6 Gap

[mnoble485]

I was registered but work got in the way. I live through you guys alot anyway
so how about some reports.

Mike

[little.man]

Here's one you might like to read, complete with pics.

http://nola_racing.blogspot.com/

[Hawker]

Thanks little man, good read.

The weather for the ride really turned out to be perfect, although the day before it rained hard all day long. I overheard a volunteer say they had slightly more than two thousand riders this year, but I'm not sure what the official number was.

I think one of the more impressive things I saw was a guy finish the entire ride on a fixie! Gearing was 44X17, whew!

Also talked to a guy who did it on a foldable bicycle with 20" wheels (I think) and no seat tube...but a beam styled like the Softride bikes. The bike was funky and he finished with a smile on his face. I think he was from Pittsburgh?

[Michael Maddox]

I know of those guys. The "Brady" mentioned is a friend of mine. They hammer. Good read!

I hate that I missed it, too, but it's never good to pick the week of to start an enormous family row.

[Elefantino]

Fresh ulcers aboard, I nursed it all day long. Set no records; didn't try to. Finished 41 minutes off my best time and 10 minutes slower on the Hog. Just cruised but the gut felt fine; no aftereffects. Actually, I'm amazed I finished four days after the procedure.

Let it out only one time: Hit 53.3 on the Hogpen descent, which was fun. Once again, the Concours proved as stable as an easy chair and about as comfortable.

Saw only one fellow forumite, from S. Fla.

The weather was b-e-a-utiful. 2,300 riders total, about 100 under last year but considering the weather on Saturday, a smashing success.

I'm mulling on the brown event T-shirts.

[Michael Maddox]

You didn't see Rita Ann? We were all going LOOKING for you!

[Hawker]

I'm mulling on the brown event T-shirts.

Yea, me too. The big square logo on the front is a tad too in-your-face for me I think. I prefer artwork on the back or just minimally on the front. Also, on my shirt the square logo is off center.

Sheesh, I hate getting old. I too was nursing a pulled groin muscle and my brand new hernia...together they kept me at a very moderate pace.

[Elefantino]

I was easy to spot. Particularly after Hogpen.

I'm telling my buddy, the photographer, he's number one.

[RABikes2]

I had a spectacular ride! I've done Six Gap and trained up there off and on since the mid '90's and this one will rate up at the top along with the others. The weather was unbelievably fabulous, the volunteers (again) were great, and the ride was definitely fun.

My bike time was decent, but the overall time was slow, which is how I like it. I am opposite from so many others ... I don't want the day to go fast because then it's over until the next time and I love riding up there. For years I've started late and this year was no different as I crossed the start line about 10-15 minutes after the major packs began. No desire to be in that craziness.

Within 15 miles, I passed at least 25 cyclists fixing flats and then an accident. As I passed, I realized it was an Atomic jersey on the ground. I continued down the hill a little where I could turn safely around and came back to find one of our junior racers sitting on the ground pretty well banged up. His dad was with him and two of his teammates had just returned to check on him, too. I stayed until the ambulance arrived then continued on. After the ride, a few buddies who were in the front packs stated it was extremely squirrely and there were obviously inexperienced riders in the packs. One of guys saw the accident happening in front of him and apparently a rider hit their brakes and a chain reaction was set off. Lots of riders went down and Tony took a nasty fall as a result. Concussion, destroyed wheel, and a fairly beat up kid.

I arrived Friday and had a great sleep that night and slept in Saturday since it was raining hard. It was a good thing because Saturday night the room beside me at the motel was booked to a wedding party that was flipping partying all night. I came out of my room at 3:40a.m. like a crazed woman and about ripped two of them new buttholes telling them to shut the flip up or the cops were coming (and yes, my tone and words were more graphic then written here ;) ). The front desk was no help since they didn't answer their phones. They shut up after that, but I got zero-none-nil sleep at all. So, for no sleep and the little training done, I was as happy as can be on the gap climbs ... I love climbing. Rode most of the day by myself or was pulling a few riders at times, kept a steady pace, and just loved the climbing fun. I was extremely happy with the downhills this year as this was the first time I really felt comfortable on them and enjoyed myself! Yahoo! ;) Stopped at the top of Hogpen for refills and ran into a volunteer/cyclist friend I hadn't seen in years. We visited for about 25 minutes. When I took off, about 500 yards down the descent, the view was way beyond beautiful. You could see for miles and the few clouds threw shadows across the different shades of greens and the few dots of beginning fall colors. I stopped, took photos (w/ a throwaway camera, sorry), gawked at the view for a few more minutes and then proceeded to enjoy the exciting descent.

Before turning to go on to Wolfpen Gap, another local friend was waiting to be picked up by his brother. He'd experienced chest tightness numerous times during the first 70 miles and decided to call it a day. I talked with him for about 15 minutes and then continued on. He was in good hands at the rest stop.

On the KOM contest, I did a 1:33:54, and was A-ok with it. :) I was among some of the later riders to finish and it was up there as one of the best days I've had cycling this year. I met so many cyclists from all over, felt exhilarated by the freedom of riding in the mountains, and was refreshed by the weather and experience. Wow, what a day.

We were most likely at numerous rest stops at the same time, Mike, as I didn't take the first long break until meeting my buddy at the top of Hogpen. Sorry, I missed you!

One of my good buddies finished under six hours (47th overall). I asked him if he saw some of the spectacular views of the mountains and he said the only thing he saw was his sweat dripping on his handlebars. After I relayed my ride story, Tom said I had the better ride and said if we were all there next year, he was riding with me to see and enjoy it the way I did. :)

The brown t-shirts ... ugh, chain rag.

Fun time, Six Gap is a blast!

Ritaann

[dancinkozmo]

thanks for the nice write up !

[Johny]

Ritaann,

That sounds fun!

Slowing down is a blessing in disguise. ;)

John

[Keith A]

We had several of our local guys (and gals) that did the ride. One of the guys finished 17th...not to bad for a Florida flatlander. Here's a link to our local forum with several ride reports http://spacecoastvelosport.com/index.php?topic=1205.0