This coming weekend, Aug. 15-16 the Sunday OGRE ride will be without its slightly crazy ride leader. This weekend, OGRE Dru is helping move a daughter into an apartment and headed to Chattanooga to do a lap on the bike course. Sunday, will instead be a ride in the North Georgia Mountains, lovingly known as 3 Gaps. This is an Olde Blind Dog ride, with a group of riders that do the regular Thursday night ride out of the Olde Blind Dog parking lot. The pace won’t be all that tough if anyone wants to tag along and see the gaps up close and personal.

3 Gaps

I’ve done this route a few times, and honestly, I love the ride. Hard climbs, fast descents and fabulous views. It really doesn’t get any better. Basically the ride is a loop across three mountains. In the direction we will do the route, they are Neals Gap, Wolfpen Gap, and Woody Gap. None are the tallest, or the hardest in the area, but together, they make for a spectacular day of riding.

Neals Gap

The first climb of the day, Neals Gap is the climb up US-129 from Turner’s Corner to the hiker’s station at the top of Blood Mountain. So what kind of a climb are we talking about? 7.75 miles. Starting at 1517 feet above sea level, the road rises over the course of that 7.75 miles to an altitude of 3097 feet with a short flat about 3 miles into the climb. The grade doesn’t sustain more than 8% for any significant distance. All in all, yes, it is a tough category 2 climb, but not a climb that should scare anyone from riding it.

This will be my third trip to the gaps in 2015. The first ride was on New Years Eve, so while it was technically 2014, it marked the start of my 2015 season. That trip up Neals Gap took a little under 42 minutes, at an average of 9.5 mi/h. By the time June rolled around, I went back and hit the gaps again, and did Neals Gap in 38 minutes at an average of 10.4 mi/h. As anyone that has ridden with me around home, they know I tend to go up short hills very quickly, but I approach these hills with a different style. Steady, easy, spin to the top. 9.5 mi/h is a middle of the pack pace, with 6-7 mi/h being a perfectly reasonable, and a solid effort.

Once at the top, the group will regroup and refuel at the hiker’s station before a short, fast descent to the GA-180 at Vogel State Park.

Wolfpen Gap

Wolfpen Gap Road, or GA-180 is just about a perfect climb, starting at 2201 feet and climbing to 3316 feet over a distance of just under 3 miles there are two obvious difference between this and the prior climb. It is shorter, and steeper. 3 or 4 mi/h is a perfectly fine speed for these 3 miles. Most of us will go up this at closer to 6 mi/h and that is just fine.

In the two prior trips this season, I did this the first time at 6.8 mi/h in a time of 27 minutes. The second time was at 7.4 mi/h in 25 minutes. However, in both instances, I was not riding at my pace. In both cases, I was sitting back chatting with another rider who was struggling a bit. That I took away from both of those rides is that the time to sit up, spin and enjoy the view is winding up through the woods to the top of Wolf Pen Gap.

Once at the top, and the group pulls back together the descent isn’t all that steep, but it leads in about 6 miles of mountain valley rollers until everyone gets to the corner store at Suches, GA for a refuel, potty and rest break before turning left onto GA 60 for the final climb of the day.

Woody Gap

Though this is the third gap, it is, without question, the easiest, and the one where most of the groups seem to go up fairly close together. Why? Well, it is far less steep and oh, well it is also a mere 2 miles long. How much shallower is that climb? 2781 feet to 3170. Not quite 400 feet, over 2 miles.

Some perspective to the North Fulton based cyclists.

Three Gaps (from Walmart) is 50 miles with 4100 feet of climbing.

OBD long loop is 24 miles with 1850 feet of climbing.

Big Sister = 921 to 1120 in .5 miles, that is 200 feet in
Freemanville Rd = 935 to 1170 in 3.1 miles, that is 250 feet in 3 miles, with some losses in the middle to make it harder than it measures.

The Take Away

If you are worried about doing a ride like 3 Gaps, take a look at the rides you are already doing. Most of us are doing more climbing in our regular rides than we think.