Southeast - Blue Ridge Brutal

Anyone doing the Blue Ridge Brutal (Aug 15)? And/or if you have done the ride, any advice for a fellow from Illinois who is accustomed to climbing hills but not mountains? I am 63 and have registered for the 57mile ride.

GB

Am in for the "Full Monty" including the Mt Jefferson climb. It'll be my first attempt. May the Cycling Gods have mercy...

GB I am doing the 57 miler to. Looking at the profile I would keep a steady pace between mile 12 and 18 instead of blowing up. From there I think you are good to go.

Richard


Anyone doing the Blue Ridge Brutal (Aug 15)? And/or if you have done the ride, any advice for a fellow from Illinois who is accustomed to climbing hills but not mountains? I am 63 and have registered for the 57mile ride.

GB

Anyone doing the Blue Ridge Brutal (Aug 15)? And/or if you have done the ride, any advice for a fellow from Illinois who is accustomed to climbing hills but not mountains? I am 63 and have registered for the 57mile ride.

GB

I've done all the various routes on Brutal and you will do fine. There is some climbing on the 57 miler but nothing terribly steep. The 100 miler has a 1-2 mile climb at about 70 miles that is a rock solid 10-11%. That one hurts you pretty good.

If you have anything left give Mt Jefferson a look afterwards. Now that is a climb!!

I arrived in the area Saturday and yesterday rode from the Civic Center to the 1st rest stop - not as steep as I was expecting which is a good thing. Today I want the ride the back half'. This is such a beautiful place to vacation if you love to ride. Looking forward to Saturday.

GB

I'll be riding the 75 mile route. Jefferson too hopefully.

GB do report on the back half if you get a chance to ride it.

Richard


I arrived in the area Saturday and yesterday rode from the Civic Center to the 1st rest stop - not as steep as I was expecting which is a good thing. Today I want the ride the back half'. This is such a beautiful place to vacation if you love to ride. Looking forward to Saturday.

GB

I've studied the route profile and do not see anything in the first 70 miles that seems very hard. I'm sure there are some short steep sections but nothing very long. It appears the ride gets harder after the 70 mile point with a good climb. I will miss that one on the 75 miler. From what I can tell there isn't much difference in the two shorter rides other than the distance.

I rode from the Trading Post back into W. Jefferson. Nothing really steep, just some long drags at about 4% or so. There was a very noticeable headwind for much of the ride and I wasn't motivated enough to do much pushing. All in all I am glad I scouted the ride beforehand, just relieves what little bit of apprehension I had. Hoping for no rain on Saturday.

Gerry

I've studied the route profile and do not see anything in the first 70 miles that seems very hard. I'm sure there are some short steep sections but nothing very long. It appears the ride gets harder after the 70 mile point with a good climb. I will miss that one on the 75 miler. From what I can tell there isn't much difference in the two shorter rides other than the distance.


You are exactly right. There are some climbs but nothing too steep or terribly long. The worst climbs are in the last 30 miles of the 100 mile route. The toughest one is the 2 miler at about 70 miles. The top guys still finish it in 4hr 45 mins......I always limp in 90 mins later!! I just can't seem to get motivated to do Brutal this year so will probably just suffer in the heat and humidity around Charlotte.......

Thanks for the report GB!

Richard

Here in W Jeff looking forward to tomorrow. Let's hope for good weather and a safe ride.

Richard

Outstanding event. Very well put on, challenging and senic. Climbing from start to finish with excellent downhills as well. Several of the climbs stayed true to the name of the event, BRUTAL. Thank you to everyone involved in putting on this terrific ride.

Nice ride did the 50 miler which ended up being 58 miles due to a missed turn. I think it was supposed to be 56. Met BikeWNC and NealH briefly and promptly got dropped. I was going to go easy and save some for the end, but fortunately it never got too hard. I actually felt good after the ride.

Next up TourDeTuck.

Richard

I did the 57 mile route. I stopped just once and then for about one minute. My first ride in this type terrain. The last long slog up Dilliard Road just about used all the leg power I had left. Fortunately I went the rest of the way in with two others and was able to conserve just enough to finish okay. I was pleased to finish in 3 hours and forty minutes. I thought the event was well done and the weather near perfect. Some great riders in all three different routes and how about that time for 20 minutes or so up Mount Jefferson. Hope to be back in the area some time to do this again. Thanks to all who had a role in pulling it off.

Pat, what happened to you, did not see your name in the results listing.

Gerry

MAJOR intestinal issues Fri. P.M / Sat. A.M. I drove up about 1/2 way, 3 stops along the way suggested that riding was not the most intelligent decision I could make that day.

Sorry to hear that, hope you are fine now. You missed a great day for riding and there were some awesome riders.

Gerry

Sorry about your issues Pat and I can sympathize since I had mine too. My heart went into a-fib again, on and off for the entire route. I had to slow way down to finish the ride. And, I did not attempt Jefferson. Oh well...

It was a great event, well organized and supported, and the weather was terrific. I went to Shatley Springs for dinner on Saturday but, sheesh, there was a line a mile long it seemed. The place was packed. I did not want to wait so I came back into Jefferson for dinner. Nice little town and a nice area. Seeing all those rafters and kayakers on the New River makes me want to give that a try.

Nice meeting Richard (Reef58) too. He went fly fishing early Sunday and I hope he had good luck. BikeWNC and I rode part of the Pigeon Loop on Sunday after I got refit on my bike and, its a great great route to. Too bad this loop is not included on an organized event. Its one nice route.

I could tell Neal was having problems when he kept dropping off the pace. I waited at the rest stops for him and in between got to ride with a pair of very cute tri gals. I guess that was my good karma for hang back late in the ride. I let the ladies ride on when Neal didn't show at the third sag. :( Anyway, I had a good day on the bike though my overall time won't show it.

On Sunday, Neal obviously recovered from his heart issues and led the pace on the 2400' climb we did. I had some hamstring/knee issues I think stemming from a recent cleat adjustment. That had me backing off a bit but we still made good time on the "recovery" ride.

Thanks for all the good wishes, very sorry I missed out, but discretion was the better part of valor. That gives me something to work for next year! Next on the agenda, Tour de Gaps in Mt. Airy in 2 weeks. Anyone in?