Glad you liked the link. It made me laugh, especially when I read through
the Questions and Answers.
Oh, don't be jealous about Brasstown. Ugh.
Actually, the first 70 miles were awesome. Perfectly maintained roads,
little to no traffic, and magnificent scenery.
At mile 71, however, I felt a strange twinge in my hamstring muscles. Then,
about 1 mile before Hogpen Gap my legs began to spasm with muscle cramps.
Not only was this terribly painful, but it could hardly have come at a worse
time. Hogpen is one nasty climb that has an average grade of 7 percent for
7 miles (with some sections as steep as 15 percent). I limped into the SAG
at the base of the climb (mile 77) and drank a couple bottles of Gatorade
and ate several handfuls of salty pretzels hoping this would help. It did.
I slowly but steadily made it to the summit, but the heat was really
starting to get to me. My shirt, bibs and helmet straps were coated with
white salt stains. At the summit the organizers had another SAG and I
downed another bottle of Gatorade and soon took off. The descent was fast
and a bit scary for me as I'm not used to flying down mountains. I topped
out around 50 miles per hour, but would have gone faster if I hadn't been
riding the brakes before the corners. I was told the pros in the TdG maxed
out in the low 60's... Yikes!
After the descent we had to climb Jack's Gap before hitting Brasstown Bald
Mountain. On any other day Jack's Gap would have been fun with its rolling
hills and steady climb at the end, but for me it was total suffering. I
thought I had it bad when Mike Lucas caught up to me (we had been
leapfrogging each other most of the afternoon). Mike was spent and to my
shock said he wasn't even going to attempt Brasstown. He looked and sounded
beaten so I tried hard to put on a happy face and tell him that he could do
it. I mean, for a guy who loves the hills, it would be a shame to fly down
to Georgia and quit without even attempting the climb. The final SAG was at
the base of Brasstown and Mike sat down to rest and eat several GUs and
Powerbars. I rested for a few minutes and began the torturous 2.5 mile
ascent. Looking up that hill was a scary sight and so I just stared at the
front wheel and tried with all my might to turn the cranks over and over. I
had my bike equipped with a compact crankset and climbing gears (34x29) but
after 100 miles this was torture. Mike passed me at the 1 mile mark and
looked pretty good on his specially equipped "climbing bike" with a mountain
bike triple and huge 34 tooth cogset on the back. I was happy I had
encouraged him not to quit. I, on the other hand, was ready to throw my
bike into the woods and crawl under a tree to die. It was that bad. I
walked about 3/4 of a mile up the infamous 20 plus degree "wall" and then
remounted my bike for the last mile of the ride.
After crossing the finish line and receiving a medal, I collapsed in the
grass and slept until the van was ready to head down the mountain to the
start/staging area in Helen. Once we arrived there, I again fell onto the
lawn and stayed there virtually comatose. My leg cramps returned with a
vengence both at the top of Brasstown and at the parking lot in Helen, and
several times they would spasm uncontrollably. Dave Schlageter was already
at the parking lot as he opted to do the 80 mile ride (wise man). Both Dave
and Mike said they were concerned about me and brought me Gatorade and other
recovery drinks, none of which I had any interest in. The only thing I
managed was to suck on ice chips and soon I began to feel better. At that
point, we got in Dave's car and picked up some Wendy's french fries. Almost
immediately the utter exhaustion passed and I felt okay. I drank fluids the
whole way home and once there I was back to my "normal" self.
I said it last year, and this year I'm putting it in writing here on
Truerwords. I AM NOT RIDING THE BRASSTOWN BALD BUSTER EVER AGAIN.
As for your email? I'd love to do a ride with you, but I just sold my
Merckx on ebay. ;-)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Seth Dillingham" <
seth@macrobyte.net>
To: "TruerWords" <
TruerWords-site@free-conversant.com>
Sent: Monday, May 08, 2006 2:10 PM
Subject: [tw] Auction: The Whole Pro Cyclist Kit & Kaboodle [Msg#5501]
> <
http://www.truerwords.net/5501>
> --------------------------------
>
> Steve Davis didn't have time to respond to my last email ;-) but he did
> have
> time to send a link to this hilarious eBay auction: everything you need to
> pretend you're a pro racer
> <
http://cgi.ebay.com/Road-BIKES-TEAM-CAR-SRMs-KITS-CARBON-ZIPPS-DISC_W0QQitemZ7239659006QQcategoryZ98084QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem>.
>
> After two days at the GILA we have decided that everything must go. This
> is all the TOP of the line stuff. Everything is light as light gets. The
> sad thing it didn't help me from getting dropped. SRM power meters for
> both bikes and laptop so when all else fails you can over analyze what
> went wrong. Endurox an OPTYGEN (obviously didn't help or I wouldn't be
> selling my junk) TIMBUK 2 bag so you can look cool at the coffee shop when
> trying to act like a pro. Shoes, helmets, 3 kits, speed suit, I really
> mean everything you will ever need. We are talking about almost $15,000+
> dollars of stuff and you get the CAR also. I will be flying home and
> don't want to see any of this stuff again. Chain lube, Shammy Cream, bike
> bottles(still half full), several pairs of sunglasses. Renn Disc wheel an
> Aero front wheel so when you get 25th in the TT you have no excuse...even
> though I have plenty...call me I would love to talk about them. I will
> include all the VeloNews magazines you will ever want to read. You get
> my Fluid trainer, roof rack for four bikes... so you can travel with all
> your biking buddies. Again this is everything you will ever need to
> pretend like you are a bike racer. You don't have to even take the bikes
> off the car. Just drive around town and talk about epic rides and SICK
> wattages. Flash out the INCLUDED USCF LICENSE CAT 2 and talk about how
> you are about to apply for your upgrade to a 1 for your shot to win
> Nationals in JULY. I will include the race numbers that are still pinned
> on the Jersey so you can act like you just came from a huge NRC event.
> TOOLS... all the stuff you take your bike apart an put it back together.
> Time Trial bike LOOKS super fast.
>
> Unfortunately, the phone number included in the auction (555-555-5555)
> doesn't
> work. Oh, and he wanted $25,000.
>
> (Steve just got back from the Brasstown Bald Buster
> <www.brasstownbaldbustercentury.com>. I'm jealous.)
>
> --------------------------------
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