Props to you guys for toughing it out. How long did it rain? How many riders were there?

If it was 8-10 degrees warmer, I might have ventured it despite the rain. But I got chilled last year, and the radar this morning suggested a high probability of chilly misery again. It's just not fun when I'm cold.

Started raining just a few miles into the ride and rained really, really hard forever. A lot of people stopped at about the 30 mile mark just because of the chill. Probably rained about 3+ hours?? I thought it was raining climbing the second climb but I think it was just heavy drops of water off the trees...

There were tons at the start because it wasn't raining then. I'm guessing a lot of people just did the 60. It was tempting to do the shorter route too but I was with a group at the turn point and since I'd driven so far I decided to press on. My group at the decision point dwindled from about 10 to 3 though....

I made a great decision at the start. I was just wearing a cycling jersey and shorts but after seeing 90% chance of rain I put on my lightweight rain jacket. Most folks were not wearing any rain gear at the start. Just a few miles later I was really glad I had it on. Those that got wet really got chilled.

What a miserable ride! It rained and rained and rained some more. It stopped as soon as I got off the bike back at Finley. First climb I got into a good rhythm and it wasn't so bad but I realized my brakes were rubbing so I opened them up for the descent which was quite interesting. The descent was freezing. I didn't have sleeves and I paid for it. My arms were blue by the end of the descent. The rain was also stinging on the descent...it hurt!!! I made the decision to cut the ride short and do the 62 miler and it just kept raining...within an hour of getting off the bike I saw sunshine...ridiculous.

funny I said this when passing over the bridge right before the 62/100 mile split...if it had been 10 degrees warmer I would've done the entire 100.

I heard at the start that 2200 were registered. Apparently many riders turned around at the first rest stop. I saw folks coming down the first mtn as I was going up, very confusing. The rain was heavy until the second rest stop, then off and on. I had a light jacket, jersey and t shirt and was comfortable except for being completely soaked all day....This is a very well organized and supported ride. It did not seem crowded after the first 10 miles except for the first rest stop. I think I'd rather have rain on a century than 90+ degree temps.

Usually, the folks climbing ask the people descending how far to the top. When I was descending, I was asking the people coming back up from the rest stop how far to the bottom. Talk about confusing! That was teh worst descent I've ever had.

What a ride. :twitchy: After postponing last year's ride under similar conditions, I decided to take my medicine and ride in the downpour this year. The start was packed and given the forecast, I was a little surprised to see so many riders wearing only short sleeve jerseys. I guess I lucked out, since I wore long sleeve base layer, jersey, raincoat, and short bibs. I was just about the perfect temp. all day. At the base on Burk. Gap, I shed my raincoat and still overheated a bit.

Right on cue and at 8am, I felt my first raindrop. I am not sure that it quit raining for more than 15-20 min the whole ride. By the time we got to the climb up Suck Creek, the skys opened up big time. I have never been outside with rain that hard. I met many riders coming down the mountain as I was climbing, like the road was blocked or something I guess. Weird. At the top, many riders pulled over to wait it out or to contemplate continuing the ride. I keep going. Had very little to no brakes descending Suck Creek. We are talking about putting a gorilla grip with very little response. It was the worst descent I have had in my 3 years of cycling. The only thing the saved me was there weren't very many riders descending at that point.

Anyway, after contemplating the 62 and 90-miles bailout routes, I finished the full century route in 7 hours 55 minutes. The rain really zapped my energy. I guess the extra wind, water on the roads, and weight of my water logged clothes and gear took it out of me. That was the slowest I have ever climbed Burk. Gap. BTW, thanks to the lady that was positioned halfway up the climb who was cranking the music and shouting out words of encouragement. It was a nice distraction from reality. After I got to the top, I was toasted. I was crawling over the rollers at the top of Lookout. Back to the stadium for pizza and beer. At first I was a little disappointed about my time (25 minutes slower than last years ride that I did the next day in sunshine), but overall, it was a good ride and not too uncomfortable. I think if I had not had my rain jacket to keep my heat in, it would have been a LONG day.

the conditions were horrible but i still turned in a good time 5:02 for the full century

rode this event last year and this year.

What a glorious day for suffering!

One of the guys in my group asked if we were bailing out when we saw people quitting. My response? I didn't come all this way to quit. I said, "If I'm going to quit then it is going to be a spectacular explosion at mile 83."

At mile 81, my friend asked me how my legs were for the climb and my response was: "I've got nothing but guts left but I didn't come this far to Fing push my bike now"

Set a PR on the course on this ride.

Only gripes?

Three:

1 The e-mails said the RR track would be covered this year and it wasn't.
2 For the love of all things holy, when will people understand that on a mountain climb and especially Suck Creek, if you are slow climbing...get to the right.
3 I had horrible descents off Suck Creek AND Sand Mountain. I descended Suck Creek like a girl. Sand was much better but dang.

We put in a 6 hour day with breaks.

1) Yeah I was a little annoyed they didn't cover the tracks...especially when 3 of the 6 people in front of me crashed. I was smart enough to unclip my left foot and walk my self over the tracks.
2) Being a slower climber the problem I had with getting to the right was that I had Jackasses passing me on my right in the shoulder. The next time I heard "on your right" I was going to clothesline someone. I was riding on the white line.....That being said...the same should go on the descent. If you aren't comfortable descending (especially in that kind of weather) get to the right. I can't tell you how many times I came up on someone hugging the center line grabbing both hands full of breaks. I averaged 20mph on the 1st descent and I was blowing by people. That descent on a normal day would be 40+ mph easy.

The descents were the worst part for me. I had not done the ride before and didn't know what to expect. I tried to stay out of the way! Kool Stop salmon pads worked very well.

How was the hip? I descended off suck creek averaging about 22mph. I just didn't feel comfortable going any faster in the rain. It was a freaking thunderstorm going down that puppy.

I was passing people in the freaking left lane the whole way up suck creek. i would have hip checked someone if they passed me right of the shoulder! At one point, I was passing this woman who was climbing in the drops jabbering away to some guy to the right of her. She was talking about her psychologist and her therapy sessions. I had about 4 guys in my group climbing with me and I said, "only a freaking woman would yabber up a mountain climb". I just loved that SAG vehicle going up suck creek. Nice...a big dodge ram diesel (I think it was a dodge) belching diesel fumes.

I wore a Jersey, rain jacket and fingerless gloves. I saw the radar in the morning and knew I needed the jacket. For the Sand mountain climb, I removed the sleeves of my rain jacket and left my jersey and now a vest unzipped. I would zip up for the descents.

Yes, it does get crowded on the Suck Creek climb. There is only so much real estate for 2000+ riders. I am not sure if it is as simple as having a "fast" and "slow" lane for climbers, since climbing speed is all relative. What is fast for you may be slow to the 5 hour century riders. You may get in their way. The only suggestion would be to release riders in waves according to their expected finish time. That could have its own set of problems.

My rant of the day would have to be seeing 3 riders urinating on the bushes (front and center) of the Baptist church at the foot of Suck Creek. :mad: I am not sure there is any excuse for that. There was a report on the Chat Bike website that a wedding was taking place on Saturday. Not sure if there were people inside of the church at that time. Anyway, total lack of respect. The Chattanooga Bike Club had a few land owners refuse to let us use their land for rest stops this year because of riders peeing in public. [/END OF RANT]

i guess me stripping down to the birthday suit in the parking lot after the ride was bad form?

Hey...at least i had a towel around me.

That first descent was just so miserable I did the 60. I feel bad now, but the idea of doing another descent like that was just too much. I don't think I topped 15 mph the whole way down. I did like the rain on the climb though. After that first descent it was a lovely ride, but the start just took it out of me.

This was tricky. I was passing people while being passed, and at the same time, there'd be a guy trying to sneak to the right to get ahead of a crowd. There just didn't seem to be a good way to sort out a spot to ride at a steady speed. A staggered start might be very nice.

My hip was fine. The day before the ride I slapped a 13-29 cassette and a 50-34 compact on the bike and I spun up Suck Creek in the 26 with no problem...never needed the 29 but would've for Burkhalter. The two things I regret were not bringing my rain coat (only a vest) and not drinking enough. With the cool rain I didn't notice I was thirsty until it was way too late. By the end of the 62 I was done. I'm looking forward to the 100 next year..haven't done it since 2007 and it is an awesome ride. I also plan to lose atleast the 30lbs I've gained from this hip injury so the climbing should be better.

Well, down at Cheaha on Sunday, I had been watching the radar as storms moved in from the Southwest. It seemed to be moving slow, so we decided to ride. The day was mostly cloudy, with some breaks in the clouds and a bit of sunshine. It was hot on the climbs, but cool enough on the descents to zip up your jersey. As always, the rest stations were top-notch.

At the top of Cheaha, we decided to turn back and just do the 88-mile option; I'd had enough climbing for one weekend and figured I'd earned my jersey. I got back in heavy clouds, and as I was putting the bike on the car, the tornado warning sirens went off as a storm came in from Anniston (where we were staying). They moved everyone indoors, then into the interior corridors as the storm hit. There were quite a few folks still way out on the course who were evacuated into houses, stores, and the fire department. Luckily, the touchdown didn't last all the way to Piedmont, which was just at the end of the warning area. Still, it was a little scary for a time.

What a great weekend for centuries, no?

JPPE: glad to see you are still into the big hills, though 3states is (except Burkhalter) not really
a bad hilly century. I was there with three friends, and was really looking forward, but the big
100mile diameter yellow spots on the radar with red mixed in forecasted a nasty day. There was
a window of no rain between ~3-4am and 8am but anyone who looked at the weather radar knew
there was at least 4hours of rain immediately to the west of Chattanooga. The downhills at 3 states
in the best of weather are not worth the uphills, and in the rain and with the multiple RR tracks I
bailed. Riding in the 50s and rain can be done without too much distress if properly dressed but any
time you stop the furnace goes out and you get chilled. You can stay warm if fueled and dressed
appropriately. Cheaha had great weather for about 6hours then the big yellow patch drifting across
Alabama cut loose. Rained cats and dogs and blew 30-40mph gusts in Bham about 1pm, about an hour west of Cheaha so any out on the course about 2:30 or so would be in deep doodoo.