 15 miles and without adding any more climbing I'd put it in 6th spot. It already has around 8500 ft of climbing with numerous climbs and several very steep sections.

How would you rank them? What others would you add to the list and how would you rank them?

I've only started riding a few months ago, so I don't have as extensive a repetoire of Century rides to compare to; nonetheless, here's my rankings based on the rides that I have done:

1-Tour de Tuck
2 - Bridge to Bridge
3-Tour de Gaps (this one was is only an 82 mile ride, but with:~6 miles at 5% grade, Willis Gap 3.3 miles at 8%, Orchard Gap 3 miles at 9% and Pipers Gap 3.3 miles at 8%, and a cumulative elev gain of 11,250', I think it ranks up there with some of the full Century rides, IMHO.
4-Blue Ridge Brutal 100
5-Roan Moan

...I'll let you know where I rank Tour de Nantahala & Tour de Franklin, after doing them back-to-back, in late Oct.

I've only done six-gap, but I'd have to think Brasstown Bald Buster has to be listed in there somewhere near the top.

From that list, I've only done Mountains of Misery, and that is a tough ride. At about mile 50 there is a hard climb, but the final climb is truly insane. You reach mile 98 (of roughly 102) and think "I'm home". You're not. The last 4 miles is steep. Like, peaking at 20% steep. Even with the GPS, I didn't believe this until another person with a Garmin told me they got the same numbers. Many (most?) people end up walking part/most of the final climb

Very pretty ride, though!

That is a heck of a list & I am gonna copy & paste it so I have some goals for the next couple seasons. One that is omitted is the Brasstown Bald Century (www.brasstownbaldbustercentury.com (http://www.brasstownbaldbustercentury.com)). This year, I did both Mitchell & Brasstown & I thought Brasstown was much harder. If you take away the brutal heat of Mitchell; it is a tough ride & you feel like you climb forever, but the grades on the Brasstown ride are just flat out hard. Plus you don't have a many riders, so you can't jump in a 60 person paceline to get you to the 80 mile mark. You are doing a lot more work, plus there are a lot more hills getting to the 80 mile mark once the real climbing begins. Hogpen Gap is tough with grades around 15% for almost a mile & then Brasstown Bald - 200 yards at 25%! When you look down at you speedometer & see 1.9 mph; it is deflating.

Next year I would like to do Blood Sweat Gears & the 3 Mountain Ride.

That is a heck of a list & I am gonna copy & paste it so I have some goals for the next couple seasons. One that is omitted is the Brasstown Bald Century (www.brasstownbaldbustercentury.com (http://www.brasstownbaldbustercentury.com)). This year, I did both Mitchell & Brasstown & I thought Brasstown was much harder. If you take away the brutal heat of Mitchell; it is a tough ride & you feel like you climb forever, but the grades on the Brasstown ride are just flat out hard. Plus you don't have a many riders, so you can't jump in a 60 person paceline to get you to the 80 mile mark. You are doing a lot more work, plus there are a lot more hills getting to the 80 mile mark once the real climbing begins. Hogpen Gap is tough with grades around 15% for almost a mile & then Brasstown Bald - 200 yards at 25%! When you look down at you speedometer & see 1.9 mph; it is deflating.

Next year I would like to do Blood Sweat Gears & the 3 Mountain Ride.

Thanks for adding Brasstown. I have not ridden that one but have heard a great deal about Brasstown Bald.

Getting to the top of Jacks Gap and seeing the entry road to Brasstown is one of the most frightening things out there. Just makes your quads scream.

I've only started riding a few months ago, so I don't have as extensive a repetoire of Century rides to compare to; nonetheless, here's my rankings based on the rides that I have done:

1-Tour de Tuck
2 - Bridge to Bridge
3-Tour de Gaps (this one was is only an 82 mile ride, but with:~6 miles at 5% grade, Willis Gap 3.3 miles at 8%, Orchard Gap 3 miles at 9% and Pipers Gap 3.3 miles at 8%, and a cumulative elev gain of 11,250', I think it ranks up there with some of the full Century rides, IMHO.
4-Blue Ridge Brutal 100
5-Roan Moan

...I'll let you know where I rank Tour de Nantahala & Tour de Franklin, after doing them back-to-back, in late Oct.

Neither of those 2 rides will compare with the top of the list mentioned. The TdN route has a few tough sections with Wayah Gap being the most difficult, but it doesn't make the top 10 rides IMO. The TdF route changes from year to year and this version has been set to avoid all the long or difficult climbs or so I've been told. At least that is true of the metric route. Still, doing the centuries back to back is hard because there are no easy rides in the mountains.

Thanks for the rundown on those two rides.

I really didn't know what to expect, though, given that they're not rides you hear people talking about (in terms of tough century rides) I didn't think they'd rank any where near the level of difficulty of some of the other rides mentioned in this thread, but doing them btb should give me a nice workout, along with an opportunity to take in the fall foliage.

I'd like to try the Black&Bluerelay ride (solo) next year, and I'll need all the long duration & fatigued riding experience I can get to work up to doing it. I really don't know what kind of elev gains it has, but given the route - from Grayson County, VA down to Asheville,NC,...there's bound to be at least a few "hills" along the way. Then again, doing 200 miles in one day - over ANY topography, is bound to be a challenge.

http://www.blackandbluerelay.com/

...are you doing TdF or TdN this year?

Wolfpack, NealH and I are doing the metrics both days. I'm just not up for the century rides this time of year. No doubt I could suffer through them but I'm not into that right now. I'm just getting back to base training after not riding much all summer.

The TdF could be made into a very hard century ride with lots of steep climbing. Just let me set the route one year. :thumb: Check out the Tour de Cashiers. But the bike shop that organizes the ride prefers to have a more moderate route to allow for more participation. The TdN is more hemmed in by it's location though several hard climbs are avoided, like Yellow Gap (900+' in 1.2 miles). Rest assured though 100+ miles in that area is still a good tough ride.

There's a lot of rides I have yet to tackle. I've only done two of the ones listed in the first post.

There's a lot of rides I have yet to tackle. I've only done two of the ones listed in the first post.

I know you rode 3S3M this year-what is the 2nd one you've done?

I know you rode 3S3M this year-what is the 2nd one you've done?

VV did the Tour de Tuck century last year. I don't think the 3S3M century is one of the harder rides. It's elevation gain is overstated and there are long stretches of mostly flat terrain to get in a good paceline. Sure Burkhalter is tough but many of the other rides have similar sections or multiple climbs like it and much more climbing overall.

I'd throw in the Mountain Mama Road Bike Challenge out of Monterey, VA, as one of the more challenging centuries in the south: 100 miles, with over 13,000 feet of climbing over 9 passes (click here (http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/va/monterey/363094743) for the MapMyRide profile). Having done both it and Mountains of Misery, while the latter has a more challenging final climb, I'd rank Mountain Mama as the more difficult ride, overall. But the final climb, over Monterey Mountain, you really want the thing to end - especially if it's hot during the weekend it's run (first weekend in August), it can be tough.

Velo Vol also rode the Cherohala Challenge this year. I rode it with him. I would call it difficult but, I consider just about any 100+ mile ride difficult especially with any significant climbing involved. The Skyway climb itself comes relatively late in the route and seems to last forever. But the ride is memorable, as it provides beautifully diverse and scenic landscapes from farmlands and valleys, to rivers and lakes, and to mountains and passes. The total gain figure reported by my Garmin was 9475'.

I know you rode 3S3M this year-what is the 2nd one you've done?

I rode the Hilly Hellacious Hundred three years ago. It was a nice ride, but didn't have any long, grueling climbs like others on the list. Why did it not run this year?

[Yes, I've also ridden the Tour de Tuck and Cherohala Challenge, but those weren't listed on the first post--which I was referring to.]

Sometime, if I go crazy, I'd like to check out Brasstown Bald. I've never been there, bicycle or otherwise.

Hilly Hellacious has the Bearwallow Mountain climb. It may not be as grueling as some, but it is pretty tough with some double digit grades. Nice decent going into Chimney Rock area afterwards. Hopefully someone will decide to restart this ride next year.

There is an informal training route starting from Hampton,TN that I and the locals occasionally do for punishment when we've been bad little boys and girls called P.O.R. ( Pedal On Regardless - sort of a bicycle version of the Press On Regardless rally ).

While not an "official" ride, it is tougher than the usual mountain century rides in the area. It includes most of the better known climbs of the area and has some of the steeper lesser known ones thrown in. 12,000+ ft of climbing (Actual feet from topo maps, not software or BS century flyer numbers) in ~92 miles with a final 11 miles downhill to the end, total 102 miles with 10 major climbs, 118 ft/mi. It's definitely not for the casual rider and will take at least 6+ hrs to finish for a climber.

By comparison
- Mtn. Mama - ~9500 ft climbing in 99 miles, 95 ft/mi
- 2008 TdF Alpe d'Huez stage - 14000 ft in 130 mi, ~107 ft/mi

You can view the route here:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tn/hampton/915775584000

By comparison
- Mtn. Mama - ~9500 ft climbing in 99 miles, 95 ft/mi

A comparison of topo, GPS and barometric altimeter data pegs Mountain Mama at ~13,000 ft. of climbing, not ~9,500. Just sayin' - these online services low-ball the numbers a bit, especially on more up-and-down rides, like Mountain Mama.

So your ride might be closer to 13K than 9.5K, and it would be worth getting data from other sources for corroboration.

But anything that has lots of gaps/passes/notches/summits is good stuff. And that climb in the middle looks like a nice one. :D

I re-checked my figures for the Mtn. Mama and I did make a mistake- it's 9300, not 9500. Sorry for the error.... ; )

Those figures are from the topo maps from the mapmyride link that you posted, not from an "online source", just my own simple arithmetic (and the ride I posted was calculated the same way, so the comparison would still be the same). GPS elevations and barometric pressure altimeter readings can vary in accuracy ( GPS is much more accurate horizontally than vertically due to the variations vertically in the satellite orbits, at least that's what Garmin says) and software calculations are much worse. Rides in mountainous areas (as opposed to constantly rolling terrain) are really quite easy to calculate accurately by hand using topo maps, because there usually aren't that many small hills to factor in, just long stretches of up and down. Plus, topo maps never need calibrated ( unless all those USGS benchmarks are wrong, but I kinda doubt it ). I guess people are used to the days when topo maps were unavailable unless you actually bought them, so they make it more complicated than it really is and think that only software/GPS/altimeters can figure it out ( or maybe they just love gadgets ). All you really need to do is be able to read a contour line and add and subtract.

Here are the elevations I used for the Mtn. Mama ( these are the high and low points on the route ). Sorry I couldn't make it easier to read, it wouldn't let me set up a table in nice neat rows with cloumns and mileages (but the mileages aren't important in this case, just the totals)

start 2900 - 3400 (500 ft)- 2200 - 2700(1000) - 2000 -2400(1400) - 1900 -2700(2200)- 2200 - 2750 (2750)- 1800 - 3400(4350) - 2200 - 3000(5150) - 2500 - 3850(6500) - 2900 - 4300(7900) - 3100 - 3700(8500) - 3100 - 3900(9300) - 2900 finish

I actually gave extra feet in most cases when recording the elevations for the Mama, so if anything my numbers might be a bit high, but if you can point out where I made a 3500ft mistake I'd be glad to know. It's still quite a tough ride, and the climbs on the two rides are probably fairly similar except for the Mama not having a huge Roan-type climb in it.

Cheers

Brasstown Bald Buster has gotta be number 1 or 2 on that list.