Velo Vol 

I finally got in a good training ride today. The course is good preparation for the Challenge: 69 miles, lots of rolling country, a few flat stretches, and a moderate 7 mile climb up the Foothills Parkway. There's even a rough, quasi-gravel stretch to simulated the Alabama roads.

Awesome weather today; too bad I couldn't put it in a bottle and break it out on Saturday.

I'm feeling my legs tonight.

Bob Wilson

Velo Vol,

Thanks, but I was referring to finishing the 3-state Century with acceptable pain levels. If you would have told me that I would be attempting the 3-State Century back in Oct. 2006 when I bought my road bike, I would have told you to back away from the crack pipe.

Saturday, I completed a 65 mile ride that included climbs up Suck Creek and then Signal Mountain and finished off with some rolling hills in Red Bank. The climb up the back side of Signal Mountain was a long steady grind (6 miles). I was hoping to also climb Mowbray mountain, but our group decided we had experienced enough fun for one day.

How much riding do people normally put in on the week before a century ride? I was thinking of resting except for doing about 30 miles of rolling terrain on Tues. and then 10 easy flat miles on Thurs. What do you think?

Velo Vol 

I'm not a seasoned century rider, but that sounds like a good plan. I'll probably do a regular workout ride Tuesday and/or Wednesday, then a light cardio-type ride on Thursday.

How are the roads along the route? Any surprises? I hope they repaved that road in Alabama.

dpage44

I'll be there. It will be my 5th year doing this crazy ride. Heed all the cautions about the decent off Suck creek. I believe the law caught the arse who threw out the thumbtacks last year. Some in-bred local yocal who was irratated about them spandex clad outsiders slowin down traffic on his mountain for 2 hours once a year. The mass start is also a little hairy. There are idiots who look like they should know better doing some stupid, stupid manuvers jockeying for position.
I run a standard Ultegra Triple gear set on the front, but I have a 11-34 XTR cassette on the back with a long cage derailler. I'm a "stout fellow" and believe me I need all them gears!

Bob Wilson

I don't know of any surprises or detours for the 3-State, although I have not been on the route between Suck Creek and Burkhalter Gap. From what I have heard, the payment in Alabama is pretty rough. I think this picture is from the climb up Sand Mountain.

dpage44

Yeah, you don't need a sign to tell you when you enter Alabama :-) The road is rough all the way from the "state line" to the top of Sand Mountain. It becomes better at the top. The view at the top offsets the rough road. it is simply glorious!

Pedal Wench

How many miles is the rough surface?

BikeWNC

I would guess about 8 miles. It's not that the road is bad, it is just the large aggregate gravel used to make the road which makes it bumpy. There is a smoother part of the road near the center. You'll know it when you get on it. Stay on it!

I did have pity on several riders on AL bikes that were off to the side just chattering away while my Ti bike rolled pretty well, especially on that center line.

Velo Vol 

Meh. A distinction without a difference, methinks. Either way it's bad.

I think I may give my legs a 30 mile workout this evening and that will basically be it until the ride. Only light riding, if any, the next two days.

chrisvu05

I'm in!!! Just got a number from a fellow whose wife isn't going to do it. I'll be coming in from Nashville on friday afternoon! Think the rain is gonna pass by?

vpiuva

Alabama's favorite rural road surface - chip seal . Center lines good, and sometimes near the edge is good, too, but you have to pay closer attention. The key is: the faster you ride the smoother it is.

Velo Vol 

A short afternoon shower wouldn't necessarily be the worst thing in the world, but I'd just as soon have a dry ride.

dpage44

Anybody riding a recumbent bike or trike?

uciflylow

I have a little bit of a pulled groin muscle, but I am gonna give it all I have!

See you and DaveW Saturday, maby even Friday!

This will be my first go at this ride.

Pedal Wench

Grrrr, I hate a shake-and-bake surface. So, it's 8 miles, but how far into the ride is it? I did a century last weekend that had about 5 miles of the stuff, but it was late in the ride and just awfully hard to maintain any speed.

dpage44

Right at about the 50 mile mark

crypticlineage

Yeehaa, wonder how I missed this thread. This will be my first century, official or unofficial. I have never ridden more than 63 miles at once before. Until a month ago, I was in decent shape, but have gotten very little if any miles in, at all during last 30 days, so I don't know how I am going to do. I am confident I can manage Suck Creek (I climbed it one and half times from both sides in a day last month) and Sand with moderate effort. What I am worried about is Lookout Mountain. Like others have noted, it has upto 18% grade in some places, this is going to be brutal.

I am also coming in from Nashville (Harpeth Bike Club) and will be wearing Bikeforums Jersey. Say hello if you see me. It won't be hard to spot an Indian dude in the crowd, I guess there is only 2 Indian guys riding.

May the spirit of the mountains bless us.

Velo Vol 

Good luck crypticlineage.

Don't push yourself too hard early on and you should be fine. I'll be on the lookout for a BikeForums jersey.

crypticlineage

Thanks VeloVol, I will do my best not to push myself too hard. One thing I learned from climbing Suck Creek was maintaining low heart rate was the key to sustained long distance climbing. So I am going to test my skills on that.

Hope to see you there .

Velo Vol 

Weather.

Early in the week the rain chance was 20%. Then it went to 40%, then 60%. Now this:Right now there's a thunderstorm dumping rain outside.

Hopefully, tomorrow those showers will be widely scattered and of the non-thunder, thunderstorm variety.

Ride safe everyone.

dpage44

I hear ya. I'm sitting in my hotel room hoping I don't get wet tomorrow!

Velo Vol 

We dodged a bullet!

I left K-Town dark and early this morning and headed down I-75. There was a light to moderate rain much of the way down. About 25 miles from Chattanooga, it started pouring. I was thinking, "Oh, great."

But eased up when we got to Hamilton County. Aside from the light precipitation at the start, I wasn't rained on at all. It looked like it might start raining the entire ride, but it never did. I'm very relieved.

In a way, the damp, overcast conditions were nice because they kept the temperature down. Still, thanks to the humidity, I sweated like a pig on the climbs, particularly Sand Mountain. And the haze blocked the scenic mountain views we worked so hard to obtain.

Random musings:

2,000+ riders makes for a slow start. I don't think I got much above 10 mph until the 3rd mile.

The first 40 miles is flatter than I remember it being. Oh, to have flat stretches like that around here. It's not often that I get to cruise at 20 mph or so for that long.

As a practical matter, I assume they can't move the the SAG stops. But that Marion County mud hole sure did a number on my cleats.

Alabama roads still suck.

Riders pick the oddest places to pee. Is it really that hard to walk a few extra feet to a tree? One guy was whizzing right on a narrow bridge when I rode by.

Either my rear tire is too worn down, or that road up Sand Mountain is extra slippery when wet. Several times my wheel lost traction. The climb is bad enough as it is, I don't need to be wasting power.

My evil side reared its ugly head--a got a kick out of seeing some of the flatlanders toil on the hills.

Note to self: do not veer into the on-coming lane at high speeds to avoid a road hazard if you are approaching a curve.

Oy, Burkhalter Gap. Rarely does the biggest gear on my cassette seem so small.

It's to have cheerleaders along the route; I imagine that gets old really fast.

The rolling stretch atop Lookout Mountain has more climbing than I recalled. Or my legs were just tired.

By and large, they do a great job managing traffic (though I'd feel differently if I was waiting at an intersection in a vehicle). But after two rides, I have yet to figure out what's going on at the bottom of Lookout Mountain. It's my understanding that the traffic directors are there so cyclists don't have to stop. But what they succeed in doing is backing up traffic so that there's way to get around it. At least it wasn't obvious to me how I was supposed to get through a few of those intersections.

I finished in roughly 6:08 of riding time.

BikeWNC

Glad the weather held off for the ride.

Most people think the climbing is over at the top of Burkhalter, but we know different. It's not until the last 5 miles that the rollers end.

No accidents this year? That would be a much welcome change.

chrisvu05

I posted a ride report over in the road forum...here's the link if you want to check it out

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/295243-3-state-3-mountain-ride-report-first-hilly-century-clyde.html

Velo Vol 

I didn't hear of any major accidents.

There were a few people stationed on descents cautioning riders to slow down. I don't recall if they had that last year or not.