Cherohala Challenge, TN/NC, 115 miles !

My brother and I rode the Cherohala Challenge 6/17.  Wow, it was a beautiful day and a well-run event.  Starting and end-point was Tellico Plains High School in T.P., Tennessee.  Ride put on by the Smokey Mountain Wheelmen of Knoxville.

Yes, indeed, we completed 115 miles with a lot of climbing.  We did not go fast.  In the end, our overall average speed was 11.5 mph.  Pedaling - and coasting - time was 8:10 for an average on-road mph of about 14.  Nevertheless, we did not finish last.  The 11.5 mph is significant.  We have learned from recent E'tape du Tour mailing to our homes that the event will run a sweep wagon back of the riders and remove riders who do not maintain a 19 kph pace.  That's about 12 mph.

Let's see, along the way, we met Jim, who was riding a 25 year old touring bicycle he built (including frame).  He saw me on my Rivendell and asked, "where's the searsucker shirt?"  A searsucker shirt would have been nice, if it dried better than the flat cotten jersey I wore.

That's one important bit of information from the ride - I really don't like wearing wet cotten.  I had thought about wearing wool, but with temperature predictions in the 90s, I opted for my cotten jersey.  Wool would have been hot at times, but also not cold at 5000+ feet and not cold on the descents.

Speaking of descents, there were three or four sections of extended descent after we hit the high point at 83 miles.  Jim had informed me that I could take these sections with little or no braking - that was good also for my thumb, still recovering - because the road had been designed for cars to do 45 mph.  He was right.  I hit 45 on two of the descents and then somehow on the 3rd or 4th hit 49 mph.  That's with non-aero brake cables too.

Let's see, I also met Stewart.  He had a light-weight, modern bicycle that he had put together.  His left hand integrated brake/shifter had broken some time ago, he'd not had the money to replace, so he retro-fitted with a shifter almost like a bar-end shifter.  His components were a hodge-podge of stuff.  He knew the end of the route well and could tell me that even after mile 83 there were some steep sections yet.  Indeed, those were demoralizing, but knowing they were coming was good.  Stewart own a bakery in T.P. called Tellico Grains Bakery.

We also rode a while with Stan Wallace - raised in Knoxville, had been in Nashville some in the 1970s, and had recently moved back to K'town from Washington State.

I had two or three folks who commented on the Rivendell.  That's probably a record on a ride like this, and this ride only had about 250-300 riders maximum.  It seemed the commenters were from Knoxville area - hmmm...Knoxville must be a pretty savvy place these days.  I guess it's the University and the outdoors recreation and mountains.   One was Jim, I mentioned above. Then, at a rest-stop, a volunteer from Knoxville, Renee, saw the Rivendell and promptly exclaimed "wow, a Rivendell!"  I was standing by and happy someone noticed.  And then she noticed the Brooks saddle - she had a Brooks saddle, and her friends made fun of it.  Sad but true.

Okay, gotta go back to work.

Overall pleased to finish the ride.  It took a lot out of me though.