chrisvu05

Anyone doing 3 State in Chattanooga this year? The price is starting to get prohibitively high. $65 ($70 with Active.com fees) until March 1st and then $80 after. I signed up but this will most likely be my last year with the prices and my possible move from the area.

Velo Vol 

I noticed the price increase. Is this becoming California?

At any rate, I do not plan on doing it this year.

Corsarider

I have done 3 state 5 times but it just ain't worth that price. I will pass this year and future years at the price they are saking

Velo Vol 

Oy.

If I follow correctly, this occurred coming off Lookout Mountain, which isn't a very safe descent even under the best of circumstances. I suspect it may have been wet yesterday.

sch

I agree, the police car looks to be parked near the wiggly part at the bottom of the Lookout mtn road just before it levels out and straightens into normal traffic.
I almost went but that big green blob on the radar Friday dissuaded me. 3S3M is dangerous enough in bright sunny weather wen you are out with 2500 cyclists
500 of whom are ahead of you on the first climb. They have had some really nasty crashes with headons on the curves in the past, but fatalities are something
else.

Ron Harry

I'm still shaken up. Conditions were absolutely miserable. Rain I can do, cold I can do, and steep hills...but all together...wow, coming off Racoon Mountain, my glasses totally blurred from rain, shivering the whole way, hard to brake...Hard holding to 35 or less...passing through flowing streams on the road as you went, feeling slight wobble in wheels from wetness...well, I for one decided to call it a day. I did Lookout [scenic hiway] the day before, so I felt I still got my money's worth. Now, back home, I feel, I dunno...'defeated' somehow. I wanted to see if I could do Burkhalter...which I did go down it the day before, but not up; and I opted out of the century ride, and barely ended up with a thirty mile ride [but Raccoon was not an easy climb; so some sense of achievement on that one]. But, with the fatality, one woman in the hospital [last I read, in an induced coma], and another crash...it's a kind of 'empty pit' in the stomach feeling I have from the whole affair. BEAUTIFUL ride [on Friday, when the weather was still decent] on Lookout MTN and in the valley; and even Raccoon was picturesque even in the rain; biking around that reservoir was great, and I wager a great ride on a clear day. I drove 600 miles for the event and would do it again. But someone getting killed...that shakes us all up. Coming down mountains and hills...I maxed at 48mph coming down burkhalter Friday [my personal record BTW], and one can't help but wonder just how dangerous it can be. I think I did the right thing turning it in after Raccoon [the first mountain of the day on saturday], but I still feel defeated. I gave up in a way. So...mixed bag. I really feel for the families affected by the crashes; and I feel for the organizers as they did a bangup job of it even in horrible conditions, but with the accidents, a pall will be cast over everything they did in the 2013 3S3M event.
My own thinking is that I take it upon myself to know what I can and can't do. I think for me, it was more my glasses that stayed fogged and blurred in the rain that made me pack it in; one needs to see the road clearly coming down off a mountain.

Ron Harry

Since I'm posting here, has anyone done both the 3 State 3 Mountain ride and the 6 gap Century in Delonega, Ga? I'm assuming 6 Gap is substantially harder since it's, well, 6 gaps to cover [although, I realize there is a 3 gap option]. I need to decide if I want to sign up for 6 Gap or not. I have all summer to train for that one and after 3S3M, I have some idea where I'm at 'now' [I would have had trouble getting up Burkhalter I'm sure, barely made it up Raccoon and Lookout]. If 6 Gap is too much [as compared to 3S3M], I'll go on and sign up for Cycle North Carolina in the same general time frame [always fun to do]. Any thoughts by those who might know of these rides to compare? I need something to 'train' for.

shelbyfv

I have done 3S3M but not 6 Gap. Burkhalter is MUCH more difficult than the other 3S3M climbs. The consensus among my friends who have done both rides seems to be that 6 Gap is tougher, but does not usually have the weather issues. Good call on cutting the ride short, IMO. We aren't paid to ride so it should always be fun....

Corsarider

6 gap is a good bit harder than 3s3m. 3s3m has a lot of easy rolling terrain between the 3 big climbs. My times on 3s3m are about an hour faster than on 6gap. There isn't a lot of easy riding between the big climbs at 6gap. There is nothing as steep on 6gap as Burkhalter which gets up into the low 20 percent range. Here is a blow by blow of the 6 climbs. Neels is 5-6 miles of 5-8 percent climbing with an increase just before the crest. Great downhill with sweeping turns after. Jacks is 3 or so miles that is deceiving and gets up to 10-11 percent. Great downhill after. Unicoi is a bit like Neels but shorter. Another nice downhill after. Hogpen is tough. first 3 miles are not overly steep and then a break with a downhill fools you into thinking Hogpen is not that bad. Then the next 3 miles are brutal with the grade in the mid to high teens for 3 miles and no break until the top. If you do Hogpen DO NOT stop at the stop in the middle. It is at the steepest part of the climb and You will cramp up as soon as you start back up. Pass that one and stop at the top. Be careful on the descent, it is easy to let your speed get away from you. Wolfpen is next. It is the most interesting climb on the route. Heavily wooded with many switchbacks, 7-12 percent all the way and about 3.5 miles. Cool downhill after with a lot of tight turns. Again the best on the course. Woodys is a piece of cake, only about 2 miles and then about 8 miles downhill. If you do 3 gap, the climbs are Neels, Wolfpen and Woodys. If you do this just be careful at the turn onto Wolfpen. It is on a downhill and there is always confusion there with people turning to do 3 gap and others going on to do 6gap. I have done 6 gap 4 times and each time I did it, I swore I wouldn't do it again. Hope this helps and doesn't make you not want to do it. I always felt a great sense of accomplishment when I did 6gap. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I did this on a recumbent. Heck, if I can do it on a recumbent, you can do it.

Ron Harry

Thanks guys. The more I read, the more 'stoked' I get about trying 6 gap. Heck, you only live once, right,ha. The way I do hills is a kind of a zen thing I think; I 'accept' the fact I am going to suffer, and then sort of absorb into it...wallow in it sort of, like a mystic looking at another facet of consciousness. It at least allows me a little objectivity to it all, a kind of 'looking back on it from outside' kind of thing. Even still, there is a limit to muscle capacity, and when the legs get wobbly, well, there is that biological wall we all have. I'm not sure which is the tougher challenge...the physical or the mental aspect of these things. Cycling, at least for me, challenges my mental capacity much more than physical [why I find pro cyclists beyond comprehension for their capacities]. I find that when I 'put my mind to it' [sic], I usually have much more physical capacity than I realize...which I think is where much of the satisfaction of achievement comes from. Wasn't able to do (try) Burkhalter [maybe next year], but looks like 6 gap is the next big challenge [way over my head, but then, forces me to improve I suppose]. Ha...forgive the musings here. Thanks for the blow by blow Corsarider.

flashpoint145

I dont plan on traveling to do a touring ride if there is no incentive. Not to mention dumping hundreds and hundreds of $$$

I'll stick to the road races.

kenji666

In defense of 3S3M, all riders need to know the limits of their own abilities and their equipment. Flying downhill on dry pavement is dangerous enough. Throw in some driving rain and wet roads, and you need to slow down and descend safely. If the little voice inside your head is telling you to SAG out, there's no shame in dropping out. Live to fight another day.

fiataccompli

I felt just fine about my decision to not drive to Chattanooga for 3s3m. I've done it a few times and it's a nice ride that's well done, but it's a setting where I could find myself pretty uncomfortable with some of the other riders, especially in the conditions this year. Heck, I'd be just as content assembling a handful of the folks I ride with and just doing the route some time.