I met my brother in Hiram today for a big road loop out that way.
Last weekend I'd had an easy time of a loop of similar terrain and distance, and I'd originally come up with an even bigger loop than the one we ended up doing, but he had a little bit of time pressure, so I trimmed it down a bit.
We started in Hiram and immediately had to wait like 10 minutes just to pull out onto Hwy 92, which we were only going to ride for like 2 blocks. No idea why the traffic was so bad. Last weekend I'd had no trouble at all. It was weird. We eventually did find a hole in traffic but seriously, it took like 10 minutes.
On Hiram-Sudie road it was the Oppossum Apocalypse. I guess with the weather being pretty nice these days, they're out and about, running the roads, and unfortunately getting run down on the roads as well.
Hiram-Sudie is pretty nice. Lots of rollers, fun to keep speed on. We eventually turned on to Buchannan Highway though, and expected more of the same. In fact, there was a nice little roller right ahead of us, so we kept the pace up.
Ha!
Turned out it was a never ending series of step-ups. I'll bet we climbed 8 or 9 hundred feet over the next few miles. It just never ended. I'll have to remember that road and ride into it a bit more conservatively next time.
Probably at the top of all of that climbing, we hung a right and wound our way up and over Vinson Mountain. I expected more climbing, but we'd apparently done all of that earlier. Vinson Mountain was mostly flat, followed by a screaming downhill. We both hit 50 just tucked and coasting. I've never hit 50 before except coming down off of Hogpen.
Woohoo!
After a while we rolled into Rockmart, missed our turn, went back and found it and proceeded north towards Cartersville.
Plant Bowen loomed in the background for part of the ride. I assumed it was nuclear because of the huge cooling towers, but apparently it's a coal plant, a huge one though, the highest producing in North America.
I could have used some of that power right about then.
I was struggling and we were both running out of water. There was a gas station on the left, but John spotted a Dollar General ahead on the right and deemed it a superior choice. Apparently there's a Dollar General near his place that he stops at regularly for water, snacks, Gatorade, etc. and they are reliably less expensive than gas stations. He may have been right. I think my 20oz Gatorade was $1.50. I'll have to do a little comparison shopping next time I'm at a QuickTrip.
I hoped the quick stop and refuel would help me out a bit, but I just continued to struggle, worse and worse over the next few hours. We turned east and eventually south, toward Dallas, on Hwy 61, which was 2-lane and busy.
The ride back in consisted of me sitting on, falling back over and over, and John waiting. I haven't been more uncomfortable on the bike in as long as I can remember.
I blame ham. Or I guess I should say, I blame my own misapplication of ham. I'd gotten up late, eaten nothing all morning, put a route together, called John, put a second route together and grabbed a ham sandwich, 2 extra slices of bread, and an apple on the way out the door. I remember thinking as I ate the sandwich that the ham might sit in my stomach for a while. I should have listened to my own brain I guess. I felt full the whole ride. I kept re-tasting the ham. The whole ride. I'd pound water, but it felt like I was just forcing it into my already full stomach. I couldn't eat anything but I doubt I got many calories out of that lunch. Ugh. Terrible. Terrible! I should know better. I do know better! Terrible.
At any rate, we finished in good enough time, and I guess it's good to struggle sometimes, for perspective, if nothing else.
All in all... Hwy 113 towards Cartersville is scenic, but not all that much fun. I could do without 61 back into Dallas. The southern parts of the route were great though. I'll have to come up with something that goes south from Rockmart.
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