The Dragon's Tail and Cherahola Conquered!

Today was our second organized century.  The first one, you'll remember, was the Brasstown Bald Buster.  Where we climbed Hogpen and Brasstown - that stupid 20+% grade...today was a similarly challenging ride - a little longer (116 miles), with one climb not so steep, though higher.  The Cherahola Challenge in Tellico Plains, TN.  So here was my prescribed workout for today:

Ride 6 hours. After a 1-hour warm-up, include a SHITLOAD of climbs of 8-12 minutes each on a moderate grade (3-50%). Stay aero all the way up on each or walk if you are too weak. Build to and maintain the 3-4 HR zones for each climb. Recovery is the descent time. (If no hills available, do these into a strong wind....or combine wind and hills for extra challenge) Complete the ride in the 2 zone. Then transition to a 4-hour run at 10% faster than Ironman goal pace on a flat to gently rolling course. Eat and drink exactly as you plan to do in the race.

When I read this last Sunday night, I really did laugh my ass off.  Of course, though the actual workout is in there somewhere, this was mostly my coach being a smart ass.  As it turns out, however, he may have a future in fortune telling.  Essentially this was to be a 7-hr brick - 6 in the saddle and a 1 hr run.  (yes, he was kidding about the 4hrs...hell that would be the race for god's sake - as Klafter said - find a lake and call it the Tellico Plains IM, no need to wait till August with a workout like that!).

Kevin's best IM Training Pose

This was a little farther than is comfortable to drive up the morning of, so we rented a cabin and went up Friday night.  Me, Zimmer, and Kevin.  Rod and Jim were also to do the ride, but those two crazy guys were going to drive up Sat am.  We never did see them, though we're told of two crazies on "those TT bikes" who started at 9 (instead of 7)...still waiting to hear if that was them!  We got into town, got our packets, got into the cabin.  Had a beverage, then went and had dinner - and actually had some fantastic grouper, in one of the oddest restaurant I've been in.  Got back to the cabin, and shot the shit for a while. Then we went out by the pool and talked a while with the manager - Ricky Bobby.  Yep, don't think he's ever been out of Tellico Plains, and certainly has never been to Atlanta, though as he told us he "shoh wud lak tuh go".  Look out Jason - we've extended an invitation and figure he can stay at your place while we show him the town  ;)  ...  quite an interesting conversation we had with him.  Nice guy, and for a Canadian like me, pretty entertaining to listen to.  There were truly a few things he said - I had no idea what he was saying.  Thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Catch of the Day

Oh, yes.  And while at dinner, we discovered that the ride actually included the Tail of the Dragon.  318 curves in 11 miles.  Famous ride for motorcycles.  Never in a million years thought the first time I'd ride it would by on my BICYCLE.





Got up early, quick shower, and we headed out to the start.  We really didn't know what we were in for. It was nice and cool though, and looked like it would be a good day...perhaps once again missing the possible thunderstorms.  First 10 miles were great, and I was able to jump onto Chris's group through the rollers and hang on.  Then a few bigger hills and I lost them.  I was on my own for a while, then another group came by and I jumped on that for about 10 minutes until we hit the first aid station, where Chris was waiting.  Turned out Kevin was in that second group too, so we all took off together, not stopping at the rest station.

At the top of the Dragon's Tail

Within a few miles I lost the two of them (well they lost me!), as was to be expected.  Probably about 2:10 into the ride we hit the Tail of the Dragon.  It was a great climb, and coming down was a lot of fun.  We crossed the Tennessee/North Carolina border at the top of the Dragon.  Fortunately we were still in the early hours of the day, so not too much traffic or too many motorcycles whipping up and down the mountain.  We also went up what might be considered backwards, so a little safer that way too.  It took me about 55 minutes to climb up, including both peaks, and 7 minutes to ride down.  I set some new power intervals for the year in this section, and it turned out to be my best power for the ride.  In hindsight, this was the best part of the ride, and one of the most fun rides I've been on.  I wanted to stop at the Harley shop at the bottom...but of course couldn't!  What we didn't realize is that this was going to look EASY by the time we were done the day.  The next couple miles were actually pretty tough, though you would wonder why.  We were on a section following the river that looked flat, but every time you'd look down at your speed, thinking it should be saying 19-20 mph, and it said 14-15.  We were climbing of course, but it was very deceptive.  And demoralizing - Kevin said the same thing, so I was glad to know I wasn't the only one thinking that way!

We had several miles on the roughest road I think I've ridden on, and I was very glad to turn back onto the main highway, even though it essentially marked (I think) the start of the main event.  Looking back, I'm thinking it was a good thing I didn't know what was coming.  We really thought that after Brasstown, this would be no worse, and probably easier.  Sure, it was a higher single climb, but the grade was supposedly a lot less.  HA!  I was alone for the majority of the climb, though there were a few guys that I played the catch and pass round robin with for some of it.  Maybe about 1:10 into the big climb, it seemed like we were coming to the top.  I asked the rider I was passing if he had the elevation, which he didn't, and I said well unless there is another peak hiding behind this one, I can't see there's much more to go.  Shortly thereafter, I saw the sign marking the 3000' point.  WHAT??  Oh lord.  We were climbing to 5400'!!  There was a long way to go still.  So I settled in.  Time to get serious.  I slogged on.  My legs were actually feeling okay.  My neck not so much.  And the thing that hurt the worst by this time was my lower back.  Man, it just ached from the effort.

3600' up the Cherahola Skyway

The only time I stopped on the way up was at the first rest stop, only long enough to get water - I didn't even get off the bike - and then right after that to snap this picture.  There were a lot of beautiful pics out there, both on the mountain and off, but it's hard to make yourself stop and take a picture when you're on a training ride.  I'm glad I took this one, because it was probably the last chance I had to take any kind of decent picture.  So this is around 3600' elevation along the Cherahola Skyway.  So I snapped the pic, and got back to it.  Had a lot of time to think up there.  At several points I cried out "Oh Sweet Jesus, let there be a downhill around this corner" but there never (or rarely) was.  It was getting hot, and I could feel the heat just sinking into my body and staying there...it was humid, and the sun was bright and shining.  Around the 5:20 mark, it started to get dark, and a little rain started.  Nothing too bad, but thankfully enough to cool it off just a little.  I was sure we had to be close..and then there it was - the sign that was 4200'.  Oh My God.  That was probably the toughest mental moment...couldn't believe I still had so far to go. How could there STILL be 1200' to climb.  I mean, I wasn't even close!!  I really couldn't believe I had only gone a few miles since that last rest stop - it had been 30-40 minutes!  I had asked the guy who filled my bottles for me at the last stop how much farther, and he'd said 10 miles, and also warned me that after the top there were still a couple of pretty big bumps.  The effort was simply unrelenting.  Just completely relentless.  My back hurt so bad.  I just wanted to stop.  I started to sound more and more like my mother - Oh Mother of God, please let this be over, I found myself saying.  My power sucked, my speed sucked, and the mountain just really was kicking my ass.  I remember one very clear thought at one moment - I'm just going to stop for a minute.  I convinced myself to make it to the top of the forseeable incline, and thankfully by the time I got there, I was able to keep going.  And oh ya - the wind.  The wind started.  Yes you guessed it - of course - a headwind.  Like uphill wasn't enough.  Remember what I said about Z's fortune telling ability?  His words were coming back to haunt us..."or combine wind and hills for extra challenge"...well we were doing it!  By this time, I was riding in the clouds.  It was kinda cool actually!  When I finally hit the top, it was pretty anti-climactic to be honest!  For one thing - where was the damn sign that said 5390'???!!!  Sure didn't have any trouble financing the cruel signs on the way up!  I wanted my damn picture in front of that sign!  Having said that, there was NOTHING to be seen.  We were in the middle of the rainclouds.  Here's the pic I snapped for posterity's sake.

5400' - I swear it is!!

Once again, I did not even get off the bike, nor did I fill up or get any other supplies.  For one, it was getting chilly and I didn't want to get really cold.  Besides, As I looked around at the weather, the crazy gusting wind, the number of people sitting around, and the guy with the radio...all I could think was no way am I sticking around for them to tell me we can't go down.  I'm taking off before they can stop me.  Ok, so I have no light on my bike.  So I can only see 10' in front of me.  I climbed this mountain, and I am damned well going to ride down and finish this thing!!!  So off I went.  And the down was glorious!  I really didn't need to worry much about fast motorcycles - like I said - if you could see 10' in front of you, you were lucky.  The wind was howling, and I was getting wet from being in the clouds, but thankfully it was still relatively warm.  You could see the cloud blowing by in the wind.  And it was curvy.  But, I still went down around 25-30 mph, braking a little before the curve started, and it was all good.  There were points where I was really just following the white line.  Riding through the clouds, all alone, it was very VERY cool.  I did have the ironic thought that after all that climbing, and not to even get the view...I could've been at the beach in a fog and it would've looked just like this.  But that's okay - I know I did it!  And I have witnesses...

The guy was right about the two "bumps".  But I got through them, and fortunately more downhill, a lot more downhill, awaited me.  The long flat down section after that second bump (see below) - 11 miles long...took 6 minutes!!  30mph average speed.  Loved it!  By then we were back below the clouds, but unfortunately it was raining, and man did that rain sting at that speed!!  The really awesome thing is that after the downhill recovery I no longer felt completely done...I felt like I could keep going.  This is god news for the IM.  What no-one told me about were the "rollers" around mile 105.  It was about the 7 hour mark, and I was starting to feel a little "bonkish".  I still had some Infinit left, which was why I felt that way of course, so I finished that off, and quickly felt good again.  I don't know that I'd call a few of those "rollers", but I got through them.  Then it was a seemingly flat, yet wonderfully downhill to the end - the counterpart to that bloody awful stretch of uphill way back earlier in the race...and screaming along at 25-26 mph on what seems relatively flat - man there's nothing like it.  Aero, feeling strong, and flying!  Here's the ride elevation:

Elevation Profile from my Garmin for the Cherahola Challenge

My opinion - this was harder than Brasstown.  That freaking hill was way steeper than we expected.  Essentially it was a double Hogpen.  Seriously.  Maybe worse.  Definitely worse since it was double, all at once.  Total cumulative riding - 9698 feet.  All told, it took me 7:22 to do the ride.  Naturally I would've wanted faster, but considering the climb, not too bad.  Only about 10 minutes or so slower than Z, (which made me feel awesome :) though I am sure he wasn't going all out), and Kevin smoked us both at just under 7 hours - he'd so ready for Placid!  Total climbing time on the Cherahola - and who knows really where you "start counting" - but starting from 1200' at the bottom of the last big downhill to the summit - 2:40.  Two hours and forty minutes of nothing but climbing (almost), with about a 1-2 minute stop in the middle.  Amazing.  Then we did a 2.25 mile run to finish it up at a speedy 8:17 pace - hooray!  What's better, I actually felt good on the run, and could definitely have done more.  Now of course I know I won't be able to hold that pace for 26 miles, but the faster I can do it on these bricks, the more likely I will get my target of a sub-9 pace in the race.

We managed to get home, through some pretty serious storms, lots of trees down.  It was a great great day.  Very encouraged about my training progress.  After this ride, Richter Pass is not looking so tough after all. It will be hard I'm sure, but I'll be ready.

We were supposed to have the day off today, but since we didn't run the full hour after the ride yesterday Chris added a run to our schedule.  Did that this morning - a tough, fast negative split 9 miles.  Just about killed me, but I did it.  (and yes, it was supposed to be 10 miles, but I simply could not do another mile at that pace).  Last 4 were 7:45, which in this brutal humidity is stellar for me, for an overall pace of 8:00.  Absolutely thrilled with this.

So, another epic weekend of training.  Another notch closer to the big day.  Another little boost of confidence for my readiness.  Another great opportunity to train with some awesome training partners - thanks Kevin and Z!  You guys rock.  So glad I don't have to do all of this alone.  Still wonder what happened to Jim and Rod...maybe they're still out there in their yellow jerseys riding in the clouds...

Happy Training!!
Kat