2007 Glassner Autumn Challenge

130 miles ridden
7 hours sitting on a bike
17,000 calories burned

the route, although not steep, was a constant up and down roller coaster.

lessons learned this time:
it's all in your head!
suffering alone sucks!
just keep pedaling, until you get where your going!

2007 Cheaha Challenge

2007 Cheaha Challenge

Friday afternoon Joe Orehosky, Billy Hudgens and Myself, finished loading up my trailblazer. On board we had 3 road bikes, 3 Mountain bikes, a crap-load of camping equipment, food and bike tools. We headed out for “somewhere in Alabama” we had no idea. At 10:30 pm we decided since oak mountain state park was 5 miles up the road that we should stop there for the night. The campground closes a 9pm, they let us in anyway and our regular campsites were vacant and available. We awoke to some moderate rain, as soon as it cleared we packed up and headed to cracker barrel for some breakfast. We finally arrived at Cheaha state park around 1:00pm. We hit the Cheaha MTB express. It’s a great flowing trail with beautiful views, rock formations, plant life and wildlife(we ran into a few white tale doe). The trail is a little on the short side so we won’t make a special trip to ride it again. After the trail we crashed a wedding at the restaurant on the top of the mountain by jumping in the pool out back, very refreshing.

Next we hit up the Sunny King Criterium. None of us had witnessed criterium racing before, I knew it existed but that’s it. It was a nice event, hopefully one day we can get some action like that at home. Downtown Pensacola has some nice potential courses, and the area has more than enough cyclists to draw a crowd.

Anyway on to the point, it’s in here somewhere.

The Cheaha Challenge began not on the bike, but the night before the ride in the Piedmont community center. After a night of camping in the rain, a day of mountain biking at Cheaha state park, an evening of criterium racing and Grecee’s Pizza(aka: Cici’s) we were exhausted. At 10 PM we decided we should probably find the starting point of the ride the next morning and a place to sleep. Luck would have it that those two were one in the same. Around 10:40 PM we found the community center and the folks running it welcomed us in for the night. We thought we had hit the jackpot. I setup my spot on the stage in the old gymnasium, using some of the tumbling pads on the stage. I had a pretty comfy bed.

12:45 AM: The Challenge Begins. I was awakened by the sound of a loud truck and some shouting outside the gym. Since I was awake anyway I decided to go removed my new Chris King wheels from my mountain bike and put them in the vehicle to give me peace of mind. While outside, I noticed the truck making the noise was unloading 10 port-a-potties for the event tomorrow. After the port-a-pottie truck left, the worst snoring I have ever heard began. Seriously, I am not kidding. The man responsible for this disturbance needs serious medical attention. Not only is the guy ridiculously loud, he had chosen the acoustically perfect spot of the old gymnasium for optimal echo. He had situated himself in a corner on the track that ran above the basketball court. You could even hear this guy outside the gym through the windows. After a few minutes, Joe decided to try and wake him. After a long walk up to and across the track, that awoke the other 6 people up who were in the gym, the guy was still asleep. It took a violent shake to wake him. We then had silence for about 20 minutes, but it began again. We gave up and relocated to the upstairs dining hall, where we got about 4 hours of sleep before we were awakened by the breakfast crew.

After a bowl of Special K and some OJ, it was time to get ready and line up. I saw Bill at the start so Joe, Billy, and myself lined up near him. The first few miles out of town were at a nice gentle pace. After leaving the Piedmont city limits, the pace picked up. After a mile of trying to stay in a pace line, with some pretty erratic riding, I had had enough. Billy and I took off to find the next group with hopefully more stable riders. We found the next group more suitable and we stayed in this pace line until the first baby climb. We passed everyone in this group and on the other side we were joined by Tim Powers. We had seen Tim the day before at the races, but couldn't spot him at the start. I was surprised how much this first hill broke up the group. A few rejoined us until we passed rest stop #2. This was where the pace lines stopped and the real climbing began. I didn’t keep up with Tim and Billy for too long , although I kept them in sight until rest stop #3 .

This is were I met the devil. Rest stop #3 had a “Tour De France” theme. At this point I wasn’t hurting or tired, and I did not want to stop, but for some reason I exited the trail and rolled through the rest stop. I guess it was my subconscious telling me “hey, you know you need food” or maybe I wanted to get a closer look at the podium girls dresses in TDF yellow. Although my subconscious was telling me to refuel, I didn’t actually get off the bike or stop to eat anything! My excitement got the best of me I guess, I just kept going. I wanted to catch Billy and Tim. Big mistake! Half way between rest stop #3 and the top of the mountain, I bonked. At this point I had only eaten a small box of Special K, and a cliff bar. I know better than this but for some reason I just didn’t eat. Honestly, I don’t remember much of the climb to the top, except my stomach starting to growl, it’s all kind of hazy. At rest stop #4, I consumed about 2.5 PB&J sandwiches, 2.5 PB&Banana sandwiches, 1 whole orange , a handful of potato chips and a large bottle of diluted Gatorade. I sat down for about 35 minutes until I came out of my daze.

The next section was easy, I saw Billy on the descent heading back, but I never saw Tim. I got to Adams Gap and grabbed half a PB&Banana sandwich and an orange slice and turned around. I would eat at every rest stop from now on. I heard Joe yell at me as I was headed back to the top of the mountain. The rest of my ride in the mountains was uneventful. I did pick up a wheel-sucker at rest stop #3. She followed me until we caught up with her group.

Rest stop#2 to the end was the most agonizing 23.92 miles of my life. From there I pulled a group half way to rest stop#1. When I went to the back of the line I couldn’t stay on, too much yo-yoing. So the remainder of the ride I was to suffer alone.

Needless to say, I was very happy to end this ride. I went with high hopes, wanting a time in the low-mid 5 hour range. I got a time of 6:42 (the Cheaha website is wrong). Helpfully next year I won’t get bronchitis a week before the ride, and I will remember that I have to eat more when climbing crazy hills. I think I will also ask Santa Claus to bring me a compact crank for next year. Anyway, the ride was very well organized. I did enjoy most of it. I now have a whole new perspective on my abilities. I feel like I can achieve whatever I put my mind to, it’s just a question of how painful I make it due to excitement and forgetfulness.