Jul 28 2010
Arkansas’ Alps
About half of Arkansas is hilly, if not downright mountainous. Now we’re not talking the Alps, Pyrenees, or Rockies, but if you have a 10 mile climb of 2400 ft and gradients of 8-11% or 1300 ft climbs with 15-18% in places, then the climbs are pretty real. Maybe two of the best known around here are Mt. Magazine (2753 ft) and Mt. Nebo (1370 ft.). The general elevation at the beginning of each climb is about 400 ft.
I had never attempted either of these before today, but wanted to see if I could do both of them back-to-back. The beginnings of the climbs are about 25 miles apart. So I drove to Havana (that’s pronounced “Hey! Vanna”) to begin the Mt. Magazine climb. The first 4 miles took 25 minutes. Not bad considering that the next 6 miles took 59 minutes.
The most fun part was seeing the little old ladies at the visitor center who Would remark about the heat of the day and then ask where I had been riding. When I told them that I had ridden up, they pretty much always exclaimed “Up!?!?” Yes ma’am….up. It only took 24 minutes to descend.
So then I hopped over to Dardenelle to get a roll on the other climb – Mt. Nebo. This little guy is shorter and lower. It’s about a 7 mile ride and only about a 1000 ft. climb. But, the differences are pretty severe. Mt. Magazine is mostly in the 7-8% grade range with some nice stretches of less and not many of much more. It also let’s you work gradually into the serious fun. Mt. Nebo has about 3 miles of rollers on a narrow, rough road with fast busy traffic. This forces you onto an even more narrow and rougher shoulder that is studded with huge mail boxes. Today’s treat was a pack of 6 fast, aggressive, persistent, large dogs that forced a 100 yard sprint that had me on the red line right up to the climb’s first pitch. That first pitch hits you at 6% and is at 9% before you know it.
Well, I was cooked! I had wanted to sort of meander into Mt. Nebo – not sprint my butt off into it. I was really glad that I was using the incline indication on the computer. I was really struggling when all of a sudden it jumped to 10% and proceeded to increase steadily to numbers I’m not used to seeing. Long story, short the whole thing got ridiculous fast hitting 15.5% and topping out at 17.8%.
The reward? On the way down, the pack of dogs was leashed….until just at the top of one momentum-sucking roller, another fast, aggressive hound bolted into the road. WTF?
All-in-all the Magazine ride was a joy and deserves a repeat. But Nebo is No-mo for me. And before you ask, no Cyclemeter on this ride. I removed the app because I’ve been really unhappy with the inconsistency of my results. I know, bummer. But I found that interrupting rides to stand in the road and curse at my iPhone made me look a bit eccentric, even by cycling standards.
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