Mountain or Road?? Decisions, decisions!!! Oh, what the heck..do both!

Time? Friday morning 4:17am

Craig and I arose before the sun (as usual), packed the car with our mountain bikes and our road bikes and headed north. Our tentative itinerary: Tsali on Friday and 3-Gap on Saturday.

We did get to Tsali Friday but a bit later then expected. We made a side trip to the Pearl Izumi outlet store. (That was fun!!). On the way up to Tsali we drove part of 3-gap. Craig told me to close my eyes as we ascended the mountain we would later be riding up on our rode bikes. I peeked. I should not have!! I could not imagine how I would get up that road on a bike!!!

We got to Tsali and the weather was superb!! a bit breezy but very sunny. We saddled up and rode the right loop first. That was a fun trail. A few mud pits along the trail as well as 5 Huge fallen trees that we had to get over. Thank goodness for my 24 lb bike. Good practice for future adventure races I guess.

We then ventured to the left loop. For the most part I was OK on this trail. I did take a few good dives. I got a bit squirrelly on the skinny trial when I would look over (and DOWN) at the lake! One fall landed my head against a rock. Thank goodness for helmets. That was pretty scary! Another one landed me in mud (Craig took a good dive in some mud too), and others were just the typical fall. You know the ones where there are no rocks present except for the exact spot where your knee or rear end hits the ground!!! Hey, this ride was different though....I usually ALWAYS fall to the right and on this trip I fell to the left three times. At least my battle scars are beginning to look a bit more even.

I definitely feel good about the trails. I think I will be OK at 12 hours of Tsali in May. Now all I have to do is tackle it at night. Yikes!

After a tasty, high calorie meal at a restaurant near NOC we ventured back down to Dahlonega to find a cheap hotel room. (Decided not to camp this time). We were asleep by 10 pm and awoke at day break to tackle 3-gap on the road bikes. All I could think about was "a 7 mile climb up a mountain road" Crazy!!!!

Craig is always very positive and always encourages me . He just kept telling me that I could do it. I think that helped. I took a deep breath and hopped on my road bike and off we went. I managed to climb the 7 miles without a complaint. It was pretty difficult and went very slowwwwwwwww. I averaged 6 mph. I was thrilled when I reached the top.

The downhill was a bit nerve-racking. You go really fast and cars are flying by the whole time. The second "gap” we climbed was shorter in distance but much steeper. I did a lot of standing on that one BUT I made it again without stopping. We took a break at the top and had a snack. After that second climb I was tired. Even the rolling hills after that seemed difficult. Somehow I mustered up the energy to go up the next gap and it did not seem nearly as bad. The downhill was a lot of fun. At one point I was going 33 mph, which I thought was fast!

37 miles and 2 hrs 56 minutes later……….it was all over……….. I was exhausted but I felt great that I had accomplished 3 Gap! Wow what a work out!!!

We headed back to Atlanta with smiles on our faces. We had a wonderful 2 days of riding not to mention a great time being together.

Sunday we went out on a slow, leisure ride at silk sheets here in Douglasville……It turned into a 35 mile “leisure” ride.

Today I am hanging out in the house and doing nothing. I am still in my pajamas. Yes, "LAZY" would be the optimum word to describe me today. ☺ (maybe tomorrow too)!!

Melissa,