The 2006 year ended with a bang rather than a shiver. We held our first multi-day camp in Dahlonega, Georgia. The weather was brisk - 30's and 40's and the rain stayed away until the third day. There was snow and ice on the side of the roads, but the roads were clear. We had 6 members of the Columbus Bike Racing team attend and enjoyed three days of riding. Cathy and Virginia Dozier attended, but did not ride.
We started our training on December 28 and rode the three gap route + a little more. Some of the team, Steve Dozier, Matt Ragan and Steve Murray made it for day one and a few did Woody gap twice.
The 29th was a longer day as we rode to Helen and started our climbing on Hog Pen gap's long side. 7 miles of tough uphill. Scott Matty and Gabe Denes joined the group for Friday's ride. We ground out the climb. Matt tore up all the climbs and Hog Pen was no different. Scott and Matt had forgotten to change cassettes for the trip and rode all the climbs with a 23. Even with the added leg strain, most of us could not keep up with them. As I approached the top of the Hog Pen climb, I met Scott and Matt coming back down, they said Gabe was just ahead of me and I had three quarters of a mile to go and they were going down to check on Steve Dozier. When I reached the top, I sat with Gabe discussing the ice sheets running down the rocks on the far side of the road. As we sat there, we saw a rider round a lower corner and approach the top. He was moving like he was on the flats. Once he reached us, we recognized his kit as a D3 pro team, Aerospace Engineering out of Athens, GA. Well, 200 yards back was another young pro kitted out and climbing fast, then a third appeared. Then a fourth, except this time it was Matt Ragan who had latched on to the Aerospace guys about two miles down. This is something since 2007 will be Matt's first year racing bikes. Not to take anything from the young pro's - Matt is 29 and has a triathlon background. In October, he raced the Claremont Iron man and finished 12th overall. He beat quite a few pro tri guys in the process. Matt has an engine and some strong climbing legs. He will breeze through the cat 5 ranks. Once the team regrouped we then headed down the short side of Hog Pen. The roads were wet so we took the decent with caution. A brief stop at the Apple store and it was on to Wolf Pen gap. We proceeded across the valley through Suches and on to the short side of Woody gap. After the descent, some choose turn around and take it up the long side of Woody. The day ended with around 70 miles and several gaps covered.
The 30th started out a little raw and got worse. We left base camp (Hiker Hostel) and rode to Nells Gap and climbed Blood Mountain. Then we descended and climbed the winding side of Wolf Pen Gap and descended -as a light rain began to fall. We stopped at the bottom and then climbed back up Wolf Pen and unfortunately the rain turned into a real down pour at the top of Wolf Pen. We took care to descend the wet roads and made a stop at Vogle state park for some coffee and in hopes the rain would stop. We got the coffee, but the rain did not relent. We forged ahead and made the 18 mile trip home in the rain. We climbed up Blood Mountain and regrouped at the top. Fog had set in with the rain. We were a little worried to descend on wet, foggy and rain soaked roads, but we were too cold at this point to wait any longer. The descent went fine and we made it back by late afternoon for some lunch and hot showers. An evening trip to Dawsonville for dinner at Johnny's New York style pizza ended our cold wet day. We also stopped off at the Pearl Izumi outlet next door to Johnny's for some light shopping.
Camp ended on Sunday morning with a big breakfast. The drive back to Columbus was in a driving rain. Good thing the weather held off as long as it did. Our camp went well. We got countless miles, quite a few gaps and 11 -12 hours of saddle time for our trouble. We were fortunate to find the Hiker Hostel as the location for our training camp. The Hiker Hostel is run by a fantastic young couple - Joshua and Leigh Saint. They have a great place and its' proximity to the 3 gap route was ideal. We will definitely use them for all future camps in Dahlonega. http://www.hikerhostel.com/.
We started our training on December 28 and rode the three gap route + a little more. Some of the team, Steve Dozier, Matt Ragan and Steve Murray made it for day one and a few did Woody gap twice.
The 29th was a longer day as we rode to Helen and started our climbing on Hog Pen gap's long side. 7 miles of tough uphill. Scott Matty and Gabe Denes joined the group for Friday's ride. We ground out the climb. Matt tore up all the climbs and Hog Pen was no different. Scott and Matt had forgotten to change cassettes for the trip and rode all the climbs with a 23. Even with the added leg strain, most of us could not keep up with them. As I approached the top of the Hog Pen climb, I met Scott and Matt coming back down, they said Gabe was just ahead of me and I had three quarters of a mile to go and they were going down to check on Steve Dozier. When I reached the top, I sat with Gabe discussing the ice sheets running down the rocks on the far side of the road. As we sat there, we saw a rider round a lower corner and approach the top. He was moving like he was on the flats. Once he reached us, we recognized his kit as a D3 pro team, Aerospace Engineering out of Athens, GA. Well, 200 yards back was another young pro kitted out and climbing fast, then a third appeared. Then a fourth, except this time it was Matt Ragan who had latched on to the Aerospace guys about two miles down. This is something since 2007 will be Matt's first year racing bikes. Not to take anything from the young pro's - Matt is 29 and has a triathlon background. In October, he raced the Claremont Iron man and finished 12th overall. He beat quite a few pro tri guys in the process. Matt has an engine and some strong climbing legs. He will breeze through the cat 5 ranks. Once the team regrouped we then headed down the short side of Hog Pen. The roads were wet so we took the decent with caution. A brief stop at the Apple store and it was on to Wolf Pen gap. We proceeded across the valley through Suches and on to the short side of Woody gap. After the descent, some choose turn around and take it up the long side of Woody. The day ended with around 70 miles and several gaps covered.
The 30th started out a little raw and got worse. We left base camp (Hiker Hostel) and rode to Nells Gap and climbed Blood Mountain. Then we descended and climbed the winding side of Wolf Pen Gap and descended -as a light rain began to fall. We stopped at the bottom and then climbed back up Wolf Pen and unfortunately the rain turned into a real down pour at the top of Wolf Pen. We took care to descend the wet roads and made a stop at Vogle state park for some coffee and in hopes the rain would stop. We got the coffee, but the rain did not relent. We forged ahead and made the 18 mile trip home in the rain. We climbed up Blood Mountain and regrouped at the top. Fog had set in with the rain. We were a little worried to descend on wet, foggy and rain soaked roads, but we were too cold at this point to wait any longer. The descent went fine and we made it back by late afternoon for some lunch and hot showers. An evening trip to Dawsonville for dinner at Johnny's New York style pizza ended our cold wet day. We also stopped off at the Pearl Izumi outlet next door to Johnny's for some light shopping.
Camp ended on Sunday morning with a big breakfast. The drive back to Columbus was in a driving rain. Good thing the weather held off as long as it did. Our camp went well. We got countless miles, quite a few gaps and 11 -12 hours of saddle time for our trouble. We were fortunate to find the Hiker Hostel as the location for our training camp. The Hiker Hostel is run by a fantastic young couple - Joshua and Leigh Saint. They have a great place and its' proximity to the 3 gap route was ideal. We will definitely use them for all future camps in Dahlonega. http://www.hikerhostel.com/.
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