West Cobb

Man, time flies. I took some photos on a ride over a week ago and still haven't uploaded them. I guess time flying is a good thing. Means interesting stuff's happening.

Well, a week and a day ago I'd been feeling like I'd been lazy so I got out on the road for a few hours. I've got all these loops that I do out in West Cobb County and it seemed like a good idea to string them all together. I didn't really think it through though. Each of those loops can take a few hours. It would be a pretty long day...

First I climbed Mableton Parkway, the longest climb that I know of in the West Cobb area. My favorite landmark on Mableton Parkway is the A-Head A-Time Hair Salon.

It's between two little kicks and I know I'm getting close to the top when I pass it.

Then I rode down Gordon and back up whatever road parallels Gordon. Gordon is great because you can get completely spun out for a mile or more. Woohoo!

Then I rolled through Mableton.

And there's not really much there. They have a "Historical District" sign but everything in the historical district has been redeveloped into a neighborhood except for an old depot along the tracks, and there was a train blocking that. There's this mural though.

But that's about it.

Then I took Clay Road out to Powder Springs and grabbed some breakfast at the BP.

Mmmm, chocolate donuts.

Actually I wasn't quite to Powder Springs proper yet.

But I was a few minutes later.

And then there was the long stretch north to Acworth.

I'd been kind-of suffering all morning so far. More than could be accounted for by lack of consumption of calories. Only lack of sleep, working long hours, and lack of riding could account for such suffering. I hate that particular kind. The last time I felt it was on the first day of the CFiTT and it was no good. I hoped I'd wake up and shake it but it wasn't looking good at that point.

Somewhere along the side of the road on the way to Acworth I passed two interesting bits of road kill.

The first was a badger. No kidding, a badger. I got a good look at it. If I hadn't been suffering so much I might have stopped to take a picture, but it was on a short climb and I felt like if I stopped I'd never get started again.

The second was just a deer, but all 4 feet were sticking out into the shoulder and I didn't see it until I was right up on it. I swerved to dodge it awkwardly and got all squirrely for a minute. I joked to myself that it would actually be kind of funny if I'd crashed. I could tell people that a deer had tripped me.

As I approached Acworth, some guy laid on his horn as he passed me. It had been a while since I'd been harassed on the road so I guess I was due. I was riding like a foot to the right of the white line though so it seemed a little uncalled-for. I looked back, expecting to see an old haggard-looking guy in a beat up S-10 with no air conditioning, smoking a cigarette or something, but it turned out to be a really normal looking family in a minivan.

And then there was Acworth.

My buddy Billy is getting married in Acworth in November and as fate would have it, he called me to see if I wanted to ride the next day right as I passed the place they were going to have their wedding! What are the odds?

The climb to Kennesaw was horrible. The very air was strangling me. It was bad. I was pushing through it but that's all I was doing. I didn't enjoy a minute of it.

I pulled up next to an older lady and a younger man, maybe her son, at a light. They were in a red Miata with a personalized plate "WAYTOGO". I liked the plate. The guy looked at me: "I like your bike." And I was all: "Thanks man." But then he laughed facetiously. Or did he? It sounded facetious. Or maybe not. But why else would he laugh? I was puzzled. They sped away right as this occurred to me. I've seen movies like that where the guy gets confused and the antagonist disappears right as he opens his mouth, and he's just left standing there puzzled. It was like that.

When I got to Kennesaw there was some beerfest going on across the tracks to the left.

People were arriving and looking happy, relaxed, excited... I smiled at the disparity. I could not have described myself using any of those adjectives. My adjectives would have include sleepy, weary, dragging and lightheaded.

There's a little bit of downhill on the way out of Kennesaw but I still had to climb that mountain looming in the distance there.

Ugh.

There's a new paved trail on the side of Barrett Parkway and a family rode by in front of me at the stop light. Mom, dad, 2 kids. They looked fresh and happy to be out getting a little exercise. I was jealous and it made me laugh to myself.

The mountain was horrible.

I was relieved to roll into Marietta.

There wasn't anything going on in the square there, but lots of people were about. My legs were starting to twinge and I wasn't looking forward to any more stoplights.

Fortunately Atlanta Road is mostly downhill in that direction, and there are long stretches without stoplights, but the ones that there are all seem to have hills after them. I forgot to snap a picture as I rode through Smyrna. The hills on King Springs and Cooper Lake didn't seem all that bad for some reason.

When I got home it was like 5 hours later. Five hours! No idea how far it was, but five hours seemed like a long time.

Fortunately though, the next day I rode with Billy and had a great day. Like really great. That just seems to happen sometimes. Got to burn off the poison that first day, I guess. The second day is always better. Maybe if I ride more then it'll always be the second day. To ride more I'd have to work less though, and that's not going to happen any time soon. Duty calls! Speaking of which, I probably ought to get back to it.

Back to it!