Jet Travis

Any 50+ Types Up for This?

Here's my reason to hop on the trainer on a cold, snowy Sunday in February:

https://www.cyclingdoubleheader.com/index.html

The event takes place over the Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, and rolls through the beautiful countryside of Southwest Virginia. The Mountains of Misery is a Century (or double metric) on Sunday (not for me. I might volunteer). The Wilderness Road Ride, Saturday, has a number of distances.

Can I entice (if that's the right word for an event with "Misery" in the title) anyone to consider signing on?

buelito

I've dont this ride the last 3 years-- the last two doing the double metric... it's a great ride and highly recommended. Two years ago I did the 'double'...the wilderness road ride on Saturday (the 56 mile option) and the double metric on Sunday. I hope to be down again this year--we shall see

train safe-

jppe

I'm really glad you posted this one. I've been eyeing it for a few weeks now. It fits in perfectly with my schedule as it's just a few weeks before Mitchell and there aren't any rides coming up on that weekend other than one I usually do on Memorial Day. Having Monday off from work doesn't hurt from a scheduling perspective either.

In fact, I was riding with a fellow down this way a week or so ago and he mentioned he had ridden it a couple times. He said really enjoyed the Wilderness Road Ride and suffered on the Century the next day. ....of course he was only about 30 years old....

I'm wanting to do some rides this year I haven't done in the past and I think I can get to this one in less than a tank of gas. I think I pulled it up on the web and watched some video of some folks going up the last climb in 85 degree weather....ugh....

So help me with the Logistics to help with ny thinking and planning. I'd probably stay in a hotel on a Saturday night and just do the Century ride on Sunday. The darn finish on that one looks daunting enough. But then again what's 20 more miles???? What area should I search for hotels?

How hard is this ride????

Any other tips or suggestions?

If you volunteered, you wouldn't laugh at me coming up the last climb would you???

buelito

below is my ride report of Mountains of Misery 2006. It has four really tough hills (the double metrice). The century has 2 really tough ones, and I think the first one is harder than the last--it is steeper, but shorter. Definitely one of the 'must do' rides in the east. Pace yourself and train on hills and you should be ok-

train safe--


Mountains of Misery
May 28, 2006
Distance- 130.5 miles
13,000+ feet of climbing

Clock Time- 8:08 –16.05 mph
Ride Time- 7:51 – 16.62 mph

Highest speed reached: 45.65 mph
Slowest speed going uphill: 5 mph

Finished 12th of the double metric riders.—Only 69 finishers… heat did a lot of people in.

This was my fourth year doing this ride. This year it was the first hot day I had ridden this year. It seems the temperature skyrocketed over the weekend—with temperatures in the mid 90’s. “Hot” before meant mid eighties — quite a difference from the 94 it reached on Sunday.

The double metric riders started ten minutes before the century riders. There were about 120 of us. I immediately found myself in the first group—of about 30 riders. I did my share at the front of the ‘peloton’ for the first 18-20 miles, and at one point was leading and moved over to let the next guy lead—and nobody came through. I glanced back and found that I was about 50 yards ahead of the group. My friend Steve later asked me why I was trying to break away from the pack. I was quickly re-absorbed, and stayed near the front until the first (actually second—we didn’t stop at the first one) aid station. I stopped to refuel, and about half the pack kept going. There were some that I would not see for the rest of the day. We had one scary moment, at about mile 17, when a deer jumped across the road in front of the first rider. I was about 2/3 of the way back, and didn’t actually see the deer, but saw the effect it had on the riders around me. We commented that we were lucky there was only one…usually they travel in pairs or packs (sort of like bikers).

Steve and I started riding out of the first aid station together. We passed a few people, and then Steve left me. He ended up finishing fourth overall. I got into a steady rhythm, slow and steady. I passed a few people and then met up with Mark, with whom I would ride most of the day.

The ride was mostly uneventful—it was brutally hot, but the aid stations were plentiful and cold drinks were available throughout. At one point, as we approached the second big hill, there were five of us riding together. One guy was a little ahead, and three dogs burst out a field and started chasing him. I was next in line, and slowed down, and prepared to sprint past the dogs. The leader was in a full sprint, trying to out-distance the dogs, and was spraying them with water (or maybe Gatorade)… Suddenly the dogs gave up the chase, and my immediate thought was, OK, now it’s my turn, but they just looked at me as I sped by—I guess the heat was affecting them as well.

The guys I was riding with were definitely better climbers than I. I got dropped on the second hill, about half way up. Not a big distance, but they were definitely riding better. Once I got to the top of the hill, it was a different story. I got into an aerodynamic tuck and powered down the hill. It was a five mile or so downhill. I was at the front within a mile, and powering the group through by the bottom. The next terrain was rollers, which are my specialty. I stayed at the front, and at one point, was told by Mark that I had dropped the other three. No matter, we would regroup at the next aid station. That was the pattern for the rest of the ride—they would pull away from me on the long steep hills, and I would come back and pull them along on the flats and rollers. It was a lot of fun. I finished about 2 minutes behind two of my ‘group-of-five’. The others were somewhere down the mountain from me.

Mountains of Misery is possibly one of the best run long rides around. The aid stations are well placed and they had plenty of food (even gel at a couple of stops), and liquids. The people manning the aid stations were very friendly and very helpful. The scenery is beautiful—and the hills are hard. All in all a great venue and a great ride. The only negative to the ride is the four hour drive to get there…

Hope to see some of you there next year!

Jet Travis

Thanks for the fine ride report buelito. I'm in for this year's Wilderness Road Ride. Not sure I'm ready to go the full distance. Maybe '08.

sch

Some mountain goat locals did that 2yrs ago and reported that the last 5mi
are the real killer with 20% grades on the frequent switchbacks on top of
several miles of 10% grade. The hills prior to that were 'not so bad'.
The drive from central AL is a bit much also.

PAlt

Any idea when the Wilderness ride starts? Might be able to make the run in from Davidson in the AM to make it...