RTOTS Stage 3 - Hog Pen Gap and Unicoi Gap Loop

Stage 3 - Hog Pen Gap - Unicoi Gap Loop
6/20/09
86.61km
03:34:37
1590m/5217ft climbing






Woke up this morning to thankfully less fog. I was actually able to see some of the beauty around me. This route was the same all the way to Brasstown Bald but instead of climbing it I just kept going. This loop is basically what they call the Scenic Byway loop. It goes by Brasstown Bald and then over Hog Pen Gap down into the town of Helen and then back to Hiawassee over Unicoi Gap.

Brasstown Bald sits right on the county line and as soon as you pass the entrance to Brasstown Bald you cross the county line, and start enjoying the different road surface. Definitely rougher than the other roads but it’s a long straight descent from Brasstown Bald down to Hwy 348. Once on 348 you start climbing back up into the mountains and eventually start the long hard climb up to Hog Pen Gap. This climb was hard. I spent almost all of it in my 27 tooth cog. There’s no 20% stuff like on Brasstown but it’s still long and hard. This climb seems to climb along the side of the mountain and doesn’t have too many switchbacks. Mostly long curvy roads along the side of the mountain. About 500m from the top I noticed one of those road reflectors from the center line had busted and was sitting on the side of the road. I stopped and picked up my official Hog Pen Gap Climb souvenir. The view right at the top isn’t much but just either side of the gap there are turnouts for some beautiful views.

On the descent back down to Helen I finally started feeling comfortable on the descents and was beginning to really have some fun. Not having much experience with stuff like this you soon figure out what a 35mph corner is versus a 15mph corner and how fast you can go thru each on a bike. Once you turn off of 348 and turn on 17 the traffic increases a little and you begin the climb towards Unicoi Gap. This climb is completely different than Hog Pen. I would say it’s a little easier than Hog Pen but a lot more fun because it’s a lot of switchbacks and more mountain like.

On the way up I saw a bunch of cyclist on their sat. morning group ride flying down the other way. All of them were way skinnier than me. Made me think I probably wouldn’t like living here cause almost every route includes a major climb. That would make the group rides not as fun.

Once over Unicoi you make the descent down more switchbacks and sharp turns. After coming off that climb I started running low on fumes. My 2.5hr plan was turning into a 3.5hr plan and I was getting tired. I just had enough water and got back to our campground just as I was about to bonk. Any longer and I would have been in some trouble.

Here's a video of the descent of Hog Pen Gap. Not mine but it gives you a good idea of the fun.


This video is of a motorcycle ride up and over unicoi gap going north, the way i went.

RTOTS - Stage 2 - Brasstown Bald

Stage 2: Bald Mountain Camping Resort - Brasstown Bald.

57.53km

02:15:24

787m/2582ft of climbing

After the early morning ride in Kentucky and enjoying some fishing and canoeing at our friends house we got back in the van and headed down for the mountain stages of the RTOTS at Brasstown Bald. It was only a 4.5hr drive so we arrived at the Bald Mountain Camping Resort before dark and moved into our Camping Cabin. In the morning I was a bit bummed to wake up to a ton of fog blanketing the valley but it was still rideable although i wished i had my little flasher light, so I headed out around 6:30am. During the ride I got a couple peaks of the sun and a couple views but the top of Brasstown Bald doesn’t seem to clear of the fog until after 10am.

The route begins with what basically is a descent from the campground down into the town of Hiawassee. The campground is on the east side of the mountain and the road up to Brasstown is on the south side. Once I turned on Owl Creek Road I was on the Tour de Georgia course to Brasstown Bald. Here the roads are never flat and on most of the rolling hills leading up to the main climb I found myself in the small chainring and near my 27 but nothing compares to once the climb to Brasstown Bald starts. The real climbing starts about a mile or so from the entrance to Brasstown bald. It’s marked on the road by paint that someone painted that says “Go George” then “Climb Starts Here X”

The pictures don’t do justice but once you near the curve at the top of the picture the grade really goes up and I found myself in the 27 barely moving. Fortunately once you go around the s curve ahead it starts to level out a bit and even goes downhill as you turn onto highway 180. Once on 180 it’s about a mile of a gradual climb as you arrive at the entrance of Brasstown Bald. Immediately the road kicks up and the climb is on.

The climb up Brasstown is about 3 miles long but only 2.5miles to the parking lot. The last ½ mile is closed to cyclists and is for the shuttle bus that you can ride up to the top from the parking lot. There are mile marker signs along the climb so I started my lap timer at the bottom. Now the whole climb is brutal. There is no break and it just keeps going up and up and up. What was worse in my case was that the top was still fogged in so as I got higher there was no beautiful sights to see. Just the road in front of me.

From the start I was in my 27 tooth cog and never left it. The only thing that changed was my cadence. From what I had read the second mile was the worst and that was very true. That’s where the climb kicks up to 20%. I completed the first mile in 9:22, second in 10:50, and the last ½ mile or so in 4:36 for a total time of 24:48 for the 2.5 miles.

When I hit the second mile and the 20% section I almost died. I litereally was zigging and zagging across the road to stay on the bike and almost falling over cause it was one pedal stroke, followed by and awkward pause, followed by another pedal stroke and another awkward pause. At one point I felt like I was doing the vo2max test on the computrainer and about to stop. There was a curve ahead and I told myself if this doesn’t ease up around this turn I don’t know what I’m going to do. Lucky for me it did ease up and I didn’t have to get off or fall off the bike.

I reached the top at about 7:45am and there was not a single car there. Because of the fog I couldn’t even see the end of the parking lot or the tower above me. What is now my biggest regret is that I was a good boy and obeyed the no bicycles beyond this point sign to go all the way to the top. I don’t think there was a soul there and I could have gone all the way. Maybe next time. I went back later in the day with the family and took all the pics except for the self portraits from the ride.

On the way back i took 180 all the way to 17/75 and then back to the camp. All in all a beautiful ride but very hard on the climb.

The video below is of our drive up Brasstown Bald.

Ron's Tour of the Southland - Stage 1 - Tour de London RR course

Our family just completed a vacation to Florida. We drove and took our time getting down there so we made stops at some pretty cool locations. I of course took my bike and woke up early a lot of the mornings to take in some great riding. I called this "Ron's Tour of the Southland." It consisted of 7 stages in the states of Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, and Tennesee.

This is the first installment of ride reports.

Stage 1 in London, Kentucky.

67.1km

2:07:33

One of my wife’s best friends from high school now lives in London, KY. Since it’s generally on the way we decided that the first night we would stay there. Every September, London is the home to the Kentucky State Road Race and Criterium Championships. The road race start/finish is downtown but the course is held on a 40 mile loop out in the country. After driving in circles a little bit I found a great place to park at the high school about a mile from where the ciricuit starts.

What made this ride so enjoyable is that I didn’t need to pull out my route maps once during the whole ride because the course is well marked with route markers painted on the road. I normally spend about 15-20 minutes of my vacation rides stopped looking at maps trying to figure out where I am. This would have been a nightmare because of the many turns of this course and the fact that rural Kentucky seems especially bad at not having street signs at every intersection. Actually it seemed that I should have been doing the route in reverse since the roads seemed to be labeled when I was turning off of them but not when I was getting on.

This course is almost always rolling and turning. There were I think 3 or 4 main climbs but only 1 of them put me in my 27 tooth cog. The rest were about like the Braeburn Rd. climb in Barrington Hills but longer.

After riding this I am calling this my favorite race even though I haven’t raced it. The course is wonderful and would be a blast to race. For all you mountain goats out there this would be especially fun. My guess is the last real climb on this circuit would be my undoing but I still would like to do this. There’s also a crit the same weekend which is pretty flat so it would make for a great weekend of racing. The drive is under 8 hours so why not make a nice weekend of it?

I had never been to this part of Kentucky so this was my first time seeing some of the more rural parts of the south. What I found the most interesting was the number of churches out here. It seemed like there was a church every mile or 2, even way out in the middle of nowhere. Most are Baptist or Pentacostal and ranged from very small church buildings to trailer homes in very poor condition.

You can see the route and pictures at the race website here. One year I am definitely going to be making the trip down there to do these races.