Ride Report: Cheaha Fall Colors Ride

What an incredible wonderful day it was! Twelve of us met at Hollis Corners to do the climb up to the summit of Cheaha and back. Yes, I said that right. The funny thing about climbing this particular mountain is that you just keep climbing it! Cheaha is not as high as some of the standard “gap climbs” in the southern Smokey Mountains. It’s part of the Talladega Range. These are much older than the Smokeys. That means that the road actual grades of the slopes aren’t as steep. This tempts road builders to do evil things, like just running a road right on up the side of the mountain, without the benefit of switch backs. That means steeper climbs. So while Cheaha isn’t as tall, a rider gets to climb and descend, and do it multiple times in order to reach the top. If you look at the profile of our ride, b elow, you will see that the elevation gain is close to comparable to the famous “Triple Gap Loop.” In any book, that’s a lot of climbing. More, the individual grades are steeper.

To add a final note of fun, you don’t just climb Cheaha. You climb for a while, and then descend. Then you get to climb again. And to add insult to injury, you have to do a considerable amount of climbing in order to descend this beast.

This is a shot of most of the group up in the observation tower, at the summit of the mountain.

Taken from the tower, looking out over the Talladega Range.

This is almost all of the group.

There are three folks missing from the shot above. Gary and Rick are such strong climbers, that they had already summitted before we got there. Rick chose to ride a bit farther, and Gary turned back on a mission of mercy.

The last (but far from the least) member of the groups was Amy Hill. Amy is about to have knee surgery. She was climbing behind the group, and Gary turned down the mountain to check on her. While we were goofing around up at the tower, Amy had completed the main climb and turned back down. Gary rode down ahead of her, stowed his bike on his truck, and then drove back up. He met Amy better than half way down the mountain. (Remember, you have to climb to get down!) By that point Amy was pretty much done. She is a brave lady, with a lot of sand. I doubt many could have turned in the same performance on a set of trashed knees. Bravo Amy!

The weather was exceptionally kind to us. It was a bit cool as we did the climb, but the sun broke through the clouds while we were on the summit. That made for a much more pleasant descent.

This was a strong group of riders, so we accomplished the whole trip in a good bit less than the time I’d predicted. I would be happy to ride with anyone in this crowd, on any day. Kudos and bravo to all.

Oh yeah! When we were back at Hollis Corners, Doug asked, “What’s next?” In reply, I’d like to suggest a trip to Helen, GA, to do the “North Triple.” That’s Hogpen Gap, Jacks Gap, and Unicoi Gap. It’s about a 47 mile loop, with more than 5,000 feet of gain. I’m thinking of doing this on a Sunday, in mid to late November. Who is up for that?