Labor Day Omnium Day 2 – Civic Center Criterium

Summary
This was a new course using some of the same roads that were part of the circuit race last year. The course was fast with plenty of opportunities for attack. I thought I was racing well, but ended up missing a split with 18 riders up the road. In the last few laps, 3 riders escaped from the field in pursuit. I ended up 2nd in the field sprint for 23rd in the race. One good thing to take away from the race was that I was happy about the field sprint – hopefully next time it will be for something in the top 20. Here is my lap data:

Labor Day Omnium Criterium
Pro/1/2 - 23rd
Lap	Time	Mi.	AvgPow	MaxPow	HR	MPH
1	1:45	0.7	263	743	149	22.9
2	1:34	0.7	290	775	160	25.6
3	1:31	0.7	316	873	163	26.3
4	1:29	0.7	297	887	175	26.6
5	1:29	0.7	264	734	172	27.3
6	1:31	0.7	268	949	172	26.4
7	2:55	1.4	301	925	179	28.2
8	1:26	0.7	287	805	176	28.9
9	1:26	0.7	293	752	173	28.8
10	1:27	0.7	312	997	176	28.4
11	1:29	0.7	274	906	185	27.4
12	1:25	0.7	276	788	180	28.4
13	1:33	0.7	258	862	171	25.9
14	1:38	0.7	224	785	173	23.9
15	1:36	0.7	263	780	169	24.9
16	1:27	0.7	237	698	179	27.8
17	1:34	0.7	209	703	170	25.5
18	1:35	0.7	242	785	171	25.4
19	1:31	0.7	268	780	174	26.6
20	1:29	0.7	277	799	179	27.2
21	1:27	0.7	304	975	178	27.6
22	1:26	0.7	277	812	185	27.8
23	1:28	0.7	320	1026	181	27.2
24	1:29	0.7	246	577	183	27.1
25	1:33	0.7	242	817	177	25.5
26	1:39	0.7	256	1062	172	23.9
27	1:33	0.7	305	920	183	25.6
28	1:29	0.7	236	1079	182	26.8
29	1:38	0.7	247	954	180	24.2
30	1:23	0.7	359	957	185	28.5
31	1:30	0.7	281	656	188	26.3
32	1:40	0.7	177	564	175	23.8
33	1:43	0.7	192	547	163	23
34	1:36	0.7	196	651	170	24.9
35	1:32	0.7	268	804	174	26.3
36	1:38	0.7	276	990	176	24.5
37	1:38	0.7	214	838	181	24.7
38	1:33	0.7	243	766	175	25.9
39	1:42	0.7	226	740	171	23.6
40	1:30	0.7	212	635	174	26.8
41	1:36	0.7	231	868	169	25.3
42	1:40	0.7	302	739	176	23.7
43	1:29	0.7	343	843	185	26.7
44	1:35	0.7	240	950	185	25.5
45	1:33	0.7	224	569	173	25.7
46	1:33	0.7	269	694	174	25.9
47	1:30	0.7	247	933	178	26.4
48	1:35	0.7	231	854	178	25.5
49	1:38	0.7	267	690	177	24.3
50	1:21	0.7	447	899	187	29.1

I decided to head out 3 hours before the start of the race to ride some of the roads between Clemson and Anderson that I used to train on. I ended up on part of what we called the “sprint loop” because there were so many sprint signs on it (stop ahead, county line, city limits, etc…). I snapped a few pics along the way, and it was one of the best “warm-up” rides of the year, a stroll down memory lane. I went on a couple new roads as well, and there was some sort of hunting going on in the fields on either side of Fants Grove Rd – it was kinda disconcerting to be riding through all the shotgun blasts.

Complete ride stats, part 1

Complete ride stats, part 2

The awkward spot in the Denver Loop where you have to ride on US76

Roads from the Denver Loop

Fants Grove!

The four-way intersection … I would always approach this intersection from the right.

This weekend is named after the small town of La France outside of Anderson … Tour de La France!

Chad Andrews calling the last few laps of the Cat 3 race

Tour de La France

The backside of the Michellin plant that you can see the entrance to off of US 76

Looking backwards from a four-way intersection on the sprint loop. I had never approached this intersection from the road I took today – but I can recognize the back of the sprint signs (stop ahead) just down the road in this picture

Another sprint sign on the sprint loop

Crossing the creek on Fants Grove Rd – the vegetation here has grown quite a bit in the last 15 years.

Approaching the hunters on Fants Grove

The sprint sign at the end of Fants Grove

View looking towards the mountains near the tri-county spot

The Pickens County sprint sign

View looking towards the mountains

A blue heron flew away from the pine tree and swooped in front of me. I already had the phone out to take a picture so I got a picture of him flying in front of me. I never knew that these birds like to roost in pine trees!

This is where I proposed to Kristine 11 years ago. My number this weekend is 11. Awesome.

Looking south from where I proposed to Kristine – you can see a guy standing on a stand up surfboard – never saw that while I was a student at Clemson, but the crew team would row through here.

Two-up 53×11 standing start sprints on this road across the levee

Looking north along Lake Hartwell towards Clemson and the mountains.

Hunters in the field next to Fants Grove

Hunters in the field next to Fants Grove

Beautiful sunset sky looking out the IHOP window

2011 End of the Season Epic

Me at the turnaround point on the ride – the highest point on the blue ridge parkway

2011 End of the season epic ride – route with categorized climbs labeled

2011 End of the season epic ride elevation profile

Quick summary
Awesome ride. I was aiming for about 9 hours on this ride (wall-clock time), but I ended up flatting in the middle of a KOM attempt on Sassafras only 50 miles into the ride. I spent 30 minutes changing the tire trying to inflate with a tiny mini-pump and could only manage to get the tire to hold maybe 60psi. But amazingly, it held for the rest for the rest of the ride with no pinch flats. I was a little bit more cautious on the descents for fear of a sudden pinch-flat blow-out, or rolled tire so I ended up finishing the 163 mile ride in about 10 hours, 15 minutes.

Ride highlights
Beautiful fall colors. There was one overlook near the top of the 215 climb where you could see straight down into the valley and could see the different levels of “color change” in the leaves based on elevation. It was awesome.

I saw lots and lots of wild turkeys on the Sassafras climb. With the tire change, I spent nearly two hours on the mountain and did not see a single other person/car. On the way back down, I ran into the back of a turkey, taking feathers to the face, after startling it on the side of the road. It flew into the road and up in front of me. For a split second, I thought for sure that I was going down, the turkey was soon to be dead, and the ride was done. Instead, the turkey just barely cleared me brushing my face and helmet with its tail feathers as it gained enough altitude for me to go under.

North Carolina has amazingly smooth roads. 215 was perfect. The bottom of 215 with its rolls and twists was probably the “road highlight” for me.

Extreme winds across the ridges on the parkway. I would guess that there were 40-50mph gusts across the ridges. I was lucky with my deep dish racing wheels not to go down. The last mile or two of the 215 climb plus all fourteen miles (round trip) that I spent on the parkway had a temp of 47-50degF with light drizzle, lots of fog (i.e., riding in the cloud layer), and amazing winds. I tried to push 225-250 watts on the uphills and over 200 watts on the downhills to stay warm in just shorts, short sleeves, and sleeveless rain vest.

$1.59 pizza/coke after school special at the Salem gas station. I was down to $2 so this worked out really well. 1 large slice of pepperoni/sausage pizza and 1 twelve oz can of coke was perfect to get me the last 20 miles home.

The final ride highlight was making it back to the farm having completed the ride that I thought was doomed when I hit the rock climbing Sassafras and pinch flatted my rear wheel. And then to have Kristine and Analise out on the deck of the cabin watching for me and then seeing Analise and Josiah playing with the horses … well, it was the perfect end to a great day.

The details
What a way to end an over-the-top season – with an over-the top epic ride of 163 miles! I planned out this ride a few weeks ago thinking originally that I would combine the Sassafras climb with the Highlands route for over 130 miles. But while playing around with topocreator to make the route, I realized that I could substitute the 215 climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway instead of Highlands and then continue climbing up to the highest point on the parkway (6053′). It would stretch the ride out over 160 miles, but I knew immediately that this was the ride I wanted to do. About 15 years ago while I was a student at Clemson, I tried twice to ride from Clemson out to the Blue Ridge parkway and back, but failed both times — once making it all the way to the 215 climb but having to turn around unable to complete the climb with my back giving out.

Fast forward fifteen years to Fall 2011, and we’ve had nearly two weeks of perfect weather across the Southeast so approaching Fall Break I knew that the odds of continuing the good weather streak were low. Sure enough, I felt the first rain drops as I was leaving the driveway of the Fieldstone Farm Bed and Breakfast (awesome horse farm we visit every fall break). Even with the overcast skies, it never really started to rain until I was on the 215 climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway over four hours later.

Baseball game finishing – the after game hand slapping

We changed our plans last minute to stay for Josiah’s baseball game, so we didn’t end up leaving until sunday right after his game. This put us into Fieldstone Farm pretty late combined with the 1 hour timezone change meant that when it was still dark outside at 6:30 eastern, we kept right on sleeping. Still, I made it out the door by 7:30 or so with the kids set up to watch a movie.

Kids waking up and starting out a long day at the cabin with a movie

Windy start to the morning – look at the horses mane

Our cabin at the farm

My bike ready to go and loaded up with gatorade

The ride out to the mountains was great. Even with a few rain drops and threatening skies, it was still clear enough to see the dark blue outline of the blue ridge mountains. I made it out to the Eastatoe Valley and hit the Dug Mountain climb at 275 watts to try to set the KOM on it without digging too deep. I went easy up the climb out of the Eastatoe Valley and all the way to the top of Beasley Gap on 178. I had my eyes on the Sassafras Mountain KOM. I knew that I still had well over 100 miles left in the ride, so I was aiming for the 280-290 watt range for the nearly 5 mile climb. I was over halfway up it and enjoying chasing the turkeys out of the road on the climbs … they would fly up the road and then land again 1/2 mile ahead. It was a good distraction because I was pushing it hard with a 290 watt average 3 miles into the climb when I was looking down at my GPS to see my current wattage for the climb when I came across some large gravel rocks washed onto the road. I hit one of them hard and immediately pinch flatted. Doh!!!! I realized a couple things very quickly – 1) my attempt at the KOM was done 2) if I didn’t get the tire changed I was in for a long walk back to civilization. I had everything I needed to change the tire, except for the cO2 cartridge that goes with my mini-pump. Without the CO2 cartridge, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get enough air into the tires having to send the air through the valve extender through the deep dish rim. Fortunately, it worked, albeit very slowly. At one point, I laid down on the road with my helmet still on and pushed back as a head rest, with the tire propped up on my knees and pumping on the tiny pump for several minutes. I would count to 100, rest, and then try some more. I think I eventually got somewhere between 60-70 psi into the tire.

At least it was pretty up on Sassafras Mountain while I was changing my flat tire.

After finishing the climb to the top, I took a couple quick pictures and then headed back down somewhat slowly to make sure I didn’t have a pinch-flat blowout. It was on one of the steep pitches that I startled a group of turkeys nearly taking out one (see ride highlight section). The bottom part of Sassafras has been repaved so starting to get a little bit more trust in the tire, I went ahead and let go of the brakes hitting 54 on the steep section below Chimney Top gap. Oh and I forgot that I almost hit a squirrel through here going 54. That would not have been good for me, the squirrel, or my squishy rear tire.

The non-descript summit of the Sassafras climb – the highest point in the entire state of South Carolina

Once I made it down to the bottom, I was faced with a choice – turn left to head back and finish up a nice 9000+ ft 85 mile ride and be back way earlier than Kristine was expecting me, or turn right and try to finish the ride even with the squishy rear tire. I turned right reasoning that Rosman, NC probably had a bike shop where I could borrow a floor pump to finishing pumping up my rear tire. When I made it to Rosman, I couldn’t find a bike shop, but my rear tire seemed to be holding the air that I had it in it. I pushed on reasoning that it was mostly uphill to the Blue Ridge Parkway and that I was going to make it there and then I could repump up my tire with my mini-pump once I made it to the top and before I started back down the mountain. As I started to gain altitude, the weather started to head south because I was climbing into the cloud layer. The light drizzle became a heavier rain mist / fog and the temp dropped below 50 degF by the time I made it to the parkway

Fog rolling up the mountain side … 215 climbed right up into the cloud layer starting to hit the mountain at about 4500′

Fall leaves and rain on the 215 climb to the parkway

Rainy, foggy, cold – finally, the Blue Ridge Parkway!

The Garmin was really helpful as it counted down the miles to my next turn, which I knew would be the parkway. This helped me make it up the long steep 215 climb. Then, once I was on the parkway, my Garmin counted down the miles to my turnaround spot at the high point on the parkway. I had to keep pushing hard to stay warm, but my legs were getting tired. Eventually, I made it. I asked a motorcycle rider to take my picture at the top. I took one picture looking off the side, and then I started back down.

Looking down into the valley from the Blue Ridge Parkway high point overlook

Annotated picture of my Garmin shortly after turning around to head back down the Parkway

Squishy rear tire, high winds be damned as I was now tired, hungry, and cold. I drilled it on the descents on the parkway and made great time back to 215. My philosophy has always been this — if you are cold, then you need to ride faster! This didn’t work well on 215 though as it was raining heavier there and the road was twisty with LOTS of leaves on the road from the high winds. I had to brake a lot and would have gotten dangerously cold, except it was amazing how you could feel the temperature increase on the descent. It was well into the upper 50s by the time I made it back to Balsam Grove for a very important refueling stop. I chatted with the gas station clerk, who was also a mountain bike rider, as I ate a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit and loaded my bottles with a 24oz coke and 20 oz gatorade.

By now, it was 3:30PM with Kristine expecting me back by 4:00. I still had over 50 miles to ride and no cellphone reception. But on the top of one of the climbs on 281, I had enough reception to call her and leave a message that I wouldn’t be home until 6. She got through to me a little later once I made it over to Sapphire and helped talk me through a couple of the climbs leading into the Whitewater Falls descent. The Whitewater descent was supposed to be a late-ride highlight, but the road was really crappy immediately after you hit the South Carolina border and I couldn’t just bomb over everything with the threat of a rear tire blow-out. So I would say that this was the ride “low point”. It was over soon enough, though, and I made it to Salem where I found a gas station with an after-school special of pizza and coke. This was just what I needed to get me home the last 20 miles. I pushed it hard and had a nice tailwind making it home 10 minutes before 6PM. Done!

Kristine and the kids were waiting for me when I got home.

After cleaning up and right before heading to dinner, I had Kristine take a picture of me holding my little mini-pump that saved the ride.

With less than five miles to go, I broke my front shifter and rode the last few hilly miles in my big chainring.

Other random pics

I lived in this trailer for about 4 months while I was at Clemson. It looks like it might be abandoned now. Rent was only $65 / week!!! I passed this on 188 by Lake Keowee near the start and finish of the ride

I think the horse must have thought that Josiah’s hat was a carrot.