Six More Gaps

It was a week before the annual Six Gap Century and I was starting to get a little worried. We had about twelve Tulane riders (well, I'm including Kenny and me) interested in going and the weather forecast was calling for rain. Only a few of those going really had enough miles in their legs for such a long and difficult ride, and the idea of them careening down slippery unfamiliar downhills was a little frightening. Fortunately, as the week wore on the forecast improved and my stress level abated a bit. During that time Kenny strained his back and another rider dropped out because of school, so we were down to eleven.

On Friday I left the office a few minutes early and we met up at the local Enterprise car rental place to pick up three minivans. The plan was to head out around 7:30 am so we would arrive in time to sign in and pick up our numbers, watch some of the criterium, and eat dinner at the local Mexican restaurant in Dahlonega. Most of the riders ended up having a bit of a party the night before we left about which I fortunately know little. While they were doing that I put together a couple more fork-mount sliders so we would have some for the third van.

Saturday morning we learned that David had crashed on the streetcar tracks somewhere and put a gash in the heel of his hand that required stitches, so we were down to ten riders -- still a pretty good group. The drive up to Dahlonega went really smoothly and we got there in plenty of time. After we picked up packets I watched Debbie Milne win the women's criterium again and then walked a couple of blocks to the restaurant to get on the list for a table for ten and about half an hour later we were seated. So basically everything on Saturday went according to plan.

Six Gap actually offers both the full Six Gap Century at 104 miles, and a shorter Three Gap ride at around 55. This was good since the shorter ride with two big climbs was quite enough for a few of the riders. Although the 3-Gap riders are supposed to start an hour after the 6-Gap riders, I think we all started together.

It was cool but not cold at the start this year, despite the overcast sky, and I wore just my summer kit plus a little wind protector under my jersey. We got down to the start 15 or 20 minutes early and blended into the masses a few rows behind the "sub-6-hour" section that they reserve for riders who finished the prior year under that threshold. For a change, I wasn't cold as I waited for the start. I guess the temperature at the start was around 63F which is about perfect for this sort of thing. I had one little bottle of HammerGel, an emergency powerbar, and my phone in my pockets and two full water bottles on the bike. I was riding my old Orbea since the Bianchi is still out getting its cable stops fixed, so I had both the Garmin and the old Campi computer on the handlebar.  Redundant systems. I zeroed the Campi computer and started the Garmin and waited in the middle of the sea of riders. Next to us were Steve J. and Pat F. Ben B., Ben S., Danielle, Grayson, Graeme and the rest of the Tulane crew all started together, kind of walking the bikes as the crowd inched toward the start line. I think I finally clipped in just before crossing the timing mat.

The front part of the group this year was relatively calm this year, but I could tell right away that Ben B. wanted to get closer to the front. Soon a few of us were following him in the left lane moving up closer and closer to the front. You have to understand that, in the case of Six Gap, close to the front means being within the lead 100 or do. Danielle was right there with us for most of the first ten miles or so before the first long climb. Looking up ahead I was a little surprised that there didn't seem to be a group off the front.

So my plan this year was a little different from prior years. I had decided to try and keep the pain level down on the climbs and was open to the idea of stopping at a rest stop, which I'd never done before except to wait for an ambulance. The first couple of climbs went pretty well and I rode up them at my own pace, spinning a 39x25, keeping the 27 in reserve for later when I knew I'd need it.

By the time I crested the first "gap" Ben and Graeme were up ahead somewhere. Ben Spain and Steve were nearby, with Ben up the road a bit and Steve dropping back a bit. Things got split up a bit on Jack's Gap, but I was happy that I had company around me the whole time. As usual, the long climb up Hogpen featured a few miles of tortured climbing at 5 mph in the 39x27. Up at the top I saw Ben S and Graeme at the rest stop, but I didn't want to stop yet so I continued on, hitting 50 or so on the downhill. Somewhere on the flatter section between Hogpen and Wolfpen Steve caught up to me and a small group I had latched onto, but once we started up the Wolfpen climb he rode up ahead. Graeme was riding with a low gear of 39x23 and was very unsure about whether he was going to be able to make it up the next climb, but he rode away from me as I slowly spun and stood and spun and stood and spun my way up Wolfpen. By then my lower back was killing me and my right foot was screaming. On the plus side, all of the standing was giving my neck and upper back enough relief that those areas didn't hurt any more than usual.I stopped for a few minutes at the top of Wolfpen where Steve had also stopped to fill a water bottle. Steve would later pass me on the next climb.

So I finally made it over the last climb, Woody's Gap, flew down the downhill picking up one other rider toward the bottom as we came around the sharp hairpin turn. As usual it was looking like I'd be finishing at somewhere around 6 hours. Fortunately, the rider I was with was working with me and helping keep my speed up, and when a pair of faster riders came around us we both latched onto their wheels. Those two riders got us going a little faster but it wasn't looking like I'd make it to the finish in under 6 hours. The last ten miles or so were really fun. The rider I'd come down Woody's Gap with dropped off, but the other two were basically riding a team time trial with me mostly hanging on the back and just taking an occasional pull. Thanks to their help I ended up finishing at 6:01:43, so considering the fact that I'd stopped for water, that time was right in line with my usual times for this ride. Steve finished at 6:00:35. By the time I finished, Ben had already been there for over half an hour. He'd finished at 5:32:18, which was 26th overall.

So Ben Bradley was 6th in the 34-and-under KOM competition, 2nd in the 25-29 age group, and  26th overall. Steve was 107th (18th in the 50-54 group), I was 111th (first in the 60-64 group) , Ben Spain 172nd. Graeme finished at 6:18:55 with Ben. Meanwhile, Danielle was 8th in the 3-Gap KOM competition. I'm not sure where she finished overall since they don't have those results up on the website yet. They were using disposable chip timing, so there a long list of about 400 riders on the "Missing Splits" page.

We finally rolled out of Dahlonega in a light drizzle for the long drive home. That 9 hour drive feels really long after a day with a 5 am wake-up and 6-hour ride in the mountains. We got into New Orleans around 1 am, which was right when we had expected. I was basically worthless at work on Monday, of course.