Cochran Mill

Again... A ride at Cochran Mill isn't usually worth mentioning, but this past April, I had an eventful ride there.

It started out like any other, normal day.

The bike was looking good.

I was feeling just right.

The trail was as glorious as it gets.

Coming back in from the back loop of the Yellow Trail, I ran into Flynn and spun another loop with him, but then crossing back over the creek, we were going pretty fast, and a rock tipped up, and caught my back wheel super hard. I almost crashed, but somehow managed to save it, and I was like: "Wooohoo! Almost went down there!"

We laughed it off until we got back to the lot, and damn. Cracked rim.

I've broken three of these rims now. Twice just by catching a rock wrong, and once where a spoke pulled through. They're not the most durable rims in the world. The last time I broke one, I tried to repair it, and I still had all the stuff, so I tried to repair this one too. I had better success than the previous attempt, but failed in this attempt as well. The price just keeps going up on them too. They were $175 when I first bought them, and now they're $350. Cheap for carbon rims, but still!

I had a spare, so I got the wheel rebuilt in short order, but it was pretty frustrating. Crossing all my fingers for better luck in the future.

Rope Mill and Blankets Creek

Back in April, me and the boyz got together and rode Rope Mill and Blankets Creek. Good god, it was a pain train.

We started out at Rope and just hammered everything there. I felt pretty good, but not 100%, and though I had it, it was a struggle to keep a good pace.

There were almost no opportunities to take pics. Basically, only if we had to stop for some reason.

After shredding Rope, we took the back route over to Blankets, behind the water park, and, impressively, most of us made the kick up to the parking lot.

I was only able to get this pic by falling off the back for a sec.

I want to say that I cracked on the way back to the lot, stuggled all the way back to Rope, recovered on the final descent to the park, and just survived the climb back to the lot.

I need days like that though. More of those.

Cochran Mill

I ride (or more precisely, use to ride) at Cochran Mill so much, that a ride there it's not usually worth mentioning here, but back in April, I had a really good ride there, and I took some pictures, so I guess I'll mention it.

I guess there's not too much to say, really, except that it was a great day. Conditions were perfect:

I was feeling super strong and happy!

And it had rained recently enough that the creek was still raging, but not recently enough to make the trail wet.

It was a perfect day on the bike! I could really use more of those!

Cochran Shoals

Back in April, me and Heather hiked all over Cochran Shoals.

She runs and runs, but rarely hikes, so it was a rare treat to be in the woods with her.

We parked at the Cochran Shoals lot, followed the jogging trail for a while, then hung a left onto the hike-only trails south of the rest of the system. The trails run up and down along the ridges south of Gunby Creek, before eventually kind-of just following the creek back to the jogging trail.

It had been forever since I'd been out there, and the trails were a good bit steeper than I remembered, but not too difficult. We didn't exactly have a leisurely time, but we could talk the whole time.

Here's Gunby Creek itself:

And me, chilling at the creek.

When we got back to the jogging trail, we still had plenty of daylight, and plenty of energy, so we headed towards the main trail system. About halfway to it, I remembered that there are ruins up on the hill to the left that you can't really see in the summer, but are usually visible in winter. So, I kept an eye out for them, and yes! I could see them.

"Do you feel adventurous today?"

"Sure!"

After poking around a bit, we ended up finding a bit of a trail leading up to the ruins, so it wasn't total bushwhacking. But, it was definitely Adventure.

It turned out that the ruins were just behind someone's backyard. From the trail, I couldn't see that there was even a neighborhood there, but up on the hill, you're right there.

It looked like a popular spot!

After that, we still had energy and daylight, so we climbed up to the Cemetery...

...and took some fairly sketchy trails back down to the jogging trail.

By then, it was getting noticeably darker outside, so we started heading back to the car. I remember being chilly and having to crank the heat when we got going.

It's funny... As much as I've explored North Georgia, I've explored comparatively little of the Chattahoochee NRA, and Kennesaw Mountain, despite living right there for the past 10 years. I think I need to get out there more. Maybe I can convince Heather to explore with me.

Dalton Pinhoti

Taking another crack at the backlog. How did my life get so busy? It doesn't feel busy, but then I look up and days have gone by.

Back in, goodness..., March, I rode the Dalton Pinhoti with a really good crew - John, Mark, Marc, Erick, and, amazingly, Scott! Me and Scott have exchanged GPS data for years and years, infrequently run into each other at various events, but never actually ridden together. It was really great to finally get to ride with him.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The day started with eggs and a bagel at the house.

I don't remember how I ended up with wheat bagels. That's not something I'd generally have. I want to say that Indi left a bag of them at my place, somehow... Man, that was a long time ago.

At any rate... After perfect breakfast, I drove my ass up to Dalton and met all of the guys on the side of the road up there, as one generally does when riding the Pinhoti.

We got all dressed up, and struggled to cross the road. There's a big hill, and you have to either cross the road at the bottom of the hill, and ride the wrong way up the road to the trail, or pass the trail, climb to the top of the hill, and then come back. If you try to cross where the trail actually is, then you can get surprised by cars coming over the hill. Or, I guess, more precisely, you can surprise people who are coming over the hill. We ended up doing a mix of both, and then, of course, someone drove over the hill, got super confused, slammed on his brakes, and laid on the horn.

Woohoo! Confusion!

I remember feeling good at the beginning of the ride. The first kick up to the Pinhoti proper is usually tough, but I had an easy time of it.

Not as easy as Scott though!

That would be a trend, all day. I mostly felt pretty good, and could usually push the pace, but Scott was effortlessly faster. Man, he's just so strong!

Sadly, I don't remember too much about the ride, except that it was generally fun, we were moving pretty fast, didn't stop much, and I didn't have time to take many photos.

We did occasionally stop along the route, but very infrequently.

We did stop at Snake Creek Gap, which was the halfway point of our ride.

I made good use of the facilities there.

I want to say that I led the charge back to Dalton, and rode super well until Dug Gap Mountain, upon which I suddenly began cramping and despite having all the energy in the world, just could not keep moving. Pretty soon I was way off the back, and just suffered, alone, for the last 6 miles or so.

It might as well have been 50 miles for how bad it was.

I eventually managed to push through the cramps and felt ok when I got back to the car, but it was embarrassingly bad.

After the ride, we ate somewhere in Dalton. I wish I could remember where, because I remember it being a pretty nice place, with pretty good food. Might have just been Olive Garden or something though!

While sitting there, someone noticed blood on my arm.

I'd brushed it against a pine tree earlier and more or less forgotten about it, in my stupor.

I love riding with those guys, and getting to ride with Scott was a privilege.

Those were the days...