I rode Hogpen from the North and South last April, which way are you riding from?

I suppose it doesn't matter, it's hard both ways.

When I did Six Gap out of Helen we would do that climb first from the south. Riding from Dahlonega I suppose you'd be riding up the south side of Neal's Gap (which is an incredible climb, not too hard but not easy either, just really long) then down the short north side and then back up Hogpen from the north?

Edit: I think the only time I've done Hogpen from the north was after Unicoi and Jack's gaps

I'll be honest, I am not sure if it was the north or south side. We did do Neal's Gap first.......loved that climb. The side of Hogpen, we did this year, was a fairly long gradual climb, and then it suddenly ramped straight up for the last 2+ miles. The descent, on the other side, was fast but interrupted by a few small climbs to break up the speed. I believe that is why they switched the direction of the course recently is because the side we climbed (this year) would result in a very fast straight descent 9and I heard someone died on the descent a few years back).

It's a great ride. I've done it multiple times and also three gap.

When I did it, it was Neels -> Jacks -> Unicoi -> Hogpen -> Wolfpen -> Woodys.

Hogpen is the hardest and Neels is the fastest after coming off the flats. So that 1 - 2 punch must hurt pretty good.

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My Strava | My Instagram | Summerville, SC | 35-39 AG | 4:41 (70.3), 10:05 (140.6) | 3x70.3, 1x140.6 | Cat 2 Cyclist

This year, the direction was Neels,Hogpen, Unicoi, Jacks, Wolfpen, Woodys. The descent down Woodys is nice, as long as traffic is not holding you back. They closed the road up Hogpen this year (?Russell Highway) and that was good because people were weaving all over the road on the steepest parts

How's the vehicle traffic during the ride? I've always wanted to try this but after seeing the car/moto traffic when I go hiking up that way I feel like it's beyond my comfort zone. Hwy 19 up to Blood Mtn/Vogel just gets crazy with the curves and how fast motorcycles and cars take them.

Before I got married and was single, I'd do this ride multiple times a year with my buddies. I think we'd probably go up 6-10 times during the summer from 2017-2019. I never felt like the cars were too dangerous.

The side you went up Hogpen is a shorter climb, but steeper. We'd usually come down that way. Either way, there's about 2 miles of steep that's not fun to climb.

If you are local to the area, you should check out the Hogpen Hill Climb in January where you start in downtown Helen and run to the top of the climb. It's was of the most challenging road races I've done and I'm a relatively strong runner.

Last year, I felt like the traffic was heavy (when I did 3 Gap) going up Neels......and really slowed me down on the descent. This year, it seemed like the traffic on Neels was much lighter. Maybe people were more aware this year, and knew to look for alternate routes, but it was definitely better.

Wow, I cannot imagine doing that

My son-in-law road it a couple of years ago and really liked 6 gap. I remember stopping halfway up Hog Pen to refuel and saying to him we are half way up. His return….yeah but we still have another hour of climbing to get to the top!

Its such a tough climb.

What amazes me is the number of riders from Florida who drive up to do this ride. There's no climbs like Hogpen, in Florida, but these Florida guys and gals seem to do very well

I don't think you need to train climbs to still do well on them. Maybe I'm biased because I have 15 years of cycling in my legs. Anyone that does VO2 or threshold work even on flats or a trainer should have proper muscular endurance to do well. They may have sore arms or low back if they aren't used to being out of the saddle or low cadence work, but shouldn't affect them on race day.

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My Strava | My Instagram | Summerville, SC | 35-39 AG | 4:41 (70.3), 10:05 (140.6) | 3x70.3, 1x140.6 | Cat 2 Cyclist

I did the official ride on Sunday and am up there to train pretty often (western 3 gaps at least since I like to ride it on the tri bike) and they are all great routes. I don't mind the short side of hogpen - just drop to the lowest gear and spin as well as I can, the longer side is a grinder that lasts forever. I probably passed 50+ people in those two miles though, I imagine a lot of people went through Neal's too fast while trying to stay in their pace groups, hit hogpen and suffered for it.

Traffic is usually my biggest complaint on this route, and I've been buzzed/yelled at a few times from both harleys and trucks. Sports cars/motos just do their own thing and I haven't been bothered by them, although I can see where people would get scared off by their pace. I'll take them any day over a jeep that can't descend faster than 25 mph and blocks the entire road...

Agree with this one, as long as you have decent enough gearing/fitness to keep the legs spinning there really isn't anything special about climbing on the bike.

Descending is another story though, tough to practice that one without mountains unless you are into motorsports or something like that where you'd understand racing lines and managing traction.

I live in the mountains and my lower back does start to hurt, towards the end, on these long mountainous rides
During the winter, I do my indoor training to try and maintain my fitness but my low back is never quite ready for the extended climbs outdoors, until I climb more. I've experimented with low cadence, on the indoor trainer, but it just does not give me the same training impact. As you all said, the descending skills would be hard to replicate. I encountered that on a few descents where I'd have people passing me on the climbs and then I would catch up to them on the descents.

I've gone over 50mph going down both sides of Hogpen.

The North side is steeper and shorter with more straight sections to get more speed easily. The South side has the two bumps you described near the beginning of the descent then another nearer the bottom.

It sounds like you went up Hogpen on the north side and down the south side. It's fun both ways, personally I like descending the south because of all the twisties. Climbing the north is hard, I like to ride a 36 in the back to make it more comfortable. When you hit the hard left on the way up you know you're near the top.

Yeah once I made that turn, and could tell I was near the top, I was so relieved. The descent was nice but I was behind a group of much slower descenders. Once we were at the top of Jack's (I believe that is correct), we passed the road for Brasstown Bald, and I was extremely thankful to not be climbing that road. I've climbed it once, about ten years ago, and it was a lot more difficult than Hogpen

Folks who live on the Florida beaches in my area train for the 6 Gap by riding into storm winds.

Central Floridian here and did Six Gap this past weekend. We have a few .25-mile hills that max at 7% grade and just do repeats for training. Gets pretty boring... Did the 3 Gap a couple years ago but this was actually my first Century! Saw a lot of Florida folks, especially from down South.

Group of us arrived on Thursday and drove to the church a few miles from Hog Pen and rode up the old way which is right off 75. Climb is 7 miles which reminded me of Neils. We then descended the steepest part which is 2 miles and then turned around to get a taste of that steep climb we would have to do on Sunday. For me, the scariest part was descending the 2 miles which is why I think Six Gap changed it because of how sketchy it can be with bad weather. This actually helped me because after descending those 2 miles, the rest of the descents were easy!!! Basically, baptism of fire.

Couldn't have asked for better weather. Aid stations (I believe 6 total) had plenty of nutrition and porta potties. Hog Pen wasn't bad considering it was the 2nd climb. For me, Wolf Pen was probably most challenging just because it's late in the climbs at around 70 miles. Like others mentioned, lower back was starting to hurt at times but that's expected.

Really enjoyed this ride and plan on going back next year.

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"Heart Rate, Watts, I have no idea, I race, I don't pace." Andrew Starykowicz