Spring Training 2021: Carolinas
8 days solo with the van, bikes, and loads of climbing
Leg 1: Tiger Town Road Race
The first stop of Spring Training was back in my old stomping grounds of Clemson, South Carolina. There’s no way I was going to miss an opportunity to race the Tiger Town Road Race, especially considering the course featured one of my favorite climbs three times: Maw Bridge Road. A short, straight, punchy little climb, Maw Bridge Road is a Category 4 climb of about 1.5k at about 6%. Nothing crazy, but it’s enough to make you notice it amidst a pack of guys trying to leave you behind. This climb (descent) was the first time I broke 50mph on the bike - fun times.
After 7 hours in the car the day before, and essentially no climbing in my legs for the last few years, this was a good test in many ways. First off, would I even be able to hang with all these riders who live in the foothills? Would I still have the spark I did when I rode these hills years ago? Would I feel strong enough to get away on the last lap, like planned? Well, if you’d asked me all these questions after the first lap, my answer would have been a resounding, “No.” But, after the second lap, I thought there might be a chance. It became apparent that the group collectively wanted to weed as many people out as possible after the first lap, and then settle into a more steady pace for the second and third. From the gun, I had a few guys pegged who looked strong - particularly this pencil-thin guy in an all black skinsuit who seemed to float up the rolling hills. Sure enough, on the last lap, caught in the middle of the pack, I watched him come around the group and leave us behind up the featured climb. It was as if everyone else knew he would stay away, and no one chased. He took the win by about 45 seconds, and the pack finished behind in an uphill bunch-sprint.
All-in-all, it was a successful race. My legs were definitely soft from the drive the day before, but I fared better than I could have expected with over 4000ft of climbing in just under 40miles. The race was a great start to a week of tough training. Perhaps best of all, I got to explore the bustling, ever-expanding Clemson campus and indulge in a fine dinner at TD’s on the corner of downtown with my good friend, Seth. A successful Saturday.
Leg 2: Greenville, South Carolina
Seth and his wife, Kalli, were kind enough to host me in their home just outside downtown Greenville for the week. Let me start by saying that if you ride bikes and you’ve never been to Greenville, you’re sorely missing out. Many know Greenville for Paris Mountain, a punchy little climb right in the heart of Greenville, but the robust cycling infrastructure, rolling foothills outside of town, and several meatier climbs within riding distance often go underappreciated. I planned to take advantage of them all.
Sunday, after the race, I rolled out on the Rodeo and pointed straight to Paris Mountain. There are two sides to Paris Mountain, the short, steeper side, and the longer, punchier side. The short side is a Category 3 climb of 3.5km at 6.9%. The long side is 5.9km at a more conservative 3.8%, but still a Category 3 climb. Both sides have the potential to send your heart rate quickly north.
One thing you forget when you live in a totally flat place like Jacksonville, is that elevation can do weird things to the weather. For instance, when I left the house, it was warm, dry, and overcast. When I got to the mountain, however, it was wet, foggy beyond belief, and quite cold. By the time I reached the summit the first time, I was wet, cold, and well-underdressed. Embrace the suck and earn your breakfast. After two laps up and down, I rolled down the backside of the climb towards Travelers Rest where I planned to meet Seth and Kalli for a delicious breakfast. One humongous crepe, one incredible cinnamon roll, and two cups of coffee later, the rain started to pour. Reluctantly, we loaded my bike into the back of Seth’s Jetta and drove home.
Over the next few days, I hit Paris several more times and got the chance to ride with a group around Greenville (along with another trip up Paris, of course). The feature-day of the week, though, was Cesar’s Head - a 10.2km Category 2 climb averaging 6% about 30 miles north of Greenville. Ceasar’s Head taught me a few things, but the biggest were probably that a 1x gearing is not ideal for climbing when you’re running a 52t, and that I really do love to climb. Something about 30+ minutes just grinding it out, rolling up-up-up is addicting and almost cathartic to me. Doing so with really just two suitable gears, is perhaps less-so. But nonetheless, this climb was a ton of fun, and the descent - outrunning the cars leaving the park at the summit - was a welcome change from the straight, flat roads of Florida. Next time, though, I’ll have a few more gears to roll.
Last thing of mention, other than Seth and Kalli’s incredible hospitality, was the incredible cycling infrastructure in Greenville. At some point, Greenville decided it was a bike town, and laid bike lanes and paths everywhere. The Swamp Rabbit Trail, a 20-mile bike path through the heart of Greenville and the surrounding area, connects several very-cool neighborhoods in town and creates a bustling thoroughfare of bike-riders and pedestrians alike. After parking Berta at Seth and Kalli, I didn’t have to drive again for days. I could hop on my bike and safely ride anywhere in town. It was clear that I wasn’t alone, either. There were steady streams of people getting around town by means of transportation other than cars - a shining example of what good urban infrastructure could look like. Well done, Greenville, and thank you.
Leg 3: Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the adopted home of my sister, Erica, and her boyfriend, Doug. After graduating from Clemson, they moved there for work, and have lived there for a while now. Charlotte, like Greenville, is exploding. Dubbed the “Wall Street of the South” by some, Charlotte houses a number of large banks’ offices and data centers. The huge influx of business and cash has turned Charlotte into a lively, perhaps even progressive, city. Outside of getting to see Erica and Doug, I was excited to get to explore this growing town and to take a ride out to the Whitewater Center. As one of the National Training Centers for Olympians and the hopeful, The Whitewater Center is an incredible infrastructure of manmade rapids, rock climbing, adventure courses, and, most interesting to me, miles and miles of well-groomed trails.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t as great in Charlotte during my time there, and there were heavy rains the day I arrived leaving the trails at the Whitewater Center wet and unfortunately closed. Once the sun came out, I took a ride from Uptown (Charlotte’s “downtown”) out to the Whitewater Center - about 35 miles roundtrip - optimistically searching for trails along the way. Fighting oddly strong winds the whole way out, I found a few truck trails outside of the Center worth exploring and followed some deer tracks until the path ended in a clearing that made me think I missed a sign somewhere that said, “TURN BACK NOW”. So, I turned around and found my way back to the road. Unknowingly, I then found myself on a trail that took me straight to the entrance of the Whitewater Center where, of course, I was then informed that the trails were closed. A day cut short, but successful nonetheless, I rolled back into town.
Like Greenville, Charlotte had an incredible array of bike and pedestrian infrastructure that made it remarkably easy to navigate the town by bike. It made me quite jealous - looking at you, Jacksonville. It’s no wonder that we see the urban areas in these towns grow into cities when there are actual systems in place to encourage people to live and do life in them. We need more of this.
Leg 4: Maysville Gravel Mayhem
I intentionally planned to bookend this Spring Training Trip with races. The final leg of the trip was the Maysville Gravel Mayhem in, you guessed it, Maysville, Georgia. During my years in Clemson, I did a good bit of riding in North Georgia, but nothing quite like I did on this day. The course was about 55% off-road for a total of about 100km and 4000ft of climbing.
I could go into painstaking detail about how this race went, but I can also sum it up in two words: five flats. Yes, five. The lead group rolled out quickly seemingly treating this more like a road race that happened to go off-road than a gravel race. About 50km in, I found myself slowly creeping towards the back of the group despite my best efforts otherwise. It wasn’t until another rider came up beside me and said, “you’re totally flat in the back”, that I knew what exactly was going on. I fought my best to make it up the top of the climb before dismounting and trying to deal with the apparent cut in the sidewall.
I spent the last 50km trying to get my rear to seal and then chasing back on, over and over. I caught the chase group three times, and even dropped them once, all while nursing a slow leak. It wasn’t the raceday I’d planned, but it was a good day on the bike and a good indicator of fitness.
Following the race, I had a long 6+ hour drive home. Alone on the backroads of Georgia, you have plenty of time to reflect on what many would consider an unfortunate race. But, after a while of coming to terms with the day, I decided I was rather pleased with my fitness on the day, and learned a lot.
For a training trip, what more can you ask for than some hard efforts and several learning opportunities?