March Towards Madness

The 3 Mountain Metric Madness (3M) cycling challenge is probably one of the most popular cycling events in the South East. Every year hundreds of avid cyclists travel to Pilot Mtn state park to suffer through 75 miles of shear agony. There is over 9 thousand feet of climbing on the 75 mile course with grades of 19 % or more in spots on Pilot Mtn. The route includes three big climbs, Sourtown, Hanging Rock, and the much hyped Pilot Mtn. This year my local cycling club decided to make the 3M one of out regular events and to prepare for the event we went as a group to train on some of the climbs there.

The following was taken from my training journal:

The route we chose led from Pilot Mtn State park to Sourtown, on to Hanging Rock then finishing withe the climb up Pilot Mtn. The ride out to Sourtown was very scenic with some pretty fast decents on two lane county roads over rough pavement. Climbing Sourtown first was probably a good way to warm up since it is clearly the easiest (relative description I assure you) of the three climbs. I had the Garmin so I was able to watch the grade while I was climbing. The average grade was around 9% but there were some sections, particularly at the end that I was reading 14-16%. The decent was pretty fun, I managed to get up to about 38 mph in the straight sections.

After the misery that is Moores Spring Rd, I made it up to the Hanging Rock entrance and they were doing some paving there so there was a lot of gravel and fresh asphalt. I cleaned off the tires before making the right turn onto Hanging Rock and climbed pretty well until about halfway up. There is a section around halfway that kicks up to the mid teens in grade and after those rolling sections it was a shock to my legs. I was glad to see the relatively level 9 % grades near the top.

Descending on rubbery legs was a bit of a challenge but I made it down ok. The rest of this loop is very beautiful and there are lots of rolling sections and a gas station/grocery store/taxidermy around mile 40 that was an interesting diversion. But the course was pretty challenging and by the time I got back to Pilot Mtn. was pretty tired. I had never done the climb up Pilot before and that first little up-turn that goes by the parking lot at the bottom hit me like a brick. I reasoned that it cannot be any worse than this and resolve to continue the suffering for just a little longer if for nothing else but to say that I did the climb. The really hard thing was to not give in to temptation since I would be passing my car on the way up since I parked at the entrance to the park which is located at the start of the climb.

When you get onto the mountain, you make a sleight left turn then bam!! The grade kicks up 10, 12, 14 then 16%. Good lord. I am already feeling the lactic acid and in my mind I am thinking my car is still pretty close by...but I press on. The grade stays in the teens for what seems like an hour. Hell it might have been. There is a nasty switch back not far ahead and my speed drops to 3.4 mph. It is like trying to walk through deep mud. I am out of the saddle, wobbling, trying to keep the bike up and not put my foot down. I reach the next section and the grade is now reading 21%!! So my Garmin starts auto pausing since it thinks I have actually stopped moving and I have this cramp is my left calf that is making it hard to turn the peddles. There is another switch back and someone passes me on the way down in a convertible and yells "What the fuck is wrong with you?" And I tell myself that that is a great question. What the fuck is wrong with me that I think this the way I should be spending my Wednesday afternoon off. The grade is 18 and I start focusing on every pedal stroke just to make it happen. There is a brief leveling out to 11 % and man this feels great. I used to think 9 % was steep. I make kind of a right then a straight section and I see the top. There are two parking lots and I head for the upper lot and there are two camera crews there one from FOX and one from ABC. Not sure what the occasion was but I was sure it was not for me We were the only ones up there except for an older gentleman who asks me if I rode the bike all the way up the hill.

Then came the hard part... I rolled around to the bottom of the parking lot and started to descend. I was ready to get off the bike and back to the car. But immediately my speed is up to 40 mph! At 200 lbs I am a big guy and gravity really works with 20 % grades. I grab a hand full of brakes and try and slow down since the turns are pretty sharp. But I can barely let off the brakes before I am doing 38-40. On legs that are barely holding me up, I am really getting worried. So now it is a game. How much can I hold onto the brakes without heating up the rims and popping the tubes while trying to keep the bike under 40 mph. I remember thinking vaguely PV=nRT, and wished I had paid more attention in Chemistry class. So I actually stop about halfway down and check the rims. Burning hot to the touch. And for the first time I really appreciated what Phil Liggett means when he says that "it takes nerves of steel" to descend some of those climbs in Europe. And I doubt those guys are using the brakes very much anyway. By now there is a car behind me and I am feeling the urgency to get off this Mtn so I start letting the speed creep up to get down and save my tubes. The fastest I got to was 48 and it was terrifying. I finally see the last small hill before the parking lot and slow to make the left to the finish. I get back to my car a little shaken but with a feeling of accomplishment. . I had heard a lot about Pilot and chalked most of it up to hype. But this one really lived up to its reputation as a leg-breaker.