OF SIX GAPS
by Steve Strain, Club President 1996-1999
October 1998
For reasons that are not entirely clear to me I decided to ride the Six Gap Century
which starts in Dahlonega, Georgia. Dahlonega lies in the north Georgia mountains
somewhere east of Fort Mountain. Fort Mountain has an eight mile climb which should have
been a dead giveaway that maybe sleeping late and going shopping with the bride was a
better idea than riding. The Six Gap features over 10,000 feet of climbing and the
highlight is Hogpen gap which, they say, is seven miles long with an average pitch of
fourteen per cent.
Not wanting my clubmates to miss this fun I began asking folks if they wanted to go.
Colorado Bill is in his micro cycle or macro cycle and didn't make it to Dahlonega
although he is a veteran of the ride. I talked to the rest of the Colorado crew and they
all bailed out on me. Or so I thought.
Miss Karen (who was truly a trooper on this one) and I arrived at our B & B
Saturday afternoon and the little lady took us to our room and there, taped to the door,
was a note addressed to "Weenie Boy." And it was signed by our "Star
Climbers." Denny "Gotta Go" Sutton and Dawn had made the journey. Denny
surprised Dawn with the trip. Which says something about bike romance. "Honey, I've
planned a lovely weekend for us. A bed and breakfast in the mountains, a romantic dinner
and, oh yes, a one hundred mile ride with six mountains to climb." What is wrong with
this picture?
CBC was well represented. Paul Deitrich showed up so we put four riders out on the
course. Stan the Wheel and The Rooster were supposed to ride but Stan claims to have
overslept. No one saw him in Dahlonega and the even money says the oversleeping occurred
on Lookout Mountain. The Bride, in spite of blistering the metric course at the
Clarksville century, opted to read and shop rather than ride. So with Miss Karen cheering
us on we headed off to conquer mountains.
Dawn put it best at the end when she said the ride was the hardest thing she had ever
done. The Bride said she had seen me look worse after rides. I think she was being kind. I
was blathering on about how tough it was and the fact that various muscles were cramped
when she asked The Question. Of course I would do it again. It was really a great ride.
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