After work on Friday, I spent most of the evening organizing gear and checking the weather because it had rained all day long. We set the departure time for 5:30AM to head out to Tellico Plains. Morning came quickly since I was up until midnight getting prepared. Bishop arrived at the pad first, followed shortly by Jason. We packed up Jason's ride and were on the road before 6. The first stop was at the Cracker Barrel for a serious breakfast and some coffee.
We arrived at Tellico Plains, TN and made a quick stop at the local market for a few last minute preparations before the death march began. Another mile or so down the road was a nice little roadside parking area right by the river. Thanks to all of the recent rain, the river was moving nicely, which was further solidified by the numerous amount of kayakers at the base of the mountain. While I suited up, I was thinking of all of the possible scenarios concerning weather changes and food requirements along the trip. We each made our final choices and decided to go for it. The river side parking area was right at 900ft elevation.
The first few miles were mild and rolling. By mile 2 the first climb began and it did not stop for quite a while. The next 3 miles went up and then the next few went up even more. The roads were wet and the visibility was even worse. I snapped a quick photo at the first elevation sign I came to along the way...2000ft. As I continued up the climb, I came to the 3000ft mark, followed by the 4000ft sign. It was so foggy that I was worried that cars that passed us could even see us. I had about 15 to 20 feet of visibility at the most. Within the next mile, I finally rode up to the cloud line. At one point, the clouds were whipping upwards like smoke as they crashed into the side of the mountain. I took this photo as I rode because it was so awesome looking. With about 1000ft of climbing left to do, I could see that the sun was waiting for us at the top. As I marched on, we finally made it to the top of the Cherohala Skyway. The view was unreal. We chilled out and took a few pictures to further document the event and zipped up the jackets, put on the stocking caps and began the long decent.
As I started down the mountain I began to freeze. Trying not to think about cold and more about the fact that I was not climbing was the current goal. I came to a 9% grade sign and was stoked. We were going to fly down the mountain. Once I made the next few turns, I started working back into the cloud line only to find sketchy, wet roads. Ones that were not too good for descending at speed. The need to focus on the wet road made me forget about the fact that the cold air was running through me. This went on for the next several miles and I finally found a small line in the road that seemed to be the most dry. Near the bottom of the mountain was this killer mountain inn that was kind enough to let us stop in for some water. We hung out and enjoyed the sunshine for a few minutes and proceeded to head the rest of the way down the mountain to the river.
From the river it was 11 miles of climbing back to the top of the skyway. This was a long steady climb that had about three kickers along the way. It did not seem to take very long, but I know that I tried to space out for a little while along the way and enjoy the scenery. I was having some serious negotiations going on with my legs as they began to go on strike. I was telling myself that if I make it to the top I can easily make it back to the car. That seemed easier said than done. By the time I made it back to the top, all I could think about was bombing the hill back down and trying to carry as much momentum as I could to cancel out the last few miles of rollers. I went all out on the way back just hoping that had enough in the tank to carry me through. As we pacelined down the mountain, we hit the cloud line again to find some more wet streets. I don't think that anyone cared about that anymore, it was all about getting back to kill the food that we had in the car. We came down the last pass along to see the river again. A few nice cool down miles along the river allowed me to finally realize that I had actually pulled this off.
All in all, this was an amazing ride. It had all of the elements that a killer ride brings. A sense of apprehension that turns into an overwhelming sense of accomplishment when you are finished. I had a good day on the bike, albeit a road bike, with some great friends. I will defiantly return to the skyway several more times this coming season. I believe in the power this ride can give you. To take to survival approach this time only makes me look forward to the time when I can kill it. After one warm up ride and then the skyway ride, I think I need to spend more time on the road bike.More photos of the ride here.
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