I was going to, but something unavoidable came up & I have ridden the Bakery route a lot (it's a great ride), but am interested to hear about the turn out for it. I can't make the next one (its the same day as a popular metric century in Greenville) but am really interested in the one on May 12th. I am just curious what kind of turn out they have because I can do the same ride by leaving from Greenville & going to Ceasers Head if I am just riding by myself without having to drive 30 minutes to Tigerville.

I am not even signed up for the Mt Mitchell ride, but am interested in the longer training rides to keep working on my climbing legs for the summer.

From the email the organization sent me, they noted a good turnout of over 270 riders for this ride. All the training rides fall on days I have other plans. I would have liked to try one for fun.

Anybody else do the training ride #2 on Saturday? I was there. First time on Howard Gap. It's brutal. I think it's only about 2 miles but the average grade is around 14% and it goes up to 20% max. In the last mile, I dont think it went lower than 15% on my computer. Total ride was 60 miles with close to 6000 ft elevation gain. I cant imagine what they have in store for #3 and 4.

Was there as well. Good ride, dodged the rain, but more work to do to get ready for AOMM. I was the guy in the 50+ BikeForums jersey...

I think I saw you on the way up 176 to Saluda. I caught a bit of rain just across the tracks but missed the rest on the way down. Here is the report for anyone who is interested. I think I read somewhere that a few tires blew out on the way down Howard Gap, but they dont mention it here, so maybe no one got hurt at least.





243 happy folks started out Saturday in perfect weather. About half way through
the ride the bottom fell out and did not stop for any length of time. The
thunder and lightning was bad and the hail was really coming down.
With all of this I had to sag in only four riders, the rest finished. I can tell
the riders are getting stronger.
Thanks for coming and we will see you for # 3 soon.

John

I was there too, I had to walk up Howards Gap, saw two blow outs on the way down. Got caught in the rain up 176 and the hail on Greenville Rd out of Saluda. I think ride 3 is easier, the road up to Caesars Head is just long but not steep, about the same as the steeper parts of the Greenville watershed. There is one very short 22% grade, less than 1/4 mile if I recall correctly. I have not done the Marquis de Sade ride (#4) but I understand it is even harder than Mitchell, can't wait.

According to Garmin, just over 57 miles and only 5,400 feet of climbing.

Thanks for all your stories. I wanted to do this ride, but it conflicted with the Wheels for Meals century. You probably saw some of us or at least our rest stop at your first turn. I am impressed by the turnout - 243 riders; wow! I am planning on doing the 3rd ride in 2 weeks. From riding up Ceasers Head in the past, I found it to be challenging. It has some steep parts, but it's biggest thing is the length. You are looking at climbing 2000 ft in 6 miles, so it just keeps going & going. Plus it has mileage signs to remind you have far you have gone (or not gone). The fun thing is the 35 miles to get out there & the 35 miles to get back there. I hope the weather is better in couple weeks. At least not too humid or raining / hail.

My training is coming along, but we'll see how it goes up to the real date. My original plan was to continue my 2X weekly commuting (43 miles RT, 1700 total climb), a 30 mile ride on Saturdays, and on Sundays, I'd do this:

April -
80 long ride (Did it - 86 total, 3000 feet total)
50 miler - did a 60 mile/2400 foot total
60 miler (5000 feet) - got rained out - did 1 hour on the trainer, but that was it.
first 100 miler (relatively flat - 3500 feet overall)

The plan for May was:
2nd 100 miler - I'll be doing a 60 mile/5000 foot ride instead
50 miles (6000 feet) - I'll be doing a 73 mile, 6000 feet ride
3rd 100 miler - I'll do the same 100 miler as before. Alternately, I could do a repeat of the 73 miler, or do the Mt. Weather/Blue Mountain ride - it's a 68 mile/5000 foot ride.
From there, it's only the weekend of June 2nd - should I taper to Mitchell ride, or try to get one more big one in?

So, there are 2 100 milers, and 3+ 50-70 mile, 5000 foot climb rides.I'm hoping this is enough to get me up the mountain in June. I really don't care how long it takes me - other than beating 12 hours.

Who is doing the training ride #3 on Saturday? The forecast looks good; high of 84 and only a 20% chance of rain.

Will be there...wearing the jersey you see in my avatar. Looks like a great riding day. a little overcast and not too warm.

I guess I should have said, I am going to wear a Blue Jersey with White shoulders - from the Wheels to Meals Ride a couple weeks ago. Last time, I rode Caesers Head, I rode too hard there (about 40 miles) & had rubber legs for the climb. So my goal on Saturday is back my pace down some on the way there, enjoy the climb & then ride hard back.

On the cue sheet for ride #3 it says that Gap Creek Road is a 50mph road with potholes. Does this mean that it is a steep hill like Howard Gap? If so, is it uphill on the way out or on the way back?

It appears so. I have not ridden this entire route, but a couple sections of it that I am surprised they didn't give any warnings on. The first that I know of is a section of Pleasant Grove Road (which I am not a 100% on) but it is a small but tough little climb. It does have something written on the road as a warning - like time to Harden Up or something like that. The other one that I am more concerned with is about 1 mile after that on Mulligan Ford Hill; which is also a 50 mile an hour hill with a turn at the bottom of the hill & a quick stop sign. I hope that I wrong on this, because I was semi lost at the time & this was about 6 months ago, but I just remember going down the hill, really concerned & convinced there was no way I could climb that thing back up. But I have to assume they wouldn't put anything way too difficult - right?

Did training ride #3 on Saturday. It did seem like it was going to be a bit easier than #2 but it was plenty brutal. There were a couple of steep hills right before the Caesar's Head climb that really soften you up for the long climb up. Knowing that they would be waiting there for the return trip was a little rough too. So even without a killer long steep section like Howard Gap, it still was a bit tougher than the last one due to the overall distance and the long climbs. Distance I recorded was 87.4 and elevation gain was 7250. Perfect weather, good size crowd, pretty good food after too. It was a little weird riding on HWY 25, almost seemed like we were on the interstate. I dont think the drivers cared much for us being there either.

I did the training ride also on Saturday. First of all, I was shocked about the number of people that turned out for the ride. I thought the roads were a little harry early while they were still wet, but once the sun came out, everything dried up nicely. I was a prepared for some of the early hills having ridden a lot of those roads before but thought it was great to see all the people on the Caesar's Head climb both coming down, as I was going up & then people still going up as I was going down. Hwy 25 was a little scary too especially when you went into NC & the shoulder disappeared and the speed limit said 65. I got the same distance on my computer but I had 7900 ft of climbing. I enjoyed the lunch afterwards plus sharing some stories with some other riders was fun. Being real new to this, I still enjoying talking about cycling to any poor soul that will listen (and half those that won't!) I am looking forward to the next one.

They posted on the Freewheelers site that the first group finished training ride #3 in under 5 hours!

I read somewhere that ride #4 has Howard Gap again. I may not be able to make it to that one and if I don't, I may try to do a Marion to Mitchell ride on that Sunday the 25th.

I spoke to a guy who said he finished with 5 other riders & they finished it in 4 hrs 44 mins! That is crusing. He said they averaged around 19 mph.

My time was no where near there - 5 hours 12 mins, but I did ride most of the second half of the ride by myself.

Well I would say that is pretty close for a ride like that. It took me longer than that, so dont make me feel too bad.

I found an old cue sheet for the Marquis de Sade ride. Starting out with Callahan and the Watershed, it then has Howard Gap, White Oak Mtn. and Green River Cove on it. According to the Google map terrain, those all are pretty steep climbs. Not sure if this is the route but if it is...

Well, it is suppose to prepare us for Mt. Mitchell. But still, I was talking someone today who said they were sore until Wednesday. I still think Saturday's ride was pretty tough & I am sure the next one will be too. I am like you & have been waiting for the Q sheet. But the BBQ was good. Looking forward to that after the next ride.

If anyone is still looking for a Mitchell ticket then email or PM me. I have one but, I'm going to stop at Marion.

Well as I suspected I missed the MdS ride, but I was able to get in a Marion to Mitchell ride over the weekend. Pretty tough even by itself. It was pretty chilly up there too. From the intersection of 80 and 70 it was 28.5 miles and about 5,600 feet.

Since all the 'official' training rides are over, is it recommended that people not do any heavy training rides from now until Mitchell? It's still 2 weeks out. I have the 3 Mountain Metric scheduled for this weekend but I wonder if I should do that?

i'm not doing the 3MM. i had it on my radar, but decided it was too close to Marion. i will most likely do the 41mi route and a trip up Saurtown, but i'm going to wait just a little later in the week to make that decision. it could be a friday night decision too.

Rode the 95mi. 3MM route this past weekend (Sun) with a friend who'll be doing AOMM with me. We are going back this weekend to do the organized ride prior to Mitchell. Sauratown and Pilot tough, Hanging Rock not so much. Had numerous issues with dogs along the 3MM route, most especially on the section from the Pilot Civic Center to Sauratown climb. Taper into Mitchell following the ride Sat., just easy rides to stay tuned up for June 9th.

I'm going into Mitchell fairly cold this year. As of last week I wasn't doing the ride but a friend talked me into riding with her. She's pretty fit so I hope I don't get my butt kicked. I'm riding 75 miles with her tomorrow and then I will get in a last long ride on Sat. I have a few really good rides in this Spring but I've let my weight creep up so I'm not where I normally like to be for this ride. Oh well.