24 Hours of Iron Maiden

Back in early July, Jeph and the Comet Vomet boys invited me to do the 24 Hours of Iron Maiden with them. I hadn't done a 24 in forever, and it sounded great! I was in.

I did plenty of mid-week rides, and felt really good come race day... except that I'd managed to acquire a badly uneven sunburn two days earlier. On the upside, it was a very light burn, and didn't give me much trouble sleeping. I was actually much more concerned about how well my body would cool. Sunburned skin doesn't work too well. We would see!

We all arrived the night before. We'd gotten a camp site with a trailer hook-up, and all of our cars and gear fit pretty well in the spot. Eons ago, I used to set up a sleeping tent for these things, but at some point, I just transitioned to sleeping in the back of my truck, and haven't looked back. I think Tom did the same thing. Robert brought a camper-trailer with a proper AC unit in it, that he and his son Henry slept in. I forget what Jeph did. Maybe he had a tent?

There were wasps in the hookup box, which made it tricky and sketchy to actually plug in to, but we managed. I made some fajitas, and someone made some hamburgers, though I forget who, now. Damn. This is one story that would have been much better if I'd told it while it was fresh in my mind.

We prerode the trail when it was still light outside, so I just threw my light in my pocket, but it got dark quickly in the woods, so I had to stop and put the light on. The velcro gave me tremendous difficulties, and I ended up having to stop, fiddle with it, and catch back up twice.

The trail was pretty much how I remembered it from riding with Mark, Marc, John, and Erick, the previous winter. Woo!

There was a bathroom, with showers in a different part of the campground, so we all checked it out and got clean.

I thought it was funny that we were, technically, at least, forbidden from riding after dark, during a 24 hour race.

Before I fell asleep, I watched various deer roam through the campground, and 2 chicks drove up, got out, wandered around confused, sat in their car for a while, then left. No idea.

Other than that, I slept comfortably, in my luxury car camping setup, all night. I'd brought a box fan from my house, rigged it up on my bumper, and left the tailgate and windows open.

I was worried that I'd need the AC, but the fan worked really well.

I think the race started at 10. I forget what we had for breakfast, but my fuel for the rest of the day was all peanut butter sandwiches, clif bars, gatorade, and eventually ravioli.

We hung out at the tent for a while before the start, and discussed logistics.

Jeph would take the first lap, then me, then Henry, then Tom, then Robert. Late at night, we'd skip Henry for two laps, then he'd take the final lap. Robert would wake me up when he came in. I'd wake Tom when I came in.

We all followed Jeph over to the start and cheered him on as he went into the woods. He was pretty early in the pack!

This was me, pre-race!

Jeph came out of the woods first, and I was completely alone for my first lap. It was super fast, and super fun. I think we were in first place at that point.

I took a shower, but the building was hot. Apparently it wasn't air conditioned.

My fan wasn't cutting it at noon, in the summer, in Alabama, so I tried to crank up my car and get some AC, only to find that the battery had died overnight. The tailgate being open kept the dasboard display running, so that it could tell me. I figured it would go off eventually, which it did, when the battery died. I didn't figure it out that day, but apparently you can trick it by latching the tailgate against a screwdriver or something. To resolve this situation, I found Tom's keys, drove his car over, jumped mine, then drove his back. I then cranked the car, closed all the doors and windows, and slept in it with the AC on.

This was glorious!

The rain started pouring at 2PM. Just hammering. I forget who was out on the trail, at the time.

We pulled our chairs under the pop-up tent, but it was still tough to stay dry. The tent wasn't 100% waterproof. The rain wasn't 100% unwelcome though, as it cooled everything off, pretty well.

It was still raining when I got staged for my next lap. I ran into Jen Braddock at the starting line, and we talked a bit. She looked super strong and fit. Jeph came in: "Slick, don't take any risks!" and I was gone.

There are these two little set of rocks very early in the lap, near each other, that I rode the first lap, but didn't even try not to walk, in the rain. Jeph was right, it was slick. But, it was also predictable, so I was able to put in what felt to me, like some pretty good time. I passed 5 people, and sparred with a kid for quite a while, but managed to stay ahead of him. Near the very end of the lap, I got passed by a Squatch Creek rider.

Damn. I was hoping to crush people all day, but it turned out there was some legitimate talent at this event.

At the finish, I ran into Eddie and Audrey. She was doing it solo, and he, being an absolute 24-solo legend, was coaching her. I talked to them for a bit, but we all had stuff to do, and didn't keep each other.

After the rainy lap, I was still in good spirits...

..despite being very dirty and gross.

I woke Tom up. He'd also been sleeping in his truck, but between it being Alabama, in the summer! and the humidity, he hadn't been able to get cool, or stay cool. His truck (modern Bronco) will apparently shut itself off, if it's been idling for too long! Lord, what hell is that? He couldn't even just run it and bask in the glory of air conditioning. He was miserable, and wasn't looking forward to the next lap.

The rain had stopped almost as soon as I'd come back from my lap. I showered again, and the fatigue started setting in after the shower.

I may have failed to mention that, over the years, I completely gave up dressing and undressing during a 24. That's just too much energy. I'll put my bike clothes on to ride, but then I just shower in them and hang them to dry. If it's not too cold to do so, I just walk around camp in my boxers, and sleep in them too.

No one was to be found when I got back from showering. No idea where they were, but there was literally no one at camp. I didn't care, it was eyelid time.

Mmm, one more thing though... I bring every stitch of clothing that I own when I do a 24. It's great to put on a fresh kit for every lap. However, since I only owned 3 bibs, so I'd eventually have to recycle one. As such, I laid the bibs from the first 2 laps out on my hood, to let the delightful heat of the engine dry them while I slept.

Robert woke me up when he came in. I set an alarm for 30 minutes later. Jeph was doing laps of an hour and change, so I figured that would give me plenty of time.

It was dark outside when I lined up for the next lap. There was no one in the transition zone except for me.

During the lap, it was extremely humid. My light illuminated a billion drops of water in the air. It was actually difficult to see the trail because of all the water.

A guy passed me about halfway through, but I stayed on him, passed him back on the fire road, and stayed well ahead of him. Unfortunately, I missed the turn into the transition area, had to stop, turn around, and get going again, and I could see him coming as I pulled in. With that one mistake, I ended up erasing all the work I'd put in on him during that lap.

I don't think I showered after that lap. I want to say that I just hosed off and toweled off.

I was definitely in energy-saving mode at that point. My brain had switched off completely. Henry was now sleeping, and not going out for the next 2 laps. Would I still have to wake up Tom, or somebody else? This was difficult for me to figure out. Yes, I needed to wake up Robert. I can't remember now, but there was some issue with that. Either he wasn't there, or I woke him up right before going to bed, rather than right as I came in, or something. Some debacle that I can't remember now. It worked out ok, but whatever I did, it wasn't right. Tom, Henry, and Jeph had been doing some kind of rotation in the trailer, too. I don't remember what it was, how it worked, or whether it had any bearing on me, but I remember it confused the hell out of me after that lap.

This was me, at that point.

I slept super, super hard between those laps. Previously, I'd rested for maybe half an hour, slept for like 1 hour, then rested some more. Not this time. I was out, and didn't wake up until someone woke me up. Again, I set my alarm for 30 minutes, cranked out a few more Zs, then got back at it.

Despite being the middle of the night, I actually felt very strong and well-rested before that lap. There was one other girl in the transition area, and we talked and talked and talked. She'd just graduated high school, and had been riding on school teams since middle school. That made me so happy to hear. I just love that middle and high school mountain bike teams are a thing! I want to say she was on a 4-person team, and they were in either first or second at the time. Jeph came in before her guy did though, so I didn't have to chase her down in the trail.

That lap was the lap that I was trying to have all day. It wasn't my fastest, but it felt the best. I felt strong the whole time. The trail was finally drying out. It was foggy on the ridge, for that spooky-haunted-forest vibe. Woo! It was a really great lap.

Whatever I'd done wrong after the previous lap, I did more correctly this time.

I did forget to take a photo of myself before going to bed though. No idea if I looked worse than in that last one. I want to say I made myself some ravioli, rather than just a peanut butter sandwich, that time... IDK. I did that at some point.

Again, I slept like an absolute rock.

When I woke up I was feeling a little more engergized than after the previous nap.

It was getting light outside, and that really helped.

The parking lot birds were awake and milling around that morning, and a bunch of them hung out with me at the transition area.

I don't remember much about that lap, and my only notes on it are: "Super fast. Hungry"

I do vaguely remember starting to get hungry about halfway through the lap, and drinking extra gatorade to try to kill it. I don't remember bonking or anything, and I wasn't execptionally slower.

Henry was back in action, and after a solid night's sleep, he was ready to go when I came in.

If you don't finish your last lap inside of the 24 hour window, it doesn't count. If you're even a second late, you don't get that lap.

His last lap had been 1:18. If he could keep up that pace, he'd barely make it. We all walked over to the finish to wait, when there were about 10 minutes left in the race.

About 2 minutes later, he came tearing in!

And then prompty collapsed on the ground.

He'd beaten his previous lap time by 6 minutes!

Later, we looked at our stats:

Henry had negative splits. 1:19, 1:18, and 1:12. Not only was it the longest he'd ever ridden in a 24 hour period in his life, but he rode really well. We all hoped he'd earn some street cred with the rest of his team.

The race was over. We'd come in 6th, which we were all pretty happy with.

There was a corn snake slithering around, beginning the long process of reclaiming the park from us hoodlums.

I feel like we ate together, but I don't remember it.

Apparently I got a milkshake from Arby's?

I have no memory of that.

A 24 is a duathlon. The first event is the race, and the second event is the drive home.

I was fully prepared to stop on the side of the highway and nap, if need be. Turned out that I didn't have to. Not only did I make it home, but I managed to completely unpack my car before the sleepies kicked in. Of course, then I fell asleep on the couch, and didn't wake up until well after dinner time. I almost didn't make it to the Cuse before closing.

Stone Mountain Lake

Well, as much as I said that it wasn't true that "all I did in June was hang out with Raque", this post doesn't really help that... On July 4th, me, Raque, John, and Ksenia paddled around Stone Mountain lake again.

I want to say that on that day, we had some confusion about what time to meet them, or something. Like I thought I was supposed to meet them at their house at some time, but really, we were supposed to meet at the lake at that time. Something like that.

We did, eventually get there, and this time there were no problems with the boards, and I figured out the problem with the pump, or rather with the fuses in my car.

Raque's got super fair skin, with freckles (not too common for a Brazilian) so she brought her big, awesome hat, and some long sleeves, to keep her from burning.

The rest of us relied on sunscreen and our awesome tans to keep us safe.

I also want to say that John and Ksenia were in the Carribean some time recently, prior to us going out on the lake, and both developed pretty good tans from that trip, but I'm not sure if I'm remembering that correctly.

We paddled way further up the lake than I'd ever been before, I want to say all the way to the north end.

There are some weird sculptures on either side, up there, but I didn't get photos of them.

I don't remember if it was that trip, or a different one, but there was a family out on the water, in a boat with a motor. We all questioned that, but it seemed like I'd once seen a thing where you can actually have a motor, it just has to be under 10hp or something. His said 9.9 on the side, so I'd imagine that's right. We guessed that 10hp might be a common limit, so 9.9hp motors are a thing. They were cool though, and made an effort not to crush us with their wake.

It was a beautiful day, and the company was great, so we spent a pretty long time out on the lake. As such, despite applying and reapplying sunscreen religiously, I managed to get this weird, uneven sunburn.

Great. I had a 24-hour race like 2 days later. We'll see how that goes!

Helen

At the end of June, me and Raque spent the day, checking out the sights around Helen.

Lol, it may seem like all I did in June was hang out with Raque, but I actually did a lot of rides that just aren't all that worth mentioning - like Dirty Sheets, Cochran Mill, Blankets, and some Comet Vomet. More on all that later...

Our first stop was Duke's Creek Falls.

There's actually a great view of Yonah from the lot, but it's kind-of behind the bathroom, and I'm not usually milling around there, so I don't usually notice it.

But I noticed it this time!

On the hike down to the falls, we passed some Brazilian ladies. They were far enough away that I didn't immediately recoginze that they were speaking Portuguese, mais pq ela é brasileira, Raque recognized it immediately.

There were a million people at the falls, but we managed to find some room along the rail.

Davis Creek Falls:

There were a bunch of dead hemlocks below the falls. Some are visible in that photo. We'd seen tags on some hemlocks on the way in, where they'd been treated against the blight, but it would appear that the ones below the falls had not been treated. I could imagine that either... 1) it's too sketchy and dangerous to get to them, 2) hey, if they die, then you just get a better view of the falls, or 3) both of the above. If I still had bros in the forest service, I'd ask them.

Lol. I had an employee named Andrew Young once, who loved the mountains. One day, I randomly ran into him, as I was riding, and he was driving up Trey Mountain. It would be hilarious if this was from him:

We checked out Duke's Creek Falls too...

...but there were way too many people around to go around the rail and swim in the pool below it.

So, we settled for a photo.

Maybe some other day.

Our next stop was Anna Ruby Falls, but we had to get through the gate before 4pm. Fortunately we did, but we were a little concerned about how we'd get back out. Turns out the gate will open automatically from the inside, but not from the outside.

Woo!

I always forget how steep and moderately strenuous the hike up to the falls is. Good that it's paved.

As there had been at Duke's, there were a million people at Anna Ruby, even though it was close to closing time. Fortunately, we were still able to get some nice views.

Our next stop was High Shoals Falls. We drove up over Unicoi Gap and hung that super sharp right near the bottom. Just past the second switchback, a tree had fallen across the road, and there were trucks in both directions trying to figure out what to do about it. It appeared to have just fallen. Nobody had a winch, but I had a tow rope, so we hooked it up to one of the trucks on the other side, and gently pulled the tree just far enough off to one side that everyone could get around it.

Tow rope for the win!

There was nobody there when we arrived at the upper cascade.

Raque absolutely loves cold water, so she just jumped right in, completely unconcerned about it.

It turned out that the water wasn't that cold. I mean, it was cold, but it was easily tolerable. If I'd been working hard all day, it would have felt great.

We swam and played in the water like kids for a while. Another family showed up, and they got in too. We had a great time!

The other family mentioned another cascade, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember if there was another one, so we all went down the trail a bit, and... oh yeah, there was another cascade!

No pool there, but we climbed all over it, and let the water pour all over us!

On the way out, I tried to balance beam out and back on a tree over the creek, but lost my balance turning around and stepped into the water. It made me more upset than I expected, and I had a soggy shoe for the rest of the day.

We took FS40 back, rather than the pavement, hoping to see a bear or something. No bears though, just an owl and a rabbit. And, the road was super rutted and slow going in a few spots.

We got back to Helen after 9, and walked around a bit.

We'd hoped to eat at the Troll Tavern, but it turned out that they closed at 9, even though the internet says that they close at 10. I guess I can't complain too much though, it's the same situation at Siracusa's, and Dave's tried a dozen times to fix it.

We ended up at Bigg Daddys instead, which was probably a better choice, anyway. I got a Georgia Clucker and Raque had a Rocky Top. Yeah, definitely a better choice.

Bigg Daddy's had a print of a painting of the old sawmill, iron bridge, and railway station on the wall, and some history describing it.

I've tried, a few times, to figure out exactly where the sawmill was, based on photos of it. I hoped that this would give me a better idea. Sadly, I'm just now remembering that I even took these photos. I'll have to see if I can figure it out with them in mind, sometime soon.

On the way home, I had a green light at the intersection with Long Branch Road - a rare occurrence, didn't recognize the intersection, drove right through it, and didn't realize I'd failed to make the turn until we were in Dahlonega. Good one, Dave!

The rest of the trip was uneventful though, just a nice drive home.

Suggs Park

There's this park down the road from me, a ways, maybe in Lithia Springs, or maybe just in Austell, called Suggs Park. From the road, it had that "I've got secret trails" look to it. I always wanted to go over there and check it out, so this past June, I finally did.

And, yep, just as I thought! Secret trails, everywhere.

Unfortuantely, they weren't recreational trails, per-se. I mean, there was an actual loop trail out there, and a few gravel roads that cross cut the property, but the trails all led to either homeless camps, in some cases over very sketchy bridges...

...or just into the middle of a swamp.

There were trails down the road, and across the street, and through a cemetery, and behind some buildings, but they all led to the woods along Sweetwater Creek, and they all led to homeless camps, in various states of use, disrepair, and abandon.

It's generally fun exploring, but that particular exploration was net depressing.

Alpharetta Greenway

I want to say it was a mid-week ride, but I'm too lazy to look up the date...

Sometime, mid June, me and Raque rode the Alpharetta Greenway, after work, one day. At least I think it was after work.

It was a million degrees!

One million.

We ended up getting passed by my old friend George Miko, but neither of os recoginzed each other until we both checked strava later.

I was pretty impresssed with Raque on the bike! She rode like 15 miles, from the Big Creek Lot to the north end, and back, with relatively little trouble. I think she was a little tired at the end, but not crushed, and not too sore the next day.

Man! We really should ride the greenway again.

Stone Mountain Lake

A few weeks after we went camping, me and Raque went paddleboarding on Stone Mountain Lake. I'd been a few times with my brother and Ksenia, but I've never had to handle the logistics myself, so it was going to be a challenge.

Raque has a board, but I borrowed a board and a pump from my brother, and we met at the lake. I forget exactly how it happened, but during some previous instance of paddleboarding, the entire assembly that you connect the pump to on her board had gotten loose, and was just barely hanging on. When we tried to connect the pump to it, the inside part became detached, and it was a bit of a challenge to get it line back up and tighten everything. Fortunately, she had the weird little wrench that you need, and we got it fixed pretty quickly. Then, her pump worked, but there was nothing I could do to get mine to work. It turned out, on a subsequent trip, it wasn't the pump, but rather my car. I had a blown fuse, and every power outlet in my car was dead. We never tried my pump in her car or her pump in mine, so we didn't figure out the problem until way later.

At any rate, disasters were averted, and we had a great time paddling around the lake!

There are a few cool things to see out there, including views of the mountain itself.

There's almost always a snake hanging out at the little waterfall.

There's this covered bridge that's low to the water, and you can't go under it standing.

There's an old riverboat moored up out there too.

On a subsequent trip, we discovered that there are actually two old steamboats on the lake. Me and the girls went to Stone Mountain a bit when they were young, and we even rode the ducks, back when they were doing that, but I have no memory of the boats. I'm sure the internet knows stuff about them, and it would probably be trivial to look them up, but I've thus far, been way to lazy for that.

Paddleboarding isn't really a performance sport. Arguably, I guess it's more of an activity than a sport, even, but whatever... We had a great time!

I want to say that we got some BBQ chicken pizza at a local pizza place after. I can't remember the name of it, though, which is unfortunate, because it was really good pizza.