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The Fellas do Mountains of Misery

5/30/2011

5 Comments

 
Ryan Roe, Steve O and John S started the Mountains of Misery ride out of Blacksburg, VA on Sunday.  Steve O was not returning my calls after the ride, instead texting me with odd comments such as, "What do you want?" (as if he didn't know) or "It would be rude for me to call during dinner." However, Ryan was happy to give me the details and after hearing his description, I think I know why Steve is keeping a low profile.   Ryan said the first 75 miles was a blast with a lot of good group riding but that the final 25 miles which include a jog into the foothills of the mountain and is dibilitating, then up a Cat 2 climb before the final ascent up the Cat 1 Mountain Lake climb. Ryan told me he thought I had been full of it when I described the climb but after completing the climb, he observed it was worse then I described. He had to get off 4 times to rest and somewhere, he got caught up with the cheering people, lost his focus and rode off the side of the road but stayed upright.  Anyway, he finished with a fine time of 7:01 overall.   

Meanwhile, Steve had somehow made a mistake when filling in the registration form.  The ride organizers group you at the start according to what time you put down as your likely finishing time and apparently this is where Steve erred.  He ended up being placed in the 5th wave, which meant he was stuck in a group of shleps like me so he had no one with whom to ride at his desired pace.  He started 15 minutes behind Ryan and passed him towards the end of the final climb, having ridden virtually the entire ride alone.  Very curious.
5 Comments
Ryan
5/30/2011 10:28:21 pm

The first 75 miles seemed easy. I was with at least 2 other riders almost the entire time. The 60 mile climb, which is about 2 miles long and was said to be steeper than the final climb, didn't seem bad at all, and I was thinking this ride was going to be easy. After about 75 miles I began to die. I rode the last 20 miles alone, lot's of climbing, very little shade. By the time I reached the final climb, I was shot and was fighting cramps in my right quad.

The last 3 miles were really tough. To describe what it felt like, imagine climbing Chicken Coop for 3 miles. It's not actually quite as steep as Chicken Coop, maybe 2-3 degrees less, but at 3 miles in length, it makes up for the difference in grade. I was told that there would be a rest stop at 2 miles to go. As I was climbing the first mile, I was REALLY looking forward to that rest stop, so when I crossed the 2 miles to go sign, and didn't see any sign of a rest stop, I decided to make my own. I unclipped and rested for a minute, took a few drinks of HEED, then clipped back in and continued climbing. Just around the bend, I saw the actual rest stop up ahead, so I rolled into that one and took another breather, stop #2.
After the rest stop, I was just slowly revolving the crank, inching up the mountain. As I rounded a bend I saw the pro photographer on one side of the road, his camera equipment and flash on the other side, and a mob of people cheering and blowing horns. As I was looking at all of the action, I forgot to watch where I was riding and dropped of the edge of the road onto the gravel shoulder. Since I was only moving at about .5 mph, the gravel brought me to a stop and I had to unclip (stop #3). I hope the photog didn't get a shot of that moment.
As I wheeled my bike back onto the road to get started again, I looked over my shoulder and saw Steve inching his way up the climb. I yelled "Hey, Steve-o!" and got no reply whatsoever... apparently I'm wasn't the only one suffering on this last section. Steve and I kept each other in sight for the rest of the climb. I stopped 1, maybe 2 more times before finally reaching the top and finished about 1 min. behind Steve, who had started the ride 15 minutes after me.

My adjusted finish time was 7 hours, 1 minute. I was hoping to finish around 7 hours, so I met my goal. They haven't posted the official results yet, but I think I finished 75th, or somewhere around there... not too bad.

Reply
Ox
5/31/2011 04:01:05 am

Dear Mark,

Your concerns that I may be talking with other bloggers are totally off base. I'm sorry I didn't respond to your continuous calls and texts right away. I was just spending some time with some other friends this past weekend... and NO, I am not upset with you and I'm looking forward to more rides with you again.

Reply
Mark
5/31/2011 04:34:06 am

My Dearest Steve,

I am not at all concerned there would be any other blogger out there willing to sit through your turn-by-turn accounts of each of your great rides as you like to call them. Of course you are not upset with me because afterall, have I not worked tirelessly to promote you well beyond what you could ever do on your own? If not for me you'd be toiling in complete anonymity. Continuous calls and texts you say? I don't recall that. It's more like wishful thinking on your part. I'm looking forward to granting you the honor of riding with me again.

Reply
Ox
5/31/2011 04:51:37 am

You'll get some quality time tonight, I'm leading the C group.

Reply
kenda j
5/31/2011 05:38:19 am

such entertaining reading! my break from an otherwise stressful day in the office. have a good ride tonight boyz.

Reply



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    Mark is a long-time cyclist, hiker, golfer and plays some table tennis...ok, it's ping pong.

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