Friday Follies ~~ Cheaha is Calling

Back in ’09 I sort of called out to any like-minded souls, and we did a two day tour.  We left Peachtree City, and rode to the summit of Cheaha Mountain, in Alabama, then down into Oxford to stay the night.  That was a total day’s distance of about 112 miles.  On day two, we rode back home, bypassing the mountain, for a return trip distance of about 96 miles.  That’s a two day total of 208 miles (335 Km).  It was a great trip.  Spectacular scenery, fabulous (if challenging) roads, wonderful company, and glorious weather marked the trip.

It’s been a while since I’ve been up in the mountains.  Too long.

The mountains have always drawn me.  The vast and silent places refresh my soul and spirit.  As a cyclist, I’m drawn by two elements, the long climb, and the descent.  These things have distinct rewards.  Some would say the descent is the reward for the climb.  I beg to differ.

A long, hard climb is a reward in itself.  It’s a struggle.  Muscles come into play.  The heart and lungs work and work hard.  The body moves in different ways against the steady load of a prolonged climb.  Yes, it’s work, hard work, but it feels good.  There is something amazing about the process.  Everything in the world narrows down and focuses on this one thing.  The alternate clench and release of the muscles, the rhythm of the breath, the regulation of the heart, the steady incremental gain of altitude, even as the air thins, these are the climb.  After a time on the ascent, the legs are growing leaden, so the savvy rider shifts up, and stands.  This isn’t done to accelerate, but to simply work from a different position, to recruit different muscles.  It’s “active rest.”  After a few minutes out of the saddle, the rider sits, and downshifts.  The legs feel…  well not exactly refreshed, but not as tight and used.  It is in this moment, the moment of knowing, that the climb becomes a real thing in itself.

There are other discrete moments in a climb.  There is the first resistance, when one looks up the rising road, and knows…  Knows that this is a climb, that this will take some time, and it will cost.  There is that moment, as the summit nears, when the road actually pitches up more steeply.  This is test.  Can the rider summon the wherewithal to cross this steep pitch?  The moment comes when the road, usually quite abruptly, softens, the grade decreases, the sky is visible over the road ahead, and nothing is left but a short easy pitch to the summit.  It is this time, this relaxation and easing of the lungs, that signals a successful effort.

Descents have a different character.  They are about technical challenges.  Technique is everything.  Braking.  Picking good lines.  Scanning the road tactically, as speed increases, and wind roar picks up, looking for the sweet line, being vigilant, searching for obstructions and hazards.  It’s about carving the perfect line through a tight and twisty set of curves.  Or, it can be about sitting up, pumping the brakes, and enjoying the spectacular vistas.  Either way, it’s good and right.

That trip to Cheaha, a couple of years ago, was a fine and epic two day ride.  Cheaha is not as lofty as it’s brothers in the Southern Smoky Mountains.  But it is one tough climb.  It’s a “roller-climb.”  The road goes up (steeply) and then back down again, several times on the approach.  Then, around the shoulder of the mountain, and the final climb begins.  That last three miles rises over 1,000 feet.  It’s tough!  And this  hits after riding one hundred hilly miles just to get there.

I’m longing for some of that about now.  I want to go up and do one of the standard Gaps Rides, in the Smokies.  I want to go do Fort Mountain again.  I want to ride to Cheaha and climb that beast again.  I’m hungry for it.  Any takers?