Silver Comet / Chief Ladiga Trail Ride (Sat 20 Oct 12)

Could not have been a more perfect day for an all day ride on the Silver Comet from Smyrna, GA to Anniston, AL.  This would be the 2nd annual event planned by Tom Jones.  Eight of us met at the Mavell Rd trailhead at 0730.  Most of us are members of Roswell Street Baptist Church, but we put the word out for anyone to join us.  One of my old coworkers and Lockheed Martin riding buddies, Henry E. joined us.  We had John M. who was on his first long distance ride.  John had gone down the same riding path as I and many others have.  He bought a hybrid bicycle, but found out he wanted more speed.  John was able to return his hybrid and get a true road bike.  Also there was our SAG driver, David Beeler, driving the van that would shadow us all day and eventually bring us home.  Also at the trailhead were several runners.  I was lucky to get parking spot!

Chilly temps meant layers of clothes to start.  We suited up and headed out west.  The SC was packed with walkers and runners.  Turns out a local Catholic church was having a fundraiser with participants walking.  Our band of riders snaked in and out of the congested trail at a relatively slow pace.  We needed a recording of "on your left" as we passed all these folks.

As we reached Powder Springs, the SC traffic really thinned out.  After a brief stop at the Hiram caboose to shed some clothes, we headed west.  Next stop = Rockmart.  While we were stopped at Hiram a larger group of riders passed by followed by yet another group.  Once we got rolling again, we kind of mixed and mingled with these 2 groups.  Didn't really get the names of the groups, but it turns out the larger first group was going to Anniston, too.  They were going to spend the night and make the return trip on Sunday.  At least 15 riders.  The other, smaller group was going to the train tunnel before turning around.  As we rolled past Rambo Nursery and the large tressel bridge, we could see the large group ahead.  We slowly reeled them in and we created a rather large peleton.  This large group peeled off at Coots Lake to go to the store.  Our group rolled into Rockmart where our great SAG driver was waiting.  Minutes later we are rolling on to Cedartown.  "Assaulted" the Mt Trashmore hills and paused for a group picture at the top of the hills.  We passed a group of younger riders and some parents that turned out to be Boy Scouts camping at Rock Creek Campground.  They were our pursuing cycling merit badges.  We rode on to Cedartown past our crash site from the previous weekend.  Scrape marks are still there.  Dry conditions and not slick there today.  Still can't determine what is coating the SC there.  On in to Cedartown where we broke out the refreshments.  One of the Scouts and his parents (we think) rode in.  We invited them to help themselves to our little tailgate.  They fired a bunch of questions at us about who we were, what were we planning to do, and other general cycling stuff.  There in the Depot parking lot was yet another group heading to Anniston.

We rolled on towards the GA/AL state line.  With the hills behind us, it's just a matter of doing the miles now.  David S, being a strong, fast rider lead out on the long, boring 10 miles to the border.  I was feeling sort of spry so I picked up the pace to catch up.  I rode pretty hard to stay with David which had some implications for later.

David

 

Tom, Rick, Jim, and John

 Up until now, I had ridden this part of the Silver Comet before.  I had not ridden the segment of the Chief Ladiga Trail from the AL state line to Piedmont, AL so this was new territory.  The temperature was in the mid-70s and not a cloud in the sky.  On our way to Piedmont, we passed 3 large family groups on mountain bikes and 2 trikes.  Man, everybody was out riding today!

We took an extended stop at the welcome station in Piedmont.  The lively banter and ribbing each other had pretty much stopped as we started to deal with the miles in our own way.  My previous record was 69 miles.  Rolling out of Piedmont I welcomed the brand new asphalt surface that had just been paved.  The stretch of trail from Piedmont to the end at Anniston used to be very rough with advancing tree roots causing sharp bumps in the trail.  Nothing like that now.  Smooth as a baby's bottom.  Of course, you can't have it all...great weather, smooth road, and a tailwind.  Two out of three ain't bad, but the 10 knot headwind takes its toll.  At mile 80 I hit my own personal "wall".  The rest of the ride is somewhat of a blur.  Everything hurt at the end.  Neck, arms, back, and my rear end just wanted some relief from that saddle.  93 miles and some change.  Ooooorah!  We all made it!

Next hurdle was getting all 7 of our bikes into the back of the van.  I was skeptical and it took a lot of finagling, but they got in there.  Change clothes and off to Outback where we put a serious dent in their steak supply.  Of course, they could have put down a large chunk of shoe leather in front of me and I would have just said, "pass the salt".

Tired riders headed back to Smyrna.  Of course, it's plenty dark at the trailhead.  I couldn't find my keys.  Was sure I had put them in my jacket.  Was sure I had put them in my backpack.  Hmmm, was sure I had put them in my jersey pocket.  Well, everyone else is gone now.  Repeat search.  No joy.  Oh, man, Debbie is not going to like this phone call I'm about to make.  What, oh yeah, the keys are in my phone pouch on the bike.  Heavy sigh of relief.  Slept the sleep of the dead Saturday night.  Fantastic day on the bike with a lot of laughs on the bike with friends.  Can't wait for the next one.