Yesterday I took a nice bike ride into the Mountain Cove Farms area of North Georgia. Located between Lookout and Pigeon Mountains, both on top and in the bottomlands, the region is incredibly scenic, with little traffic. I imagine in another week with the leaves turning it will be incredibly beautiful.
The ride started at 8am, it was 32 degrees and we all asked the ride leader if he was insane. I realized as we headed out of the parking lot that indeed I was the one lacking sanity. The frigid air struck my face painfully, and I quickly pulled my balaclava up over my nose and mouth for warmth. We took a detour to get to a warm convenience store for coffee, hot cocoa, and to let the sun come up a bit higher. Thirty minutes later we deemed conditions improved enough to set back out. An hour or so later, we were shedding layers.
It warmed up from freezing to 65 degrees in short order, and we all started looking for more pockets and bags to stuff the extra clothing in. Warm, but not hot we pedaled easy into Menlo for lunch.
Menlo is a small town. It strikes me as indicative of how small it is that the only place to get a meal on a Sunday was the grccery store. There we mingled with the church crowd to find ourselves something to eat, fielding the occasional question or comment such as "how far ya riding today?" or "where'd ya come from?" or "Beautiful day, isn't it?" before we all went to a loading dock next door to sit and eat our respective lunches. Most of us cycling about got something light. A few bananas and peanuts with a Payday for me, lunchable snacks for several... but one lady got a full meal of fried okra, mashed potatos and gravy, creamed corn... a heavy meal to digest with only 1/2 mile before a mountain climb. She did not do well after so large a meal.
The climb, 2 miles up, was relatively easy and brought us to Hwy 153 heading back to the Mountain Cove Farms. The road down the mountain into the cove valley was incredible. Multiple switchbacks that, given a few wet leaves could easily leave a fast descender on the pavement rather than on her bike. A beautiful, if treacherous road with little traffic to mar the beauty. I think I'd like to ride out there more often.
The ride started at 8am, it was 32 degrees and we all asked the ride leader if he was insane. I realized as we headed out of the parking lot that indeed I was the one lacking sanity. The frigid air struck my face painfully, and I quickly pulled my balaclava up over my nose and mouth for warmth. We took a detour to get to a warm convenience store for coffee, hot cocoa, and to let the sun come up a bit higher. Thirty minutes later we deemed conditions improved enough to set back out. An hour or so later, we were shedding layers.
It warmed up from freezing to 65 degrees in short order, and we all started looking for more pockets and bags to stuff the extra clothing in. Warm, but not hot we pedaled easy into Menlo for lunch.
Menlo is a small town. It strikes me as indicative of how small it is that the only place to get a meal on a Sunday was the grccery store. There we mingled with the church crowd to find ourselves something to eat, fielding the occasional question or comment such as "how far ya riding today?" or "where'd ya come from?" or "Beautiful day, isn't it?" before we all went to a loading dock next door to sit and eat our respective lunches. Most of us cycling about got something light. A few bananas and peanuts with a Payday for me, lunchable snacks for several... but one lady got a full meal of fried okra, mashed potatos and gravy, creamed corn... a heavy meal to digest with only 1/2 mile before a mountain climb. She did not do well after so large a meal.
The climb, 2 miles up, was relatively easy and brought us to Hwy 153 heading back to the Mountain Cove Farms. The road down the mountain into the cove valley was incredible. Multiple switchbacks that, given a few wet leaves could easily leave a fast descender on the pavement rather than on her bike. A beautiful, if treacherous road with little traffic to mar the beauty. I think I'd like to ride out there more often.
posted by WarKitty at
12:06 PM
