Hot Doggett 100K

Well I survived the Hot Doggett 100K and what can I tell you. The course was pitiless and I was pitiful. Well pitiful may be too harsh, but pitiless definitely describes the course. If you want to get your climb on, this is the ride for you. The climbing came early and often and late and often. It included a 3-mile or so ascent to Devil's Fork Gap, which crosses the Appalachian Trail and takes you into Tennessee. That climb was tough to be sure -- 7% most of the way with a short 15% sucker punch slipped in mid-way -- but it came early enough that I still had some juice in my legs. At about 50 miles, we had to climb to Adams Gap (once again across the AT and back into North Carolina). That last major climb had more than one moment of truth for me. The view was gorgeous, I assume, but I was looking into the eyes of my maker the entire time. I think I hallucinated that some people were walking their bikes up as I fought the urge to quit. But I made it, I kept up with my gang until the last couple of miles, and I survived the brake-riding descents (topping out at 40-45 MPH) without crashing.




The course has some stunning visuals -- fast-running mountain streams, lush meadows and valleys, and blue-ridged vistas deep into Tennessee, the elusive AT thru-hiker -- and is well supported by the volunteers. If you are a unicyclist, and there were two doing the metric century, there was a Unicyclist Sag Wagon. I don't know how those guys got down the hairpin turns of the back-side of Devil's Fork, but they did. I can highly recommend the "Devil's Fork Dates" pictured below. The BBQ, accompanied by dogs, beans, popsicles, pasta salad, and watermelon, at the finish was not bad either.



These metric century rides are no joke, and I have some near marathon-caliber pain right now. But it's almost all in the quads. I don't think I'll have trouble going up and down steps tomorrow. I can see myself doing it again next year. Maybe then I can train better and save me some suffering.