TNGA: Part 2

Day Two
I awoke at dawn Sunday morning to a sore throat and sinus congestion. Allergies (or something) that would last the rest of the ride. I was also feeling pretty stiff and sore; a picnic table doesn't make the best bed. After a few handfuls of trail mix, I packed up and was off, heading up Wolfpen Gap. About halfway up, I was suffering. It's a paved road, but it's an awfully big, steep climb - not the best way to start the morning. I was starting to get emotional when I realized I was just hungry. I'd eaten a lot at Woody's the night before, but all of that had been used up by my body repairing itself while I slept. I pulled over and sat down on the side of the road to eat some more trail mix and a Clif Bar.

Once the pavement topped out, I turned onto Duncan Ridge for more climbing on gravel. When the road turned downhill, I decided to open up the suspension for a much smoother ride and left it that way for the rest of the trip. After that, it was an easy cruise to the convenience store at Cooper's Creek where I ate a chicken biscuit, chilli dog, chips, and half a pulled pork sandwich, saving the other half for later.

I pressed on and soon found that my underwear wasn't drying well (actually still damp from the day before) and was beginning to get uncomfortable. So, I made the bold move to ditch it and go commando for a while. It felt great to get some airflow, but I was concerned about additional chafeage.

After a couple more hours of paved, dirt, and gravel roads, I came to Iron Bridge Cafe where I stopped to eat again. This time I went for a chicken wrap, chips, and a Coke. By this point, I was completely filthy, smelled like a goat, and was probably alarming to the two young mothers there with their herd of kids. I ate my chicken wrap while walking up the short but ridiculously steep hill down the road from the cafe. Then, it was off to the Aska Trails and infamous Stanley Gap.

Stanley turned out not to be that bad. It had been described to me as a 45 minute to 2 hour hike-a-bike, but I managed to ride up a good bit of it with great effort. Once again, I found myself riding through a cloud. The rocks and roots were slick as could be, but I made my way down the backside, took a hard right onto the gravel road, and started blazing downhill. After a few minutes I checked the map on my phone only to find that it said I was a ways off course. How could this be? I was certain that I was on the right road, and I did NOT want to ride back up that giant hill. I said a few choice words, rode in circles for a minute, then started back up the hill, hoping the GPS was wrong. After a couple minutes, it updated and said I was indeed on route. I turned around again and booked it to Cherry Log and the Pink Pig BBQ.

At the Pink Pig, I ordered a hamburger steak with peppers, onions and mushrooms, sweet potato fries, a baked potato, and lemonade. I went back outside to tinker with my gear and get my phone to study the upcoming route. Some locals started asking questions about my ride and probably thought I was crazy for riding such long distances. I set my gloves out to dry, only to have it start raining once I went back inside. I got some chocolate ice cream for dessert, topped of my water, and took my baked potato to go.

Some more paved and gravel roads led up to Watson Gap, where I turned onto FS 64 - practically the final stretch to Mulberry Gap. The sun was starting to sink and I had a goal to get through the South Fork - Pinhoti Loop (a cruel, unnecessary loop that pops out back onto FS 64) before dark. I wanted to be in familiar territory before I had to use my lights, so I put the hammer down as much as a I could. I bombed down the muddy South Fork Trail with no hesitation, then turned and pushed/rode my way up a muddy stretch of the Pinhoti, back to the gravel road. I rode along the familiar ridge until reaching the start of the climb up Potato Patch Mountain where I walked and finally brought out my lights. After another 2 hours of sweet singletrack, I finally rolled into Mulberry Gap at 10:30pm.

After a chocolate shake, I went to shower, and this is when all the pain caught up to me. My feet had been waterlogged all day, so it hurt to walk. My core, chest, and neck hurt from holding myself in riding position for 2 days. I had a bit of chafeage that I hadn't noticed before, and my sinuses and throat weren't any better. I didn't see how I could keep going in this condition. I slept on a cot in the barn, getting up twice for a painful walk to the bathhouse down the driveway.

Day Three
I awoke Monday morning with less pain but still exhausted. I hung out for awhile, drinking coffee, talking with other racers, and contemplating quitting. Reading a book in my hammock sounded much more enjoyable than more riding at the time. The problem with quitting is that I'd have to come back and race it again. And that sounded even worse. So after eating breakfast and charging up my lights, I had nothing better to do, so I got back on the bike at about 9:30am.

The trail leading away from Mulberry Gap is familiar enough that it went by quickly despite being a huge climb. After that it was back to unfamiliar sections of the Pinhoti which inlcuded some awesome downhill singletrack. The trail popped out near Ramhurst where I stopped at a gas station for a chicken sandwich and a Sprite. My throat was still bothering me, so I got some Halls and started eating them like candy.

A long flat road section led to Dalton and Bear Creek Bikes where I stopped to rest and escape the heat. It was mid-afternoon by this point and my allergies/sickness wasn't helping. The bike got a much needed tune-up, and I learned that I had a freehub bearing going out. I had noticed an occasional rattle previously, but it was louder and constant once everything was lubed up. The next section was fairly remote, so I stocked up on food and topped off my water. I wanted to make it at least partway through The Snake before crashing for the night.

I did make that goal, but the first part of The Snake kicked my ass. It's an extremely rocky and technical singletrack trail along a ridgeline just west of Dalton. Maneuvering through and powering over rocks on a 50+lb bike is not easy. I was starting to feel overheated when I hit the downhill to the trailhead midway through The Snake. The trailhead consisted of a gravel parking lot and a pit toilet next to a somewhat busy highway. I stopped here to eat dinner - a turkey sub and pretzels. The sun was setting, but I thought I'd lie down for a few minutes to let that food digest. The concrete next to the pit toilet was warm - I assumed from the sun shining on it earlier - and felt good now that I was cooled down.

I quickly fell asleep for a few minutes before getting up to pee. Suddenly I felt feverish - weak, shaky, chills, and just generally sick. I checked my phone, no service. I thought about the Spot Tracker and the button that sends the message, "I'm ok but quitting." For some reason I decided to give it more time. It wasn't even fully dark yet, but I wrapped up in my rainfly and went to sleep on the concrete by the pit toilet.

TNGA: Part 1

I read an article recently saying that we (mountain bikers) use the word epic too often when describing rides, but there's no question that the Trans North Georgia qualifies in the most extreme definition of the word. It was brutal and beautiful, with emotional highs and lows, new states of consciousness, and mental struggles that match the physical.

The Day Before
Friday started with a good Mulberry Gap breakfast, followed by gathering up my gear, making a final decision on what to bring, and loading it onto the trailer to be shuttled to the start. As I was waiting for the other riders to show up and get their gear loaded, the anticipation was killing me. I was nervous, excited, and terrified all at the same time. I was ready to start riding, but there was still a full day of travelling, prepping, and camping at the yurts near the South Carolina border.

It was really interesting to meet other racers and discuss motives, goals, gear, training, and trouble spots on the route. I didn't fully realize it at the time, but this was a new class of cyclists that I had previously only read about. Some of them were ultra-endurance athletes that do these things all the time. Others were just people looking for an adventure. Unlike the short XC races I'm used to, I couldn't size up the competition by looking at how "fit" they were, or by how fast their bike looked, or even by how much gear they were carrying. I'm still not quite sure what makes a fast TNGA rider, but knowledge of the route and needing minimal sleep definitely help.

What they don't tell you is that the sleep deprivation starts the night before, because you'll probably be too excited to sleep. I slept about five hours, and spent a few more lying in bed thinking of what was to come.

Day One
Saturday started early. I got out of bed just after 5am. I had been awake for a while and breakfast was at 5:30. Despite drinking coffee, I was too tense to have a good bowel movement, which everyone knows is the crux of any bike race. This wasn't a good sign. We shuttled to the start, unloaded, and lined up on Russell Bridge over the Chattooga River. After a brief meeting, we turned on our Spot Trackers, and we were off.

We started off slow on gravel roads climbing into the mountains. I was eager to charge ahead but held back considering I'd be riding all day. I was also a little nervous about navigating, so I rode with other people for a while. The first singletrack we hit was Darnell Creek Horse Trail - a long-forgotten, overgrown, washed out excuse for a trail. I thought for sure this ride was going to turn into an episode of I Shouldn't be Alive. There's nothing quite like barrelling down a rocky, green tunnel on a loaded bike in BFE Georgia to make one think, "This is badass!". This was a feeling I would have frequently throughout the journey.

The singletrack turned to doubletrack which dumped out onto a road. After three hours we had reached Dillard, the first chance to stop at 25 miles. I bypassed this stop, but got separated from the others by a stoplight. I was on my own now. It was quiet and peaceful rolling through the backroads. I quickly became more familiar with reading the map on my phone and gained confidence in navigating.

The route then followed a nice big creek with inviting swimming holes - it was getting hot out by this point. Fortunately, it rained shortly after that. Not a lot, just enough to feel good. Initially I was concerned about keeping my feet dry, but the many creek crossings proved that this would be an impossible feat (pun intended).

I played leap frog with a few other riders, catching them on the climbs only to have them catch-up while I was figuring out where to go. I pedalled up several "gaps" (mountain passes) that all sort of run together at this point. Tray Gap was memorable though, as it is the highest point on the route, and I ran out of water on the way up. Fortunately it was mostly downhill after that to Woody's Bike Shop in Helen at mile 97. On the way down I got held up searching for the infamous Hickory Nut Trail. I had heard several times that it was tricky to find and still didn't realize what I was looking at when I came to it. Funny thing about Hickory Nut is that the bears like to toss rocks onto the trail when looking for grubs. These random rocks are difficult to see due to the tall grass covering the trail. It gets to be a bumpy ride.

About halfway down, I realized that one of my feed bags was empty - the one that held my ipod, beef jerky, and half a Clif Bar. Bummer. I had no idea where this stuff had fallen out, and going back to look for it meant the difference between getting off the mountain in the daylight, before the looming thunderstorm hit and being there in the rain and lightning after dark. I was also quite thirsty, so I pressed on, sans ipod. It was a sad moment.

I filled up a water bottle at a campground to hold me until I got to Woody's. It was getting dark and the rain was getting closer when I hit a paved downhill. I pedalled hard, tucked, and put my head down trying to gain speed and nearly blew right by the bike shop. It was a warm welcome with pizza, eggs, bacon, Coke, and tents to keep dry. This was the first major rest stop of the race, and I was exhausted after pedalling for 12 hours (which smashed my previous record of 7.5 hours!) I took the opportunity to talk with other racers and rest while I waited out the rain. I needed to press on to Vogal State Park to get to the 1/3 mark. When the rain slowed, I headed out into the night to put in another 20 miles.

Normally 20 miles is fairly easy, but I failed to realize that this extra distance included Hogpen Gap. It's a beast of a climb eventhough it's paved. I quickly ditched my rain jacket, preferring a slight drizzle over pouring sweat. Near the top of the climb, it wasn't so much raining as it was that I was riding through a cloud. I descended the slick roads with no sense of speed in the darkness. I turned onto Hatchet Creek Rd which seemed to go on forever. It was late and I badly wanted sleep. Eventually I made it to Vogal, at about 12:30, where I stopped at the first pavilion and proceeded to pass out on top of a picnic table, using my rain fly as a blanket, with another racer nearby.

Ready, set, GO!!

Cue sheets printed, .gpx file loaded, bags packed. My homemade bikepacking bags have passed the trial run; now it's time to put them to the test. I've been gathering up all my gear and trimming it down to the bare minimum.

Gear List:
Eno rain fly
Khumbu rain jacket
extra socks, underwear, and gloves
sunscreen
anti-chafe cream
emergency blanket
waterproof matches
iodine water purification tablets
Platypus 3L hydration bladder
24oz water bottle
Niterider helmet light
Light-Motion 200 handlebar light
battery charger cables
external back-up battery
two tubes
pump and CO2
bike multitool
tire levers
one set of brake pads
two masterlinks
chain lube
zip ties
duct tape

Things I've cut from the list:
extra spokes
tire sealant
bug spray

Reasoning: In all my biking years, only once have I ever broken a spoke on the trail. At 135lbs it's not something I really worry about. I'll make sure to put fresh sealant in my tires before I leave. Also, there's bike shops in Helen and Dalton, and smaller repairs can be made at Mulberry Gap. I don't remember bugs being bad while working at MG, so I think I can survive without it. I may look for some bug repellent wipes though.

It sure seemed like a lot of gear in my head, but laid out, it's not much at all. I've got plenty of room left over in my bags for food which will mostly consist of trail mix, Clif bars, beef jerky, and some dried fruit to start. After studying the cue sheets and .gpx file, I picked out the resupply spots and created some rough goals for each day.

I'll carry enough food to get me through the first 100 miles or so, possibly picking up a few snacks at the Top of Georgia Hostel at the 54 mile mark. I'll carry on to Helen, at 97 miles, eat dinner, then press on to Wolfpen Gap at 116 miles, roughly 1/3 of the way through. I'll likely camp out there, then press on to Cherry Log, 165 miles, for lunch on Sunday. Next, it's on to Mulberry Gap, at 212 miles, for dinner and to recharge batteries. I'll likely carry on that evening to Ramhurst, 234 miles, to camp. I'll restock in Dalton, 250 miles, then race to the finish which is 327 miles according to the cue sheets and 313 according to the GPS.

115 miles per day seems like a reasonable, achievable goal. With some luck, I'll surpass that. If it turns out that I can't make that goal, it's likely that I won't finish. Stretching this out to four or five days would kind of suck. My line of thinking is that the longer I'm out there, the more difficult it's going to be. Plus, I don't want to miss too much school.

I was hoping to post a cool picture of my bike all loaded down, but it's been raining all day. Maybe next time.

Path to Agnosticism

I'm writing this to clear up any confusion about how I came to my current position and to hopefully encourage others to question why they believe what they do. I also encourage others to further research any concepts I mention here, as I don't have the space to go into every detail. I at least hope that others will be able to see things from my point of view regardless of whether or not you agree with it. But first, some history.

When I was about 15, I began to really question my Episcopalian beliefs. At first I was scared, thinking I'd be punished (perhaps for eternity) for even having doubts. I pushed the questions away, but they drifted back often, lingering longer each time. When no lightning bolts came, I decided it was ok to think about these things. Of course a few questions turned into a lot of questions. Such as:
 
"Why are we here?" 
"Where did God come from?"
"If He already knows our fate, what's the point of us being on Earth?"
"If He wanted to forgive our sins, why was it necessary to sacrifice His son? He's all powerful; He could've just forgiven us."

There's plenty more, but you get the idea. And so, I thought, researched, thought some more, and never really came up with satisfying answers.

At 18 I went through with Confirmation largely because that's what was expected of me. At the time I still agreed with most of what the church said, though I still had lots of unanswered questions. Eventually, I decided to base my beliefs on my own experiences rather than what I was told to believe.

Problems with Religion

I researched the history of religion, and as a general trend, the earliest forms began with animism, then polytheism, then monotheism. Animism, it seems, was a way to explain natural events before we had the scientific method, tools, and time to study such events. Over time, however, science has provided logical, natural explanations, replacing the "God did it" answer. The recession of mythical explanations is referred to as the God of the Gaps and was an important realization for me. If one is using God to explain natural processes, history shows that this is a setup for failure.

I went through various phases of fringe religions like transcendentalism and pantheism in my attempts to reconcile scientific explanations with how God could be behind the inner workings of the Universe. I still find pantheism and deism plausible, but it only adds unnecessary complications.

I also came to understand that the concept of Hell is illogical. Assuming God is just, there is no single crime or series of crimes one can commit in a finite life on Earth to deserve an eternity of torment. So do we all go to Heaven? What about Hitler? If Hitler accepted Jesus a moment before he died would he get in? Some Christians say yes, others say no. What about an atheist who devotes his life to charitable causes? Again, a lot of people are split.

And then there's other religions. Thousands of them throughout history, some with highly contradictory views. They can't all be right. Suppose one in particular is correct. Is everyone else damned? I sure hope not. So, if there is a god, does he really care what we believe? It doesn't look like it. I don't think a supreme being would be so narcissistic. I think if God were as obvious as religious people claim, there would only be one religion, and it would be completely compatible with science. But then, it wouldn't require faith. So why is God hiding?

It would be far too easy to look at my life and say that "I've been blessed", as I often hear people say about their own lives. That seems, to me, incredibly short sighted. Why am I "blessed" while others suffer? What about those that don't have it so great? What about the innocent children all around the world - starved, raped, molested, abused, murdered? This is referred to as the Problem of Evil.

There are a lot of holes in all religious stories, which I won't go into here, but most people tend to ignore these or simply claim that we can't understand God's ways and cease to ask questions. When scrutinized with logic, however, these details fall apart. One can instead focus on the big picture, but to me, the big picture loses meaning without a solid foundation.

Science vs Faith

Science and organized religion employ two different methods of thinking about the world - one based on logic, the other on faith. Some people reconcile this with a form of cognitive dissonance, but objectively the two are incompatible. Science will never rule out the possibility of a god, but it's looking increasingly likely that the concept of a god isn't necessary to explain our existence. Of course, one can argue that God is outside of our reality; therefore, the rules of logic don't apply. But then, by definition, there is no evidence for anything outside of our reality, and so it's all left to mere speculation. And that brings us to the root of the issue.

Faith. Believing without seeing, or believing without evidence is, by definition, illogical. And there is no evidence. There are many reasons to believe in God, but scientific evidence and logic are not among them. And so I ask, why follow one particular religion? Because your parents and grandparents did? Because of your geographical location and time of your existence in history? I hope others have better answers than those, but that seems to be more than just a general trend. In fact it's generally referred to as indoctrination. (No offense or accusation implied.)

A lack of belief doesn't really need a label; nevertheless, there are several: agnostic, atheist, secular humanist, non-believer, etc. I tend to not use atheist as it still has a negative connotation, but really, I see little difference in these definitions. If you must pick one, I prefer secular humanist, as it's probably the most accurate. I'd like to make it clear that I don't reject the concept of a deity, I just see no evidence or reason to believe in one. If a time comes when such evidence (scientific or otherwise) presents itself, I'll gladly change my views.

Concerns about Non-believers

Morality. It's a common misconception that morality stems from religion. Most people cherry-pick morals from religious texts and ignore the ones they don't like. One doesn't need a religious book to tell them right from wrong. Nor do they need the threat of Hell to stop them from committing crimes. Altruism is evolutionary and found in many species. The Golden Rule is also universal, not tied to any one religion. There's also people who commit crimes despite being religious and sometimes even in the name of religion. There's really no significant correlation between morality and religion.

Death. This is a tough one and is probably what keeps a lot of people religious. But neuroscientists are diligently working on the mystery of consciousness, and it's almost certainly the product of a functioning brain. There was a time before I was born that I didn't exist, and it's a reasonable assumption that after I die I'll cease to exist. Accepting this finality of death was admittedly difficult. Some may find this depressing, but on the other hand, I find it empowering. If this life is all I've got, I'll do my best to live it the best I can and help others to do the same. Realizing my full control of my life's trajectory is quite liberating. Don't bide your time waiting for things to get better in an afterlife, go out and do something about it!

Say that there is an afterlife. Would God really give us the ability to think logically, scientifically, and then punish us for doing so? I doubt it. Like I said, the threat of Hell is illogical and really falls short once you step outside the belief system.

One doesn't need science to see the logical fallacies of organized religion, but it does help. The attraction to science is that it doesn't claim to have all the answers, but scientists devote their lives to the search. It's turning out that the true nature of reality is far more fascinating than any creationism story. Maybe it'll turn out that science can't answer all the questions, but it's much better to try and fail than not try at all.



That's quite a heavy post, so here's something to lighten the mood.

An Engineer Accidentally goes to Hell instead of Heaven.

An Engineer dies and goes to hell. He's hot and miserable, so he decides to take action. The A/C has been busted for a long time, so he fixes it. Things cool down quickly.
The moving walkway motor jammed, so he unjams it. People can get from place to place more easily.
The TV was grainy and unclear, so he fixes the connection to the Satellite dish and now they get hundreds of high def channels.
One day, God decides to look down on Hell to see how his grand design is working out and notices that everyone is happy and enjoying umbrella drinks. He asks the Devil what's going on?
The Devil replies, "Things are great down here since you sent us that engineer."
"What?? An engineer? I didn't send you one of those, that must have been a mistake. Send him back up right this minute."
The Devil responds, "No way! We are going to keep our engineer. We like this guy."
God demands, "If you don't send him to me immediately, I'll sue!"
The Devil laughs. "Where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"
 

http://www.sunnyskyz.com/funny-jokes/17/An-Engineer-accidentally-goes-to-Hell-instead-of-Heaven#aq3FEaOcmc6D39sm.99