Final Stages Before the Trip

It is now less than 24 hours before we hit the trail for Rides for Redemption's Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga Trail Ride. The packing is done, the training is done, all that is left is getting things loaded into the RV, our support vehicle. If you want a brief look at what I have packed, here's a vid...

Two things from the vid...

1) Yes, I dropped a battery charger on my left big toe, and it is VERY sore. That happened about 6 hours ago and the nail is starting to bruise. And yes, I made a rather obvious statement about the foot I pedal with...deal with it, LOL!

2) It is going to be cold!!! I grew up in St. Louis, and lived in Bismarck, ND for 6 years, but that was 20 years ago! I'm acclimated to the south and 30s and 40s is just plain cold to be riding. Here is the forecast for our trip...

Friday...Sunny. Highs in the lower 40s. Winds 10 to 15 mph.

Friday Night...Clear. Lows around 24.

Saturday...Sunny. High around 50.

Saturday Night...Becoming Cloudy late. Lows around 33.

Sunday...Cloudy. Chances of rain increasing through the day. Highs around 53.

Did I mention we are camping! Fortunately a friend of ours is letting us use his generator (thanks Landon!). I am bringing a space heater so we will have heat in our tent both nights. Its just the getting up in the middle of the night...if you know what I mean. 

We plan on taking plenty of pics and vids, but most likely I won't be able to post anything until we get back, which is Sunday. Keep us in your prayers, and again, if you would like to be part of this ride, you can pray for us and/or make a donation to Rides For Redemption, but clicking the link.

Ride at Dauset Trails

Today was the last day of training for the Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga Trail Ride which takes place starting this coming Friday. Yesterday afternoon, a friend and a real cool dude, John, text me seeing if I would join him on a ride at Dauset Trails. I jumped on this because 1) he and I work weird schedules and it is rare for us to be able to ride on the same day, and 2) I haven't been out at Dauset Trails in many  months.

Dauset Trails is a privately owned nature area that has a petting zoo and also a serious set of singletrack trails that links up with Indian Springs State Park. If you want more info on Dauset Trails, click here.

We got at the trailhead around 915 AM, kinda of coolish but it warmed up quickly. The trails were in excellent condition, although a few areas were slippery due to leaf and pine straw cover. We did a little over 16 miles and I had one of my best average speeds! Here are some pics of the area...

A funny thing about leaves and pine straw, they are slick when on the ground, however as the tires push the leaves and pine straw into the dirt, it is not as slick. However, if one happens to get on a bridge that has the same leaves and pine straw on it, it is very slick, which John found out as the bridge made a slight turn to the left...

They don't call me Fallow for short. Actually that is the new trail name given to me by Dan. There is a reason behind this. In the past, and obviously current, people who rode with me would inevitably fall on the ride. I would not fall, but they would. Therefore Dan gave me the trail name "Fallow"...those who follOW me will FALL. Fortunately John didn't get hurt...well not much. The fall drew some blood, but otherwise he was okay...except for a sore shoulder...and..well you get the picture.

His fall also happened to be toward the end of our ride on the last part of single track we took which was the link from Dauset to Indian Springs State Park. We then got on the road and did a short road ride back to the trailhead. It was great riding with John and I look forward to future rides with him.

Over the next few days I will be in final preparation for the Ride for the Refugees...cleaning my bike, packing, resting my legs, etc. Oh, yes and mentally preparing myself for what could be a cold and potentially wet ride. The forecast is not looking too good with highs in the 40s and 50s, and rain moving in Saturday night and Sunday.

Josiah's First Road Ride

This morning, Josiah and I were suppose to do a 30 mile road ride in prep for the Ride For The Refugees which starts next Friday.  It was a rather chilly morning, in the 30s here, which for us is freezing cold! I moved to the south to escape cold weather and yet it still follows me...UGH! For Josiah, I think he was pumped about doing his first road ride, check it out...

The ride was pretty chill, actually very chill, actually quite cold. However by the time we had pedaled 10 miles, we were shedding clothes and it turned out to be a pretty nice day. Unfortunately, because of time constraints, we were unable to do 30 miles, but we did manage to ride from Senoia, GA to Haralson, GA and back for a total of 24.3 miles (see Strava on the right). We were able to see the entrance to the house where Josiah used to live in Haralson. It is now Tamy Garden which sells fresh veggies. We were going to check it out, but we had to head back to Senoia.

The weather warmed up, the ride was sweet and we had no attacks from dogs or close-calls by motorists. All in all, it was a good ride. I think the cold weather played a little on my legs as they were a wee bit tired. I also noticed that since my bike saddle was cold, it was also a bit hard...and my butt was telling me so. But after about 5 miles, the seat warmed up and I had a comfortable ride. Josiah, well, lets say he has a few things to buy before the ride next week. We ended the ride with a Ride For the Refugees meeting at MaGuires in Senoia. I love this place, great Irish pub food. I would recommend the Reuben, Bangers and Mash, Irish Stew and their meatloaf. We were able to finalize the food for the ride along with who is going to be where on the support team.

I plan to do one more training ride, most likely Monday on the Peachtree City golf cart paths. I'll give my legs a few days off, and then it will be time to hit the Comet!

If anyone is interested in donating to Ride For The Refugee or for the Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga Trail ride, please click on this link...http://www.ridesforredemption.com/

Keep the Training Going

Did another ride today, all on single track on Stinky Trails in Peachtree City. Tried to get in as many miles in 2 hours time by taking a steady pace, and I was able to do that...a steady pace that is. Did just under 15 miles, which is a good ride for me. Definitely got the heart rate up which is what I needed. Beautiful afternoon in Peachtree City and on the trails...

Entrance into Stinky Trails

Just a nice shot!

Stinky Trails

Stinky Trails

Saw a couple of friends I haven't seen in a while on the trails, John and Kevin. They were taking advantage of the great weather. As you may see on a couple of the pictures, fall is here in the Atlanta area. The more used trails are easy to see, its when I get on the less used trails that the leaves are doing a great job on the cover up.

The next training ride is Saturday where Josiah, myself and possibly Dan will be doing a road ride around Senoia and Sharpsburg, hopefully getting in about 30 miles. This will be a good gage to see how well we are going to do. This road ride will have a few more hills to conquer, but still a good gage.

Training Continues...

A special event marked the beginning of our ride. Last January, an owl was found severely injured on Highway 74 next to the Stinky Trails. One of the local mountain bikers found him and through a series of events, he ended up in Auburn University to be treated and rehabbed. This was done through the efforts and donations of the local mountain biking community, a great group of people that ride the Stinky Trails in Peachtree City.

The folks at Auburn, AL that treated Hooter

This evening, before Dan and I started our training ride, we were able to witness the release of "Hooter." He has been fully rehabbed! They took him into the woods along Stinky Trails and released him there. What was funny is that all of us had our cameras waiting to take a picture of Hooter coming out of the crate. They opened the top of the crate and that bird took off! None of us got any pictures of Hooter leaving the crate, we just got a picture of the crate (LOL!), but at least he is in the wild again.

Hooter is in the crate, but not for long!

Afterwards, Dan and I did a short ride. We meant to go longer, but due to some gearing problems, but mainly due to dying batteries on our lights, we had to turn around about midway and finish the ride, doing only about 7 1/2 miles. I wasn't too upset. I was getting cold as temperatures had dropped well into the 40s (it felt colder), but way too cold for Georgia this time of year.

My faithful steed

A clear and crisp evening in Peachtree City

On another note, we did a fundraiser this past Saturday evening at Crosspoint Community Church in Peachtree City to raise money for Rides for Redemption, the organization for which we are doing this ride at the end of next week. Not sure how much money was raised last night, but if anyone is interest ed in either donating to Rides for Redemption or participating in any of the rides, please check out the link. To remind everyone, the ride we are doing at the end of next week, the entire Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga Trails, is to raise money and awareness for the refugees fleeing from ISIS.

Post Katy Trail Update...

I know its been a little over a month since my wife and I rode the Katy Trail in Missouri, but I finally got the video of our trip put together. We had a lot more still pictures, but when I upgraded my iPhone 4S to iOS8, it rendered my phone unuseable. I was able to revert to iOS7.1.2, which is good except when I did, it trashed all my still shots. Yes, was a bit upset, but nothing I could do about it. Anyway, I think the video still turned out pretty good...

Training Continues in Peachtree City

Yesterday evening, myself, Dan and a cool dude who I haven't ridden with in a while rode a combination of singletrack and cart paths in Peachtree City.  We started out on Stinky Trails, a really good set of singletrack on the south end of Peachtree City. We started right when it was dusk, which is really my favorite time to ride, just when you need your lights on but there's enough light in the sky to let you know what is around you. But that didn't take long to change, soon enough we were riding in pure night.

After a few miles of singletrack, we got on the Peachtree City cart paths. Not too many people out, although we did go by Schrader's Graveyard, unfortunately too dark to take any pictures, but let me tell you, the fog machine and lighting really made for a good display! We also rode past a group of riders, good to see more bikers getting out there at night. One thing I like about night riding is that your senses are definitely set on HIGH. I also like how even though I have ridden these trails many times, night riding changes them into a new set of trails to ride, pretty cool!

We did a little over 18 miles last night. This next week will be difficult to train as I will be on midnight shifts meaning I will only be able to ride at night, AND I will be dead tired, but I got to get out there and ride!

Bikes loaded, ready to ride!

Dan ready to do some shreddding!