The Battle of Naked Mountain?

My friend Carrie suggested that I compare this weekend's ride to a historical event, to give depth to the blog post. Well, August 13th, 1940 marked the start of the Battle of Britain.  Now I'm not claiming that my 68 mile bike ride in any way merits the same recognition as "the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign" ever waged at that time, but it took a physical and emotional toll on me, and it the dates match so I'm going with it.

Danish WWII Bicycle Troops

The ride was called Zap-the-Gap, named for Clarke's Gap which is one of two major climbs on the ride.  68 or 62 miles depending on which cue sheet you were following, one for those of us training for Moab Utah, one for the folks training for the Seagull Century, a much less hilly ride.

The second major climb of the ride is Naked mountain, which is featured only on the Moab cue.  You may recall Naked mountain from my training for the Lake Tahoe ride in 2010.  Let me quote from my first Naked Mountain experience: "We got to Naked mountain.  I started to climb.  I suddenly couldn't move my feet anymore and had to walk up the first bit..." to summarize the 2010 experience, I biked it until I couldn't move my legs anymore, walked, got back on the bike when it got less steep and then repeated.  At the top, an alum called it the toughest climb on the training schedule. So until last Saturday the score was Naked Mountain: 1, Phyllis: 0.  

Alarm went off at 4:55AM, out the door by 5:30AM.  Traffic was stopped on the beltway just before the toll road.  Stopped.  At 5:35AM.  Construction.  Spent 30 minutes creeping along in the pre-dawn dark.  Called my mentor Dave who asked if I was going home and back to bed.  Suddenly that was all I could think about.  The traffic cleared, and I drove to the start, with enough time to get ready.  Plenty of other teammates were late too.

Weather was almost cool, unlike many inferno-like rides this summer.  A little rain, chance of thunderstorms, but overcast. 

Rolling hills, big ones all the way to the start of Clark's Gap at mile 17.  Why is there always so much climbing before the big climbs?  Clarks's gap is a two mile climb on a heavily trafficked two lane road with no shoulder.  No, I don't know why someone hasn't decided this is too dangerous. At slow climbing speed, it's harder to ride a straight line - so two miles up with laser ("laser") focus on not veering into heavy traffic.  Had some food after the 4 mile descent, clearly not enough, because after more hills (rolling and otherwise) to the next stop at mile 35 I was barely holding it together.  Drained.  Back aching. Hoping for a ride back to the car.  Stick a fork in me. 

Much relieved to see my friend Mike Ashley at the SAG stop at mile 35.  Fantasies about getting a ride to my car in his truck were dissolved when I realized that he had to wait there for all the riders to pass, and that I would get back to my car hours later if I waited.  I might as well ride. So I ate a ton of food, took some advil and some enduralytes and prepared to ride on.

I was riding with Naomi (a mentor I hadn't met) and Kirk (with whom I've ridden many memorable hard rides) - and all of us were finding it a tough day.  The SAG stop was about 6 miles from our decision point for the second half of the ride. Moab cue= 5 extra miles (68 T) plus Naked mountain.   Seagull cue= skip naked mountain (63T).  Kirk had been planning to skip Naked mountain so when he said that he wanted to ride the Moab cue at the same time as I said I wanted to ride the Seagull cue, I was surprised.  We would make the final decision where the cue sheets diverged.

I've never regretted a hard ride, but have often regretted choosing an easier path, so as my energy started to come back in the miles after the SAG stop, riding Naked Mountain became more and more firm in my mind.  When we stopped at the route divergence, Kirk had decided that the Seagull cue was that he wanted, and I had got it into my head we were going up the mountain.  A 180 degree switch for us both.  So we headed towards Naked mountain....what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?  As Naomi said - if we had to walk up it, we'd get past it that way.

 Mile 47.  Naked mountain.  Let me say here that doing some of these rides a second time, they don't seem anywhere near as bad as they did the first season, 2010.  I'm in better shape, I know what's coming, and I have the confidence that even if it gets really challenging, I can keep going. I was sure that Naked mountain was nowhere near as hard as it seemed the first time, I'd done many hard climbs since then.  Let me tell you, I was wrong. Wrong.  Naked mountain is the hardest climb I've ever done, it's steep, and it's long.  The first part is steep and when it levels out there's a tiny downhill and you think, yeah, I've got this.  And the you hit the second steep part, and it doesn't stop.  It's steep and you turn a bend and it keeps climbing and climbing. All I thought about was keeping the pedals turning.  Not giving up.  Turn the pedals.  Just keep going.  Can't be far to the end.  Don't stop.  Don't give in.  Keep pedaling.

I'm proud to say I didn't stop. I was going slower than molasses, but I kept going to the top.  Kirk was already there, and I collapsed over my handlebars, gasping out "that was the hardest climb I've ever done".  Kirk concurred. My body pondered throwing up.  It didn't.  Naomi joined us at the top.  Only 18 more miles to go.  New score: Naked Mountain:1, Phyllis: 1.

One more short climb to reach the Naked Mountain descent, and we kept going and going.  The last 3 miles were uphill, creepingly, achingly uphill.  The longest 3 miles at the end of a ride I can remember.  Usually by that point, being so close to the finish, you just mindlessly cycle to the end.  The end of this one is just cruelty.  After all that fighting, you slug it our right until the parking lot.

And we were done. 2:30PM. Kirk, Naomi and I hugged and agreed that we probably couldn't have done it alone.  That's the "team" in team in training.  I lingered, had a recovery drink, and drove myself home -with a McDonalds stop on the way.  Fried chicken sandwich, and french fries and a sweet tea. Take that, 4000 calorie ride.

I was on the couch later that afternoon, when an email arrived, sent to the whole team, it was from Naomi:

"I just want to say a quick and a public thank you to my riding partners today!  Phyllis and Kirk – you reinforced for me one of the most powerful reasons to train with TNT!  Any one of us can have a tough mile, a tough climb, a tough day or just not be totally into the day’s ride, and we find friends who pop up when we don’t expect it!  Without the 2 of you, I shan’t have made the full Moab ride.  OK, I admit I escorted my bike 2/10 of a mile up Naked Mountain, but you were both waiting for me when I got to the top.  And that short hill walk was my “cross training” for the Nike Women’s Marathon in October.

Thank you to you both and to everyone on our team!  You all inspire me."

And that in a nutshell is what team in training is about.  Something really challenging, that you think you can't do, and your teammates pull you through.  You find your mental toughness.  You hope that telling people about what you've experienced inspires them to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/moabtour11/pfrosst).

So, the Battle of Britain? Not exactly, but I'll quote from Churchill's eponymous speech because it's quite apt : We cannot tell what lies ahead. It may be that even greater ordeals lie before us. We shall face whatever is coming to us. We are sure of ourselves and of our cause and that is the supreme fact which has emerged in these months of trial.

Go Team!