Mon, 29 May 2006

I was back up at Bear Creek today
for Cartecay Bike Shop's Memorial Day ride. I got there right at 10:00 am, so I just had time to change my rear tube (flat from yesterday) and gear up. Mike from Cartecay explained that there would be A, B, and C rides. The A group left first, for their 35 mile(!) loop. I opted to go with Mike and the B group, which was going to back at the trailhead and become the C group. We did some fast downhill on the gravel road I had just driven up, all the way to the water, where we regrouped. So far it was all downhill.

Then we got rolling again. This was all climbin, with Mike calling back, "Get in your granny gear". And he was right. We went up, up, up, getting back all of that elevation we had given away on the gravel road. Eventually we got to the top. I only had to walk once. Eventually the whole group got there, and we started again.

Since we were at the top, it was time to go downhill again. It was a fast trail, and I quickly got used to going over the water bars. Finally we got to the bottom, took a quick break, and were off for the final leg.

Back at the top we took a group photo. There was chicken on the grill, but Mike left with the C group anyway. I had had enough, so I hung around for a little while, and then headed back to Atlanta. That was a great ride, and I want to thank Mike and Cartecay bikes. I want to get back up there for next year's ride.

Wait, I almost forgot to put the GPS track up. I was wearing my Garmin Forerunner 301. There is nothing but trees in the aerial photos, so I really have no idea what's what. Plus there was pretty heavy tree cover, so the GPS lost signal in some places. I think I picked out the trailhead, but that's about it. TopoFusion did say that we had about 1500 feet of climbing, which doesn't seem like enough.

posted at: 18:16 | permalink |