Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga Ride: Day 3 Borden Springs, AL to Hiram, GA The Final Push

A much warmer night than the previous night, but after talking with my peeps at the National Weather Service where I work in Peachtree City, I knew rain was on its way, and with temperatures holding in the 40s, we definitely didn't want to be cold AND wet. The sun was out, but not for very long after we woke up, so we knew we had to get on the trail if we wanted to beat the rain. 

Funny thing about the heater. Last night, we got the heater back from Sandy and Amber in the RV before they went to bed. When we hooked up the heater in our tent, and the heater in Fabia's tent, the pull was too much for the generator, so we let Fabia use the heater...ie we were heater-less...again. Come to find out this morning, that right before Fabia went to sleep, she turned the heater off in her tent because it got too hot in her tent. The generator ran all night long, with no one using the power, I guess just to lull us to sleep with the engine running.  I think we were not meant to use a heater in our tent, HA!

We started a campfire shortly after getting up, had breakfast of pumpkin oatmeal and sausage...yum yum, sure did hit the spot. Oh yeah, and coffee...again a beverage and hand warmer. After breakfast we packed up all our stuff, sleeping bags, duffle bags, and the works. Then we were off on the trail. Thanks to our great support team...they took down our tents, pack everything up in the RV and headed toward Rockmart, not without saying good bye to Terry, the campground caretaker, who stopped by just shortly before we left.

The ride to Rockmart was pretty uneventful, although the hills between Cedartown and Rockmart were just as much killers as they were going the other way.  When we got closer to Rockmart, Dan was a little ways ahead of Josiah and me, and we saw him talking to another biker. This other biker had just ridden from Smyrna (approximately 50 miles) and was trying to get back. He apparently was on the road and was getting back on the Silver Comet...but headed the wrong direction. He thought he was headed back to Smyrna, but he was actually headed toward Alabama. Dan got him turned in the right direction and he was off. Along the way from the campground to Rockmart we did stop for some photos...

State Line looking toward the Silver Comet

Me

Dan

Me and Dan

Trail Names
Trail names are names given to you by other people. You cannot give yourself a name. So yesterday, as we were riding back from Anniston, Dan got the three of us got into an "attack" or "offensive" formation on the trail with himself being the point man. At that point he earned the trail name "Voltron." This was a name from a fictional character used in one of our pastor's messages. Today, Josiah and I got our trail names. I already had one, but was christened a new name. I was playing around with "attack" formation, "defense" formation. Dan said "you are being such a trekkie" which I was. He then re-christened me with "Enterprise." He was going to use Trek, but I ride a Fezzari, so that wouldn't work. Later down the trail Josiah got ahead of Dan and myself and then we saw him pull over. Josiah was saying that his jaw was locking. Right there he was christened "Lock Jaw." So there you have it, Voltron, Enterprise and Lock Jaw, what a combination!

We had a fantastic lunch at Rockmart. The support crew fed us deli meat with cheese, chips and fruit. This was the last we would see of our support crew on this trip. We owe so much to these people, they were an absolute blessing and such servants. I remember this morning wanting to pack up my Mizzou chair, and Amber said no, that she would do it, she said you are the rider. Wow, what a servants heart! 

Right before we left Rockmart to finish up the trail, which was another 24 miles, I called my wife to give her a time to meet us in Hiram...and that she would get 3 coffees for us. The clouds continued to thicken and about 2 miles from Hiram we started to feel a little drizzle, fortunately it never got any worse than that. We were all feeling the soreness of riding 54+ miles in 3 days, but not enough to keep Dan and Josiah from going off trail on some single track next to the Silver Comet. That didn't last long, but hey, at least they did it.

We pulled into the Hiram trail head, and about 30 seconds later so did my wife...with coffee! Woohoo!!!! Yes, we did it, we traveled over 160 miles in 3 days, putting in over 54 miles each day, camping in sub-freezing temperatures, riding in sub-freezing temperatures at times, and as much as I talked about how cold it was, I really enjoyed the trip and I can't wait to do another.  In fact, we talked about the next trip being a mountain bike ride, possibly Jake Mountain just outside of Dahlonega, GA in April 2015.

When I think about what we endured in the frigid weather, this doesn't even compare to what the refugees fleeing from Isis are going through. My heart goes out to them, and through this ride, Josiah told me that we were able to raise around $3000!!!! I applaud Josiah for seeing his dream go from a vision to reality!

Lock Jaw, Enterprise and Voltron at the Hiram, GA Trailhead

Stats for Day 3

Total Miles: 54.5

Total Riding Time: 4 hours 21 minutes 

Average Pace: 12.5 MPH 

Total Stats for the Ride

Total Miles: 163.1

Total Riding Time: 13 hours 18 minutes 

Average Pace: 12.2 MPH 

Route for Day 3...

Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga Ride: Day 2 Borden Springs, AL to Anniston and back

A VERY cold start to our second day. Lauren said it was 25 degrees! Wait, isn't this the south??? When we went to bed the night before, we gave our heater to the ladies in the RV. Come to find out, the generator on the RV was too loud and they shut it off, therefore they did not use the heater. Hmmm....honestly, as long as we stayed in our sleeping bags, we were nice and toasty. I put my biking clothes in my bag with me when I went to bed last night and that helped keep them warm. The only problem was when one had to do the late night pee break. Now THAT was COLD!

We, the riders, woke up to a nice campfire...thank you support team! As we sat around the campfire, the ladies prepared pancakes and bacon for us, oh yes...and COFFEE, useful not only as a warm beverage, but also as a hand warmer. It was AMAZING!!!!

Sunrise over the ridge was beautiful, and we took full advantage of the scenery as we ate breakfast. Fabia gave us some toe warmers to put in our shoes and hand warmers to put in our gloves. This helped A LOT!!! Thanks Fabia!

Shortly after breakfast we were on our way on the Chief Ladiga Trail to Anniston, AL, which is the western terminus of the Chief Ladiga Trail. Like I said in my previous post, the Chief Ladiga Trail is all asphalt and rides through some very beautiful countryside between the campground and Jacksonville, AL. 

Me at Piedmont, AL

Dan at Piedmont, AL

Piedmont, AL

Josiah's sweet bike

Fortunately there are no big hills like the Silver Comet, it is mostly a 1% grade, but for some reason it seemed all up hill. I was sooo looking forward to the ride back thinking it was going to be downhill, but that was uphill as well, I don't get it!?!?! Click on this link if you want more information on the Chief Ladiga Trail. The trail cuts right through Jacksonville State University campus in Jacksonville, AL which was a nice looking campus. Dan was quick to point out that they played Ga Tech in a football game (Georgia Tech is Dan's team). The ride from Jacksonville to Anniston was not as scenic, more urban and a little more crowded on the trails.

Josiah at the Depot

Dan and myself at the Depot

It was just a few miles further and we were in northern Anniston at Woodland Park. This is where we had our lunch, thanks to our wonderful support team (you get the idea that I like these ladies, oh I very nearly forgot, James and his wife Tori were helping us out as well, sorry dude and dudette). They served us chicken salad, fruit, chips and water, oh yeah, and mint Oreo cookies.

James and Tori

Temperatures were suppose to be warmer than the previous day, which they were, but only by about 10 degrees which would put it in the 40s. But there was also wind, which may explain why it felt we were going up a so gentle slope for the last 26+ miles. Needless to say we sat in the sunshine, letting it heat us up before we headed back the same way.

On the way to lunch, right before we got to Anniston, we saw a BMX track in Weaver, AL. So after we left Anniston, we decided to stop at the BMX track and give it a lap or two. Dan took some video which I hope to get in another post very soon. It was fun, but it pales in comparison to the BMX track in Peachtree City.

We stopped at an old bridge that no longer existed, but support wall were still there and so we took advantage of some photo ops, plus a snack break.

Dan

The ride back to the campground was uneventful except for a crash, what???

Nah, just a set up, no riders were hurt during the staging of this accident, ha!

Seriously, I'm fine

By the time we got back to the campground, we were ready for the day to be over. Up to this point we had logged just about 108 miles and it was starting to take its toll. Because of the grade being so low, and with the head wind we endured, we pedaled just about every bit of the 108 miles. Last September my wife and I pedaled 193 miles on the Katy Trail in 4 days, and while we were sore, it really didn't affect us that much, but it was also about 40 degrees warmer. Riding 108 miles in constant cold took a larger toll than what I expected, and so when we saw the campground, with the campfire, we were very VERY happy. My right quad was starting to give me problems, a tightening. It wasn't a cramp, but a tightening of the muscle. It lasted a good part of the day. Josiah had similar problems and I think Dan was having problems elsewhere ;)  

Campground Right before Sunset

Whenever we started to feel a little cramping we would take a salt tablet. We also were taking ibuprofen to help with the pain. This all seems to help to a certain extent.

After a nice HOT shower, we settled down around the campfire, having an awesome dinner of Bratwurst, cooked by James, regular and sweet potatoes cooked by Dan, and baked onions cook by Josiah. Of course the support team prepped all the food...thanks again! The potatoes and onions were cooked in the campfire which made them that much better.

After dinner it was time for more story telling and 'scores, but it didn't last near as long as the night before.

I think the cold was getting to all of us, the support team included, because we were all in bed by 830 central time. This time we had the heater in the RV until the ladies went to bed, then we put it in our tent. Fabia had the other heater in her tent. Unfortunately the portable generator would not support the pull of electricity from both heaters, so we let Fabia use the heater. Again, the riders slept with out a heater...hmmm, I am sensing a trend here. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to James and Tori as well as Lauren who all had to be back in Atlanta that evening.

Stats for Day 2:

Total Miles: 54.1(108.6 total)

Total Riding Time: 4 hours 23 minutes (8 hours 57 minutes total)

Average Pace: 12.3 MPH (12.4 MPH Overall Ride Average)

The Route...