Zone Sub-One

Standard Deluxe 2nd in Open 66 miler

Openers

Dogwood hike

Horsing around

Was watching YouTube one day about some guy doing a big climb in Hawaii.  So I thought “those mountains in Moab are tall, wonder what the biggest climb in the lower 48 is.  

After some research I learned there were 2 or 3 7500 foot climbs but they were road rides.  Jumped on Strava and made a quick route to the top of the mountains and guess what it was 7500 feet.  The kicker is that it was 90% plus gravel.  So we have a gravel route in the desert, think sand, 100 degree temps, and evaporation that will suck you dry in minutes.   Those other few road climbs can take a backseat this is the Mother Of All Bike Climbs.

I couldn’t just do this ride, I had to have a plan.
1.  Find a sucker, I mean a committed teammate.  Hey Sean want to go to Moab?  Easy enough.
2.  Get a bike.  Several thousand dollars later than what I wanted to spend I have a new diverge with etap.  Long story but thanks Carter.
3.  Get bike to Moab.  Sean says, “Heather wants to drive to Moab”.  Talking about stars aligning!
4.  Stay on Georgia time so we can beat the heat.  Any later than our 5:20ish start would be too late.
5.  Get a sag to meet you mid way with lunch and water.  I think I owe my wife more than dinner for that .
6.  Conserve energy, don’t go too fast.  If Sean would not have been there I would have gone way to fast and never would have made it.  Remember the right sucker?
7.  Once too the single track don’t flat, these are not smooth trails at Cochran Mill Park.  Most importantly don’t knock off that low hanging Etap Red  derailleur.  
8.  Climb the steepest part at 11,000 without dying.  I bet you knew Garmin climbs went green, yellow, red.  But did you know they went to purple?
9.  Lastly have a UTV waiting to take you 7500 feet back down.  Yes that big of a decent when you are trashed would be to much.  Remember this is gravel not road.

Just a note of the gravel.  Almost all of it was loose.  Most of it was sandy, real sand.  I would really say this was a minimum of a 14,000 - 15,000 foot road climb.

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Pete Edmondson Moab Adventure Condo / Smoother Cycling

M.O.A.B. Climb, Mother Of All Bike Climbs

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Zone Sub-One

Standard Deluxe 2nd in Open 66 miler

Openers

Dogwood hike

Horsing around

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