2007 was the year of the bike ride. I fell in love with riding in 2006, but determined in January that in 2007 I was going to accomplish some big rides.
My big rides for the year were three centuries.
1. Three State Three Mountain - 100 miles, May 5. Suck Creek Mountain, Sand Mountain, Burkhalter Gap (Lookout Mountain). Bunch of mechanical problems with spokes, dérailleurs and tires. But I finished in 7.24. Not the first not the worst.
2. Open Arms Challenge - 100 miles, September 8. No big climbs, but nice North Hamilton and Bradley County terrain. First 50 rode with a great bunch of SCV guys, second 50 was a solo time trial. Hardest 5 miles were the last ones, into a headwind after having crossed Mahan gap. Finished right at 6 hours.
3. Sequatchie Valley Century - 100 miles, October 6. Pitts Gap climb. Great group ride for first 40 miles, but most turned off for the metric and I suffered alone through the rest of the day. I finished at 6:45, which felt really good. It was a rare 92 degree day and bad water made for a bad combination and I got pretty dehydrated. That started another much longer story which is coming soon.
Other big rides for the year:
4. Highlands of Alabama - 50 miles, April 3. I only made one climb of Lookout Mountain. I intended to make at least 75 and maybe 100 of this route. But 25 degrees with lots of wind took me right out of it. There was snow on Lookout. The last 10 miles into headwinds across Lookout mountain were pretty demoralizing.
5. Tour de Cure - 75 miles. May 19 I think this was my best ride of the year. 4 of us worked really well and had a great ride. I think I averaged 19 for the ride (which is pretty fast for me) even though I played Eveready bunny for a while at the end, dropping off and catching back on. We got to the finish line in Rome as a group, but it was 5 minutes earlier than my Family was there, so no cheering section. (dang!). For more see the slide show.
6. Prep rides for 3 state - Two big rides, both over 70 miles in March and April. One started with the metric and added rides to and from home. The other was the reverse 2 mountain. Good base rides with good people.
7. Tour de College Station - Ride with Bryant Haynes from his farm in College Station to the top of the Sequatchie Valley and back. Very liesurly summer day in the valley. For more see the slide show:
8. Various SCV rides. Henson and Pitts gap was memorable on a cold February morning. I was the last climber on both and the group was kind to give me directions on coming home.
I ended up with several thousand miles on my bike last year. (I guess 1800 - 2000 miles). A good year that ended in October. The rides were all a prelude to the exertion that started in October.
