Eddie O

There are few sections of the 100 mile route that I am not that familar with and two in particular that I had never ridden. I’ve been near them, but not on them. How is this possible? I’m not the only one working on the route. I’ll wait until this secret other gives me the go ahead to reveal his true identity, but in the mean time we refer to him at as All Day Dave or ADD for short. ADD was a big inspiration for this race and the route it follows. He has spent countless hours, days and weekends compiling one impressive collection of trails in the forests of North GA. We was kind enough to share this compilation last year and the idea was sparked soon after. I now have ridden 95% of the proposed route, so on Sunday I was hoping to hit two of the sections I had not been on previously.

I headed out from the Mt Zion church across the street from Camp Merrill, hung a right and straight up Cooper Gap. After Saturday’s ride at Conyers on the JackHammer I was feeling a little sluggish. It was 3 PM and about 85* (it is still March right?). About 5 minutes into it an old Willys Jeep pulls up along side me and this guy leans out the door, sticks his hand out as if to pull me along and says “Come on, let’s go!” Of course my ego gets the better of me as it often does and with 3 or 4 go pedal strokes I’m even with the guy again. The look on his face said “wow, I was just kiddin.” Ego kicks it another gear and I lead him up the mountain for about a mile. Then as the hill pitches upward a little more steeply he pulls around with a smirk as if to say “nice show, but we must be gettin’ along now.” I fall in behind and draft him for another half mile. I was right on the bumper, so the dust was behind me otherwise I wouldn’t have lasted a minute back there. Just when I’m wondering what I’ll do when the real steep part comes toward the end of the climb he pulls off at a turn out in the road. He climbs out as I take a down a few notches and he yells “holy heck man, how often do you ride up here.” “More than most people work…..” and off I rode.

That was the first 15 minutes of my ride. It gave me the kick in the pants I needed to get motoring and keep a good high pace for the day. I was hoping to get a better idea about how long the Fools Gold 100 miler will take. Cooper Gap to Horse Gap, over Greasy Mtn, up to Williams Gap….this is the first “new to me” section of the day. Sweet. 2-3 miles of sweet descent. It’s buffed out with banked turns, water bars that beg to launch off of, plenty of speed and few tricky little turns just to keep you honest. Very nice. This brought me out near the fish hatchery which I passed and then headed for FS766A for the next section.

In the past I have by passed 766 for the easier FS 248 as part of the 5 Gap route, but not ADD. He eventually rides everything. This was the only section of the day I had not printed a map for, but I looked it over on my laptop before departing and even made a few notes. Not very good notes though. I passed by 766 looking for 766A, but after about 2 miles I turned back assuming 766 A was a spur off of 766. Sure enough a few miles I see 766 A off to the right….and up. On the map it looked like I took 766A all the way to Doublehead Gap Rd. Well at the top 766A…20 mimutes of climbing later…I saw 3 possible choices and no good ones. These were all over grown and not very inviting. Since it was not 5:30 PM I decided to head back the way I came and see if 766 went through. Got to the end of that one and saw a very pretty feed plot and not much else. OK, all the way back then.

Back FS 248, which I was sure went through to Doublehead Gap Rd it was 6:00. 2 hours max of daylight and I left my Light & Motion light in the truck. I decided to head back up passed the fish hatchery and up to Hightower Gap. That climb seems like it should be harder/longer….I don’t know why, but it should. Anyway, I still had an hour or so of daylight to work with so headed for Winding Stair Gap. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. I bombed down WSG and took the direct route back past Camp Wahsega and finally up the hill to my truck near Camp Merrill.

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