GEORGIA! Spring Break Training Part 1

After the races at DePauw we loaded the cars back up and started the trek down to Georgia for our Spring Break training camp in Helen, GA. After stops for some awesome BBQ and coffee in Tennessee we arrived at our cabin in Georgia pretty late so we were content to just go to bed to prepare for the copious amounts of riding bikes up mountains that the week would bring. My report from the trip is going to have to come in 3 parts since apparently I can only include 2 Strava logs per post.

Monday:
Morning came all too soon and it was time to get down to business (after a quick run to the store for groceries). We hit the road around 1:30 pm to go find out what this whole mountain thing was all about with our first 3 gap ride of the week. A gap is essentially another word for mountain peak. After a quick trip through "downtown" Helen to get to the base of the climb we got things started with our first gap of the day: Hogpen Gap. This would prove to be the hardest of the day by far. Hogpen is about 7 miles long with a vertical elevation change of nearly 2,000 feet. Needless to say it was rather difficult to tote my big body up that hill. Once we got to the top it was time for fun though as we had quite a descent coming. Going down Hogpen I hit the fastest speed I ever have on a bike as my computer told me I was going 54 mph. Strava was a little less optimistic at 52.7 mph, but either way it was properly fast.

After Hogpen we refilled water bottles before heading towards the Jack's Gap, our second gap of the ride. Jack's was a lot more manageable with it standing at 4.1 miles long with 850 feet of elevation change. After regrouping at the top of Jack's it was time for another descent before hitting our last big climb of the day in the Unicoi Gap. Unicoi was pretty easy in comparison to Hogpen as well as it was about 2.3 miles with 750 feet of elevation change. The descent off Unicoi was an absolute blast though. Probably my favorite of the trip. Following that we regrouped in Helen and headed back to the cabin for the night where we proceeded to feast in order to replenish the roughly 3,000 calories we burned in the day's 58 miles of riding.

Tuesday:
The weather took a turn for the worse on Tuesday as rain was in the forecast. We didn't feel like pushing our luck in the mountains (and we were tired) so we opted to go for a much flatter ride instead. The weather was still dry when we headed out at noon, but that quickly changed as it started raining. It still made for a good ride though as we were able to get a nice 30 miles in without having to climb over any mountains.