Southside Park

John had invited me to ride Southside Park with him, Mark, and Marc on the same day that I was up at Unicoi with Billy. I couldn't ride with him, but as neither of us had ridden it before, I asked him about it afterward, and he gave it a positive report.

Alright.

Fast forward a bit... Or, actually way back, and then forward again...

I once had a Chris King/Open Pro wheelset for my road bike, broke the rim, swapped them for an old set of Ksyriums from my brother's old road bike, and eventually swapped them again for a full XTR group/wheelset that came off of his new road bike when he upgraded his stuff. So, basically I had an old King rear hub lying around with a perfectly good freehub body in it. This past Saturday, I got Glen to replace the worn-out one on my mountain bike with the good one from the old road hub. As fate would have it, he could crank the cassette nut down to his heart's content.

Score!

The Rolling Junk Show lives again.

I was eager to hit Southside Park, but I couldn't get away yesterday. Fortunately, there are two days to every weekend, and today was that second day.

Billy met me at my place around 10:00am, and we were off.

Off to the Waffle House, that is. I was starving, and there was only one cure - a chicken sandwich. Odd think to get at Waffle House, I know, but that's the way it was. Strange things were afoot at the Waffle House though. That one by my house is usually all-around-great, but today they were having trouble. There were various people waiting for to-go orders, and one couple waiting on a table. There was one table available, but it hadn't been bused. Apparently, not just anyone can bus a table at Waffle House. The greeter guy can't. The cooks can't. The servers can't. The manager can't. Just the busboy. And he wasn't around. Everybody but my got their order and left. That couple was still waiting. The busboy comes in from whatever he was doing and gets told to take care of the table. He spins around like he's headed to the dining room. Never see him again. Five minutes later I get my food and the couple is still waiting. If it'd been me, I don't think I'd have waited that long. It wasn't clear who to fault either. Everybody was working really hard. I couldn't tell what the busboy was up to. Maybe some other important thing. Defnitely atypical for them.

I had my sandwich though, and consumed it greedily on the ride down.

Southside Park is ITP. There's all kinds of good stuff ITP, if you know where to find it, and I'm learning where to find it, little-by-little.

The park itself is kind-of nondescript. Baseball fields and the like. There is this amazing sculpture though.

That's a bunch of old-aluminum bats.

The trails are pretty interesting too. There's a beginner loop - 1.5 miles, with minimal elevation and nothing technical, but man does it flow. I wanted it to be like 3 times as long, and just rip it. There's also a connector over to an intermediate trail, which abruptly crosses this weird spillway.

I'm not sure what's spilling over it. There are like 5 unnamed creeks that all come together upstream. The land is really flat there, so maybe they come together into a bit of a swamp, which generally flows north, and coalesces into a more well defined stream somewhere up there. Whatever the deal is, it's a unique feature that I've never seen before.

The intermediate trail is more of that same flow, with a little more elevation, and a bunch of rock. Like Blanket's Creek South Loop levels of rock. Not everywhere though, just here and there.

The expert trail is stacked on top of that one. A guy at the trailhead told us that it's not officially open, and there are fences up blocking it, but just ride around them because the local chapter wants people to pack it down. That sounded incredibly unlikely, but he sounded all authoritative about it, and so I felt compelled to follow his directions. Sorry Brett.

That trail is the rockiest thing I've ever ridden. And, that includes Dug Gap. Although there are more miles at Dug Gap, they are not even as densely rocky as this. I had to walk a bunch of it the first time through, but cleaned the whole trail the second time.

Shredd.

My rear tire kept getting low. I had to pump it up after the first lap, and needed to again as we were finishing the second. It was also starting to rain as we were approaching the lot. Rather than get hit with the full force of it, we decided to spin another lap around the beginner trail, chancing it with my low tire, while it was still semi-dry in the woods. This turned out to be the right move, as the rain was just starting to make it through the canopy as we finished the lap, then abruptly stopped as we pulled into the lot.

Perfect.

We didn't get in too many miles. Maybe 15 total, but I really dug the trail. There are plans to build trail at 2 more nearby parks, with greenways connecting them. If they end up anything like the trail at Southside, then it sounds like a great idea. I can't wait to string them together!

Jones Creek Ridge and Unicoi

The 6th was the first weekend of June, and though the COVIDs are still a thing, they're not such a thing that we can't work together in the NF any more.

Work party!

Sophie and I met Debbie and a bunch of other volunteers at the Bull Mountain lot, bright and early. Though, we first went to the Jake Lot, didn't find anyone, went to the Moss Creek Lot (old Game Check Station), didn't find anyone, and only then reread the email saying to meet at Bull Mountain. It's stupidity like that...

Anyway, we met everyone, got a weedeater and some loppers, and headed up to the trail above the switchbacks on Jones Creek Ridge. There was a blowdown up there years and years ago, and a lightning strike since then. Tons of light gets through, and it's a bit of a jungle in there. In the summer, it's a lot of work keeping the sight-lines clear.

It's important enough in a normal year, but this year, with the virus, the gyms are closed, everybody's getting outside, mountain bike sales have gone through the roof, and there are inexperienced riders in places you don't tend to see them, in numbers you also don't tend to see.

I took all kinds of great pictures, but for reasons I'll get into later, I don't have any of them.

While working, dozens of riders came through, including a family with young kids - both boys and girls, like 8 or 9 maybe, who totally rode that whole climb! I was super impressed.

We managed to get the whole section clear, right before I ran out of weed-eater cord. I'm bringing a stronger cord next time, or maybe a blade attachment.

We dropped off the tools, and headed up to Unicoi from there. Remember when I said it'd be great to make a habit out of camping with the Pickens'es at Unicoi? Well, I'm not sure if twice in a couple of weeks counts, but I hope it does.

Camping!

Actually, first, tubing!

There's all kinds of fun, outdoor stuff to do in and around Helen, but for as popular as it is to do, I have rarely actually gone tubing up there. I think there are 2 different tubing companies that run out of Helen, but there was some reason, which I forget now, that they couldn't use either one. And, it was just as well, it turned out. The city was as packed as Helen gets. The lines, waiting for the buses were literally a mile long. Nobody was even thinking about that 6 foot rule. The buses were running at full capacity. Traffic through town was 1-mile-per-hour, tops, and the buses went right through town. It would have taken all day. At any rate, we didn't know any of that when we decided to use our own tubes, and shuttle ourselves, but it worked out.

Billy had to take his dog to a local dog-sitter before we could get in the river, so Sophie and I waited for him at that gas station in Robertstown. While waiting, we noticed a lady ride up on a bikepacking rig, run in the store, and come out with thousands of calories in junk food. "How many miles today?" "I'm not sure... From Dillard." "TNGA route?" "Yeah! You know it?" "Oh yeah!" etc. Her name was Victoria. She was from the Brevard NC area, and said she'd been wanting to do the route since she first started riding. Man, that warmed our hearts. She was making really good time, and looked super strong. Maybe I'll see her at the start someday. We wished her good luck, and she took off toward Hogpen.

Billy arrived shortly after, and wee put in at a parking lot just inside the NF boundary on FS44, a little ways above where the tubing companies' put ins. This was a little sketchy, as they keep the river pretty clear of debris between the tubing companies' put-ins and take-outs, but it's random above and below. There was a semi-sketchy shoal up there, and a downed tree that we needed to get over/under/around. This went reasonably well. Sophie and I had $5 Walmart tubes which were literally just a big fat, inflated donut. They were quite nimble, and easy to get in and out of, but also somewhat unstable. Billy and Megan had the slightly more expensive, but infinitely fancier Walmart tubes which were bigger in diameter, with a mesh floor across the hole in the center, a seat-back, and drink coozies. They also had the kids on their laps. The larger diameter made their tubes more stable, but also much more difficult to get in and out of, especially with a kid in your lap. After a little trouble above the shoal, Megan and I ended up switching tubes, and I wrangled Hank until we got below the downed tree. Then we switched back.

After that, it was great except that our cheap tubes put us pretty low in the water. Like, my butt was at least 6 or 8 inches below the bottom of the tube, Sophie's was similarly low, and there are A LOT of rocks in the water. The ones you can see are fine. Just lift yourself up and ping-pong off of them. It's when the water starts to get shallow, but you can't immediately tell, and then there's a rock, that somehow doesn't lift the water above it, and you slam into it at 6 or 8 miles an hour. After about 10 of those, I was sick of it. You can't possibly prepare for them, you just have to take the hits. No more cheap tubes for us. Sophie also got colder than it was probably good for her to get, but pulled through. Despite all that, we had a lot of fun, it just wasn't relaxing like we'd hoped.

Again, I took great photos of all of this, but don't have them now because my phone is at the bottom of the river. I brought it with me, because last time we went tubing I'd brought it with me, and had no trouble hanging on to it and keeping it adequately safe and dry. I mean, it's in a Lifeproof case, it ought to be fine, right? Turns out no. We really got moving at one point, we through some rocks, I dropped it, it went through the hole in my tube, and that was it. We were well downstream, still moving when I realized. Going back would have been dangerous, especially with our tubes tied together, and I wasn't sure where I'd lost it, or how deep the water was.

So, no photos. I managed to get a new phone the next Monday though, and recover everything except the photos I took that day.

After tubing, we camped at the park. It went much like the last time with the kicking back by the fire, and the hot dogs, and the chicken, except that I'd bought a cheapish 4-person tent from Walmart the previous day, so me and Sophie slept in relative luxury that evening. Also, we had the presence of mind to bring some Chachere's this time, so the chicken was well seasoned.

The next morning Billy and I rode Unicoi again, and it was just as steep as the last time. After picking up and heading out, we ate at North Georgia Barbecue, which was amazing, then hung out down by the river for a while, before finally heading home.

Well, I don't know if it quite counts as a habit yet, but I'm certainly hoping that it develops into one.

Allatoona

When I was in Texas, I rode nearly every single day. Since I've been back, there's just been too much going on, and it's been difficult to get anything done, let alone ride. I guess, as a good example, it's 12:15AM right now, I've been going since 8AM, and I still have some work to do this evening.

Short on miles, but wanting to jump back in, I committed to riding with Billy at Allatoona a couple of weekends ago, feeling good about it when I did, only to find myself up 'til 4AM the night before getting some crap that I can't remember now finished. We got a decently late start, but not late enough, it would turn out.

I felt great on Rusty Bucket, but it was all downhill from there.

Well, I wish it was all downhill. In fact, there was a great deal of climbing, and I felt like garbage doing it.

I want to say we rode like 20 miles, but it felt like 60. It didn't help that my bike was giving me fits, either. Texas had really given it the business, I'd taken it to Glen for some much-needed servicing, and gotten it back in fine shape, except for one thing. The freehub body is really old, the threads have gotten worn down over the years, and there's a limit to how tight you can tighten the nut to secure the cassette. You can get it "good-and-tight" but if you get it too tight, the nut springs pops up out of the driver. It seemed fine when I started riding, but it loosened up a tad as we rode, and before long, the cassette was loose, shifting funny, and engaging like a non-King hub. It wasn't the end of the world, but it added to the misery.

I guess I shouldn't say "misery". Dissatisfaction maybe.

Ehh, some days are like that. Better sleep would help. A less rolling junkshow of a bike would help too.

Eastern Kingsnake

I was in-and-out of the basement at Kathryn's place a good bit the other day, and this cool guy made a break for it while I was inside.

He didn't make it very far into the driveway before I interrupted him by opening the door again, but then he seemed pretty ambivalent about it. Like: "Ok man, I'll just wait here. Carry on, and I'll get moving again when you're done." So, of course, I called everybody down to see him, and take photos, and video, and what have you. He just waited patiently for all that. "You guys done? Ok, thanks."

*slithers away*

Yonah Preserve and Unicoi State Park

Some number of weeks ago I made it back to Atlanta, and I think a week later, but it might have been two, Billy called me to see if me and the girls wanted to car-camp with them at Unicoi. Was that even happening? The COVIDs were still upon us, and though the state was opening up a bit, parks were still closed, and I didn't figure campgrounds would be open.

Turned out I was wrong though.

Ok. Camping!

I forget now what, but we had something to do early Saturday morning, so we did that, then ran through Publix, grabbing random stuff to cook. There were no obvious marshmallows, so Sophie asked one of the stockers, who pointed us to where we'd looked already. Sophie happened to look to her right just then, and noticed marshmallows right there. Kosher marshmallows, in the ethnic foods section. That'll do. There was a motorcycle accident just up the road, which looked horrible at first, but upon closer inspection, looked like everybody was able to walk away from. This strangled traffic though, and it took us quite a while to really get on the road.

But, we did, and actually arrived a little earlier than we expected. But, then it took forever to find the actual campsite. Apparently I'd never actually noticed the Unicoi campground, and what I thought was it was the day-use area. Woohoo.

When we found the campground itself, there were still like 87 sites that we had to sift through, and we ended up finding them by spotting Ellie Claire's golden curls from about 50 yards away!

After getting settled in, Billy and I drove over to Yonah Preserve and ripped that singletrack.

I hadn't ridden there since me and Clark inspected the partially-completed system after a massive storm had knocked down hundreds of trees. Well, let me tell you, it's a lot different now that its finished and worn in.

Glorious.

Easily one of the best "in-town" type trails around. Preston really know what he's doing. I'm kind of excited to get back and ride it again, honestly.

The lake is now open to the public as well, and there were quite a few people paddling around on it, not to mention fishing.

We spun a couple of laps, and would have spun a couple more but for the time.

Back at the camp site, we played with the kids, grilled a bunch of hot dogs and chicken, and generally kicked back.

Billy, Megan, Ellie, Hank, and Snoopy slept in a big family tent. The girls slept in Billy's spare 2-person tent. I'd brought my bikepacking gear and though I had a tarp, there was no rain in the forecast, so I ended up just sleeping under the stars. Bugs, it turned out, were not a problem, and I slept really well.

It is still early in the season though, and I need to come up with a bug solution soon. I'm not subjecting myself to the same bug-related torment I faced last year on the TNGA. I rode with my brother right after getting back to the ATL, and picked his brain a bit about the subject. He gave me some ideas. We'll see what shakes out.

The next morning we woke up, lazed around a bit, packed up, and headed to the Huddle House.

Their dining room was actually open, but we ate at a picnic table outside, under a huge Southern Magnolia, which the girls promptly climbed.

We had to be out by 11, I think, so we didn't dally around, but we still had a good time eating, and the food was excellent. I forget how good Huddle House really is. And they have actual pancakes. I'd say "Take that Waffle House!" but I live in Atlanta, and it just doesn't seem right to disparage the Waffle House.

Also, I forgot, on the way out of the campground, I noticed an example of the confusing weirdness, as the state decides just how to reopen...

The Unicoi Campground is fully open, and fully packed. Hundreds of locals packed in together. Arguably, they are adequately distant from one another. But, then there's the bathhouse... On the other hand, the Hickory Nut trail (on NF land, not state), arguably one of the least likely places you'll run into another human, on any given day, is decidedly still closed.

I don't envy the decision makers, trying to figure out how to proceed.

The park trails were open, so while everyone else went down to the river for a while, me and Billy spun a lap around Unicoi.

I couldn't remember when I'd last ridden there. It might have been 10 years ago, post TNGA, with Norma, Johnny, and Russell. It seemed like I'd been there at least once since then, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Unicoi is kind of a figure 8. Somehow we ended up riding the bottom part of it the right way, and the top part of it the wrong way. Don't ask me how.

Man, there are some seriously steep climbs on that trail. I forgot just how steep.

Billy really doesn't like snakes, so I took a photo of this one, but shooed it away before he rode up.

I did send the photo to him later though, with heart emojis.

Dang, so much climbing...

We met the rest of the family under the bridge, at the river, where there were a dozen or so people in little groups, trying to be friendly while keeping their distance. This one guy and his granddaughter were from Hoschton, so I mentioned the local dentist, "Justin Payne, DMD", that the girls and I had noticed there years ago, and we all laughed about it. Hank and Ellie loved playing in the river, and we only left when we ran out of time.

It was a great trip. I'm glad it all worked out. Everybody seemed to have a pretty good time. It'd be a good thing to make a habit of.

The Rest of Texas

So, it looks like the new normal is going weeks, even months without journaling. How did it come to this?

Some time ago I was still in Texas.

I got a really good tan.

There's plenty of Vitamin D in Texas. There is also plenty of wind. My goodness. Leave at 4PM, heading east, dead into the wind. Ride around for 2 hours, come back heading west, somehow also dead into the wind. That's what it's like. Plenty of cookie dough in Texas as well. "Hmm... That grey dirt looks slightly soft, I wonder..." Immediately cakes both tires half an inch deep with one rotation. Immediately cakes both shoes half an inch deep with first steps. Bike weighs 8 pounds more. I don't miss the wind or the dubious grey dirt.

I had plenty of fun before I left though, riding the local trails.

There's this one up north called Sister Grove, that was honestly a lot like McKinney, and a lot like many other trails in the Dallas area.

Stacked loops.

Nice tread.

You wind around through cedars for a while, pop out into a field for a while, pop back into the cedars for a while, and repeat. Lots of cris-crossy roots to manage. Sometimes you have to lean forward awkwardly to get your center of gravity low for the turns. That's the general character of most of the local trails. Each trail has unique features though. Sister Grove, for example, borders Lavon Lake on the north side, and you can take a hunting access trail down to the edge of the lake. There's no proper shore though, the lake just floods way up into the woods. So, you're riding along, and the underbrush starts getting thin, then you see water, and it's everywhere in both directions. Really cool.

I also rode Frisco Northwest Community Park, which was the least fun I had out there. It just rattled my teeth out, and I don't usually complain about twisty trail, but it was more twisty than I enjoy. I did figure out how to ride it better on my second lap - that awkward forward-lean to keep a low center of gravity - but I didn't spin a third. As much as I didn't enjoy it, I seemed to be in the minority. The lot was full, and driving away, I saw 5 separate riders on their way to the park from various local neighborhoods.

Other than that, I put in a ton of miles on dirt roads south of Forney, near Crandall and Talty. "The Blackland". One road, FM2757, was nearly 4 miles of packed limestone and gravel one day, and then two days later it was paved. I guess I happened to catch it at just the right time.

I got in a lot of good miles in Texas, but there were things to do back in Atlanta, so I ended up heading back before getting to hit a few of the trails that I'd hoped to. That's how it goes sometimes, but I imagine I'll be back soon enough. My folks live there, and I doubt that'll be changing any time soon.