MPress

That was a brutal experience. Congrats to everyone that finished the century. Next time I will make sure I have a compact. 39x28 just wasn't cutting it once the grade got to 10-12%.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/117282185

dgasmd

That guy gets my respect year after year. He is a crazy SOB for sure. Last year, not only did he do it in a bike with no seat post but he had no shoes. I saw him in one of the rest stops, and told me this year he was "weak" because he put on tennis shoes!!

My number was in the 2900's, so at least that many that I know of. I did not get in until about 2 AM sat morning after working all day and driving right from work the miserable 10 Hr it took me. I simply hate driving or being in a car longer than 2 HR. Otherwise, I would be up there riding every weekend.

The "Expo" was, amusing? There really was not much to look at, do, learn, or get. The race was nice, but as interesting as a crit goes for an spectator looking at them going in circles like a cycling version of NASCAR. Just not my thing at all. but the course was nice from an spectator point of view as you got really good viewing. The women's races were nice though.

Given I have never being close enough to the front, I couldn't tell you really. But, how did your top 5 performance go?

I must say, having good weather made that ride so much nicer. For years, it has been cold and raining the day of, but this year was as perfect cycling weather as it gets. I flew through all the descends tucked like a meat ball. It was fun. I felt so much better and stronger than last year, with one minor exception I'll have to note for next year: food poisoning!!!!! Saturday night, we did not want to wait for restaurant seating on the square, so we drove to a chinese restaurant I had visited last year. The food was good as a remembered it with the added benefit of painful/powerful diarrhea 3 times later that night. Then again right before the start of the ride. I did not think much of it until about mile 30 while having massive cramping on my R quad and inner thigh that forced me off the bike and on to the ground in a fetal position crying like beotch no less than 17 times during the rest of the ride. Every time, it would last from 2-3 to even 10 min. followed by 5 more minutes of mild discomfort, and finishing with feeling like nothing had just happened!! Between those moments, I felt strong and was riding pretty well actually passing people on climbs left and right until the next episode when everyone would pass me while looking at me with some mild neglect. The first few times, tons would ask me if I was OK. After a while, nobody would bother. I finished though, but I should have quit after the 3rd or so. I drove to far to sag it though. There is always next year...............

fa63

I was in Atlanta for business on Thursday and Friday, and thought that I might be able to stay over until Monday so I was hoping to be able to do the 3-gap ride on Sunday. Unfortunately, that didn't happen but at least I was able to stay until at least Sunday morning so I ended up renting a bike in Dawsonville Saturday morning (there were no rentals available in Dahlonega, of course) and rode up to Dahlonega to check things out (did about 60 miles round trip).

The weather was perfect, and riding was beautiful as always (I went to GA Tech and used to ride these roads quite a bit). The bike expo was indeed pretty small, but I got to meet Don Erwin with Lynskey who told me that he would take my old Ti bike, which is slightly too small for me, in trade for a new better fitting Lynskey Cooper (for a very modest price). I told him I will take him up on it I also thought the racing was pretty good, especially watching a Florida Velo Masters rider (Andy Mapple) lap the entire field by himself in 20 minutes.



Watching the ladies race was nice, too (especially the ladies of the LG team) I also got to meet Frank Travieso and Oscar Clark of the Realcyclist.com team; Oscar Clark ended up winning the Pro 1/2 race by a couple minutes and before the race, he was saying how he hadn't been riding much lately

And here is a Psimet wheel sighting:



Side note: my rental was the personal bike of the LBS owner, a Cannondale System Six with Campagnolo Record 10-speed and Mavic Krysium SL wheels. He gave it to me because that is all he had left (and as I mentioned, there was nothing available in the area). It was a nice looking bike (lots of compliments from others) but I have to say that I was very underwhelmed by Record's shifting and ergonomics (I ride SRAM) and the Krysium SL wheels (they catch a lot of wind for a shallow profile wheel and made it nervous during descents). At least now I know I won't be buying Campy any time soon (if the ergonomics of the current shifters are similar).

Anyways, next year I am definitely going up there for the 6-gap ride (and bringing my own bike with me).

MPress

Did anybody see the older dude with the long beard riding the steel bike with toe cages wearing Chuck Taylors??

coolbreeze02

Do you mean this guy? I've seen him here in Arkansas. This guy is great!

65roses1-77.jpg

MPress

Andy rocked that race.



Thats the cat.

merlinextraligh

The Psimet Wheel sighting I'm pretty sure is Kendallf. It's definitely a Velobrew guy.

merlinextraligh

We were wimpy. Did our own 4 Gap route on the tandem. ( Neels, Jacks, turnaround top of Jacks, Wolfpen, Woodys)

More than 3 Gap, less than Six, which was right for our training level right now.

KendallF

Hey, you took a picture of my leg! You should've said Hello... That crit was a blast; amazing crowd out there and a fun course with the elevation gain on the back side, some sweeping corners, and the half circle past the spectators. I got caught behind a crash, gapped, and finished about 20th but still had a great time.

Merlin, I didn't even realize you guys were there until somebody said later they saw a tandem with V'brewers on it.. sorry we missed you!

I had a great time riding Six Gap, rode it easy and stopped at the top of each climb for some friends. I had time to take pictures and basically ate my way across the Gaps..finished with a great Mexican meal at Pueblos downtown.

dsb137

Were the fields at the crit typical for these days? I haven't raced in ages, but I seem to remember the bunches being bigger...

dgasmd

I actually saw that orange tandem in one of the sag stops but never saw anyone on it, so I left. Was going to say hello, but had been there a while already and just needed to get moving again.

I actually thought that was your bike since I thought I had seen it before after you put the couplers on it. I saw it at the "expo" saturday sitting on a rack across from the registration desks. The wheels stood out, so it caught my eye.

That was one cool guy. I was talking to him for a while at the top of the 2nd or 3rd sag stop. Very nice guy, and a very nice Benotto bike too. He rides all over the country year round.

Too funny as me and my buddy ate there too afterwards. That did not settle too well either and I paid for it about 1-2 hr later. At least I was empty for the night, so we left about 5 AM yesterday. Did not get home until about 3:30 PM. My legs, mostly my R side, are very very sore today around the muscle section where I had all the cramping.

Creatre

Pretty fun ride. I don't think the organization of the ride was great though. I barely made the start, because the commute from my car to the starting line/expo area place was way longer than expected.

I was able to snag first in Three Gap, but honestly the competition was not real stiff. Me and one other guy got away on Neel's, and stayed away the rest of the way. I attacked with 2 miles to go and was expecting to kind of go back and forth with him to the finish, but was able to stay away. Probably not necessary but was still fun. I think I had the 4th best time up Wolfpen (Was that the 3 gap timed one, I can't remember the name?) out of both the 3 and 6 according to the results online.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/117348687

Anyone notice the results are all screwed up? Shows a few guys finishing in under 2 and a half hours for 3 gap and don't have a KOM time so I'm assuming they skipped the course somewhere. And a handful of Six Gap people look to be in the 3 gap results.

dgasmd

The results are always messed up. Some people do not finish and get in on a SAG vehicle or take short cuts, so their time is not reflective of that. Some people's KOM do not register when they go over the line for it, so it either messes up their entire time or it register them as DNF. 99% of people doing this ride do it for the challenge and not as a race. Few emphasize the time or try to break the record time, but those are far and few in between. 3 GAP is usually only done by people that are either not trained enough to complete the 6 GAP, are too tired to do the 6, or are intimidated by it. Either way, it is a good time by most.

Having being to several of these now, I can tell you the only true downside to it is the post ride meal. It is prision quality food. Aside from it, the ride is actually very well done, well organized, the entire community pitches to make it happen, and tons of people in the area volunteer for it. They are thankless jobs, but they enjoy it with the entire community benefiting financially.

Menel

That's because it is...

In most GA districts, school systems and prisons contract with the same food providers.

AMFJ

^those are the valley riders. It doesn't separate those people out from the 3 gap riders.

Just like if you signed up for 6 gap and decided to do 3 gap, you are put in with teh 6 gap people, not the 3 gap rankings.

AMFJ

^sorry I was really late on that resposne. It was meant to answer the question about screwed up results.


LOL @ the post ride meal. I looked at a plate someone had, and decided I would just get something to eat elsewhere.

Ride is awesome. The scenery is beautiful. People are awesome. SAG stops are great. The gaps are incredible--especially coming from an area that only has short hills. Love this ride. The motorcyles racing up and down some of the gaps are scary, but other than that---perfect ride.

Creatre

Yeah that's what I figured. I was a bit surprised when the lead group for 3 gap was only about 15 guys from the start to Neels. I'm assuming this is much different in the bigger Six Gap. I didn't even care about the results, I just wanted to do some of the gaps I've always heard about and in somewhat decent time. Since I heard about the ride on last Wednesday from this thread, I wasn't doing enough distance at the time to do 100 hard miles. I may come back next year and try for a top-10 or better in the Six Gap.

Creatre

Ah, gotcha.

mynameistaken

Does anybody have the link to the results?

dgasmd

Maybe it is because I am used to seeing hundreds or thousands of motorcycles racing up and down mountains from having ridden in France and Italy where this very common that I did not think about it for even 1 sec then. But I had seen this even in this area in GA too when I stayed in Dahlonega for a week last year before the ride, so it was not surprising or a big deal to me at all. I can see how it would be intimidating to a lot of people if they had never seen such a thing though. Especially if you are coming from flat areas like FL and such. Never felt threatened by them though.

On an unrelated note, did anyone witnessed the 4 guys that were doing 45 MPH down Hogpen when their tires blew up and all 4 had carbon clincher rims break right through? What are the chances of 4 people riding together have the same thing happen in pretty much the same spot? On top of all, not all 4 rims where even the same brand or type!! They were extremely lucky in that they did not crash at all!! I saw them at the SAG at the beginning of Wolfpen waiting for a car to take them back to Dahlonega. They seemed just happy they did not crash.

dgasmd

Here!

Creatre

Wow, that is weird to have so many people have a problem at the same place. They must have been too hard on their brakes, and there had to be something they all picked up for them all to have a problem.

merlinextraligh

I think the problem likely was that they were doing 45mph down Hogpen. To stay below 45 mph, you've got to being using the brakes a lot.

Carbon clinchers, particularly some of the older ones will melt ( or soften enough to blow out) So with the number of people riding carbon clinchers now, the steepness of Hogpen, it's not that surprising that several people had problems with them on that spot.

Creatre

Does anyone know where the pictures are or will be? I saw a lot of photographers, were they professionals hired by the ride?

Menel

Is noone capable of reading? The results and the photography organization are in Stephanie's emailings. Photo's aren't likely up, I'm not even gonna bother looking until at least the weekend, that many photographers, photos, indexing, uploading, takes awhile.