Visualizing the Audax 200K

Outbound:

It’s early, just after 7:00 A.M.  Dawn has only recently broken.  It’s cool out.  You are wondering if you should wear that jacket.  You know you’ll be out of it before noon, and if you wear it now, you’ll carry it all day.

There are other cars and trucks beginning to pull into the parking lot.  You check your tires and pump them up one last time.  The activity helps to warm you up.  You make your decision about extra clothing.  You’ll leave the jacket behind.  You can wear your rain jacket.  It will serve as a wind jacket for the first leg of the ride, warm enough.  You can pack it away at the first stop.

Water bottles in cages.  A last check of the snack food you’ve brought, your spare tubes, sunscreen, and the supplies you will carry.  It’s time to go and join the other riders, time for a last minute briefing, and time to go.

The first crank strokes of a big ride are always a bit slow and hesitant.  This will be a long day, no need to rush it at the beginning.  The group forms and eases out onto the Parkway.  As we roll southward, the sun is rising to the side.  There are welcome warm spots along the misty roadway.  The town is mostly quiet, and traffic is scant.  The ride through the town is calm and steady.

The first challenge comes just after the edge of town.  The Sun is rising to your left, but it doesn’t reach here yet.  The big hills into Senoia are ahead.  The group slows a bit, and you calm into the effort.  The hills leading into Senoia are legendary, but you quickly realize they are over-rated too.  Sure, you’re a little breathless as you roll into the town, and your legs felt a bit of a burn, but you aren’t tired, and sting is fading already.  It’s nice to just cruise Main Street, breathing easily.

A quick “jink” across the tracks, and you are heading out of town.  Your legs are warming up nicely as you make the turn onto Dolly Nixon.  It’s rollers from here to the turn onto GA-85, but nothing you can’t handle.

As the group approaches the highway, the interval closes.  The first rollers of the day are behind, the Sun is well up, and it’s time to motor!

This is an important section.  The relative “flats” on the highway permit some good speed, but the group needs to maintain discipline.  If we go out too hard, this early in the day, we’ll pay a price later.  At the same time, it’s good to stretch it out and make some time.

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The long stretch of rollers is behind you.  The first Break Point is coming up.  (And about time too!)  It’s time to get off the bike and stretch, fill bottles, eat a small snack, attend to nature’s call.  The day is warming nicely, and you pack your jacket away.  (You won’t unpack it again, unless it rains.)  This is a short stop, so you hustle through things.  It’s time to apply a good coat of sunscreen, and get ready to ride again.  It was good to make 33 miles so early in the day.

After the break, you climb with the group, up into Greenville.  A quick pass around the square, an you’re in roller country again.  But this is a relatively short stretch of rolling terrain.  At the fables (and non-existent) Johnson City, you will make a turn away from GA-85.  This is another relatively fast section of the route.  You’ll be following the CSX trackline for a bit, and the road flattens out.  Time to establish a good steady rhythm ride and make solid good time.  At the end of this stretch you will do the fabled “triple climb” into the town of Pine Mountain.

Here is where, if you haven’t done this ride before, the anxiety really builds.  You leave a short break in the town and turn onto GA-354 for the climb up the side of Pine Mountain.

At first the “climb” doesn’t seem like much.  It’s mostly flat,and then tilts up a little.  Then the road gradually increases grade.  “Hey!”  you think,  “This isn’t so bad at all!”  And it’s not.  The climb doesn’t really get steep until the last quarter mile before the intersection with GA-190.  You make the exit and overpass turn, and you are on the spine of the mountain.  Almost immediately, you are faced with more grade, but it isn’t too severe, just long.  But you’ve done worse in your training.  You take it in stride.

You quickly find that riding the spine of the “mountain,” is more like a progression of really big “rollers.”  You grind upwards for about a mile at a time, ride along the top with alternating spectacular vistas, and then do a booming half mile to mile descent.  Repeat four or six times and you are at the intersection with GA-85A.  Wow!  The toughest part of the ride is done!  Nothing but a long (and fast) descent into Warm Springs, and then you get to rest and eat lunch.  And you will be ready for that!

Lunch is the best food you have ever had!  Everything tastes amazing, and wonderful.  You didn’t think you could eat “sit down, restaurant food” in the middle of a ride, but it turns out that it’s just exactly what you always wanted to do!  After you finish, you sit for a few minutes on the porch, letting lunch settle, and just enjoying the day.  Someone says,  “I could stay here all day.”  You agree.  And, even though all the riders say things like,  “I’m not sure I can get back on the bike,” you all do.

The Trip Home:

The pace is controlled for the next hour.  Nobody needs to work hard with a heavy meal in their bellies.  Thankfully, the first five miles are mostly down hill.  GA-85A is long gentle rollers from Warm Springs to Woodbury.  At Woodbury, the route joins GA-85/74, for more rollers heading back to the north.  You notice an odd thing.  You can see a long way ahead.  As you crest one hill, you can see the road dropping, nad rising in the distance.  It looks like an enormous hill!  Yet, as you ride it, it is neither so steep, nor high.  It’s a trick of the eye.  The distance foreshortens the hill.  You see it all, but it’s a lot less steep than it looks.  Good!

About seven miles after Woodbury, the group enters Gay, Georgia.  No one jokes about the town’s name.  This is the first of the post-lunch breaks.  It will be a short one, just enough to refill bottles and stretch.

After Gay, the route departs from the highway, and turns onto Flat Shoals Road.  There is a long gentle descent to the open span bridge across the Flint River’s wide, flat rocky bottom.  Then there is a long “step climb” toward Concord.  Along this stretch you look to your right and you can see Pine Mountain stretching out across the horizon in the distance.  You’ve been there.  And you are already this far away.  Neat!

At Concord the route turns again, and you travel through semi-rural country, horse farms, and orchards are the main features.  The road is less hilly here, not flat, but less hilly.  Hollonville comes and goes.  Thirteen miles after Concord, you arrive at Digby.

Digby is the last planned en route break point.  It’s only 25 miles to home from here.  There are no big climbs left.  The route will be more gentle, and you know you can do the rest of this ride with no serious troubles.  The mood is light and happy.  Riders fill bottles, stretch, attend to needs, and form up in the parking area, ready to finish this thing.

There is only one more obstacle of any note.  The construction on Bernhard Road is forcing a change of routing near the end.  The choice is simple.  Either you are going to see a bit more traffic, on a heavily traveled highway, or you will be faced with the return trip up the climbs on Ebinezer Church Rd.  Which will it be?

The last major challenge is behind you.  The group is re-entering Peachtree City.  The leader forms the group into a double line, on the south Peachtree Parkway.  You are occupying one full lane, and proceeding in formation.  It’s only three miles to the end of the ride.  You are tired, but jubilant.  This is no longer a ride, but a procession.

The last intersection is reached, and passed.  You turn into the parking lot.  Shouts and cheers!  You have just ridden 125 miles!  And now…  NOW!  It’s time to get out of your riding clothing, eat a delicious post ride snack of sandwiches and sodas, swap stories, and go home.  How do you feel?