Mt Mitchell again in 2007
I just completed registration for the Assault on Mt Mitchell that will be on Monday, June 11. The AOMM is 102 miles of "blissful" riding with 11,000 feet of climbing. The ride starts at 6:30 am (right beside a Krispy Kreme Doughnut store) 100 miles away from the park and finishes on top of the Mountain.
About 1/2 of the climbing is in the last 20 miles. None of the climbing is over 10% but going 6-8 mph for the last 2-3 hours can not only really challenge your mental state-if you don't have a good saddle it is one really, really long miserable day.
Usually the AOMM is on a Saturday but the Blue Ridge Parkway has asked them to move it off a weekend to minimize any conflicts with the normal visitors to Mt Mitchell so having it on a Monday is a first. Usually they do a good job with traffic control and getting volunteers for rest stops so it will be interesting to see how it goes this year.
It is getting much harder to get in the event as the ride is capped due to the Parkway restricting the number of riders. Another quirk they added this year -they allowed their club members to register 3 weeks early to be insured of getting a number. Anyone could be a club member if they paid the club membership fee by December 31......by paying the membership fee it jacked up the price of the event by 25% and it is already at $85....... I think they cap the Mitchell riders at 1100 and I saw where the membership in their club soared from about 100+ to 660 this year.......Supply and Demand!!
I just didn't like the idea of paying a premium for so much pain........I had resigned myself to not riding this year due to the registration challenges. It looks like I now know what I'm going to be training for over the next few months.......
And I still recall saying "at least I don't have to do that ride again" after crossing the finish line last year. Here we go again.........