Sort of. i learned from Joe whom I globbed onto in parking lot. He initiated the conversation & I just asked if he would take me. Followed a racer considerably my junior. But this is way ahead of tails of events previous. Most of what we rode was part of course w/ pieces retired from wear.

Last night while still up & on computer a car pulled up & turned on parking lights but did not make contact w/ me. I was hemmed in. Sometime later I noticed it had left. GA woods.

Finished drive into Conyers w/ propane & a bike shop on point. Gas station attendant supplied the yellow pages & I was on it. Wrote down addresses & phone numbers of 2 propane & 2 shops.

Punched in first address of ACE hardware propane supplier. Just down the road. 3.9 gals in a week out of 5.7 possible.

Bike shop turned out to be just minutes from bike course. Purpose was to buy Endurolytes for body chemistry. Succeeded there. Also a Specialized dealer and I have positioned myself to buy a new pair of mtn bike comps should I find the opportunity. Several nights ago I researched sales tax rate by state and GA was only 4% which was the best until Oregon. And I haggled a little & received a break. I bought them. The high top soft boots seemed to irritate my foot tendons. The old ones little toes were sticking out.

Drove to TH which is nondescript. Almost ready to go and…… reread 1st paragraph.

Tough & challenging course. I was unable to ride 1 climb either lap. First lap was w/ Joe and he smoked w/o working @it. He lead & talked over his shoulder in almost normal breathing. Man, I am huffing & puffing trying to stay on his wheel. Good sport to allow me to affect his training.

Loop completes @ TH. I bid adieu & ride off for 2nd lap by myself. I experienced a bit more of trail being slower & leading. Other side of 4 lane paved road is Granite which goes up & down on quite a few long sections of bare granite. 1 tricky spot was an off camber @ bottom of steep drop, wet, & in the shade turn. Way potential of sidehill wipeout slamming down & abrading on rough granite. Made it. Second lap was tougher not following Joe’s wheel. I counter weighed the pedals & bar to stay perpendicular to rock surface. Whew.

Granite alongside golf course:

Trails all hand made. Slope angle percentage exceeded 15%.  2 laps, 14.52 miles, 2425′ vert. Riding these non mountainous trails to get the most of vertical elevation the trail plays w/ fall lines. The climbs are all normally short w/ a turn and slight traverse afterwards to allow catching of breath. The Olympic course had brutal short some steep climbs. Built in ’96. Rode a few feet in GA red mud. Granite is rougher in surface flatness than sandstone slickrock.

Woods section, 3 trails in this picture:

Drove back to bike shop to begin shower search. I ask Brian, the shop owner(?) for shower suggestions and he days he has the solution: shower in the shop. Way to score.

He said i could stay overnight in the parking lot. His shop is 1 in a small strip mall and they probably lease so he didn’t give landlord’s permission. But I will deal w/ that if it comes up. A bit of ways off hwy but still hear traffic noises. Sleeping under parking lot lights. Normal parking lot site but usually not this obvious. Difference between permission or permitted and dirtbagging.

Turned on heater to take chill off.

Gotta figure out future travels. Staying in GA until FATS in SC then back to mountains of N GA.

Slept undisturbed in bank parking lot. Slept w/o heater again. 50 deg AMs are fine. Sleep well & not overly cold to live in.

Hit I-75 North again for Dausset trails. Sauntered my way up interstate. Trail review gave address of TH. Again the gps got me in the parking lot. Overcast day, kind of raw but better than heat of upper 60s in FL.

Pulled in, there was a woman with a bike kind of standing around. Hey, I think she might be a local and know the trails. Yes she was and she was waiting around for whatever riders for a group ride that her husband posted on club web site. I worked her until she said yes she would show me around. Torturous slow ride, stayed on easier trails. Her husband joined us until he said he was going to ride something else that was more challenging and I split w/ him & had a better ride. Trails were hand built w/ more technical features. This even had some climbing. No palm trees here. Both of them called out technical features like they were something big. Maybe for there they were and what they were used to riding. Couple little drops & steep short downhills presented some challenges.

I posted the Google earth picture on ride data. Perspective: I measured the area we rode in. It is close to 1 mile square, 640 acres. W/ some reriding trails I rode 14.27 miles, climbed 1374′ and burned 2125 cals in 2 hours 17 mins. There were more miles of trails to ride but they were too muddy. Area received 1.5″ rain Fri & Sat.

Squeaky front brake. New pads still produce noise. Unsuccessfully tried to adjust the pad clearance but the allen set is stripped out. Rear brake works great.

Drove further away from interstate towards Conyers, site of tomorrow’s ride at the Olympic mtn bike race course. Parked in cabled off entry drive of a failed to develop development. Out in country a few minutes South of Conyers.

Eating fresh oranges I bought fresh from the orchards. Had a navel orange tonight. i was expecting ahuge difference between store bought & fresh. Maybe orchard picked was more tender. Have a picture of me picking an orange from the orchard but I’m experiencing troubles w/ Picasa.

Feedback: tell me if the virus is still in the web site.

FATS was closed this weekend because of rain.

People I rode w/ today gave me some more ride ideas. Going to be riding in northern GA for awhile. I would like to get back to Brevard for PT on ornery knee before moving west.

Fruita has a bike festival in April need to look into being there for it, I might enjoy myself.

Wrestled w/ Mc Afee late last night attempting to kill the virus. Feedback: is it still there?

No heat, inside temp was 51, no idea what was outside.

Got underway w/ no bfast to get out of parking lot. San Felasco TH was just a short distance. $2.00 entry fee. Area shared by horse riders w/ single use trails. First rig in either lot then the dam broke, almost more rigs for horses than bikes, certainly more $ in their rigs than old rigs sporting good bikes.

Changed cluster & chain. rear brake level is just about right although it was adjusted too high and too tight to manually lower. I rode back to van for Torx to correct adjustment. Also I put on new Formula pads hoping the harmonic noise would cease. Later even readjusted calipers and still random frequency noise.

Local rider talked to me before starting. Trail system has grown considerably than the reviewers quantity of 3 trails. Took off again and just wandered down trails. Rode over land & trail were horribly torn up by wild pigs rooting for food. They leave the trails alone because they are hard packed. All hand built trails. Some were guilty of too sharp a turn around a tree: going to create brake bumps going into corner.

Pig damage:

Left bar end hooked a small tree which pulled the handle bars from my hands dumping me out over the bar tumble.

Wild N FL woods:

Amazing: 22.5 miles in 2hrs 50 mins for 1566′ vert in flat FL. Burned 2079 calories. Warm day.

Part of preserve had been controlled burn.

Got back on interstate heading North. Saw a sign for XGs, 3 all @ same exit. I figured that I could buy a shower at at least one of them. Scored @ the first one. Charged $5.45: sales tax.

Exited @ Tifton & found a drive up bank parking lot. Light rain.

Tomorrow is Dausett & then maybe back to FATS.