Training Goals

Please forgive my self-indulgence with this post.  I've been disappointed in several of my races this season, and I'm trying to put them in perspective.  Although it's been a bitter pill to swallow, I'm doing my best to learn from my experiences.  It helps to evaluate everything in terms of training goals.  The good thing is that training works.  I'll start with a few success stories from the past to take lessons for moving forward.

State TT Championship

In 2012 I had had a serious crash, which prompted me to give up mass-start road races and focus on time trials (TTs).  In fact, I set a goal of winning the 2013 women's Cat 4 state time trial (TT) championship.  After months of dedicated TT training, my efforts paid off!

RAAM

When I joined a four-person women's team to do the 2015 Race Across America (RAAM), I made a weekly training schedule.  It started in January and went until the race in June.  I was very diligent about sticking to my RAAM training schedule.

I trained harder than I raced, which helped me actually enjoy RAAM rather than just endure it.  Also, I think I had more fun than anyone else on my team :)

PBP

My long-term goal for the last few years has been Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP).  I first learned about PBP soon after I began randonneuring in December 2013, but it didn't really pique my interest until my rando buddies starting talking about it a lot in the lead-up to PBP 2015.  At the time, I was training for RAAM, and so the thought of preparing for a 1200K brevet seemed a lot less outlandish than when I first started randonneuring.  PBP is held only every four years.  Thus, when I finished RAAM in 2015, I set my next goal: PBP 2019.

The first step toward PBP was to build up my endurance with longer brevets.  I had done my first 400K in February 2015.  I needed to do more 400K's and, more importantly, step up to 600Ks.

I did my first 600K in April 2016, the Double Caesar 600K.  That was a pretty tough one to start with.  It was grueling, but I completed it successfully.  In fact, I specifically remember thinking to myself when I finished that I could do a 1200K.  A large part of training is mental in addition to physical.

In 2018 I did my second 600K.  Not only was this good general training, it also allowed me to preregister for PBP fairly early.  PBP is in August, but you can preregister in January.  Your sign-up date is based on the longest brevet you completed in the previous year.

You also have to qualify for PBP, which involves completing a 200K, 300K, 400K, and 600K between January and July of the PBP year.  When Wayne, our Georgia Regional Brevet Administrator (RBA), was preparing the 2019 Georgia brevet schedule last fall, he was very considerate to include several options for all the PBP qualifying distances, including some earlier ones in 2019.  I was able to complete all my qualifying brevets by the end of March.

Conflicting Training Goals

It was a big relief to get my PBP qualifying rides done early this year, but the training isn't over.  I've been riding a lot of miles as well as doing a little work on intensity.  Tuesday Worlds is one of my best ways to get intensity.

I've also been doing some interval training although not to the extent I would for a regular TT training season.  There are almost no TT's on Georgia's racing calendar this year.  Amazingly, there's not even a state TT championship scheduled for this year.  Road racing in general and TTs in particular have dropped in popularity.  From my perspective, at least it's a convenient year for there not to be many TTs because I'm focused on PBP.

Training definitely works, but this is where conflicting training goals come in.  It's very difficult to train for both endurance and intensity.  This year I just don't have much "pop" because of all my PBP endurance training.  I see it when I try to keep up with the A group guys ; i.e., it's not possible.  (To be fair, they also seem to get stronger and faster every year!).  However, my decline in shorter, more intense efforts has been most abundantly clear in the two shorter gravel races I've done this year.

Gravel Racing

While road racing has been on the downswing, gravel racing is getting a lot bigger.  I love riding on dirt roads, and so it's been natural for me to do some gravel racing, particularly two events held right in my backyard: the Fried Green 50 and the Red Clay Ramble.

I've had a lot of fun doing these two events, and I won't deny that part of the fun has been doing well every year I have entered.  I have almost always made the podium and often have come in first.  But not always...

State of Gravel

This year one of Georgia's few race promoters, seeing the writing on the wall regarding gravel racing, hosted the first State of Gravel.  It was billed as Georgia's unofficial gravel state championship.  Of course I was in.

The State of Gravel was held Easter weekend in the northern part of the Oconee National Forest near Athens.  I had never ridden on these roads, and they were as smooth as you'll ever find for dirt/gravel roads.  Also, it drew out some serious road competitors.

I stayed with a small group for almost half the ride.  One of the ones who dropped me was my friend Jennifer.  Jennifer is 63 and is super talented.  Actually, I'm pretty sure she's an alien.  I knew I wouldn't be able to catch her.  On the other hand, because I didn't know if any other masters women were ahead of me, I kept going with the hope that I still had a shot at the podium.

I rode by myself for a good while, which became my downfall.  I didn't go as hard as I could have.  Eventually, here came my teammate Tina!  I've got to give her credit for clawing back on after getting dropped fairly early in the race.

Tina and I stayed together for most of the rest of the race.  I knew that I could out-climb her, and so every time we got to a hill, I pulled ahead.  She always caught up, though.  Back and forth, back and forth until one last kicker about three miles from the end.  My bike quit shifting when I got to the top of that last hill.  Tina pulled ahead, and I never caught her again.  I'd like to blame it on my bike, but it was really me not keeping my head in the race the whole time.  Tina still might have beat me that day, but I couldn't quit kicking myself for not giving it my best.  By the way, Tina came in 3rd, and I came in 4th.

Red Clay Ramble

My next race - and the last one before PBP, thank goodness - was yesterday's Red Clay Ramble.  I've been pretty worked up about it for the past week.  I felt like I needed to redeem myself from the State of Gravel.  To complicate things, after riding nearly 300 miles last weekend and battling a cold this past week, I wasn't in peak form for the Red Clay Ramble.  I talked to myself all week, first, trying to get sufficiently over my cold and second, telling myself simply to do my best and let the chips fall where they may.

About 170 racers (nearly double last year's entries!) lined up behind the starting line.  I was close to the front.  As I expected, lots of racers passed me in the first mile.  Most of them were guys, but there was also Tina!  I knew she would be one of my toughest competitors.  I didn't worry about it, though.  I knew I couldn't go that hard that early, and so I focused on riding as hard a steady pace as I could.

I rode much of it by myself.  I made a concerted effort to keep my head in it.  I did, but I also realized mid-race what's so different for me this year.  I've been so focused on long, steady efforts - crucial for PBP - that even during a race I can't summon those quick, intense efforts.  You just have to have those to race, at least on the relatively shorter races (50-60 miles like this).  When I have that pop, I can expend a little extra energy to hop on the back of a group and then recover a little as I draft off the back.  Right now, I can't do that very easily.

For about the last third of the race, I rode with my friend Angie.  We both seemed to be going hard but didn't want to absolutely kill ourselves.  I could out-climb her, but I didn't want to make a real effort to drop her because I figured she would just catch me.  Why burn matches unnecessarily?

In the last couple of miles, Angie asked me if I was racing masters or open class.  I said masters.  She was racing masters, too.  Tina was ahead, of course, but I didn't know if there were any other masters women ahead of us.  Angie and I agreed not to make a sprint finish at the end.  I was OK with that because I didn't feel like I had it in me anyway.  Between the lack of pop and lingering congestion, I had felt rougher than usual during this race.  Additionally, I thought Angie already had a few seconds on me because she had been a lot farther than me behind the start line; your time doesn't start until the electronic timer records your chip as you roll across the line.

We did pick up our pace a little during the final stretch.  We might have ridden side by side, but I was tired and drafted right behind Angie instead.

I missed the podium by 1 second...

Dumbest mistake I ever made in a race.

Perspective

OK, lesson one: the rules of racing are different from group ride etiquette!  I should have dug deeper and tried to out-sprint Angie at the finish.  Maybe I'm too nice to be a great racer.  I want to win, but I really don't have the a$$hole instinct a la Lance Armstrong.

Second, Angie is a very nice person, and if someone's going to beat me, she's a good choice.  I really do want to be happy for my friends like Angie, Jennifer, and Tina - even if I also want to beat them!

Third, I can't forget that I did very well at my longer gravel races this year, the Middle Georgia Epic and the Fried Clay.  Both of those were 200K events.  In fact, I won both!  I shouldn't be greedy about these shorter events where I didn't podium.

Fourth, and probably most important, my real goal this year is PBP.  I've worked hard to get to this point, and I have to keep it up through the event in August.  I wouldn't trade wins or even podiums at the State of Gravel or the Red Clay Ramble for successfully completing PBP.

So, here's to keeping my head in the game through PBP!

PBP Training Weekend

With PBP coming up in August, I've wanted to do at least one training weekend with back-to-back long rides.  My original plan was to do it two weeks ago - the Acworth 200K on Saturday, followed by a century the next day.  However, it rained A LOT that weekend, and I figured one day of riding all day in the rain was enough.  (See my 6/8/19 ride report.)

This past Saturday was the Solstice 300K.  The forecast looked good, and so I scheduled an century for the next day (yesterday).  A 300K followed by a century was even better preparation than a 200K followed by a century, but I'm whooped.  The good news is that I gleaned valuable training information for PBP.

Solstice 300K

About two dozen people signed up for this brevet.  That's a bigger group than usual, probably lured by the Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga Trails.  It's called the Silver Comet Trail in Georgia and the Chief Ladiga Trail in Alabama.  This brevet has the simplest cue sheet ever; just stay on the trail.  We started in Cedartown, GA and rode the Silver Comet all the way to the east end in Smyrna.  Then, we retraced our route, stopped for a lunch break in Cedartown, rode all the way to the west end in Anniston, AL, and returned to Cedartown.

The route for the Solstice 300K is easy, but there's a trick.  A 300K normally has a maximum finish time of 20 hours.  However, the Silver Comet is open only from daylight until dusk, which is a little more than 14 hours of daylight around the summer solstice.  Therefore, no lollygagging on this brevet!

We rolled out at 6:00 AM, or approximately civil twilight.  Only 1.6 miles into the route, our group had to do a little adventure racing:

Fortunately, the tree across the trail was passable.  We helped each other get our bodies and bicycles through the branches and foliage.

It took me a while to determine how the groups were going to form up.  I was pretty sure I would be riding with my friend Jen all day.  She also brought three friends.  Additionally, there was a nice guy named Gary, who is from Pennsylvania.  His sister lives in the Atlanta area.  This was his second brevet with our Audax Atlanta group.

One guy went off the front early.  I knew I didn't want to go that fast.  However, I thought I might keep up with the next guy, Nathan.  Nathan is a really strong rider.  In fact, we went faster and faster until we caught the first guy.  In the meantime, two of Jen's friends stopped for a nature break.  They said they had to average 25 mph to catch us!

That was enough for me.  I knew I couldn't ride that fast all day, and it probably wasn't smart for me to have ridden that hard for as long as I did.  I backed off.  Jen gladly joined me.  She, her three friends, Gary, another guy, and I formed a companionable group.

A big storm had come through the night before.  Not only did it down the tree near the start, it also left lots of sticks and other debris on much of the trail.  We had to be extra diligent in avoiding hazards and pointing them out to each other.  I'm amazed that no one in our subgroup got a flat.

It's always more crowded on the east end of the Silver Comet, which is metro Atlanta.  The trail is a big amenity for people who live near it.  I can understand that; it's great for walking, running, or a bicycle stroll.  However, it's not really conducive to the type of road riding I like to do, i.e., group riding in a pace line.  We slowed down and tried to be courteous to everyone else on the trail, but it still got a little dicey a few times.  I've decided I'm not particularly enamored of the Silver Comet.

Fortunately, we had more breathing room as we headed back west.  We took turns pulling.  I didn't know exactly how fast we were going, but I could tell simply from perceived exertion that we were going harder than I would have by myself.

Recently, I switched from Garmin to Wahoo.  I have a Wahoo computer mount on all my bicycles except my Trek, which is my randonneuring bike.  I had discovered at the Acworth 200K that my Wahoo really doesn't work in Garmin mount.  I can sort of get it to stay in the mount, but it's precarious.  For the Solstice 300K, I put my Wahoo in my jersey pocket so that I didn't have to worry about it falling off.  It still recorded my ride, and I didn't need it for navigation on this particular ride anyway.  It was interesting to ride without seeing my speed, distance, or power.  By the way, when I got home, my sweet soigneur - a.k.a. Robert - put a Wahoo mount on my Trek for me.  That certainly came in handy for the next day's century.

We wondered if the tree across the path would still be there as we headed back into Cedartown.  It was:

It's nice to have the central staging point in Cedartown on the Solstice 300K.  We can stash coolers in our cars for a convenient lunch stop.  I was psyched to have a pimento cheese sandwich - not something I normally eat on a summertime brevet because of the mayonnaise.  My sandwich was delicious, but I could eat only half of it.  On brevets I generally have to eat smaller amounts more frequently rather than a larger meal.  I put the other half of my sandwich back in my cooler for a post-ride snack on the drive home.

One mental advantage to this brevet is that it's easy to break into chunks.  It's 51 miles from Cedartown to Smyrna and then another 51 miles back.  Then it's 44 miles from Cedartown to Anniston and then another 44 miles back,  Looking at it that way, it seemed less daunting to continue the journey after our lunch break.  Plus, I was really looking forward to a milkshake at Sonic in Anniston!

We were averaging more than 17 mph.  That's a pretty hefty pace for a 300K.  There's no way I would do that on my own for that far, but I thought I could keep it up by drafting in the group.  Gary eventually dropped off the back, leaving six of us.

The Silver Comet is concrete, but the Chief Ladiga is asphalt (and narrower).  Asphalt is less expensive than concrete, which is why most roads are paved with asphalt.  However, asphalt is more flexible than concrete and cracks more easily, requiring more maintenance.  The Chief Ladiga Trail was pretty bumpy in a lot of places because of tree roots.  One of the guys complained several times that Alabama doesn't know how to lay asphalt.  That's not it at all.  If Alabama won't even fund higher education adequately, I guarantee that maintaining the Chief Ladiga Trail isn't high on their financial priority list.  Interestingly, when I told Robert about this guy's comment about Alabama not knowing how to lay asphalt, Robert scoffed and informed me that the National Center for Asphalt Technology is located at Auburn University.  Hmm...maybe the Chief Ladiga Trail would be a good graduate student project.

At last we approached Anniston, which meant it was almost time for my milkshake!  Coconut cream pie or maybe key lime pie...

What a letdown.  They didn't have all the flavors I remembered from before.  I settled for a strawberry milkshake - not bad, but rather prosaic.  Still, I was glad for the calories to fuel me for the final leg.

The sixth guy (not one of Jen's three friends) didn't know how to ride in a group.  It felt like he increased our average power by at least 50 watts every time he got on the front.  Not cool.  I was really working to keep up every time he pulled.

A storm started brewing.  Three of the guys took off, leaving Jen, Jay, and me to fend for ourselves.  However, we caught back up to the other three when they stopped to check on a couple on a tandem who had a flat.  Mr. 50 Extra Watts may be somewhat of a jerky rider, but perhaps he's a decent human being after all.

There aren't many places to take shelter along the trail.  It rained on us a little, but the wind was the biggest factor.  Fortunately, the storm passed fairly quickly.

We finished in 12:50, which is about what I expected.  This includes time spent at controls.  I thought this would be one of my fastest Solstice 300Ks, but my actual ride time (10:53:29) was middle of the pack for the five times I've done this route.  Regardless, the biggest takeaway is that I need to ride PBP, particularly at the beginning, at my own pace.  It will have to be slower than the Solstice 300K, which is only one-fourth the distance of PBP.

Sunday Century

I got a good night's sleep, in quantity if not quality, to get ready for my Sunday century.  When I got on the bike, I felt OK but somewhat sluggish.  I decided simply to ride steadily and not worry too much about my pace.  This was going to be as much mental as physical.

It was a great route, the same one I did on behalf of the ASPCA for A Year of Centuries in 2013 (ASPCA Ride).  An hour into yesterday's ride, I was pleased to see that I was averaging about 16 mph - not bad, all things considered.

After riding through the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge - yea! - I stopped at the public restroom next to the fire station in Juliette.  I refilled my bottles and got a bite to eat.  Although I know that proper fueling is a must in endurance riding, I still was amazed at how much better I felt after getting something to eat.

My plan, as usual, was to eat something about every hour and a half.  Just before the halfway point, I stopped at a convenience store for some Powerade.  I wasn't yet ready for lunch, but the Powerade and a Clif Bar really hit the spot.  Onward - I wasn't breaking any speed or power records, but I knew I could do this if I just kept riding steadily.

I was grateful for another stop at High Falls State Park.  I was about 60 miles in, and I was tired.  I refilled my bottles, took my shoes off to ward off hot spots, and enjoyed some grapes and half a PB&J sandwich that I had packed.  I also got a little boost when I checked my phone.  My friend Arlinda had done the Solstice 300K the day before.  I didn't get to ride with her, however, because she was hanging back to ride with her teenage daughter Asia.  Arlida had posted that the Solstice 300K was only Asia's sixth ride!  Not sixth brevet, but sixth ride ever!  I responded and told Arlinda about the century I was doing and said that I would channel Asia to get myself to the end.  It worked!

Actually, I did have another good motivator during the last 10 miles of my ride: heavy rain and thunder.  I got drenched, but I was so close to home I figured I might as well get there as soon as possible.  I made it safely, but as soon as I walked in the door, I received a severe weather alert for Jasper County on my phone.

Recovery

During my century, I noticed a slight sore throat.  I gargled with warm salt water when I got home to try to preempt full-blown sickness.  So far so good, but this is another indicator that my body is worn down.

Last night I was ready for a real meal after a weekend of bike food.  I cooked some pasta with clams and made a big, delicious salad.  (Kale for me since Robert won't eat that and mixed greens for him - both from our CSA - yum!)  Interestingly, I was hungry but filled up fast.  Normally, I finish my plate easily, but I couldn't last night, even after so much riding.

Today the critter has been after me!  It hasn't been after me this bad since RAAM training four years ago:

Last night I slept about 8 1/2 hours and took some melatonin beforehand, but I still didn't sleep that well.  One time when I woke up, I was listening to my heartbeat.  It was a lot faster than usual.  My body is definitely trying to recover.

It was a tough two days of riding, but I'm glad I did it.  I'll remember several lessons at PBP.  First, I have to ride at my own pace.  Also, it's so obvious, but I have to eat and drink regularly.  Finally, I'm going to take a tip from my rando buddy Joe, who has done PBP previously.  His doctor recommended getting an extra hour or so of sleep every night in the week leading up to PBP.  I'll have to be really disciplined for that one, but I think the payoff will be worth it.

200K in the Rain? Oui!

I didn't think today's brevet would be worth a ride report.  I was wrong.

Acworth 200K

The Acworth 200K is a great route that our Audax Atlanta club hadn't ridden in a few years.  When the 2019 schedule was being planned last fall, Wayne, our new Regional Brevet Administrator (RBA) asked if anyone had route suggestions.  I requested that we do the Acworth 200K again.  It's in an area we don't ride in as much, and I remembered enjoying the route.

Today's forecast looked daunting even a week ago.  Sure enough, it rained.  A lot.  Surprisingly, however, it wasn't that bad.  That's because it wasn't cold today.

The weather report scared away some people, but we still had a surprisingly large group of 11.  It started raining lightly a few minutes before our 7:00 AM start.  I pulled my rain jacket out of my bike bag.  I sure am glad I put it on then because right after we rolled out, the bottom fell out.  The hardest rain of the day occurred within the first five miles or so.

The rain continued steadily for most of the day.  There was a break from about mile 55 to 70 and again after about mile 100.  That was probably the rainiest brevet I ever did.  I didn't mind, though.  I treated it as good training for PBP, which always has the possibility of rain.

Train in the rain - a double entendre (ooo!  a good French term)

Robert thought I was going to come home and say what a hard ride it was.  Sure, it wasn't as easy as lying on the sofa eating bonbons, but I've ridden a number of 200Ks that were much less enjoyable.  Like when I got hypothermia on the Gainesville 200K.  Or when I crashed on a gravelly descent on the Secret Gaps 200K, getting a mild concussion and spraining my shoulder.  By comparison, a little - OK a lot - of warmish rain is a cinch.

Also, the roads were beautiful with little traffic.  No wonder I remembered enjoying the route.  I'd love to do the Acworth 200K again, preferably in the sun next time.

Henry's

I had another good motivator today throughout my 124 miles - Henry's!  I first went to Henry's when I did the Acworth 200K in 2014.  Kevin, our RBA back then, had recommended Henry's in downtown Acworth.  When I went, I was delighted to discover it's a Louisiana-style restaurant.  I gently scolded Kevin for not passing along that tasty tidbit of information.

Acworth is a nearly two-hour drive from my house, and so I can't go to Henry's very often.  However, I've made a point to go back a few times when I've been in the area.  I really looked forward to my post-brevet visit today; it was all I hoped it would be and more.

I got a crawfish po'boy - laws!

I had the nicest young guy as my waiter.  I asked him about the relative sizes of the half po'boy and whole po'boy.  Even though I had just ridden 124 miles and was very hungry, I'm glad I got the half po'boy.  There's no way I could have eaten a whole one.  It probably would have been bigger than my head.  (The rule is never to eat anything bigger than your head.  One exception: cotton candy.)  Later when I told my waiter I was glad I got the half, he said that he rarely sees anyone finish a whole one.  He should have told me that up front!  By the way, the bread itself on the po'boy is really good.  I wouldn't be surprised if they make it themselves.

I also had fun with all the hot sauces.  The two on the left are staples at home, and the two on the right are also delicious.  I particularly liked the Cajun Power garlic sauce on my Cajun fries.  (I don't like ketchup - yeah, weird, I know.)

After I finished my po'boy and Cajun fries, my waiter offered me a free bread pudding!  As if I weren't already in heaven.  It was in honor of Chef Henry's 60th birthday!  Happy birthday, Chef Henry!  I saw the sign over the bar but didn't realize that today's the day until my waiter told me.

Chef Henry comes by his expertise honestly:

All this made me glad I had specifically chosen this post-ride shirt with Henry's in mind:

Icing on the Cake

On top of all everything else, I acquired two cool jerseys today:

Wayne gave me the Audax Atlanta jersey before the ride started this morning.  It was left over from an Audax Atlanta special jersey order several years ago, I think before I started riding with the group.  It might be a size too large for me, but I don't mind.  I think I can make it work.  Also, I'm looking forward to trying my first wool jersey.

My PBP jersey was in the mail when I got home today!  I had ordered it through Randonneurs USA (RUSA).

I'm glad for both the European French and Louisiana French parts of my day.  Oui!

Turtles All the Way Down

This evening all I had time for was a quick dirt ride.  Even though it was short (just under an hour), it was a lot of fun.  For one thing, I discovered that I've been running too much pressure in my cyclocross tires.  Tonight I ran them about 5 psi lower than before, and my ride was much more comfortable and enjoyable.  The best part of my ride, however, was the turtles.

Toward the end of my ride, I turned off of Goolsby Road (paved) onto Bragg Road (unpaved).  A car turned in behind me soon thereafter.  I moved as far right as a could to let the car pass, but it stayed behind me a pretty good distance.  I rode fairly fast, trying to make it less bothersome for the car, but it seemed content to hang back.  As I zoomed down Bragg Road, I saw a turtle crossing the road.

As quickly as I could, I made a U-turn and went back to move the turtle to the far side of the road.  (Always move a turtle to the side of the road toward which it's traveling.  Otherwise, it will just try to cross again.)  I waved my arms like a crazy person to get the driver's attention.  He moved to the far side of the road as I helped the turtle to the opposite side.  I waved as the car drove by.  It turned into a driveway a few tens of meters later.  It was all good.

The dirt continued as I turned left onto Jordan Road.  My less-psi tires did great on the gravelly descent just after the turn.  As I approached the swampy bottom where I often hear frogs, I saw another turtle crossing the road.  This one was even closer to the side toward which it was traveling.  It was unlikely that a car would come by before it finished crossing, but I still moved it off the road for my peace of mind,  not to mention the turtle's.

Seeing two turtles in such a short distance made me think of the term "turtles all the way down."  Trying to remember its origin, I Googled it when I got home.  I was thinking it was Native American, but it seems to be from ancient India and other Hinduist beliefs.  The concept also appears in logic and philosophy.

Wikipedia noted that Stephen Hawking refers to turtles all the way down on the first page of his book A Brief History of Time.  I read this book years ago but was not familiar with turtles all the way down back then.  It was interesting to revisit Hawking's opening paragraph:

"A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: 'What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.' The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, 'What is the tortoise standing on?' 'You're very clever, young man, very clever,' said the old lady. 'But it's turtles all the way down!'"

I may not have remembered this from A Brief History of Time, but when I thought of turtles all the way down, I immediately thought of Sturgill Simpson's song by this name.  When I got home this evening, I played it in honor of my two reptilian friends from my dirt road ride.

Turtles All the Way Down

Sturgill Simpson

I've seen Jesus play with flames in a lake of fire that I was standing in
Met the devil in Seattle and spent 9 months inside the lion's den
Met Buddha yet another time and he showed me a glowing light within
But I swear that God is there every time I glare in the eyes of my best friend
Says my son it's all been done and someday your gonna wake up old and gray
So go and try to have some fun showing warmth to everyone
You meet and greet and cheat along the way

There's a gateway in our mind that leads somewhere out there beyond this plane
Where reptile aliens made of light cut you open and pull out all your pain
Tell me how you make illegal something that we all make in our brain
Some say you might go crazy but then again it might make you go sane

Every time I take a look inside inside that old and fabled book
I'm blinded and reminded of the pain caused by some old man in the sky
Marijuana, LSD, Psilocybin, and DMT
They all changed the way I see
But love's the only thing that ever saved my life

So don't waste your mind on nursery rhymes
Or fairy tales of blood and wine
It's turtles all the way down the line
So to each their own til' we go home
To other realms our souls must roam
To and through the myth that we all call space and time

Seven Islands

This post messes with my sense of balance with the universe.  It's chronologically before my previous post.  Oh, well - I'll just go through the rest of my life feeling like an off-kilter washing machine.  Ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk...

Last Monday, Memorial Day, Robert and I went kayaking on the Ocmulgee River.  It was a special outing because he's been wanting to take me to Seven Islands ever since he made a presentation about it last summer to the Jasper County Historical Society.  Robert's and my outing last Monday was only tangentially cycling related, but it definitely was an adventure!

Seven Islands Overview

Seven Islands is an ancient road that gets its name from a particular crossing on the Ocmulgee.  Presumably, someone counted seven islands at the river crossing at one time.  Islands form and disappear relatively quickly; I don't know exactly how many are there now.  Seven Islands Road connected two larger Native American roads, Hightower Road to the north and Oakfuskee Road to the South.  The southern connection with Oakfuskee Road was at the Seven Islands crossing on the Ocmulgee.  This was a logical place to cross the river because the unique geology made it the easiest place to cross for many miles.

When prehistoric Native Americans first used the Seven Islands Road, it was just a footpath.  Once Europeans arrived, people traveled the road on horseback.  The Ocmulgee River was the western edge of the United States until about the 1830s.  Therefore, a fairly significant settlement grew up around Seven Islands because it was the last place for Europeans to get supplies before they headed farther west into Indian territory.

Later in the 1800s, Seven Islands Road became a stagecoach route.  It ceased being an important travel path when Sherman's troops burned the settlement at the river crossing during the Civil War.

Robert really did a fantastic job researching the history of the Seven Islands Road.  To watch his entire presentation, visit The Seven Islands Road Through Jasper County Georgia.

Planning

Today, private land abuts both sides of Seven Islands on the Ocmulgee River.  When Robert was preparing his Seven Islands Road presentation last year, he got permission from the property owner on the Jasper County side to access Seven Islands that way.  Last Monday Robert and I went to Seven Islands the only other possible way: on the river itself.

One of the few places to access the Ocmulgee River from public property is at a boat launch managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.  It's not too far from the boat launch to Seven Islands along the river, but you have to traverse some shoals.  Robert didn't think we would have any problem paddling downstream through the shoals, but he was concerned that we might not be able to get back upstream very easily.  Therefore, we planned to leave one of our cyclocross bikes at another publicly accessible downstream point, ride it back to our car at the boat launch, and then drive down to pick up the other one at the downstream point.  I volunteered to be the cyclist.

When we got to the drop-off location for my cyclocross bike, the rear tire was flat!  It must have gone flat during the drive because Robert said it was fine when he loaded my bike onto the trailer.  I'm just glad it didn't go flat the previous day when I was riding it.  We abandoned the bicycle shuttle idea and decided we would make it back upstream with our kayaks one way or another.

We couldn't believe how many people were at the boat launch - it was packed!  If there were more access points to the Ocmulgee River, I bet more people would get out and enjoy it.  Even with the dozen or so other people, we easily found a quiet, shady spot for lunch before we got out on the river. 

Picnic!

I love picnics.  We go on several every year.  One of my favorite parts is planning and preparing the food.  I tend to get kind of fancy, but that's part of the fun.  This time I made a stuffed Italian sandwich, filled with salami, buffalo mozzarella, roasted red peppers, grilled zucchini, pesto, and arugula.

On the side we had fruit salad and pimento cheese wafers.  Pimento cheese in any incarnation is one of my favorites, and these little wafers are addictive!

Picnics are one time that I indulge in making us dessert.  For this one I made blond brownies: good eats.

Kayaking

At last it was time to get in the river.  Most people were hanging out near the boat launch.  We didn't have to go very far downstream before we had the river mostly to ourselves.

It was a hot day, particularly for May.  We had already had more than a week of 90+ degree days.  The water felt really good.

We came to a set of shoals.  A narrow island split the river, and so we had to decide which side would be easier.  We picked the east side.  The shoals weren't difficult to go down.  We determined that we would be able to go back up with no problem, even if we had to portage a little bit.  (Note that you should only swim or boat on the river when the water level is safe like on this day; it can be too dangerous after heavy rain.)

Just a quarter mile farther, we approached a second set of shoals: Seven Islands!  We saw a couple of other people.  It turned out to be our friend Hal and his son Rhett.  Hal was fishing, and Rhett was playing in the cool water.

Robert and Hal

We had a nice chat, and then Hal and Rhett headed back upstream to go home.  Robert and I hung out a little longer.  Sitting in the water was like getting a relaxing massage.

Eventually, it was time for us to head home, too.  On the way back up the first set of shoals, we took Hal's advice to go up the west side.  We did have to get out of our kayaks briefly to pull them over the rocks, but overall we agreed that the west side was the better way to go.

Being on the Ocmulgee River is one of the best experiences there is.  Knowing a little of its history, thanks to Robert, makes it even more thrilling.

Science and Magic in the PWR

Ahhh... A rare Saturday when I didn't have an agenda...

I slept in until a relatively late 7:30 AM.  Robert had gotten up at his usual weekday wake-up time of 6:00 AM because he was meeting an equestrian club to do some trail maintenance in the Oconee National Forest in south Jasper County.  I got to see him before he headed out for the day.  After I had breakfast, I rode my cyclocross bike to the Monticello square for the Saturday morning farmer's market.

I had two orders of business at the farmer's market.  First, I was glad to see my friend Laverne so that I could place an order for fried pies for Robert's and my BBQ Bass Ride, which will be in two weeks.  Then, I stopped by the Visitor's Center at the Monticello-Jasper County Chamber of Commerce to get some locally made soap.  I love fragrant, handmade soaps and need a fresh bar for my bathroom sink.

There was a nice surprise at the Visitor's Center:

Robert created this map of hiking trails where he's been clearing the last few months.  He's also working on a website, Recon Jasper (www.reconjasper.com), to highlight outdoor recreational opportunities in our county.  By the way, it's a little confusing that part of the Oconee National Forest lies in Jasper County, but the Ocmulgee Rive is our western border.  Jasper County lies in the area between the Ocmulgee and Oconee Rivers.

For kicks, I also signed in while I was at the Visitor's Center:

I dropped my soap off at my office to pick up later.  Then, it was time to ride.  My route would take me through one of my favorite places, the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge (PWR).

I headed down Highway 11 South and turned off the pavement in Adgateville.  The next few miles were fairly tough because of gravel that was placed recently.  It takes a while for a new layer of gravel to get sufficiently compacted for good off-road riding.  I used this as an opportunity to work on my technical skills.

It got a little easier as I approached one of my favorite roads in the PWR.  The prettiest areas of the forest are the ones that are specifically managed for the red-cockaded woodpecker.  They prefer open pine habitat like this:

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May and June are my favorite months, and so I was totally drinking in the beauty of the day.  I looked forward to the natural rock crossing.

Six weeks ago, local creeks and rivers were flooded.  Now, we're in near-drought conditions.  The flow was way down at this crossing, but I still walked my bicycle across so I wouldn't bust my arse.

It also gave me a chance to notice some smaller wonders.  I saw lots of these tiny frogs.  Each one is no more than about a half inch long.

Not the greatest photo, but the two darkest spots are frogs

There were several lovely species of butterflies, too, sunning their wings:

I continued on the familiar PWR dirt roads and made my way to a short paved section on Round Oak-Juliette Road.  I had been riding for about an hour and a half and was ready for some calories.  So, I took advantage of this easy section to eat the Clif Bar from my jersey pocket.

Next, I turned right onto River Road, just before the bridge over the Ocmulgee River.  I knew to look for some tricky rutting on this road, but overall it was easier than some of the early dirt roads because the gravel wasn't bad here.

River Road changes to Juliette Road as you cross from Jones County into Jasper County.  A few miles back into Jasper County, I saw another cyclist approaching from the opposite direction.  It was my friend Monte!  What a treat to run into him along the way.

He was on his way back to Juliette after having ridden to Dauset Trails - an even longer ride than mine.  I told him about the little frogs I had seen.  We talked about biology, and then he brought up all the amazing advances in physics and astrophysics in the past 10 years thanks to people like Elon Musk.  I agreed and told him that I just finished reading Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson.  Physics, and particularly astrophysics, is not my strong suit, but I try to keep learning and understanding.

I felt energized as I continued on my way.  I love deep conversations, and there was more depth in that 10-minute chat with Monte than I get in much longer conversations with most other people.

The last 10 miles of my ride was mostly pavement.  By now, my water bottles were almost empty.  I could have made it home without a problem, but to make life easier, I stopped to refill at Freedonia AME Church.  I had stopped here during the Fried Clay 200K a few months ago and, therefore, knew just where to find the outdoor spigot.  As before, I was grateful for the water.

After stopping at the church, there was one last dirt section that was about a mile long.  It had been graveled recently.  Ack!  I had to put my admittedly limited technical bike-riding skills to use one more time.  I got through it and was glad for pavement for the rest of the way.

I had already been enjoying various contemplations before I met up with Monte, but thoughts of the cosmos lingered during those last miles.  My favorite part of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is the last chapter.  It's worth reading even if you don't read the entire book.  In this last chapter, NdT talks about the importance of having a cosmic perspective.  He prefaces this by admitting that as he studies the universe, he sometimes forgets the multitudes of needy people; that people kill each other in the name of God, wants, needs, or political dogma; or that too many people disregard the delicate balance of the Earth.  He forgets these things because however big the world is to us, the universe is even bigger.  Although some find this depressing, he finds it liberating:

"Now imagine a world in which everyone, but especially people with power and influence, holds and expanded view of our place in the cosmos.  With that perspective, our problems would shrink - or never arise at all - and we could celebrate our earthly differences while shunning the behavior of our predecessors who slaughtered one another because of them."

We humans get in trouble when we believe we are more important than everything else in the universe.  It's hard not to have this perspective because it's what culture tells us.  NdT says he, too, believed what he was told until one day in biology class when he learned that more bacteria live and work in one centimeter of his (or your or my) colon than the number of people who have ever existed in the world.

"That kind of information makes you think twice about who—or what—is actually in charge.

From that day on, I began to think of people not as the masters of space and time but as participants in a great cosmic chain of being, with a direct genetic link across species both living and extinct, extending back nearly four billion years to the earliest single-celled organisms on Earth.”

So what is this cosmic perspective like?  Some excerpts:

“The cosmic perspective comes from the frontiers of science, yet it is not solely the provenance of the scientist. It belongs to everyone.

The cosmic perspective is humble.

The cosmic perspective is spiritual—even redemptive—but not religious.

The cosmic perspective enables us to see beyond our circumstances, allowing us to transcend the primal search for food, shelter, and a mate.

The cosmic perspective reminds us that in space, where there is no air, a flag will not wave—an indication that perhaps flag-waving and space exploration do not mix.

The cosmic perspective not only embraces our genetic kinship with all life on Earth but also values our chemical kinship with any yet-to-be discovered life in the universe, as well as our atomic kinship with the universe itself.”

It gives me great hope and joy to consider these connections between humans, all living things, matter, and the Creator - the I AM - the ultimate reality - the everything.  As the opening lines of Presto by Rush put it, "I am made from the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins."

When I got home, my greyhound Allie summed up the beauty and wonder of the day with her simple bliss:

If I could wave my magic wand
I'd make everything all right

(also from Presto)