Roan Moan

I headed to Bakersville this morning to try my first century at Roan Moan. My parents came too and spent the morning hiking around Roan Mountain after I started biking. 

It was very foggy and cool at the start. I was glad for my jacket that I brought in case the top of Roan Mountain was cold. I ended up wearing it the whole time since it wasn't super hot and I got cold on all the descents. 

The day started off well with beautiful scenery to drive through as the fog lifted.

My plan was to ride straight through to the sag stop at 70 miles to simulate a race, so I brought some new nutrition to try out (I got inspired by the Tour and bought a bunch of new bars from The Feed). 

The first climb, Pumpkin Patch / Iron Mountain really wasn't too bad, and I was feeling pretty good around mile 20. I ate my first snack (Kit's organic cherry and pumpkin seed - tasty, filling and easy to open with my teeth). 

A few miles later we biked into Elizabethton, TN, so I did stop quickly to get some decent pictures.

After Elizabethton I ate my second snack (Breeze bar, nut-free sunflower - not bad, a nice change from all the sweet stuff, also easy to open with teeth... but I might try a different flavor next time) and started up the second climb, Ripshin Mountain. That climb was really tough, and long. I think it was about 5 miles and 1200' of elevation gain. Near the top, I passed a girl and she said my front tire looked low. We were at mile 60, and I wanted to try to push it to the stop at mile 70. I stopped quickly to take a picture of the lake and she caught back up. 

We rode together for a while and she said it was looking worse, so we stopped and it was totally flat. CO2 got me rolling again for a while, and we headed onto a nice road that follows the old railroad grade, but it was flat again when we got to the rest stop. I had made my goal, though - 70 miles in 4:49 for an average of 15.4 mph, which considering there was about 7500' of elevation gain I was happy with. That should be a similar amount of climbing to what we'll have in China. 

I was kind of OK with just being done at the rest stop, but they had a tube and my new friend changed it for me without me even asking, so after a homemade cookie, some orange slices, and some M&Ms we were back on the road. 

After about 3 miles I noticed I couldn't stay with them... yep, flat again. I wanted to try to make it to the next stop at mile 78, but by 75 I knew there was no way. 

Luckily, a fire truck came along then and gave me and my bike a ride to Carver's Gap, the top of Roan Mountain, where my parents were waiting to take a picture of me finishing the climb. Oh well, maybe next year! Thankful for the great sag support and the rest stops having tubes.