Smyrna

It's been sleeting all night and day, and that's so unusual around the ATL that people are coming up with all kinds of clever names for it. The best one I've heard so far was Atlantarctica.

Honestly though, it's not so bad. It's definitely a little icy on fences, bushes and benches...

...but the roads are just slushy. There's very little of that smooth, slippery ice that us Southerners can't drive on like we had the last time. I'm sure all of this slush will freeze up tonight though. Oh, I can't wait.

At any rate, the frustration of slow progress on the code I'm working on, the novelty of the conditions, and I must admit, a little bit of Rule #9 drew me out into the weather. I wore nearly every stitch of warm clothing I own and it was just about right.

The mountain bike seemed like the right tool for the job.

It was.

The roads were slush and it was a slog. Road tires would have been useless.

I did have an objective. "Riddick" just came out at the RedBox and surprisingly, Publix was open.

It's a cold day in Atlanta when you can ride directly down the middle of the lane on East-West Connector. A cold day like today. I think I got passed by 2 cars in however many miles it is from here to Publix.

The weather wasn't all that bad, really. The sleet was fine and more or less just bounced off. The wind wasn't significant compared to the slush. I was warm enough too, so I figured I'd spin my legs out a bit and jumped up on the Silver Comet Trail.

I had it all to myself.

For a while at least. I did eventually pass a few people out for a walk but nobody else on a bike.

They're resurfacing and otherwise upgrading most of the bridges on the Comet these days, so long sections of it are closed. I rode west as far as I could then took the roads back home. Roads I'd avoid on the road bike were nearly devoid of traffic and it was more than a little exciting to get to ride them.

I even rode through the old covered bridge on Concord Road and had a challenging time getting up the next hill. A guy stopped me to ask if the bridge was passable on foot and I had a tough time getting going again.

The bike suffered from a little ice buildup too.

The worst was in the rear cassette. The smallest gears had little bits of ice packed between them and it was hopeless to try to use them. The derailleur itself kept growing little chunks large enough to rub against the spokes and I'd have to kick them off every now and then. Ha! How often does that happen? I love it!

I was out for 2 hours and I probably only rode 15 miles, but it was a fun 15 miles.

In-town Adventure, Woohoo!