I know there have been a few here who havementioned doing this ride. I am signed up, with a group from work-- we'll probably be around a dozen... I am signed up for the double metric, which IU have done a few times in the past.

We did a training ride yesterday, which should show fitness for the ride... we did a ride called "Gappity Gap" in Virginia- We shortened the course to just under 100 miles, and it included 7 climbs of at least 5k each, with grades up to 14 on them. It was brutal. I was good through the 6th, and pulled along the vallef floor to the baste of the last hill...where my legs said 'enough is enough'. I suffered big time on the last hill, and then was rewarded with a 8 mile descent (ironically the first hll we climbed). I don't think anything we did was harder than what we will face at MoM.

I will not be wearing the 50+ jersey at this ride, given our group had jerseys made from work, and we're all going to be wearing those, but I would love to hook up with anyone doing the ride, even if it is just to say hi-

train safe-

I did this last year for the first time, and made the whole thing, no stopping, no walking. I'm signed up this year, but not as confident about that last climb. I had a lot of setbacks this winter with the weather, some surgeries, some "diet failures"... I've paid for the ride already, so I probably will go. If I'm not feeling it, I'll just bail out when the ride comes back around to Newport. Probably won't wear the 50+ jersey this year either. Last year I got too many "hey you're doing pretty good for an old guy" comments -- and I don't think of myself as "old" at 53...

I am signed up and also plan on riding the Wilderness ride on Saturday. Its a nice route with good scenery too. The double metric will be too much for me so, I'll ride the century like last year. That last climb to the mountain lodge is memorable. Whew!