Silver Comet Trail: Floyd Road to Rambo Road (Day 1)
We just got back to the hotel after about four hours on the trail.
SallyTN, Karen, and I set out this morning from the Hiram trailhead a little after 9:00 am. This morning as I was getting ready, I realized I had not brought my cleated shoes. So I rode the first ten miles using athletic shoes to pedal on Speedplay frogs.
First we rode east toward Atlanta. The Hiram trailhead is at mile 14.6 of the trail. We had already talked about going by the Silver Comet Depot to swap some Schrader valve tubes we had bought there for Prestas (Karen's trike prefers Presta valves). It's a top notch bike store at mile marker 4.5 on the trail. After I realized I had forgotten my shoes, I had even more incentive to go by the store -- to get some emergency pedals.
It was overcast and a little cool when we started. Based on the forecast, we expected the clouds to burn off and the sun to come out. As it turned out, the overcast stayed with us and it stayed a little cool. It would have been nice if it had gotten just a little warmer, but we didn't have a problem with overheating.
There were lots of other folks on the trail -- bikers, joggers, and walkers. We were surprised at how many recumbents we saw. There were even a couple of other trikes besides Karen's. The closer we got to the Atlanta end, the busier the trail became.
At the bike store, I got my pedals and swapped the tubes, Karen visited the convenience store across the street for extra provisions, and we all had a snack and a rest. When we were ready, we got back on the trail heading west this time.
Gradually the crowds thinned out and the trail surroundings became less urban. We passed a condominium development advertising townhomes on the trail in the 140K range. Wouldn't a house on the trail be sweet?
On the way back, Sally got a little ahead of Karen and me so that we lost track of her. She had mentioned that she was probably going to stop at the next restroom that came up, so when we passed one, I looked for her bike, but didn't see it. We rode on, expecting to catch up to her, but got all the way back to the Hiram trailhead without seeing her.
After we had been sitting there a few minutes having another snack, up rides Sally! She had stopped at the rest stop where I looked for her. She saw us go by and waved but somehow I missed seeing her. Anyway, we got hooked back up again. After another rest and snack, we pedaled on down the trail to the west. We passed the Jennifer Ewing memorial (the lady who was attacked and killed on the trail several years ago) and the Tara Drummond trailhead (a police officer who was accidentally shot and killed during firearms training).
We turned around at the Rambo Road trailhead and started back to where we had left our vehicles. After a while, Sally rode off ahead of us again. I figured she was just tired and ready to be done, but all of a sudden as we're riding along, she's parked alongside the trail with her camera out and she shoots a picture of Karen and me as we go by. So I decided to try the same thing. I rode out ahead and got set up and got a pretty good picture of Karen as she went by. Then I thought I could make things better and messed up the camera settings on my cell phone and got a blurry picture of Sally as she passed (see below).
When we got back to the Hiram trailhead, my computer was registering 36.03 miles with an average speed of 9.0. Since Karen and I typically do 7 to 8 mph, that was pretty good for us. Our total ride time (not counting stops) was right around 4 hours. This is the longest ride Karen and I have made in a day. It never would have been possible before we were both recumbent. Now we're tired, but nothing hurts. Such a nice feeling.
We're keeping our fingers crossed for more sunshine and better pictures tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan to ride about 30 miles from the Rambo Road trailhead -- the furthest west we got today.
SallyTN, Karen, and I set out this morning from the Hiram trailhead a little after 9:00 am. This morning as I was getting ready, I realized I had not brought my cleated shoes. So I rode the first ten miles using athletic shoes to pedal on Speedplay frogs.
First we rode east toward Atlanta. The Hiram trailhead is at mile 14.6 of the trail. We had already talked about going by the Silver Comet Depot to swap some Schrader valve tubes we had bought there for Prestas (Karen's trike prefers Presta valves). It's a top notch bike store at mile marker 4.5 on the trail. After I realized I had forgotten my shoes, I had even more incentive to go by the store -- to get some emergency pedals.
It was overcast and a little cool when we started. Based on the forecast, we expected the clouds to burn off and the sun to come out. As it turned out, the overcast stayed with us and it stayed a little cool. It would have been nice if it had gotten just a little warmer, but we didn't have a problem with overheating.
There were lots of other folks on the trail -- bikers, joggers, and walkers. We were surprised at how many recumbents we saw. There were even a couple of other trikes besides Karen's. The closer we got to the Atlanta end, the busier the trail became.
At the bike store, I got my pedals and swapped the tubes, Karen visited the convenience store across the street for extra provisions, and we all had a snack and a rest. When we were ready, we got back on the trail heading west this time.
Gradually the crowds thinned out and the trail surroundings became less urban. We passed a condominium development advertising townhomes on the trail in the 140K range. Wouldn't a house on the trail be sweet?
On the way back, Sally got a little ahead of Karen and me so that we lost track of her. She had mentioned that she was probably going to stop at the next restroom that came up, so when we passed one, I looked for her bike, but didn't see it. We rode on, expecting to catch up to her, but got all the way back to the Hiram trailhead without seeing her.
After we had been sitting there a few minutes having another snack, up rides Sally! She had stopped at the rest stop where I looked for her. She saw us go by and waved but somehow I missed seeing her. Anyway, we got hooked back up again. After another rest and snack, we pedaled on down the trail to the west. We passed the Jennifer Ewing memorial (the lady who was attacked and killed on the trail several years ago) and the Tara Drummond trailhead (a police officer who was accidentally shot and killed during firearms training).
We turned around at the Rambo Road trailhead and started back to where we had left our vehicles. After a while, Sally rode off ahead of us again. I figured she was just tired and ready to be done, but all of a sudden as we're riding along, she's parked alongside the trail with her camera out and she shoots a picture of Karen and me as we go by. So I decided to try the same thing. I rode out ahead and got set up and got a pretty good picture of Karen as she went by. Then I thought I could make things better and messed up the camera settings on my cell phone and got a blurry picture of Sally as she passed (see below).
When we got back to the Hiram trailhead, my computer was registering 36.03 miles with an average speed of 9.0. Since Karen and I typically do 7 to 8 mph, that was pretty good for us. Our total ride time (not counting stops) was right around 4 hours. This is the longest ride Karen and I have made in a day. It never would have been possible before we were both recumbent. Now we're tired, but nothing hurts. Such a nice feeling.
We're keeping our fingers crossed for more sunshine and better pictures tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan to ride about 30 miles from the Rambo Road trailhead -- the furthest west we got today.
Labels: 2009, SilverComet
posted by GreenSkink at 4:06 AM
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