Four Freedoms Trail

Drove up to Madison today to have a look at the Four Freedoms Trail which I had not visited since last year. I found it virtually uninhabited, covered with forest litter, with many more root eruptions breaking through the asphalt. Navigable but in serious need of some maintenance. A couple of very large and tall pines were precariously propped across the pathway and could easily be leftovers from Hermine or Matthew. Also, it looks like Pinetta is getting a Dollar General.

The good news is most of the iconic scenery (those tremendous live oaks) remains intact and the highway pavement from Branford to Mayo to Madison (US 27 & FL 53) is recently resurfaced. So, the smoothest part of the ride was the drive. 26 miles round trip with gentle climbing.

Gainesville Hawthorne State Trail

Gary and Pete joined me today as we rolled down the 6th Street Connector and through Depot Park on our way upwind to Hawthorne. Forty-one miles for the day wrapped up a very nice week of riding. Thanks, guys!

Nature Coast State Trail

Gary Kirkland and I rode out to Hart Springs yesterday and took in the view from the riverside boardwalk. Then we made our way down to the 19 98 Grill for lunch before returning to Trenton, against a surprising head wind.

Gainesville Hawthorne State Trail

Pete Ensing and I met up this morning at Gatorland Toyota and snuck (sidewalked) our way down to the 6th Street Connector and rode out to Hawthorne this morning. Unbeatable weather prevailed, enhancing a beautiful ride even further. A deer and a coral snake chose the opportunity to cross our path and entertain us on our way. 

Forty-one miles slipped by in no time, as we solved many of the world's problems.

Silver Comet Trail

We decided on riding east this morning, pedaled through Powder Springs to Smyrna, and stopped in to visit Silver Comet Depot Bicycles. Another perfect weather day made it impossible to resist adding on a few extra miles to the west when we got back to Hiram. I tracked a total of 160 miles for the three days, but some of us did better. 

Absolutely unable to tell who enjoyed it the most. Thanks, Russ, Wayne, George, and Irwin for making this such a memorable trip for all of us!

Chief Ladiga Trail

Wayne, Russ, Irwin, George, and I covered the Chief Ladiga Trail starting from Piedmont, AL. We rode south to Anniston and then east to the Georgia state line. Beautiful scenery, a well maintained trail, perfect weather and lots of friendly people. 

Silver Comet Trail

Five of us rode trikes through glorious scenery and perfect weather from in Georgia today. Our first day could not have been prettier. Only a couple of us had seen parts of this trail before and none had started from this place. We rode from Hiram to Rockmart through some gorgeous forested hills and several tunnels and across very tall bridges. Jaw dropping scenery everywhere you looked amplified by the seasonal decoration of fall leaf color.

We had heard the usual noises about the hills, long climbs, bugs, distance between facilities, and such, we found ourselves to be anything BUT inconvenienced. Mostly I heard comments like, "Wow! Downhill both ways!!" The fact of the matter is piloting a trike through this dream was big fun!

We had lamented hearing that Frankie's had closed, but found the Slate Market Grill open for business in its place in Rockmart.

Anyway fifty miles went by easy with that much visual distraction.