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Day 1 of the SR600 is the long day. 170 miles from Helen, GA to Tellico Plains, TN. Over the course of the day, we would leave Georgia, enter North Carolina, and then turn west to finish our day in Tennessee.
The alarm went off at 2:30 AM as planned. Jeff needs a little more time than me so I drank coffee and did nothing for about 20 minutes before I started getting dressed and ready to roll. I used chemical toe warmers to start the day and pulled out my long sleeve wool base layer and heavy gloves. It was in the 40s in Helen and there was a NNW wind making it feel quite chilly.
We moved our overnight bags from the hotel to the van and locked it up. We then mounted our bikes and rolled up to the Circle K where we met Dan D, Dan C, and Michael. Dan D said that he and Michael had driven through rain and wanted to lube his chain just in case. Jeff pulled out the NFS and made sure the chain was ready.
We rolled out at 4AM as planned. We were in good spirits and chatted as we made our way towards the first big climb of the day - 10 miles up 2785 feet to Hogpen Gap. As it was early in the ride, we made a couple of mistakes rolling past turns in the dark. At least these weren't serious mistakes - noone (except maybe Charlie Martin) wants bonus miles on a SR600. We arrived to the summit at 5:40 AM. It was still pitch black outside and it was difficult to see to get a photo.
We took the photos in front of the sign and then descended. After making the right turn on GA-180, we started the 2nd climb up to Brasstown Bald (7 miles, 2598 feet). This particular climb was one of the toughest of the whole event. There are places on this climb where the road pitches up to 22%. I learned a good lesson from Greg Smith a couple years back - if you can't ride a hill any faster than you can walk it, consider walking. I opted to walk a bit of this one and save my legs. Strong man Dan Colvin was first to the summit and I was next. The rest of the group around a few minutes later. At the top, we took pictures (it was now daylight at 7:40 AM). I worried about the descent down (this was an out/back). There were lots of tree debris in the road and I knew I would be hard on the brakes as the road featured sharp turns. I love descending, but not on anything this steep. I think this part of the route is dangerous and would be unsafe if the road were wet from rain.
At the bottom of Brasstown, I was super relieved to have made it safely up and down. The next 18 miles were relatively easy ones with mostly rollers. There was one small climb of 138 feet as we got close to the store. Some of the roads in this section were US highways with very limited shoulders so we rode mostly single file. We reached the store around 9:10 AM. At the store, I drank chocolate milk and ate some food from my bag. We stopped thinking about distance and starting thinking in terms of time to next services/control from this point. With all the climbing you have to do, the time is more important to keep track of. We optimistically hoped for an average speed of 10mph, but knew that was a stretch goal.
There were 2 stores ahead of us and Jeff indicated we should plan to stop at the store at mile 71. We encountered a few small climbs along this section. We arrived to the store and got food and drinks. It was here we noticed that the cue sheet we copied from RWGPS was missing the information about stores at controls 5 and 6. Further, it was noted that we could have skipped the store at mile 71 and instead stopped at the control store at mile 77. Oh well! Something must have gotten lost in the export to Excel format I am guessing as the Google Sheet is correctly showing the information.
Fortunately, I was able to use my phone to pull up the route in RWGPS and find the missing information so we could plan our stops more effectively. We rolled to control 5 and Dan D snapped a photo very quickly and we rolled on to Control 6. On the way to Lakes End Cafe, we had to climb 1801 feet (7.2 miles) and 801 feet (3.4 miles). The day was heating up. In addition, my knees started to hurt and I wondered why this was happening as knee pain has never been a problem for me (except for one case of bursitis in 2015 after PBP). We arrived to the Lakes End Grill in Topton and ordered food to go. The service staff was great and even brought us pitchers of water and ice so we could refill our bottles. As we wanted to sleep that night, we took our sandwiches to go. The next stop would be our last (in Robbinsville) at mile 116. We had 24 miles to cover, but another 800 foot climb in the way.
We arrived to Robbinsville with the plan to eat at Wendy's. Jeff was worried that the dining room might be closed. Well, good news, the restaurant was open and we arrived in 2 groups so that there was no wait for ordering. I ordered a single, a frosty, and fries. Wendy's had an ice and water dispenser so we could fill our bottles. We had a long 50 miles into Tellico Plains with no services between so it was important to be ready to ride and climb. There are 6 total climbs between Robbinsville and Tellico Plains including one monster of 3766 feet (7 miles). It was on this big climb where we got stretched out. Michael was struggling a bit and falling back on the climbs. My knees were starting to act up, but I continued to push and hope that things would get better if I followed my routines.
We reached the summit of the big climb and worried about Michael and his battery-based light. Dan Colvin and I started the descent first and we expected the riders behind to catch us. However, Michael's light did give out and Jeff and Dan D had to figure out how to get Jeff's backup light mounted on Michael's bike. This caused them to be about 20 minutes behind us.
Dan and I rolled along. At some point, I was finding myself sleepy. I didn't want to take any caffeine because were were so close to the overnight. Instead, I chatted about all sorts of nonsense with Dan to keep myself awake. He would storm up the climbs and I would catch him on the descents. We arrived to the control late (11:11 PM). The store was closed, but we took a picture.
As we were the first ones to arrive, our job was to find the cabin rental office and procure the key from the drop box. I knew what to do and the Garmin helpfully guided us to the right place. As we rolled out of the cabin rental office, we found Jeff who told us exactly what to look for to find the cabin (go past Harley Davidson and then the litter fine sign and turn into the driveway). As we would be first to the overnight, Dan and I were tasked with firing up the oven and baking the pizza.
We stored our bikes and I got busy with pizza baking. I then went and did things to get ready for riding the next day. I put my jersey's out to dry and then I tried to plug in my phone and Garmin. The adapter I had lugged all day fell apart when I tried to plug it in. I have used this adapter for several years without problem, but it died in Tennessee. Fortunately, Dan D lent me a charging plug so I could get my phone charged. I would need the phone for photos as well as for looking up route info in case the cue sheet for day 2 was missing information.
I took a shower, drank a glass of chocolate milk, and ate 2 slices of pizza. I put on my compression tights. Dan D set his alarm and I headed to bed. I crashed hard and fast and slept soundly. The alarm came too soon for day 2.
Garmin data: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7543289257
All photos from day 1 here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/m7vZSpbcQv7KiKCT6
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