Ceasars Head with Rob Dempsey. 75 miles

I noticed on facebook that Rob was going to do a 75 mile ride in the mountains. THis was right before I was headed out the door to do the same thing. I responded that I would like to join him. I did not think there would actually be a connection. But about 10 minutes later as I was just about to leave he called. I told him I would try to intersect him along the Miracle Hill route before Ceasars Head. He was starting at Furman University.


I rode hard from 11 am for about an hour at 18.5 mph average up to TR and up to Merrietta and over toward Pumpkintown on 288 and got on the MH route. I tried to guess if Rob was ahead of me or behind me. (Along the way a big butterfly hit me on the mouth. Yuk!) I eased up and was not sure but I guess a higher power helped me to guess right. I stopped a few miles ahead on the Saluda river to watch it a while (then a horse fly started terrorizing me) I went slow and then I saw in my rear view mirror a rider coming up. It was Rob!

We rode on to the mountain and he told me his expected climb time and it was perfect for me at 42 minutes. We rode together til near the end when I decided to sprint to the finish. It was 41-1/2 minutes of climb. We got water and I ate. Rob said his computer said he had burned a whopping 3600 calories so far. We had a chilling ride down and rode back toward Furman. I was really having to work to stay with him. He is a big strong rider.

We said good bye near Paris Mountain. I still did not know if I would climb it. I did. I went so slow though. It took me 20 minutes. Lots of repaving still going on on the mountain. I saw about 6 team United Healthcare riders coming down. I got one of them to say a few words and I told him I followed them on email updates. I said goodluck for tomorrows race in Spartanburg.
Ended up with75 miles and 5700 feet of climbing. A great day!