It was a most auspicious Spring day. Five of us lined up to do the 65 Mile Audax Tune Up. I’m thinking that this should go into the records as the “Overcooked 65.”
Three out of the five of us had engaged in strenuous to extremely strenuous physical activity within the 24 hour period prior to the ride. I was one of those. I’d spent Saturday working on my house. That is working, with lots of lifting and ladder work. Yet, the day and the ride beckoned, and it was such a nice day, so nearly perfect, we had to ride.
I’m wondering where the other folks were. These tune-ups usually draw a fairly large attendance. Perhaps the distance was off-putting. We have, only lately come out of a long and harsh Winter. If that is the case, I would say, to any of you who are hesitant, just get on your bikes, and do it regularly. The way to longer rides, is through a path of a lot of consistent shorter ones, and the only way to ride a long ride is to ride it.
About the ride itself: I’ve tinkered with the start of these Tune Ups. No one likes departing Peachtree City via the North Peachtree Parkway. The combination of a fairly narrow two lane, long hills, and heavy traffic is not attractive. So I’ve found a route out of town that accomplishes the same thing, but without the traffic. Of course it isn’t even close to flat, but it is pleasantly light in traffic. It’s circuitous, and involves riding on residential streets, and on the multi-use paths. (And there is no dirt road section on it!) Yes, there are about three really steep short climbs. How steep? Enough to make pedestrians of just about anyone without a triple or a really low geared compact double. But they are very short.
Once out of PTC, the route is pretty much as it was in years past. We rolled briskly out to Palmetto, and too a short re-fill break there. Then down to Rico road, and the South Fulton, and more down to the Chattahoochee. Of course, once across the “Hootch,” there’s that three mile long “grinder” up to GA-166. I love the ride north on 166. It’s tough, but rewarding. Big climbs and booming descents. At the end of that, we turn onto GA-92 and do about a mile more to get to our lunch break.
At the 40 mile “lunch stop,” I put a proposition to the group. There are two options for the ride back. One includes a third stop, but adds about three miles to the day, and throws in three more tough hills. On the other hand we could skip the stop, do a 25 mile leg, and go home more directly. This last option has the added attraction of eliminating the trip up the notorious Flat Creek Trail “Beast.” This was a good strong group, and the consensus was, “Skip the stop. Let’s roll!”
The last leg of the trip requires the climb up out of the Chattahoochee valley. We did this on Cochran Mill Road, with is delightful in its Spring blooms, and then onto Rivertown and Hobgood Roads. Fairburn sort of marks the transition from mostly climbing to more mixed terrain, for the last ten miles of the route.
In summation: We could hardly have asked for a better day to do this ride. The weather was catalogue perfect, delightful temperature mix, sunny, clear, vivid blue sky, and riotous blooming foliage all along the route. The ride is a tough one, but the group was as good spirited as anyone could ask for. Present were, Dan, Teresa, Chris, Scott, and your faithful. We traveled an “official” 67.8 miles in 5:14:25 of saddle time, and just over six hours overall. That gives us an “official” rolling average of 12.9 mph. Not a bad pace for this ride. Not bad at all.
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