Cohutta Cat 2023
Pre-Race
I had been planning to race since I found the grand depart was coming back this year. I did a 3 day trip last October on the route, so I was familiar with the route. Cedar had done the route several times before, and said a few weeks before that 40 hours would be a quick but attainable goal for me to shoot for. Neil Beltchenko set the FKT at 37:11 in 2018, so naturally I wanted to go for it. Just a 3 hour difference, right?
The closer we got to the start, the worse the weather looked. Chad, an absolute monster on the bike if you don't know him, was gung ho about racing which had me nervous because he'd go solo from the gun to never be seen again. Naturally, though, the rain scared him away. The day before the race I was kind of worried about tearing up another drivetrain after the Fried Clay mud massacre. Chad suggested going single speed, and the rest of the group agreed. I'm not sure what made me think that was a good idea as my longest ride on single speed was 5 hours, and I hadn't done SS at all in 4.5 months. I went for it, though, and picked my bike up from Suburban Cycles and threw on my single speed wheel before leaving a couple hours later.
Bike Overview
- Binary SuperB w/ 120mm RockShox Pike
- 32 oval x 20
- 29 x 2.25 Vittoria Barzo/Mezcal
- kLite Mtb light w/ Son28 dynamo hub (12/10 reccomend)
- Saddle bag, corner frame bag, top tube bag (all self-made)
Race
I was the only one actually ready at the start, so I had a 30 second head start rolling down the Mulberry gap driveway. I tried to manage my efforts on the climb up Pinhoti 3, so walked most of the switchbacks and steep sections. Cedar and Clint made up some ground on me and were just a few seconds behind me at one point, but I ended up pulling away again. There was a bit of rain on P3-4 that gave flashbacks from TNGA year 1 of slogging through constant rain in the Pinhotis. I was very glad to make it to the top of P4 for a bit of a break from hiking so much, but the gravel climb afterwards was way steeper than I had remembered. Crazy how that works when you have 11 less gears. The gravel/double track descent down to P5 was a blast, but I took it a bit slower trying to avoid the off-camber wet rocks. With all the rain in the three days prior, the creeks at the bottom of P5 were pretty much unrideable, so had to get the feet wet early on.
I had been dreading the fort mountain connector even before I decided to run single speed. It was pretty much straight up, gaining 1,200 feet in something like a mile and a half. I rode very little of it which I expected, but what I didn't expect was that walking was probably harder on the legs than riding. By the top my calves and hamstrings were absolutely on fire which was a little bit worrying as I was only 15 miles in. Oh well. I decided to skip the Fort Mtn store because it had been slow to get in and out the last few times I had been there, and hit the single track down to the bottom. I was having tons of fun and riding great until I got a little overconfident and misjudged the grip on an off-camber rock. Just had a minor crash, but it was enough to slow me down for a while.
I was glad to get the first easy miles of the route after Fort Mtn, and tried not to lose as much time as possible to Matt who I was sure would catch me on the 10 very flat, paved miles to the next climb. I stayed clear, though, and began the 6 mile Mill Creek climb up to the turnoff for Sumac Creek. The climb seemed so steady and mellow the weekend before, but certainly didn't on single speed. Getting off the main gravel road, the double track to Sumac was so saturated that it was just constant road spray in the face which sucked. It was still so foggy that I couldn't put my sunglasses on, so had to manage with squinting or getting mud in the eyes. Sumac was the last of the single track for about 30 miles, and I was glad to get a break from the excruciatingly slow miles. I hiked a couple sections, but made it to West Cowpen in good time. I stopped for the first time at the ranger camp to fill up water, and took the time to try to diagnose a weird feeling from the front of the bike. It felt like my headset was loose, but that wasn't the case. After going through everything I could think of, I basically determined it was the fork itself. There was some lateral play between the stanchions and lowers that I still need to figure out, but it caused it to feel pretty rough and stick a bit.
The miles up to Sylco trail were pretty uneventful, and a nice change from the constant hike-a-bike on single track. Sylco itself was actually pretty nice which may sound odd because its most people's' least favorite trail on route. When I last rode what I thought was the same trail it took something like 3 hours to go down it, but I found out after the race it was a different Sylco. I saw two bears halfway up the climb, and took a break to yell before walking up the rest. What was far worse than the dreaded Sylco was the logging road that welcomed me at the top. My tires sank a couple inches every time I tried to ride. I was worried I wouldn't make it to the 24hr gas station by the time they closed for Christmas. No easy miles on the Cohutta Cat. Road conditions did eventually improve to become just a normal crappy gravel road instead of a hellish one. Approaching a switchback on the same road, I saw a group of hogs in the woods that looked like a few babies and one grown one. They had run up the mountain towards the other side of the switchback, so I was prepared when one came charging out of the woods towards me. I was instantly off my bike and using it as a shield when it hit the road which scared it off. That definitely got the blood pumping.
I was looking forward to the gas station in Ducktown, but the miles were dragging. There was a lady that stopped to give me some snacks, but I declined as she couldn't leave them so everyone would have access. I felt bad since she had gone to the middle of absolutely nowhere, but it also seemed like the right thing to do for fairness sake. I really enjoyed the Thunder Rock and Brush Creek trails into Ducktown, and it definitely boosted the mood after some demoralizing hours between Sylco and TR. I grabbed some food in Ducktown, and hit some more easy miles to the start of Watson gap before a long slog to the top. Right after the descent off of Watson Gap is the longest pavement stretch of the route at something like 20 miles. That brought the average speed up which was nice. A quick stop into a 24 hour Conoco in Blue Ridge to grab enough food for 14+ hours, and I was off again into the night.
I passed Sandy Bottom campground around 1:30am and was starting to have some trouble keeping my eyes open. I climbed about another mile up the road and decided to lay down before another section I was dreading. My alarm went off after 10 minutes, and I started walking up Weeks Creek Rd. My legs were definitely feeling the accumulated miles and weren't too happy on any grades above 8% or so. At the top of the climb begins an odd section of constant very large rollers. On fresh legs and gears you could probably hold momentum to make it up most of them with speed, but I was solidly on the suffer bus. I walked a pretty embarrassing number of them, but was just trying to keep moving forward. I had been struggling with eating the past couple hours, too, and it really started to haunt me. My stomach was empty, but I also felt like I was going to vomit with every bite. I really didn't want to throw up the little bit of calories I had left, but after a few times of stopping to regain composure, I just let nature have its way. It was very relieving, but my stomach still wasn't happy about taking down anything else.
The Toccoa swinging bridge was the next major landmark, and is a mandatory hike-a-bike. I made my way down as fast as I could, but was doing a pretty lousy job at being quick and stumbled on plenty of roots in the dark. The sun started to come up as I climbed up from the fish hatchery to Cooper's Gap. There were some great views, but I didn't manage to get any pictures. Jake single track was slow but not terrible, and when I sat down for a minute to check the tracker and eat, I was predicted to finish 2 hours ahead of Neil Beltchenko's record run from 2018. Heck yeah! That gave me the motivation to get off my butt and start towards Bare Hare which I knew would be about 95% hiking. I was right. It was miserable. It felt like an eternity to make it to the top, and I had never noticed how much climbing there was on the downhill. I had zero flow, and was walking whenever the trail turned up. Definitely one of the lowest points on the ride. When I finally made it to the other side, I was only 30 minutes up. That freaked me out as it had only been 3 hours since I last checked the tracker.
I made a rash decision to fill up from the river at the bottom of Nimblewill Gap without filtering. The water was crystal clear and I was in the mountains- what could go wrong? Don't recommend it, but no parasites yet! Nimblewill gap had seemed pretty mellow and a very steady grade both times I had done it before, but the pitches really show on single speed. I'm sure you could guess by now, but I did some more walking. The downhill is notoriously chunky, and left my hands pretty numb by the end. I had lost 15 more minutes.
Big Creek was one more climb that I had forgotten about, and was the final straw (for a little while at least) for me. It was paved, but still unrideably steep. I don't mind hiking gravel roads or singletrack all that much, but I find walking on pavement is completely demoralizing. By the time I hit the other side I called my mom and told her I was done going for the record. I had been steadily losing time, and I knew there were some slow miles ahead. I still had a 20 or so mile gap on Matt, so decided I would have time to stop at the Iron Bridge Cafe and have some real food to get my stomach back in check. I took my time and enjoyed a fried chicken wrap and soda. I didn't check the tracker or clock, and figured I would just try to enjoy the end.
Leaving with a full stomach, I was pleasantly greeted by another paved hike-a-bike on Aska Rd. For whatever reason drivers love to fly on that road, so I stuck to the grass. I turned into the Aska trails and surprised myself with how much I rode, and was feeling good through the whole climb and descent. When I got to the other side I had 40 miles left and 5 hours to do it. With how much better I was feeling, maybe the record was still up in the air.
I pushed hard through the cabin roads on the other side of Blue Ridge, riding as much as I could without my knees bending the other way. I think I only had to walk two of the pitches and I'd guess they're all close to 15%. Off brand Wolfpen gap, some more hike-a-bike on paved cabin roads, and Pinhoti 2, and I was on the road to Mulberry Gap! I pushed as hard as I could to get up the driveway, but only made it about 2/3 of the way up. Close enough for me. Finish time was 8:22pm, putting me ahead of the previous (geared) record by 49 minutes which I couldn't believe
After a few finishing pictures, I was glad to take off my helmet for the first time in 36 hours and eat some real food. I had a nice shower at Mulberry Gap and took a nap outside on the bench while I waited for Matt to finish. He rolled in strong around 10:30 after a full 3 hours of sleep in a hotel the night before.
Final Stats:
- 292.16 miles
- 34,695 ft
- 36h 22m total time
- 32.5hr moving time (more since it would pause when walking)
- 40 minutes of sleep
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