Lets start in the beginning.... on the day before the Drama Queen ride, I still wasn't sure I should go. For starters, the weather looked questionable two days out. For another thing, I have been planning an out and back on the entire Silver Comet Trail, and if the temps looked cooler, it would be a great day to try it. Next, I wanted my girlfriend Nikki G. wanted to ride along with me but didn't want to keep me from doing the longer distance. So at 10:30 p.m. the night before, I talked her into coming and riding the 33+ mile ride with me. Singlespeeding on those hills is a pretty good workout, and the main difference between the 33 miler and the 54 is a bunch of road riding. Not super fun on fat tires... and on a singlespeed you run out of gear pretty fast on pavement. She needed to pick up a few things so we went to Wally-World and picked them up. We got home around 12:30 am. Good thing we'd be able to get 5 solid hours of sleep....... riiiiight. (the drama begins...)
When I try to "carb up" before a long ride in the hills, or a race, I'm often faced with a rush of energy that keeps me from sleeping. I gave up on sleeping around 4am and just layed there... twitching with too much power in store. (sarcasm) At 5:30 I started making breakfast for Nikki G. and myself. I woke her up around 6. She was exhausted still. I told her we had 25 minutes to eat, and get out the door, and she just kind of squinted at me with silent understanding.
6:40 a.m. and we are rolling out towards Mulberry Gap. We made a quick stop for gas and ice, and were on our way. Getting closer to our Drama Destination, I was super sleepy and drove right past a turn and didn't realize it for close to 5 miles. Somehow we did a loop around East Ellijay and ended up right back in the roundabout at the center of town. Crap. Now it's 8:48 a.m. We have 12 minutes to get to Mulberry Gap and get ready. Didn't happen. 9:09 we roll in to the Mulberry entrance just in time to see 70+ mountain bikers fly down the hill and turn up the gravel road. Nikki was already dressed so I asked her to run up top and sign us in, grab our maps, etc. She came back and I was shocked there were no Burger King crowns!!!
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| Nikki G. hugging the Gennett Poplar, for size referencing purposes. |
For those that don't know; the 33 mile Drama Queen course consists of climbing Pinhoti 2, Pinhoti 1, Bear Creek trail up to Potato Patch Road, down Tibbs (Oh my!) and then up and down Milma, before hopping on a road and heading back by way of a few more miles of gravel climbs to Mulberry Gap. Here is the course map:
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| The 33 mile route turned out to be around 39, with a calibrated bicycle computer. |
Nikki G. and myself have climbed halfway up the first trail, (Pinhoti 2) and are getting warmed up. A few people pass us, and then we catch up to a Sorella Cycling member named Deidre who has a cold. This first climb has to be hell with a cold, I can only imagine. She says she will "try to keep us in her sights" and does a pretty good job of it. Soon we finish up the trail and meet her friend, Michelle, who is also a Sorella Cycling member. After a few introductions, we basically formed a (hopefully) Drama-proof group. Good thing too.
Our "wolfpack" alternated leaders, and I maintained that I knew where we were going since I rode this course the year before, so I became our map reader.. All seemed well for a little while, then the first signs of drama began. Michelle was having trouble with her Shimano SPD's. They were very loose at first, so we took a break to adjust them. Seemed like they were better, only took one more stop to fine tune them. No big deal. I thought to myself "Drama Queen, is this the best you can do!?" Nope. PLENTY more to come.
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| Looking back, Michelle climbing up Pinhoti 1. It's kinda steep... |
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| Deidre smiled all day, despite the pain and suffering of the Drama route! |
Just after departing the Bear Creek overlook to climb some more, Michelle came unclipped somehow in the gravel and falls on her side. Directly on top of a yellow-jacket nest. One stung her on the butt, and one on the shoulder. Deidre and I rushed in to help her up and get both her and the bike out of the range of the yellow jackets. Wow, we were lucky it wasn't worse. Nikki G. had some allergy medicine just in case this kind of thing happened. Michelle didn't need it so we were back on our way.
Not even 5 minutes later, a car was coming down the hill in front of us, and it pulled off to the side. Turns out this was our "Sag Stop", sort of a mobile refueling vehicle for us athletes. The driver says, "we waited and waited and thought nobody else was coming." Good thing we refilled then, because the other Sag stop was gone already when we got there too. No problem, it was cool out, and we weren't using as much water as we normally would. We can handle this drama.... "How are the stings Michelle?" "they sting..."
Here are a few pics from the Bear Creek Overlook.
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| Nikki G. rocking her Santa Cruz Superlight up to the Bear Creek overlook. |
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| Sorella Cycling's Deidre climbing up to the Bear Creek overlook, making it look easy even with a cold. |
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| Michelle, also of Sorella Cycling, conquers all the drama the ride threw at her! Nice Job Michelle!!! |
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| For an overcast day, the view was still stunning. Bear Creek Overlook |
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| Not sure about the face I was making, but Nikki G. sure looks cute! Bear Creek Overlook, with the Cohutta Wilderness in the background. |
After bombing the gravel hills for a while on Potato Patch Road, we arrived at the entrance for Tibbs. I warned everyone to unlock their suspension and looked at Michelle's brakes to make sure she had plenty of lever-pull with her (Rim) brakes. Then we set off. Tibbs is at least four miles of steep, rocky, bouncy, rough, mean downhill. This trail doesn't play around. If you go slowly, you are in more danger of crashing, so we started to pick up speed and have a good time with it. Nikki G. LOVES downhill so she took off after Michelle. A minute later I arrived behind them and Michelle says she has a flat tire. Hmmm the drama seems to be compounding interest or something. We flip her bike, pull the tube out and remove the tire. After inspecting it for thorns or glass, I re-inserted the now patched tube and pumped it up. Hisssssssssss. Upon re-disassmbly, i found that the patch didn't hold because it was too close to a seam in the rubber. I quickly install another tube, pump it up, and carry it over to Michelle's bike. I bounced it on the ground and hear another Hisssssssssssss.
WHAT THE HELL? There was a small slit in the sidewall of the tire. When I bounced it on the ground, a sharp rock must have gone through in the exact spot and cut the new tube. What luck... just then, another rider named Kathy, and a young guy named Joe rode up and were happy to donate another tube. This was good because it still left us with an emergency tube for later if we needed it. We patched and booted the slit tire and put it back on the bike. Success!!! What else could happen? Haha we had no idea...
Less than a mile later, Nikki G. was out in front and really starting to enjoy this downhill action. She was relaxed and riding very aggressively. It was hard to keep up for a minute. Impressive. Then suddenly, literally in the blink of an eye, her and the bike went their separate ways. The bike just stopped and she kept going. We quickly checked her for broken ribs (which she doesn't exactly remember thanks to the adrenaline rush) and took a good 10 minutes to let her relax and breathe. She insisted that she was okay, so back on our way we went.
Emerging in a small clearing about two-thirds of the way down Tibbs, and I took a quick look at the map. After we decided which way to go, Michelle tries to pedal and her chain comes off. At first glance, I thought her derailleur hanger was broken, but it turned out the actual derailleur was just badly bent. I have never had good luck bending back a hanger or a derailleur. They usually snap. This was an older model Shimano derailleur, and there was a chance it had been bent before. Keeping my fingers mentally crossed, I bent it back as straight as I could get it with a quick pull. It worked the rest of the day. Amazing.
Now Milma comes along, and I couldn't remember how much more climbing was in store. I was trying to keep everyone in a good mood with all the Drama, and seemed like it was going well. We caught back up with Kathy and Joe, and Kathy mentioned that we were almost finished. "There isn't very much climbing left, it's all downhill from here." she said. Michelle and Deidre was so excited to hear this, but I knew better. I think Kathy forgot about the first half of Milma (the very STEEP first part) as well as the last 3 or 4 miles of gravel uphill back to Mulberry Gap. Milma is fun. It's like a roller coaster downhill, with giant, smooth water bars that you can float off and land so smoothly.... I had dreams about screaming down that section after last years ride. Well worth the pain of all the climbs leading to it.
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| Here is a shot from the downhill section of Milma! (2010 pic) Courtney is screaming with joy! |
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| The views are spectacular from this part of the trail. (Milma) |
In the last mile or so of gravel climbs back to Mulberry Gap, a red Honda Ridgeline truck pulls up to us, and says "How many are in your group?" I told them that there were 4 in our wolfpack and there were another 2 a little bit back. The people in the truck started cheering. We were the final 6, and they were the search party just heading out to find us. They asked if anyone wanted to bail, and toss the bikes in the back. I told them "No way, we are too close to quit now" with a big smile. Deidre wanted to go in the truck but we talked her out of it. She thanked us later over beers and burgers back at Mulberry.
The crew at Mulberry Gap did an awesome job with this event, as did Mike Palmeri of Cartecay River Bikes in East Ellijay. Amy Lynn Larimer was there doing her Rolfing, (or massage therapy of sorts). The food was awesome, and there was free beer. I can't say enough about this place. I love coming here. Nikki G. loves it too. Mulberry Gap has over 70 miles of mountain biking trails, hiking trails, within riding or hiking distance. They have small cozy cabins for rent with hot tubs, and primitive tent sites as well. There is a babbling brook and a couple of koi ponds as well. Very peaceful, very relaxing place for sure. If you haven't been, you should definitely go!
Thanks Nikki G., Deidre, Michelle, Kathy, Joe, Mulberry Gap, the Big Dawg - Mike Palmeri, and everyone else we talked to after the ride. Good times! If you come prepared, no amount of Drama can stop you.... now back... to... sleep.....
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