25th BBQ Bass Ride

Last Saturday was Robert's and my 25th BBQ Bass Ride.  Who knew that a fun ride we did in 1998 would become an annual tradition?  It started small: about 4 of us rode a loop to Hillsboro for Tillman's BBQ (long gone) for a total of maybe 18 miles.  We thought that was pretty epic.

The mileage and number of friends have grown over the years.  We've had close to 30 riders in some years, and routes have been as long as 75 miles.  Last Saturday there were 16 of us, and we rode about 60 miles.

The ride started from Jordan Engineering.  I went uptown early to pick up some fried pies from Laverne Howard at the farmers market on the Monticello square.

Apple, peach, and sweet potato fried pies!

Laverne makes the best fried pies!  They have been a wonderful addition to the BBQ Bass Ride in recent years.

Robert set up the lobby at Jordan Engineering to receive our friends.  This year we had swag to celebrate the 25th BBQ Bass Ride!

Everyone signed in so I would know how many deluxe plates to order from Fresh Air BBQ.

I called in and payed for the order before we rode.  Garrison was our excellent SAG driver this year.  He picked up the BBQ for us as well as provided ride support.

Robert had mapped a great route.  As we rode on Pitts Chapel Road, I was having an in-depth conversation with Brian Rogers, our new teammate from England.  I just discovered that he's a big Rush fan, too.  We talked about Neil Peart's literary references in their lyrics, Brian getting to see Rush in his hometown in England, and the excellent Rush documentary, Beyond the Lighted Stage.

I was feeling so good, grateful for my community of cycling friends.  It was a warm, sunny June morning - my favorite time of year.  The western end of Pitts Chapel Road is kind of swoopy with beautiful woods on either side.  The sky was blue, and everything was the vibrant green of late spring.  Queen Anne's lace was blooming along the road.  For a few moments, I was fully present and happy.  It was the best part of the whole day.

Just a few miles farther, it was time for our party stop.  Robert had found a great location, a secluded spot behind the Newborn community center, next to a cemetery.

"I want you to bury me right over here."

I ducked behind this building for a nature break before I saw the door.

It must be at least a two-seater.  Maybe all 16 of us riders could have fit in here at once.

Garrison pulled up with the party supplies a few minutes after we arrived.  When Robert and I originally started the ride, it was just the BBQ Ride.  However, after a few years it became the BBQ Bass Ride when we added Bass beer.  We wanted decent beer for our ride, and we were into Bass back then.  For a few years we had only Bass, but eventually we started offering a variety of beers (including a Foster's oilcan for Bill).  We still like to get at least a six-pack of Bass each year.  Ironically, I couldn't find any Bass for our 25th BBQ Bass ride, but we had some acceptable substitutes.

The BBQ Bass Ride is the only time I have a mid-ride adult beverage.  My second favorite part of last Saturday was when I got back on my bicycle after the party stop.  The beer made me feel really good, and I loved everybody soooo much!

Amazingly, the group stayed together for the whole ride.  We rolled back into the Jordan Engineering parking lot, changed clothes, and sat under the two tents Robert had set up for us to enjoy BBQ and fried pies.

I truly love this annual get together with friends from various parts of my cycling world.  I'm grateful for each person who could join us.

Our BBQ Bass shirt from 2003

May I Ride

May is my favorite month.  It has Robert's and my anniversary (yea!) and the best weather of the year.  It's now June, but I still want to write and remember a few highlights from May.

Indian Springs Ride

Robert and I were trying to figure out how to ride and kayak on our anniversary weekend.  We came up with a great plan.  That Saturday morning, he drove over to Dauset Trails do a group MTB ride, taking the kayaks in the trailer.  I rode my road bike over and met him at Indian Springs.  I had sent a picnic with him in the car, which we enjoyed in the park behind Yahola.

We went to the ice cream shop for dessert.

Next was kayaking on the lake at Indian Springs State Park.

We saw at least three blue herons!  (I think we saw one of them twice on different sides of the lake.)  Robert has a pretty good zoom lens on his camera.

I rode home on my road bike, stopping at the spring before I left to refill my bottles with some delicious sulfur water.  It tastes like liquid hard-boiled eggs.

By the way, we got to go for a tandem ride the next day.  It was mainly to get ready for the Georgia Tandem Rally a few weeks later, but it was also an enjoyable way to remember our getaway transportation from our wedding reception 27 years ago :)

Almost caught him

Valley of the Giants

The next weekend was a big race, Valley of the Giants.  But first I have to describe the amazing week leading up to it.  I have just embarked on an exciting new adventure, the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership (IGEL).  It's a leadership and personal development program that addresses environmental issues.  My class has 31 people.  I like them a lot.  Most are from the metro Atlanta area, and most come from large work environments, e.g., Coca-Cola, Shaw, EPA, EPD, etc.  I'm excited to represent Middle Georgia as a single-employee company, Polyscape, LLC.

IGEL consists of five four-day sessions, held every other month in various parts of Georgia.  Our first session was in the mountains, at the Lodge at Amicalola Falls.  This actually worked out well logistically because IGEL ended on Friday, and Valley of the Giants was the next day in Blairsville, a little farther north.

I took my road bike to IGEL with me, hoping to get in a little riding on at least a few of the days.  I did, but I had a big surprise: the Lodge at Amicalola Falls sits atop a huge hill.  And I mean huge!  The climb is about 1.25 miles with an average grade of more than 12%.  Parts of it are about 25%!  I don't know when I last attempted a climb that steep - probably back in the 2000s when a few of us climbed Brasstown Bald to watch the end of one of the stages of the now-defunct Tour de Georgia.  Anyway, the climb up to the Lodge at Amicalola Falls was killer.  I did it twice while I was there.  It inadvertently helped me; I figured if I could do that climb twice, I could handle anything that Valley of the Giants threw my way.

Robert came up for the race, too, and brought my gravel bike.  He raced the intermediate route (61 miles), and I raced the long route (88 miles; it was supposed to be 92 miles, but at the last minute the Forest Service closed one of the roads we were to ride on).  Yes, there were some serious climbs.  The hardest was a dirt road up Wolfpen Gap that I had never ridden.  I gutted it out.  I managed to ride up the entire way, even passing a few guys who had to walk.  There were a few other big climbs later in the race that I had encountered on Brian's Gravel Monster, our first Georgia gravel randonneuring event a few months ago.  Already being familiar with those later climbs definitely gave me a mental boost.

Only two women completed the Valley of the Giants long route, my friend Julie and me.  However, Julie didn't read the race rules.  The entire route wasn't timed.  Only four sections were.  I hit it hard during the timed sections but went fairly easily on the rest.  She finished the entire course before I did, but I went faster on all the timed sections and, therefore, won.  Sometimes it pays to read the instructions!

The race organizers use the timed-section format to encourage people to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and not just hammer the whole time.  This format appeals to me anyway, but it particularly suited me this time.  I was tired going into the race, which I attributed to staying up too late every night talking to my IGEL classmates (totally worth it, though).  However, when I got home I discovered that I also may have felt fatigued because of COVID!

Two of my IGEL classmates tested positive while we were there despite all of us being required to be vaccinated and boosted.  We learned of the first case on Thursday and the second case on Friday morning, our last day.  I did a COVID test that Friday afternoon.  Because it was negative and I didn't have any symptoms, I continued on to the race in Blairsville as scheduled.  However, when I got home Saturday night, I did a second COVID test, which was positive.  About the same time, my symptoms started.  They were mild, and I felt normal by Tuesday.  Even so, I stayed in isolation, using the guest bedroom and bathroom and working from home.  What a bummer to get COVID after being so careful to avoid it for more than two years.  But as Robert said, it was nearly inevitable that we would get it eventually.  I'm just grateful it didn't affect me too badly.  I'm even more grateful that I didn't pass the virus to either Julie or Robert.

I scrupulously read the COVID recommendations on the CDC website.  I saw that I needed to stay isolated at least five days.  Unfortunately, that meant that Robert and I couldn't go to the Georgia Tandem Rally the next weekend.  On the other hand, I still could ride my bicycle by myself.  Within a week I was back up to full speed.

Mid GA Peaches 200K Brevet

I was happy that I was able to do the Mid GA Peaches 200K according to plan.  Six of us gathered in Thomaston last Saturday for this beautiful route on many roads familiar to me from Peach Peloton.

The mode of names of my cyclopeeps is Chad (5).  Still, it's pretty cool that I have 2 cyclopeeps named Graham.  I got to ride with both of them on this brevet.  They had never met each other.  I differentiated between the two of them by calling them Graham the Elder and Graham the Younger, a la Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger.  The resemblance is uncanny.

I told them to look philosophical for this photo.

Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Younger

We even got philosophical during the ride.  Graham the Elder got behind for a while.  When he caught up, I told him I was glad to see him because I was afraid he had DFOed.  I had to teach him what that meant (Done Fell Out).  Then, I asked him whether it's worse to DFO or DNF.  Graham the Elder said that DFL is best.

Peach ice cream at Dickey Farms was the highlight of the ride!

I also clued the two Grahams into the availability of free, cast-off, fresh peaches behind the building.

One for the road

The next best thing to peach ice cream and fresh peaches at Dickey Farms was learning that Hollis Road in Upson County no longer has rough chip seal.  Now it has nice, smooth pavement.  As Linda Richman would say, "It's like buttah."

Straight Flush

I love riding by Smokey Bear at the Georgia Forestry Commission office at the intersection of GA Highway 11 and Round Oak-Juliette Road.  Over the years, I have taken pictures of him with various Fire Danger Ratings.  Smokey says the fire danger today is High.  This is the last photo I needed to complete my portfolio.  It's sorta kinda like getting a straight flush in poker.

Flèche 2022

Last weekend my Audax Atlanta club had a flèche.  Unlike brevets and permanents, a flèche is a team randonneuring event.  I had ridden a flèche once before, six years ago. We intended to have a flèche in 2020, but then the pandemic hit. I'm glad it worked out this year.

Flèche is the French word for "arrow," which sort of describes how the event works. Teams of 3-5 people ride at least 360 km (about 225 miles) over 24 hours. At least 25 km must be ridden in the last two hours; therefore, you can't just hammer through the ride. Ideally, multiple teams take different 360-km routes, and they all ride to the same destination like arrows converging on a bullseye. This time we had just one team for our flèche: Brian, Ian, Robert N., and me. Our team name was "Sins of the Flèche." Oh, yeah - we had an unofficial fifth team member, the Black Knight. He rode pinned to the back of my jersey like he did in 2016 when my team was "It's Just a Flèche Wound."

The Black Knight is a little cattywampus here.  He has a sword,
but I kept that in my bag so that it wouldn't fall out on the road.

Brian mapped our route. Everyone met at his house in Dawsonville, GA. From there, his partner Lisa drove us all to the start of our ride in Lavonia, GA. Our team rode a big arc through Greenville, SC and back into Georgia, finishing back at Brian's house.

We started at 5:00 PM on Friday. The route from Lavonia to Greenville was pretty easy. The weather was great, and the countryside was beautiful. (I must say, however, that GA roads are in much better shape than SC roads!)

Ian, me, and Robert

Our first control was a Wendy's in Belton, SC, where we had a leisurely late dinner.

Social distancing

We approached Greenville around midnight, riding portions of the Swamp Rabbit Trail (SWT). Brian had scouted out an interesting path to get us to the SWT that involved a slight hike-a-bike section over some large chunks of broken concrete. Additionally, a small section of the SWT was unpaved. Expect adventure!

Lisa was so generous to let us use her house in Greenville as a control. There we took showers, got something to eat, and took an all-important nap! We rolled out again in the middle of the night.

Not far from Greenville, we stopped at the custom furniture shop of one of Brian's friends. The shop also has a really cool cyclist support center that includes air pumps, a water source, etc. We appreciated the unexpected hospitality!

Ian, me, and Robert

Riding in the middle of the night can be difficult, but it seemed easier this time because of the 5:00 PM start and being able to take a nap in the wee hours, which more closely aligned with my regular sleep schedule than other overnight randonneuring events I have done.

Also, night riding means much less traffic. We saw almost none between Greenville and Walhalla, SC, where we stopped for breakfast at McDonald's. We watched the sun rise while we were there. Sunrise is always an encouraging time on overnight randonneuring events.

Our next control was in Toccoa, GA. The only negative about the whole adventure was several extremely rude drivers that we encountered there. We were riding single file through town all the way to the right, and a guy in a convertible Corvette screamed at us, complete with the F bomb. A short time later another driver lay on the horn as they drove by. I hate to even mention these incidents because overall it was such a great ride, but I was really bothered. We stopped at a convenience store on the edge of town, and I was glad to find a water spigot on the side of the building so that I didn't have to spend any money there. I won't be going back to Toccoa anytime soon. But on to better things...

Brian was tired when we stopped in Toccoa. There was a picnic bench in front of the store, and he laid his head down and slept for about 10 minutes. Robert got a great photo of that. (Wish I could have included his photo here, but he went almost straight from our flèche to a 1200K in Virginia!)

It had gotten hillier after we left Greenville, and now that we were back in Georgia, the climbing started in earnest. We climbed a total of about 15,000 ft, and most of that was the second day.

The next control was in Cornelia, GA. A Dairy Queen Blizzard hit the spot, and it didn't make me too cold because by then the day had warmed nicely. I had prepared well clothing-wise, wearing shorts and a short-sleeved jersey with arm and leg warmers - just right to adjust to both the cool night and warm day.

I had one very sleepy stretch after the stop in Cornelia. I was riding a short distance behind the others. To try to wake myself up, I started singing "Dust in the Wind" at the top of my lungs. It must have worked because, amazingly, the sleepiness went away, and I didn't have any trouble the rest of the ride.

We had planned on stopping for a while at the final control around 25 km to go. However, we were already within the two-hour mark, and so we kept going to the end. The rules of a flèche necessitate a pretty chill pace, but we didn't have much wiggle room to finish within the 24-hour time limit.

We had one bit of unexpected adventure about seven miles from the end. Brian accidentally routed us over a very gravelly section. I generally don't mind a little dirt/gravel on my road bike, but this was challenging! I took it very slowly because I didn't want to get a flat so close to the end. Fortunately, we all made it through without incident.

Ian and me

All smiles at the finish! We finished with less than 10 minutes to spare.

Brian, Ian, me, and Robert

Brian and Lisa were such gracious hosts for our post-flèche festivities. We got to take showers, and then they put out a spread of appetizers, hamburgers and hot dogs, a delicious kale salad (I always crave green vegetables after a randonneuring event), and other goodies.

Thank you to my teammates and Lisa for making this flèche possible! As with the best rides, it was tough but fun. I'm also excited to have completed this flèche successfully because it was one of two remaining events I need to earn the ACP Randonneur 5000 Award. All that's left is a 1000K, which I plan to ride in October in Florida.

BTW, I did have to stop for a nap on the drive home from the flèche!

Juan Antonio Flecha is a retired pro cyclist. He was born in Argentina and rode for Spain. His last name is the Spanish word for "arrow." When he won Stage 11 of the 2003 Tour de France, he pantomimed shooting an arrow from a bow as he crossed the finish line.

Racing My Best

This past Saturday was the Kissing Bridge Classic gravel race.  It's held at a really nice venue, the Fitzgerald Fruit Farm in Woodbury, GA.  The course covers beautiful gravel roads throughout Meriwether County.  Near the end it traverses the Red Oak Creek Bridge, a historic covered bridge locally known as the Kissing Bridge.  (For more information about Horace King, builder of the Kissing Bridge, see my race report from last year dated 5/2/21.)

I was anxious as the race approached because I knew my biggest competition would be Teresa.  I've gotten to know her some over the past few years.  Last year she raced the Kissing Bridge Classic very impressively on a mountain bike.  Soon thereafter, she got a gravel bike, which definitely would help her perform better.  Additionally, she got a road bike to work on cardiovascular endurance.  On top of that, she has had a coach.  I follow her on Strava, and so I know that she has been training seriously.  I work hard, too, but I was nervous to see how we would match up.

Saturday morning was unusually cool.  Temperatures throughout the race were in the 40s.  My team cycling jacket sure felt good while I was warming up.  I was tempted to keep it on for the race, but I knew that I wouldn't really want it.  Besides, not having my jacket would let me retrieve food from my jersey pockets much more easily during the race.  My fleece jersey with a base layer was just right.  I figured I probably wouldn't have to stop for a nature break during the race, but just to play it safe, I wore regular cycling shorts with knee warmers instead of bib knickers.

This year it was a mass start for everyone doing the long option (61 miles).  I got near the front, behind a handful of young bucks so I wouldn't get totally run over.  It was a fast start!  I did my best to balance speed and keeping enough distance from other riders so that I could navigate ruts and potholes better until the group spread out.

Teresa was right with me almost immediately.  I got behind her to draft.  That way I could gauge her speed and, more importantly, make her work.  I would have sat there all day if I could.  The first photo opp was only a few miles into the race, at the top of a small climb.  I rode past Teresa so that I would be in front in any photos.  It was a small psychological thing that I wasn't even sure she would notice, but I was going to use every tool I had.

Shortly thereafter, a group of guys that included Robert and Cal caught up to us.  Yea, now I could ride with some teammates!  (Robert told me later that he couldn't believe how long it took them to catch us.)

I was feeling strong.  I could tell that I could outclimb Teresa - something else to use to my advantage.  On one of the bigger climbs, I got ahead of the group and bridged up to a guy who had made a break.  I didn't really think we'd stay away from the peloton, but Robert told me later that that was a great move.

Then...I dropped my chain.  Robert stopped to help me.  We got it back on pretty quickly, but that was a real setback.  Robert urged me on my way before he could even get back on his bike.  I took off and chased down the peloton!  It took me maybe a few miles.  Amazingly, I still felt pretty good.  I figured I would sit in the group as much as possible and see how things played out.  Additionally, I hid in the back so Teresa wouldn't see me.  Maybe she didn't know I had climbed back on.  I wanted to surprise her as late in the race as possible and maybe make a break.

Not long after I caught back up to the peloton, I dropped my chain again!  Drat!  I knew that it would be tough to catch the group again, but I tried my best.  At one point on a long straightaway, I saw them about half a mile ahead.  We were only about halfway through the race - maybe I still could catch them.

After a while, I realized that it wasn't going to happen.  I would have to average a slightly higher speed than the group, and I had burned a lot of matches to catch them the first time.  In addition, the wind really picked up.  Teresa had a big advantage dealing with the wind by being in the group.

I had told myself before the race that what I really wanted was to race my best.  I had had a heck of a race thus far.  So, I decided to keep racing my best, time trialing it the rest of the way.

My best was only good enough for second place this time.  I really wanted to win, and I would have had a good shot at it if I hadn't had bad luck in dropping my chain twice.  At the same time, Teresa really did have a great race.

Despite my best efforts, I have had a hard time keeping this race in perspective - before, during, and after. I tell myself that my performance, good or bad, is not a reflection on my value as a person.  This is probably obvious to anyone else reading this, but I've struggled with this most of my life and only recognized it a few years ago.  Also, trying to maintain a façade of control in my own life makes me less angsty about the world in general.  We seem to have taken many steps back in the past few years: increased political polarization, normalization of hatred, indifference of the church, weakening of democracy...

Yesterday I read these words that help me:

    Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief.
    Do justly, now.
    Love mercy, now.
    Walk humbly, now.
    You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

    - The Talmud

I will continue to give and take the best I can.  I will remind myself to focus on what I really can control (or influence) in my own life, trusting that positive waves will ripple out.  And I will pull out all the stops at the next race!

Double or Nothing

Work hard, play hard.  A friend shared this comic recently.  It made me laugh and think.  In recent years I've had to learn the hard way that I'm a human being and not a human doing. But it's difficult to break old habits. The last month or so has been particularly tough - not any one thing, just a bunch of work and other responsibilities snowballing. I've taken on too much yet again. In fact, a few weeks ago I caught a bad cold, the first time I've been sick in about 2 1/2 years. (Thankfully, the COVID rapid test I took was negative!) I don't know why I still haven't learned my lesson that when I push too hard, my body finally MAKES me slow down by getting sick. Ack!

Athens-Augusta-Athens 400K

For these reasons, I vacillated about whether or not to do the Athens-Augusta-Athens 400K two weekends ago, especially because the state MATHCOUNTS competition (one of my biggest work responsibilities of the year) was on Monday right after the brevet. On the other hand, I knew that I would hate to miss out on the ride. Also, I plan to do a 1000K in October (my one shot at completing the requirements for the randonneuring ACP 5000 award), and a 400K would do a lot to get me back into the ultra groove. My cold was better, and I made a big push to get ready for MATHCOUNTS ahead of schedule. Therefore, I decided to go ahead with this 400K. It was my longest ride in two years.

Ten of us started in Watkinsville at 6:00 AM. Brian, Robert N., and I formed a small front group. Early morning was quiet and serene. Our first control was a convenience store that turned out to be closed. At least they had a Coke machine. I don't know when I've seen Cokes for only $0.75!

Between the three of us, we had only two $1 bills. It gave $0.25 change, but I didn't want to risk inserting the $10 bill I had. I was fine with water from the spigot that, thankfully, was on the back of the building.

Dick and Ian caught up to us at the next control, a convenience store in Norwood at about mile 82. It was good to have more company.

Ian, me, and Brian (photo by Robert N.)

Less than an hour later, Dick got a flat tire, which he said was his first ever during a brevet! While we waiting for him to change his tube, I took out my contacts. The pollen was bothering my eyes, as I expected it might. I put on my regular glasses with my cycling sunglasses over them - stylin'!

As we approached Augusta, we saw some other cyclists. I jokingly wondered to myself if I would see my cycling friend Todd who lives in the area. Wouldn't you know it, a short time later I did see him! Fun!

The turnaround point is a shopping center. Dick and Brian went to Subway while Ian, Robert, and I went to Publix. Publix is a great lunch stop. They have delicious, ready-to-go sandwiches as well as Gatorade, fruit, etc., and it's quick.

Robert N. and Ian chilling in front of Publix

After lunch, Robert wanted to go a little slower, and so Brian, Dick, Ian, and I continued on. The four of us stayed together for the rest of the ride.

It warmed up nicely in the afternoon. In fact, I already got a good start on this year's cycling tan! The wind was brutal, though. Most of the day there was a headwind or crosswind at about 10-15 mph with higher gusts. One time we saw big poofs of pollen emanating from the pine trees.

In the early evening, Brian wasn't feeling great, so we stopped in a grassy area beside the road. Ian reminded me that cyclists should always take the opportunity to sit or lie down.

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

We got to the control in Washington right around sunset. I never eat at McDonald's, but a vanilla shake hit the spot.

I had rested as well as I could leading up to the ride, but my body was already stressed from teaching the two previous days and from getting ready for the state MATHCOUNTS competition. The hardest part of the ride for me was after about 10:00 PM. My knee started hurting, probably simply because it was such a long ride; Brian kindly gave me some ibuprofen, which helped a lot. The temperature dropped significantly after sunset, and it felt even colder to me because I was fatigued.

Around 30 miles to go, I was fighting hard against sleepiness. Brian perked me up for a while with conversation. Mr. Sandman attacked me harder. I started making chicken noises to keep myself awake. (I can imitate a chicken pretty well.) Ian said that he couldn't deal with chicken noises, and so he had me pull off at a church. I sat on some hay bales out of the wind, and he gave me a squirt of caffeinated gel and draped his rain jacket over me. He told me to sleep for 5 or 10 minutes. He woke me up, and we continued on.

We caught up to Brian and Dick at a Taco Bell in east Athens. The convenience store control that we have used in the past is now only open until midnight. Fortunately, Taco Bell is open until 2:00 AM. We were there around 1:15 AM. It was about 13 miles to the end. We all limped in. Brian and Dick had been struggling, too, but Ian probably could have left us all and finished a few hours sooner. I really appreciate everyone's support and am glad we could help each other. I couldn't have finished without Brian, Dick, Ian, and Robert N.

It was only an hour's drive home, but I stopped twice to take a nap. I got home around 4:30 AM and managed to sleep for four or five hours. On Sunday afternoon I took another nap for about an hour, but that's all I had time for. I set my alarm so I could get up and finish getting ready for the state MATHCOUNTS competition the next day. No rest for the wicked... (BTW, the competition went well!)

Fried Clay 200K

Last week I started to get back to a more normal life pace - just in time for another epic ride this past Saturday, the Fried Clay 200K. I forget what a sufferfest this race is.

Although the Fried Clay is a race, the vibe is rather laid back. Organizer Pat Patterson is kind of the Jeff Spicoli of cycling. The "mass start" consisted of him calling everyone f-ing idiots, telling us we had 20 seconds to the start, and yelling, "Go!"

Some Fried Clay participants ride it simply for the adventure, even camping out and making it a two-day ride. Others, like me, treat it like a race and go as fast as we can. Of course, "fast" is a relative term. I knew that it would take me around 11 hours. Did I have a shot at winning 1st place for women and the "trophy" of a mini cast iron skillet? I was going to do my best. The pressure of trying to win - not the event itself - caused me to tell myself "no barfy" for a few days before the race.

Several women got ahead of me right away. No worries - it was going to be a long day, and a lot could happen before the end. I pedaled at tempo pace, reminding myself that I would need to keep up the fastest steady pace that I could maintain.

I rode my cyclocross bike, which is the best choice for most of the route. The first portion consists mostly of county dirt roads and a few through the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge (PWR). The PWR also has a few creek crossings. I'm very familiar with these creek crossings and know that I shouldn't try to ride through them with my minimal technical skills. Therefore, when I approached the first creek, I simply hopped off my bike and held it as I ran through the water. My feet would dry out eventually. About half a dozen guys were stopped at the creek crossing, wringing out socks, eating snacks, taking a nature break, etc. I rode on as quickly as I could, leaving their seeming tea party behind.

The second creek crossing was a few miles later. I used the solitude to my advantage, taking a nature break before the guys caught up to me. Made it just in time!

I rode near a few other riders for about the next 10 miles, yoyoing back and forth with various ones. We were getting close to the first water stop at New Hope Church. I have never been able to find the spigot here, and so I stopped a few miles sooner at Freedonia AME Church. (Local knowledge comes in handy.) The other riders, which included one other woman, continued on. This turned out to be beneficial because I rode right by them as they were stopped at New Hope Church. It took a lot longer for their group to get water there than just me at Freedonia. I stayed ahead of these riders the rest of the way.

Around mile 34 the single track began. I had reconned a portion of the single track with Robert a few weeks earlier. From that, I knew that the turn off of the main dirt road, Smith Mill, onto the single track was particularly rough. I got off my bicycle to walk it through the initial big ruts. I slipped, and my bike landed hard on its right side. (My knee got banged up, too, but I didn’t realize it until I found a couple of cuts on it when I took a shower that night.) My right handlebar was broken! It wasn't catastrophic, however. Thankfully, I still could shift (good ol’ Di2). Although I couldn't go fully into the drops on the right side, I still could hold the top bar or slightly on the hood. My right brake still worked, too, but it was difficult to grab onto. I took extra care on downhills the rest of the way.

The single-track portion of the route through the Oconee National Forest is best suited to a mountain bike. I had to walk a good portion of the single track. Heck, I don’t think I would have been much faster on that part even with a MTB.

A particularly ooky part of the single-track section

Definite hike-a-bike section.  Look closely to se a guy in front of me slogging through.

Parts of the single track were stupid steep, where I practically had to crawl up slopes, dragging my bike behind me. I made it, though. I'm glad I had reviewed all the single-track trails with Robert either on the ground or via map ahead of time. That kept me from missing any turns.

Once I finished the single track, it was smoother riding on regular dirt roads to Juliette. I still felt pretty good, even just having finished the hardest part of the route. I had no idea how many women might be in front of me. I reminded myself to keep pedaling steadily as fast as I could.

Because I wanted to minimize off-the-bike time, I didn't stop in Juliette. Instead, I put a foot down long enough to grab a sandwich from my pocket, which I ate while I continued riding. I was still good on water, too; Pat and his wife had had a water station at the horse camp parking lot midway through the single track.

Next came some more pretty and familiar roads through the PWR, including the Wildlife Loop south of Round Oak-Juilette Road. Thankfully, Pat didn't route us onto any closed roads this year, and so rangers were not a concern.

The wind was significant. Although the trees along the dirt roads usually mitigated the wind, there were a few times on more open roads where I got an adrenaline rush from the gusts. At those times I was particularly thankful to be on dirt roads with no traffic.

Turning onto Pippin Road, I was on the Thursday Gravel Worlds route. It has some stiff climbs, but I wasn't intimidated because I knew they were coming. What was unexpected, however, was a good bit of smoke near Round Oak. I can’t imagine who would have been burning or who could have even gotten a burn permit under such high fire danger conditions.

The next water stop was soon thereafter, at the Sunshine Methodist Church on Highway 11. I'm so glad Pat learned of this water source and shared it with us. I had never known of it before. It's right on the route and more convenient than the ranger station a little farther north, which requires a short out-and-back off the route. Not only did I get to gratefully refill on water at the church, I also caught up to my friend Bill Mondock and a couple of other guys. I rolled out ahead of them, knowing they would pass me again soon.

I was now a little more than halfway through. The remaining roads were regular dirt. Although the going would be relatively easy, I knew fatigue would become much more of a factor toward the end. The last 30 miles of this race are always such a slog for me.

Not long after the Sunshine Church water stop, Bill caught up to me. (He must have also stopped at the Hadaway campsite, where Pat had food and water. I didn't stop there because I had just gotten water and still had plenty of food.) The other two guys were ahead. Bill and I rode the remainder of the route together. It was such a mental boost to have a partner in suffering.

As I expected, the last part of the ride was tough. I had to stop in a random spot to get something to eat. Also, I couldn't get to the last water stop at New Damascus Baptist Church fast enough. It felt like a lot farther than 40 miles after my previous water stop.

I assume Bill felt as tired as I did. We chatted a bit, which made it a little easier. He noted that this was his longest ride ever! I was honored to be able to ride with him.

About 15 miles from the end, I hit a pothole. My handlebar really came apart then. I rode kind of holding it together, but amazingly, I still could shift!

200K is just under 125 miles. When we got to Bradley Road at Highway 212, we were right at 200K. We could have turned left on Highway 212, ridden about half a mile, and been at Checking Station Road, the entrance to the race staging area. For some reason, Pat added a loop at the end that extended the total distance to 131 miles. It's a fun little loop that goes on Rabbit Skip Road and Stanfordville Road, but it's not so fun at the end of the Fried Clay when you're just ready for it to be over! Bill and I persevered. We rolled in at 7:16 PM for a total time of 11 hours, 16 minutes. I'm really glad we finished before sunset.

In what place did I finish?  I don't know yet.  Results can be submitted until April 9.  I did check out a few of the other women on Strava.  I had met a woman named Danielle at the starting line.  She pulled ahead of me right away, and I never saw her again.  She got a QOM in the single track section.  However, when I checked her ride, she noted that she had to bail and didn't complete the course.  Also, before the ride I had seen Katie, a rider from Atlanta.  She had a QOM on the course, too.  According to Strava, she finished about 45 minutes before I did.  However, her route was only 128 miles long.  It looked like she followed the entire thing, but maybe she didn't ride the entire 131 miles.  Katie probably did win the coveted cast iron skillet.  Oh well, she's 20 years younger than I am, and I rode my best.  I like to win, but kudos to her if she did!

Although I had stopped twice to take a nap on the way home from the 400K the week before, I didn't need to stop for a nap on the way home from the Fried Clay. It was only about a 12-mile drive - ha ha! I called Robert before I headed home and asked him to order takeout from La Eskina, our local Mexican restaurant. Carnitas tacos, guacamole salad (with chopped avocado instead of mashed), chips and salsa, and a margarita - it was sooo good!

These two weekends of riding were grueling. I discovered another common thread: friends. I'm so grateful for friends to share the journey. Also, I am very grateful that I don't have anything on my schedule for this coming weekend!