2025 Cohutta Cat

 

Since the last long race that I had jumped into was back in February, I had been itching for a big adventure. I had created my own 400 mile mixed surface loop out of Tellico Plains, TN and was thinking about doing it the weekend after Halloween. However, once I realized that the Cohutta Cat was the same weekend, and I had quite a few friends going, it was an easy decision to throw my hat in the ring and save my loop for a later date. 

The route is a figure-8 loop that starts/ends at Mulberry Gap - Adventure Base Camp in Elijay, GA; the figure-8 crossing occurs in the town of Blue Ridge, GA. It's 266 miles of single track, double track, gravel, service roads, pavement, and everything in between and boasts about 30,000 feet of elevation gain. And it was taking place during peak leaf season with cooler temps, everything my dreams are made of! The route was created by Daniel Jesse and the race director is now Matt Schweiker. 

Going against my DNA, I started preparing about a week ahead of time...<insert anxiety GIF here>. I had everything squared away and ready. Since the rollout was at 8am on Friday, I opted to load up the van and head down on Thursday night so I'd be there and not have to get up as early, and so I could just climb in and go to sleep if I finished at some unruly hour of the night. 

So, about an hour into my 1 hour and 20 minute drive, it hit me like a mac truck...I left my wahoo at home in my electronics drawer on the charger. THAT'S WHAT I GET FOR TRYING TO PREPARE EARLY DAMN IT! (For those who don't know, this is my bike computer that I would use to follow the course) If I had just panic-packed everything the day I was leaving, that would NOT have happened. So I turned my ass around and drove an hour back to Chattanooga and stayed in my own bed with my lovely wife and dog, and then drove back down there the morning of the race. Ugh. (I'm ugh'ing the extra driving, not staying home with wife and dog)

After some delicious Mulberry Gap breakfast, listening to Rasch talk for a while, and pre-race words from Schweiker, a group of 26 or 27 of us rolled out from Mulberry to tackle the monster of a course. 

The forecast was for clear days and rain Friday night and then frigid cold weather moving in during the day Sunday. I booked a hotel in Blue Ridge ahead of time as I didn't really care anything about riding through the night in the rain. I was hoping to ride the remaining 150 miles straight through when I left the hotel Saturday morning but, spoiler alert, that didn't happen.

The first section is one of the tougher sections, with a lot of single track climbing up to Fort Mountain State Park. This 13 miles took the fastest riders about 2 hours. I settled in and rode my own pace, never dabbing (humble brag) and just keeping it steady.

After descending the delectable Fort Mountain single track under the rhodo tunnels, on the long, flat paved section near Eaton, I caught up to a friend of mine, Travis Jolly, who was in the lead. We would yo-yo back a forth a little throughout the day, but never really "riding together" if you will. He was riding single speed and is a stronger rider, and therefore would pull away on the climbs and I'd really only catch him when he'd stop to do something. But, it was nice seeing and chatting with him multiple times throughout the day. 

After a 7 mile gravel climb up Mill Creek, I turned left and headed for the typically-over-grown Sumac Creek single track. And, to no surprise, it still had plenty of thorny bits hanging out in the trail, looking for blood. 

After grabbing some water at the check station on Old Highway 2, about 40 miles in, it was smooth sailing on the gravel roads all the way over to the Tanasi single track. I had a blast on Chestnut Loop and Thunder Rock Express before topping the water off at the camp ground and then hitting Old Copper Road up to Brush Creek Trail and eventually landing in Ducktown for my first resupply at mile 81. And, to my surprise, I had somehow gotten by Travis and had maybe a 20 minute lead on him and several others, including my good friend Chris Joice. 

Did my lead really matter? Nope. I was basically just racing to Blue Ridge where I had a hotel, knowing that several of the people behind me would ride on through the night, in the rain. Crazies. And at one point, after leaving Ducktown, I thought...I should have just waited there on them and then ridden with them for the next 35 miles to Blue Ridge instead of doing it solo, in the dark. Oh well, I was too far down the road when I thought about it. 

As I left Ducktown, it was time to turn the lights on. I knocked out the rolling pavement to get to Tumbling Creek, which started a 10 mile gravel climb to Watson Gap, and then it was a bombing gravel-to-paved descent and 10 easy paved miles to Blue Ridge. I rolled in to town at 9pm. I checked into my room and walked over to the shopping center where I placed my Domino's order then went next door to Food Lion to resupply for the long day to come. 

As I was walking back from the shopping center, attempting to carry a large pizza and multiple cumbersome grocery bags, Travis came creeping up behind me quietly, and let out a "meow" or something as he rode real close to me, and scared the absolute shit out of me. He opted to share my room to hide from the rain. Then he decided to ride on. Then he decided to stay. Then he decided to ride on. And that went on for about an hour before he finally decided he was gonna chance it and left around midnight. And 10 minutes later, I heard a downpour outside, hahaha. I was just waiting to hear a knock at the door upon his return, but it never happened. And so I just tossed and turned all night, never sleeping, until my 3am alarm. However, it was still raining, so back to tossing and turning I went, until 4am. And by 4:45, I was on the road, in the dreary, foggy, wet, cold, darkness. The morale was low starting a 150 mile day!

After some nasty hike-a-bike up the Long Branch Loop connector, I descended slick, wet, leaf-covered trails down to Aska Road and then over to the Iron Bridge, Old Dial Road, and onto a 13 miles forest service road which felt like damn near an eternity. It was slow, wet, soggy, muddy, and chunky and just repeated the same pattern over and over and over: climb to left curve to descent to right curve to climb to left curve to descent to right curve. Sheesh!

On to Skeenah Gap RV Park for some water and then Tooni Gap Road to the swinging bridge over the Ocoee River. And then over to Rock Creek Road for a 7 mile gravel climb up to High Tower Gap before bombing down Coopers Gap where I stopped at the Overhang Bar at Camp Merrill. I had been feeling bad allllll morning and was hoping calories would help so I waited 20 minutes for them to open at noon. I had a double mushroom and swiss burger and fries and a coke and, well, that didn't do a damn thing for me. 

Moving on, I hit the 9 mile single track section at Jake Mountain which is rather fun and flowy and includes one creek crossing that will test your abilities at keeping your feet dry.

When I finished this section, at Nimblewill Road, I needed to get off the bike for a bit as I was just still feeling bad and I wasn't in a great headspace. I knew there was a church there so I was planning to take 30 mins or so and just chill. Unfortunately, the sun was shining directly on the porch I wanted to lay on but I found just the right size of pole-shade to harbor my battered self.

Once I got going, it was a 6.5 mile climb to Nimblewill Gap, where the Appalachian Trail crosses, and then a beat-down of a descent down the other side. When you're exhausted, it feels like descending a creek bed in one of those old Radio Flier red wagons. But, once down the other side, I was rewarded with some beautiful, rural valley scenery on my way back towards the Iron Bridge Cafe, where I couldn't wait to get some ice cream and real food. I had plenty of time as I was on track to get there around 6:30pm and they didn't close until 8. 

After a couple of gut-punch climbs, some scenic gravel, and rolling pavement, I arrived back at the Iron Bridge Cafe to find the neon "OPEN" sign and all the lights inside turned off and no one around. Apparently the hours on google are just a maybe, but they really just do what they want. I saw someone who told me they had decided to close at 6. Excellent. Shit. 

Luckily, the Toccoa Riverside Restaurant was right down the street. But it's nice'ish and I really didn't want to roll up in there in muddy spandex, but, you get what ya get. I had another 20 miles to Blue Ridge with about an hour long hike-a-bike up Stanley Gap included in that. 

I grabbed a seat at the bar, had a beer and some pasta and fried pickles, answered all the questions about what I was doing on a bike out there at night, got a pocket cheese burger and sweet potato for the road that I'd just throw in the garbage later, and started my dark trek up Stanley Gap.

I got back to Blue Ridge (where I'd booked another room while eating at the restaurant) at 11pm, making it an 18 hour day. Oh, and apparently it's $20 extra for a non-smoking room. You get penalized for being a non-smoker at this dump! 

Luckily, I slept like a baby! Much excite! I'm not used to that. I only had 40 miles to the finish and I wasn't stoked on riding in the foggy darkness again so I set my alarm for 6 with plans to be at Waffle King next door by 6:45 and on the road by 7:30 or so. And yes I did actually eat half of the pocket sweet potato for breakfast. 

Somehow, some way, I felt good as I started climbing all the steep cabin roads just outside of Blue Ridge. I felt like a new person. I was enjoying to ride. The cold front was moving through and the cool, crisp air felt amazing on my face. The sun was out. The leaf colors were set ablaze in the sunshine. And just like that, I no longer wanted to sell all my bikes and start knitting. And then, just when I thought it couldn't get any better, it did.

On a short gravel section, I had one of the highlights of the whole ride. I ran into a German Shepherd that was sprinting at me. I stopped and put my hand out, hoping he wasn't just going to leap at my neck for the kill. And just as I suspected, he was as nice as could be and immediately grabbed a massive stick and started running around with it, banging it into things. So, naturally, I put the bike down and played with him for 5 minutes or so. It was so amazing. 

Next, I was headed for Wolf Pen Gap Road, which I was looking forward to, not only because it's beautiful, but also because there are usually goats to pet.

Now I just had to cruise some more fast pavement over to Bear Creek where I'd climb the connector to Pinhoti trails 1 and 2 which would dump me out on Conasauga Road, about 1 mile from the finish. The day before, when in a perpetual bonk, I had told myself I was going to skip this single track section and just ride gravel to the finish and take the DQ. That was just silly, skewed thinking and now I was looking forward to it. And it was magnificent! I was smiling ear to ear the whole time and just taking my time to soak in the last bit.

I arrived back at Mulberry Gap around 12:45pm, about 5 hours after leaving Blue Ridge. My moving time was about 30 hours and total time was around 52 hours and 46 minutes. I grabbed my patch and chatted with one of the owners, Kate, for a bit. I had a couple of beers on the patio and conversed with a couple of guys that came in not long after I did. And then I packed up and headed home. It was a beautifully brutal weekend. Time for a little R&R. 

Big congrats to PJ for the FKT, CJ for the SS FKT and 2nd overall, and TJ for 3rd overall and 2nd SS! And I don't know Walker, who won the overall, but congrats on a smoking fast ride. 

And big thanks to Owen Cyclery for having the bike in top shape with zero mechanical issues and Handup not only for gloves, but for kick ass clothes to wear on and off the bike.