2002 Elk River 100 - We had our usual turnout for the ERV 100
and good weather. The breakout of who rode what is:
| 17mile |
7riders |
| 35 |
9 |
| 65 |
34 |
| 100 |
24 |
The course was blocked for a while by a crash (that did not involve any
cyclist)
Pictures:
2002 Murfreesboro and Huntsville Centuries.
We have been attending some of the local, regional
century rides and have had a good time. We teamed up with Bob Crook to
go to both the Murfreesboro HOT 100 on Aug. 24, and the Huntsville
Century on Sept 15th. The ride options on the HOT 100 were
31, 62, and 100. We thought the 31 was too short and 62 too long, so I
looked at the map and picked a road to cut across their long narrow loop
and give us about 50 miles. It turned out that this route was more of
trail than a road, with 2 creek fords (dry), a hill we had to push up
which was so steep on the backside that neither of us could stop.
Fortunately we were going slowly. When we finally got stopped at the
bottom, our rims were too hot to touch. So I guess in the end we
expended as much energy as if we had ridden the 62.
The Huntsville club had a 50 mile option that was what
we were looking for. It rained on us at the beginning, but not enough to
wet the road. The wind was at our backs, and I hoped that it would die
down, but it blew all day long, and the back 25 miles were very tough.
We were all worn out, but luckily, at the end, the route turned back
west and the wind was at our backs.
For those of you trying to find new century rides to
attend next year, each of these are good choices. Each has a post-ride
meal, where we enjoyed talking with folks we see year after year. –
Stuart Coulter reporting
2002 Assault on Mt. Mitchell. Bob
Crook wrote an excellent review of the trip of several of our club
members to Marion and Mt. Mitchell NC.
Eleven members of the Highland Rimmers Bicycle Club completed the
notorious Assaults on Mt. Mitchell and Marion on Saturday, May 18. This
was the 27th running of this group ride, sponsored by the Spartanburg
(SC) Freewheelers bike club.
Melissa Miller, Al Hennigan, Mike Rutherford and Kevin Zysk completed
the extremely difficult 72-mile Assault on Marion. The remaining riders
continued on for another 30 miles to the Blue Ridge Parkway, finishing
at the top of 6684-ft high Mount Mitchell, NC, the highest point east of
the Mississippi. They were Tony Zarraga, Debbie Gamache, Ken Gamache,
Denny Elston, Sam Harper, Brian Bacon, and Jim Herron.
Over 1600 riders started the assaults in Spartanburg, SC at 6:30 AM in
near darkness, 69F temperature and light-to-heavy rain. A persistent
headwind plagued the riders for the entire event. After about 90 minutes
the rain let up and the skies gradually brightened. The riders were
forced to alternately wear and then remove their rain gear in response
to the ever-changing conditions. The hosts of the ride provided several
food stops along the way, which enabled the riders to get a little rest
along with some nourishment.
The mass start of the Assaults is always a spectacular sight. All the
riders are packed into five lanes of traffic about 500 yards long. The
electronic clock on the marquee of the Spartanburg War Memorial counts
down the last few seconds and at the GO! signal, one can hear only the
sound of 1600 pairs of bicycle cleats clicking into their pedals. The
group then moves off at a very fast pace, the lead riders already
bidding for position as they try to beat the course record (about 5
hours for the 102 miles). The group sweeps through the city streets with
all auto traffic temporarily halted. As the ride progresses the riders
naturally stretch out into a very long line, eventually separated by as
many as 30 miles.
Each of the Tullahoma riders attained his or her personal goal. The 72
miles of the group finishing at Marion, NC has been described as
"challenging". This is a charitable description. This segment of the
ride contains many tough hills, several in the last few miles. The four
Marion finishers were very happy to have attained the finish line. The
finish is at a park in Marion where a meal is furnished and good
bathroom and shower facilities are available. Each rider is encouraged
to send a bag with dry clothes ahead to the finish line. This was a
particularly good idea this year.
For the seven who continued on to the top of the mountain, the
conditions this year were among the toughest that any of them had ever
experienced. The ride is very difficult, even with good weather, with a
constant grind along the last 27 miles. The never-ceasing head wind and
the continually dropping temperatures made this section of the ride a
real test of fortitude and endurance. Conditions at the top were 39F and
extremely windy. After quickly drinking the hot tomato soup provided by
the Freewheelers, everyone got into the first available bus for the ride
back to Marion. At Marion, larger busses were available for the drive
back to Spartanburg. All bikes were collected from the riders as they
finished and put onto trucks for transportation back to Spartanburg.
This year, for the first time, the Tullahoma group had the luxury of a
personal "sag" wagon, driven by Bob Crook. He had dry clothing and food
and drink and bike tools and was available via cell phone to come to the
aid of a rider in distress. Happily, no mechanical difficulties were
experienced and the sag wagon was barely called into service.
A difficult ride like this so early in the riding season means that
extraordinary training regimens are necessary. Most of the group either
rode as much as possible during the winter or trained on indoor bikes.
When the Highland Rimmers' scheduled rides began in April, many of the
rides were designed with plenty of hill climbing. The central training
event used by most of the riders was the standing after-work Monday
afternoon ride from Alto to Sewanee and Sherwood and return. This
34-mile route provides a pretty fair simulation of the Blue Ridge
Parkway and Mt. Mitchell State Park gradients with its two strenuous
climbs. Of course the route also affords the fun of two screaming
descents, something not possible on the one-way-only Mt. Mitchell ride.
Tullahomans' participation in this ride has a long and chequered
history. Bob Crook and Stuart Coulter made the first Assault on Mitchell
in 1988. They repeated it the next year with Greg Wannenwetch, then of
Manchester. Participation gradually grew to the present level. The ride
has become so popular that the Spartanburg club has had to restrict the
number of riders to avoid problems with the National Park Police and the
NC State Highway Patrol, who objected to the hordes of bikes with their
support vehicles clogging the narrow roads and small parking areas.
Therefore it has become a race when the application blanks are mailed to
see who can get the scarce Mt. Mitchell slots. It's hard to believe,
given the agony of achieving the finish line, but generally the
conversation on board the bus soon turns to making plans for doing it
again next year. story by Bob Crook
Joint Huntsville Ride - On April 28th, we met many
fine folks from Huntsville for a joint bike ride. We met in
Fayetteville, ate breakfast, and then headed out for a hilly 40+ miles
in the Coldwater area. There were tow tandem teams, each towing
Burleys with a wee one onboard.
Pictures from our Spring 2001 Garbage Pickup:
Fall/00
- Brian, Denny, Joe, and Rita rode in the Murfreesboro Hot 100 ride in
late August, and Denny, Mitch,Stuart, Jeanie and Brian rode in the
Huntsville All-You-Care-To-Eat ride in mid-September.
Sunday Breakfast Rides - we have had some good
rides to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast in the last few weeks.
Call Ken at 455-3252 if you are interested.
Alabama Tandem Weekend - Jeanie, Brian, and Stuart
Coulter attended the 6th Alabama Tandem Weekend, April 14-16th, in
Auburn Alabama. 44 teams attended. The event was held at the
Auburn Univ. Conference center, and was very well organized.
Fortunately, the forecasted terrible weather did not materialize.
On Saturday, we rode out to the lunch stop on the intermediate loop
route, and directly back for a total of 35 miles. Several other loops
were available - a team could ride about 75 miles, on the well marked
route, if they wanted too. The whole gang had a pizza party afterwards.
Sunday we rode about 25 miles. The team behind us ( pictured ) had
a blowout that sounded like a gun shot, which fortunately happened just
before a long decent. We saw a few triples, and one family of 5 with the
parents on a tandem, 4 and 2 yr old children on a trailer-cycle, with a
one yr. old in a trailer hitched to the trailer-cycle ( pictured).
(Click on thumbnail to view)
Elk River 100 Photos - intrepid
photographer and club member Mike Ruthorford captured these digital
photos of club members participating in the our Elk River 100 century
ride held 9./11/99.
(Click on thumbnail to view)
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