Trans-North Georgia Adventure (TNGA)

 

Well, it had been a while since a real adventure, and, in a moment of weakness, I apparently put my name on the Trans-North Georgia Adventure (TNGA) start list some time last year. This race is mainly off-road and usually ridden on a mountain bike and runs east to west, from Clayton, GA (at the SC border) to the Silver Comet Trail where it crosses the AL line. It's 355'ish miles and has 40,000+ feet of elevation gain using forest service roads, gravel, single and double track, pavement, and whatever Honcho calls that shit at the top of Hickory Nut. Just kidding, I like that section. And if the route itself weren't difficult enough, the event is held the second weekend in August every year, meaning, essentially, the worst time of year imaginable in the Southeast. 

 After switching jobs in June, life hadn't afforded me the time to ride as much as I typically would. I completed a whopping two training rides the two weekends prior to the race. Oh well, the mind is strong. 

Mulberry Gap Adventure Basecamp provides amazing support for the race and offers a shuttle service to get to the start in Clayton, GA as well as an option to be picked up, whether you have to scratch early or make it to the finish line. They also provide all sorts of neutral support during the race if you want to go off route just a tad around mile 212: laundry, cots, showers, food, snacks, bike things, beer, bike wash, mechanic work, etc.

On the Friday before the race, the shuttle leaves early afternoon to take everyone to Clayton where we hang out, have some dinner, and people like Andy pack and re-pack their bikes 20 more times. 

Zach Jones, a friend from Chattanooga, arrived at my house early and caught a ride down with me. We arrived around 10:30 or so and I went out for an hour spin just to wake the legs up as I hadn't ridden since the previous weekend.

After some words from Mulberry Gap staff and loading of all the bikes, we hit the road and arrived in Clayton around 3:30pm. Part of the fun is to see and hangout with friends that I only see at these type of events since we are scattered all around the north- and southeast. 

After some evening food, a couple of beers, some fresh gourmet donuts, and a grocery store visit, my roomie, Chris Joice, and I hit the sack for some rather quality sleep, surprisingly. Our alarms went off at 5:00am. After some breakfast things and loading bikes and bags, we arrived at the famous starting bridge at the SC border around 7:15am. 

After a few words from Honcho, our race director, we headed out for a long ass ride at 8:00am. 

My strategy for this race was a slow, steady pace with a focus on never getting out of breath, and minimal stopped time. My only real plan was to ride all the way to Mulberry Gap before sleeping, which was mile 212 and probably 26,000 feet of elevation gain. I was hoping to be there by noon the next day, which was Sunday. Spoiler: that didn't happen.

I ended up riding with a couple of friends off and on for most of the first day; Luke Swabb, Steve Baptiste, and Zach until he pedaled ahead.

Not much to say about the first 100 miles or so. Lots of steep gravel climbs and forest service roads. Lots of good conversations. Superb weather with lower humidity and temps than normal. Lots of awesome trail magic, including a water stop in the town of Dillard, Rhonda with her annual snack table and drink coolers at the Tallulah River Crossing around mile 45, roadside burgers by the folks at the Hostel Around the Bend (who aren't even open this time of year but do this just for us). I kept a slow but steady pace and made my few stops very short. 

Luke Swabb at Tallulah River Crossing

"Double ham-burger" - hamburger patty and big slice of ham!

I had split up from Luke and Steve and made it to Moccasin Creek State Park store for some water resupply around 3:00pm. As I filled my bottles, I heard Steve yell his battle cry, "B**** D***!!!!" and went flying by. If you know, you know. From here, there were two big climbs of 8-10 miles each, named Wildcat Road and Tray Mountain, and then a rowdy descent into Helen, GA, passing through Unicoi State Park. 

I'd catch up to Steve, pedal with him briefly, then pedal on ahead of him. I hit the bottom of Tray Mountain climb around 5:00pm, mile 80ish. The 10 mile climb flew by. I hit the long rocky section on the back side, then flew down the Hickory Nut single track, catching up to Zack as I popped out into Unicoi, and we rode together down the pavement into Helen for some resupply. We arrived at the store at 7:15pm, which was a full two hours faster than my previous TNGA attempt in 2019. Other stats: 97 miles, 12,000 feet of gain. 24 minutes of stopped time since the start at 8:00am. I was really happy with that!

After a short break and stuffing our pockets with food and refilling bottles, we left out at 7:40pm for the longggg Hogpen Gap road climb, which is probably 10 miles, if I remember correctly. Zach and I pedaled a lot of it together but then I went a little ahead. We were lucky to see a black bear on our way up. And it's always a little sketchy hearing the squeal of rubber that's being pushed to the limit in the twists and turns of the mountain road, hoping one doesn't break loose and get out of control. Oh well, what can ya do? I hit the summit at 9:00pm on the dot. I stopped for 2 minutes to eat something and see if Zack was going to crest the hill. I didn't see him, so I pushed on down the back side. The humidity had gone way up for that climb so I was wet with sweat, and now shivering on a 40+mph road descent in the dark. I saw the fast youngster, Jon Old, on the side of the road. After making sure he didn't need anything, I pushed on to Vogel State Park, where I stopped for a few minutes to tend to some butt issues and eat some food, not necessarily in that order, but, maybe.

From Vogel, it was up Wolfpen Gap and Duncan Ridge, through the Cooper Creek WMA, and over to the Cooper Creek Store, where they also take excellent care of us and stay open 24 hours just for TNGA (mile 140). I ran into Chris and Joe Wharton, who were already there. Then a couple more strong single speeders, who I'd ridden with some earlier in the day, showed up: Cedar Blanchard and Clint Gibson. PJ Terry and Chad Brandon were also already there and just about to roll out on their single speeds as I rolled up. Then Steve showed up, followed by Luke! It was a freaking party at midnight at Cooper Creek! There were others but some I didn't know. I know Jon Old showed up. Can't remember who else. I had not eaten for the last two hours and dug a little hole I needed to dig out of, so I stayed there for two hours before finally leaving at 2am. Luke left solo before me and Steve left shortly after me. 

Riding along the Toccoa River, headed towards the Iron Bridge, I happened to come across Luke's roll of toilet paper he was carrying, stretched out about 30 feet down the middle of the road. I picked it up for him but he was flying and I would never see him gain, so I later discarded it as it was taking up room for food storage. I had a brief stop to plug up my wahoo and change a headlamp battery before the Aska trails, where Steve caught up to me. We went up and over Stanley Gap together and hit the other side around 5:30am or so...it's a slow, technical climb/hike-a-bike. 

Huge shout out to Lee Copeland and his family for being set up on the route on the way to Cherry Log, giving out cokes and sandwiches and other snacks!! We stopped there around 6:00am, just before the sun started to come up. After hanging out for a few minutes and sharing stories, we headed on towards the Mountainside Market, at the base of the climb into the Cohuttas, at mile 180ish. After watching Steve walk a paved road, we arrived there around 7:30 or 8:00am, 24 hours after starting the race. We ran into ole Chris again, who had been there long enough to take a 30 min nap. I think Joe Wharton was there too? Ben Carpenter was there, who was having stomach issues and unfortunately had to scratch. Sleep deprivation is making it hard to remember who else was there. We had 177 miles and 22,000' of elevation gain.

I was starting to feel pretty rough and wanted to take a short nap. The awesome folks at the market have an old house on property that's available to us to use. It's two empty rooms with carpet and plug-in AC's, which is perfect. I downed a few breakfast tacos then headed in there to try to nap with my sleeping pad while the rest of them pushed on. I tried to sleep for about 1-1.5 hours but couldn't, so I got up, bought some more food, and headed out for the monster climb into the Cohuttas, which gains a total of 4,000' over the 18 mile segment. It was 10:00am and already getting HOT in the sun exposed areas. 

I ran across ole Steve sleeping in a cemetery at Dyer Gap and stopped. He said he'd been out for about two hours. He got up and we continued on together, up P-zero, past Three Forks trailhead, and to the summit just before potato patch and then bombed down the gravel to ride bear creek, P1, and P2. We ran into Cedar and Clint at Bear Creek, where they were filtering water. We stopped to filter and chat. We all left headed towards Mulberry Gap. They decided they were skipping it to save time, and heading over Ft. Mountain for Dalton. I had to have some food for resupply and really needed to rest, so Steve and I agreed to hit Mulberry to get laundry done, eat food, rest for a while, and leave out between 11pm and midnight. We had arrived there around 5:30pm with 217 miles and 26,000' of elevation gain. 

Big shout of to TJ for volunteering his time, driving shuttles, and doing mechanic work at Mulberry! Thank you! I enjoyed talking to you my friend. 

After actually dozing a few times and maybe getting an hour or two of rest, we left Mulberry, just after midnight, in freshly laundered clothes and head up P3 and P4, down to Tatum Lead, double track out to Dennis Mill, and bombed down to the tiny town of Ramhurst, arriving around 4:00am. From there, it was about 20 miles of pavement over to Dalton, where we'd arrive around 6:00am, right at the beginning of Monday morning rush hour traffic. 

I was feeling pretty rough again, and wanted another nap. I just happened to see Joe leaving the Days Inn in Dalton and got his room key and went and laid down for two hours. Steve pressed on. 

I was out of the room by 9am, hit the gas station across the street, and headed up the hill towards Dug Gap, hitting the Snake Creek Gap trailhead at 10:00am. Mile 260 and 31,000' of elevation gain.

I had thrown an ear bud in for the first time and was feeling good, jamming to some 90's hits, crushing the rocks on one of my favorite trails. Then, I got a little loose, saw an ill-placed, square-edged rock and tried to hop my back wheel past it but didn't make it. Instant pssssssssssss of air leaking out. Sealant wasn't doing the job. One dyna plug in, still hissing. Two dynaplugs, it stopped. Went to use a CO2, nothing came out when I engaged it. Checked the CO2 adapter...the puncture pin was missing. Luckily, I had grabbed an old handpump at the last minute before leaving home. Two hundred strokes later, I hear hissing again. Third dyna plug and keep pumping. Then hear hissing again. Found a second hole at the bead, behind the edge of the rim. Fourth dynaplug. Another 200 strokes on the hand pump and she was ready to go! Back to the rock tech flow! And then just after that, I ran across a katadyn be free water filter in the middle of the trail so I picked it up and posted in the group facebook page hoping it was someone in front of me that I could get it back to as it was the hottest day yet and minimal resupply options. But, no luck. So, I just used it instead of mine, since it filtered a little bit faster. 

End of Snake Creek Gap

Oh, and if you don't know, Snake Creek Gap trail is known for it's rocks, technical climbs, ridgeline riding, and being overgrown in the summer. It's a slow trail. The 17 mile section took me 3.5 hours with a stop for the flat, to filter water, and a snack break. From there, it was hike-a-bike up John's Mountain, where I'd plop down at the top for more food and to take my shoes off briefly. As I ate, I looked over to find a memoir for the father of one of my good friends, Tyler Martin. It was pretty awesome. 

I was solo all day, in the blistering heat, and would be until the finish line. I followed the Snake Creek Gap race course backwards, all familiar territory. One thing I realized....the gravel climb after pine needle hill, up Johns Mountain Lookout Tower Road, is FREAKIGN STEEP! Found some trail magic gallon water jugs at the trailhead. Pushed on, stopped at the horse barn on East Aramuchee for more water, then up and over Strawberry Mountain and down to West Aramuchee Road, where I had to decide if I wanted to go off route here, or after the next ridge, for resupply. I had one cinnamon toast crunch bar and a half pack of mixed nuts; I decided to push on through Narrows Road, up and across the first part of Taylor's Ridge and down to highway 27 where I went into the small town of Gore to a gas station. I think it was around 8:00pm, just before dark. I refrained from using the outdoor toilet sitting on the concrete.

After this, it was the last ridgeline section, back up a brutally steep gravel road which was 15+ percent gradient, which meant I pushed my bike all the way up it. It was dark and felt hotter then than it did when the damn sun was up. The humidity was maxed and there wasn't a single leaf moving in the forest...sauna! I moved as fast as I could across the ridge, cursing and swinging and swatting at spiders and kamikaze flying pterodactyl things along the way. I felt like that 10 mile section of ridgeline was never going to end. All I had to do was bomb back down to the bottom and I'd be on pavement! Nope. Got to the bottom and the route said go straight across the pavement, right back into the damn woods, right back into the sea of arachnids. I bobbed and weaved and got lost on the powerline trying to find the faint trail that was hidden by tall grass. I finally made my way out of that mess and followed pavement and old rail trail for endless miles. I ran up on some methies doing weird shit at like 1am and their dog freaked out and briefly ran at me. Instant heart attack. 

I made my way to the small town of Coosa at mile 330 or so. I think it was around 2:00am. I just didn't have it in me to do those last 30-35 miles of mostly road with a little single track without laying down to rest. I was pretty miserable on the bike, neck/back/wrists/butt/feet hurting and I was just staring at the mileage and it wasn't going anywhere fast. I hit the rage-party gas station with the brightest lights and loudest music and then went across the street to a big church/cemetery and got my sleeping pad out and laid down on it on a sidewalk. I got up around 3:30 and found an entire colony of ants trying to carry me away. They had found my open pack of trail mix. Shit! I hosed the unopened food off with my water bottle, packed up, and hit the gas station for a second time before starting the final push. 

I rolled through the small town of Cave Springs around 5:00am and then just beyond that was another section of Pinhoti trail singletrack, maybe 6 or 7 miles long. It was mostly pine needles, so smooth and flowy. It was actually pretty fun and nice, but also seemed to be never ending. Once I popped out onto Esom Hill Road, it was 7 miles of rolling pavement and gravel to get to the Silver Comet trail, as the sun started to rise. 

On my way, I came up on a couple of dogs who didn't look all that great. One of them ran away, down the road in front of me, for probably a half mile. I felt so bad for it...I want it to stop running and let me give it some water and food.  I felt like it was about to fall over from fatigue. But it ran to house with about 8 other dogs hanging out in the road and front yard. They didn't pay me any attention. I blasted by them while keeping an eye on them to make sure none were going to chase.

I finally made it to the Silver Comet trail, with maybe 1 mile left till the Alabama line. I was really happy to be so close. I was laughing about how it would likely just be me there by myself when I crossed the finish line. It was such a nice moment but, my nose started itching, so I reached up and wiped it with my glove. Instant smell of fresh dog shit. WHAT!?!? What the hell just happened?!? I looked at my gloved and there was a big glob of green dog crap right on the finger. I rubbed fresh dog poop right into my nostril! I freaked out, spraying myself in the face with my water bottle, scrubbing my nose and face with my other glove and sun sleeve, trying not to crash. It took so long to get the stench of fresh dog poo from my naris! I crossed the finish line at 7:14am, exhausted, but happy to not smell fecal material anymore. I looked at my tires and saw not one, but two spots on each tire where I'd hit TWO piles of shit at the same time, presumably as I flew past all the dogs that had been hanging out in the road. 

PC: Clint Fowler

I sat there on a bench, taking it all in, thinking back on the highs and lows of my ride, and getting attacked by mosquitos and no-see-ums! Damn! So much itching! 

I waited for my shuttle to arrive, loaded my bike on the bike rack, and climbed in Diane's sweet travel van for the 2 hour drive back to Mulberry. It wasn't long before a police officer pulled us over. He approached the window with my helmet, head lamp, and glasses that were tumbling down the road because I had left them hanging on my handlebar. Sleep deprivation is cool. I crushed some McDonalds and passed out in the back for nearly the whole drive back. 

Shout out to everyone that even toed the line to start the race...you're awesome for that, whether you finished or not! Major props to Luke Swabb, who is new to this sort of thing but not new to big adventures, is disorganized as shit, and still went on get third place in this race...incredible ride pal. By the way, I asked him if he had any good trail stories. He told me no, but he said he had left his katadyn water filter in the hotel room in Dalton. No he didn't, he dropped it on the trail, like his toilet paper! Congrats to Kim on the women’s win!! Congrats to Chris Joice on a new course PR and like his thousandth TNGA finish. Thanks to Joe for the hotel room. Mustin, great seeing and riding with you and Myca for a bit. And I enjoyed sharing all the miles, Steve! Until next time, cheers!

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44056484