Well I had big plans for the July 4th holiday weekend. Unfortunately those plans were derailed slightly due to a few obligations at work. And by obligations I mean I was called to appear as an expert witness in a court case that has been dragging out since early 2012. So rather than spend 4 glorious days in the foothills of northern Georgia on a sweet traincation, I stayed in Charlotte and made lemonade out of lemons.
July 4th:
I took advantage of the holiday to grab a long ride. James was heading north to the Davidson area for a century ride. I have not had the chance to ride up in that area so I begged him to let me tag along. Lucky for me he was feeling generous. Not so lucky for me, I arrived to the ride with a dead Garmin. Without even a traditional watch as back up I knew the 100 miler I was about to endure would be interesting. To be honest, a workout without collecting any data was quite liberating and refreshing. I was actually kinda excited about the opportunity but after my blow up in Brushy last weekend I was a tad nervous about timing my nutrition right (ie pre- leg cramps and diva moments). Ultimately I consumed more than enough to get by for a 5 hour ride enjoying the company and countryside (even though it rained for the first two hours).
Mid-ride post-showers selfie |
Somewhere in Georgia, obviously |
With little else to do I decided to trek to Georgia anyway for rest of the weekend. HaycraftGWTD, 404 (aka The Honey Badger), and Chuck Norris were planning to ride the Six Gaps route in Dahlonega, GA and I wanted in on that action. I have heard a lot of great things about the Six Gap Century and frankly I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I guess I should have checked out the elevation profile prior to committing to the ride. When it was handed to me Saturday morning my jaw dropped. I tried to convince myself the climbs only looked hard because the profile was not as stretched out as it should be (scale is everything) . . . wishful thinking on my part.
The bros (Pink does not appear in the dress code) |
A little too much riding in the rain |