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September 30, 2003 - Athens to Atlanta by Dan Dutrisac
My wife and I arrive late Friday afternoon in Atlanta and head to Athens Georgia. On the way up to Athens we scope out Silver Hill (the most feared hill of the course) with Gillian from Toronto. By car, it really doesn't look that bad and seems very much along the lines of an extended version of the P8 hill in the Gatineau Park. But more on "down Silver Hill via skates" later.
On Saturday night the sky opens up and it rains and thunders for most of the night. By morning, the sky has cleared and the roads are mostly dry. I decide to stick with my "hi-grip" rain wheels and bearings. For the race, I had decided a while back to team up Lanny Totton (Toronto) and Bernard Doth (Montreal). Both of them have done countless ultra distance skates and have done A-to-A seven times between themselves.
The race starts at 7:30 AM sharp in quasi darkness. The start goes downhill on a major street. In the first turn, on the down hill, both my skates skid sideways in the turn. My "grip" wheels don't seem to work... not a very ominous start. We snake out of Athens and head to the never ending back roads and rolling hills of the Georgia country side.
We form into a big pack (20-25). We start attacking some of the hills but back off realizing that we still have a long race. The pack is pacing itself... no attacking, just team work. Bernard seems to be on steroids, he's pulling us time and time again and again taking the lead on steepest downhills, leading trains of 20-25 skaters. We hit ~60km on one of the moderate hills.
Going up one of the long winding hills, the pack in front of us is attacked by a Rotweiler. The dog is dragging about 25 foot of chain but it turns out he just wants to play and chase us down... basically going for a good run. Four kms later, the dog is still running and in front of us as we start a train on a long downhill. I'm really concerned that the train might run over the dog or his chain. As we speed up to him, we all scream and the dog
takes off for the safety of the ditch. That's the last we saw of him.
At checkpoint 2 we enter gator back country a popular term given to really rough asphalt for about 6 miles. If your frames, axles or tooth fillings are not on tight, they will definitely fall off in this section. Later on this section we come upon a section of virgin asphalt that last about 200m only to come upon a closed road sign. The asphalt on the other side has been entirely ripped out. We have to cross on packed gravel and mud. There is a one foot wide cement curb on either side. All go left, I go right. We do the 1 leg scooter push down this curb. At the end of this section is huge puddle on my side. I stay on the curb as long as I can and step on
what seems to be dry gravel only to sink down to my boots in the Georgia red clay... my wheels, my bearings $^^*%&... I run to the barricade, jump over and start chasing the pack. Mud is flying everywhere. I manage to catch the pack. My wheels and bearings seem okay, just a little bit dirty. Those ZT Sports rubber bearing shields have probably saved me. The gator back is over and we are on what is mostly pristine asphalt.
Our 42km time is 1h48 according to Lanny's GPS and stop watch, not very fast but still pretty good given all the climbing. We finish our climb into Dacula and say good bye to the 38 milers in our pack. We pick up water and bananas as we roll through.
The water stops are at every +- 20km. We are not stopping at any of them. We just pick water bottles and bananas on the fly. I am at the back of the pack on one of the checkpoints. By the time I go by, the volunteers have handed out all of their water bottles. I go without and Bernard shares his with me until the next checkpoint. I am gelling (power gel), eating (bananas, power bars and nut bars) and drinking Eload (electrolytes) regularly.
Then it's on to check point 4. The country side is winding and rolling with some newly created suburbs sprinkled here and there. We pass the half way point of 70kms in 3h01.
We get to the top of a hill and I am told that there is a railway track at the bottom. Lanny informs me to simply jump as we reach the track and we will be alright??? No trains on this descent. We end up three abreast and jump together across the track at full speed. Lanny nearly does a face plant as he lands on a front wheel, but he recovers, gleefully. We continue, sharing the lead.
There is one particular sucker of a hill with an 18% slope and it goes for about 200 meters. Heart rates scream, legs scream and the policeman at the top congratulates us. He says it was easier on his Harley.
Two hours from the finish and our group of 12 shows signs of equipment failure and fatigue. Jennifer (Toronto) has frame problems. Jacquie (Cambridge) hits the wall, cramps up and falls to the side in agony. Eric and Benoit stay behind to help. There are 8 of us left now. Not everyone is able or willing to do the train on these long downhills. Some have these weird contraptions that they have bolted to their speed boots for brakes. They are very scary on the downhills. Bernard, Lanny and I try to avoid these skaters on the steep downhills by taking the train's lead. We drop
more people on the down hills. We are 5 now and we over take a 52 miler, who joins us. I am getting tired. I thought I had trained for this. When does it finish? Are we there yet? We pass the 100km point in 4h28m. This is way harder than the New York 100km.
Did I mention anything about road hazards? The asphalt is generally excellent, except for the gator back section and the few areas strewn with road snakes, manholes and those darn reflectors screwed into the asphalt at the intersections. Then there also the road kill hazards! I have never seen so many dead animals: opossums, cats, dogs, squirrels, turtles, and a number of other unidentifiable masses that we get to avoid or skate over. I
really like my oversize 84mm wheels now!
We climb up to Silver Hill and one of our skaters (an Atlanta local) doing the 52 mile wants to take the lead on the Silver Hill, the steepest one. We want Bernard in front, followed by Lanny and I. He insists and takes the lead. By the second portion of the hill he starts wobbling badly and bails out. Bernard takes the lead and we all tuck. I can feel the G's. Lanny's skates are wobbling badly. I grab his hips to provide him with some stability. We tuck the whole way and Lanny's GPS registers a top speed of 75.5Km. What a rush!
We stroll into Check Point 5, take as much water and bananas as we can grab. Then there's the climb out of the valley to Check Point 6. After Silver Hill my legs are really starting to cramp up, more Eload and gel. I'm on the edge of red lining. My heart rate throughout never went below 130 bpm and has reached 170 bpm on the up hills; my average rate is probably around 150-155 bpm, much higher then training. To make matters worst, a head wind has really picked up... flags are straight out. We're 20 kms from Atlanta, but the course does flatten out a little bit. The 2 younger skaters take off so now there are the three of us left plus Bob
Harwell from (Team Rainbo, Chicago). Three experienced skaters over 55 and me, the rookie. We are all really tired. I take the lead for a while, then feel my legs and feet starting to cramp again. I peel off. Bob pulls a lot, so does Bernard and Lanny. I do my best not to cramp up and bonk. I take more gel and Eload.
Up to Check Point 6, we are on the outskirts of Atlanta now, going through run down areas, crossing main roads, twisting and turning to stay off the main roads. They say it's all down hill from Check Point 6, but don't believe them. Past Check Point 6, with 10 km to the finish we face a 25 kph head wind and we get onto 5 more kms of gator back and lots of road hazards. When does this torture stop?
We enter downtown Atlanta and skate amongst the cars and through traffic. Thank the police who stop traffic in all directions at intersections. I don't think I could stop now. My legs and feet are cramping. I follow Bernard and the four of us finish together in 6:04:21. What an experience! What an awesome team. Thank you guys!
For those considering doing this race be ready for a very hilly course. There are no flats on this course. The roads are not closed to traffic. There are a number of very technical sharp turns and some are at very high speeds. Be ready for great camaraderie, great race organization and most intersections being closed by police officers. A-to-A is an experience every serious inliner should strive to experience. This race is not for the
faint of heart as can be attested by the number of road rash victims at the end of the race. But everyone was smiling at the end and feeling elated to have accomplished a pretty major feat.
