Team Camp
Our Georgia Neuro team had its annual camp February 28 - March 1. Originally, we were going to an Airbnb in east Alabama, just over the Georgia state line. The owners had to cancel shortly before our planned date, and so we had to find another location pronto. Robert found another Airbnb on the opposite side of the state, near Hartwell, Georgia.
Cal was pretty psyched about the alternate locale because he knew of a great nearby mountain bike course at Paynes Creek. Those of us who could get off work early on Friday met up for a little shredding.
I actually had a good time because the trails weren't highly technical and allowed me to work on my basic mountain bike skills.
Everyone else arrived in time to go to dinner in Hartwell that evening. We fueled up for our main ride of the weekend, a 75-mile road ride the next morning.
I was somewhat familiar with some of the roads in this part of the state from randonneuring. Before camp, I had Robert tweak the Saturday route to go by the Georgia Guidestones, an unusual landmark. It consists of five large granite slabs with a granite capstone. Four of the slabs radiate from a center slab and have instructions for living peaceably on Earth. Each side of the four outer slabs is written in a different language: English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian. Each side of the capstone has a shorter message in an ancient language: Babylonian cuneiform, classical Greek, Sanskrit, and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Guidestones also have several astronomical features relating to the celestial pole and the traverse of the sun.
The Guidestones were erected in 1980, but their author is unknown. As I expected, some of my teammates didn't know that the Guidestones exist.
The day got windier, which made drafting a lot harder. Predictably, the guys dropped me. I rode my best and was surprised to discover that I showed up back at the Airbnb only a few minutes after the guys. All of us were battered and windburned. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying a delicious dinner that Allen and Jan prepared for us.
Our Airbnb was on Hartwell Lake. It had a representation of the lake on the wall that gave some interesting facts about the lake. It was built in the 1950s and is about 180 feet deep, definitely deeper than the lakes near my home.
I thought I remembered that Hart County is the only one of Georgia's 159 counties that is named for a woman. That's correct - it was named for Nancy Hart, renowned for fending off Tory soldiers during the Revolutionary War when Georgia was a British colony. I have several plates that depict scenes from Georgia history, including the one with Nancy Hart.
We had to check out of the Airbnb by 10:00 AM the next morning. That didn't give us enough time to ride again as well as take showers, and so we all headed home after breakfast. It wasn't one of our more elaborate team camps, but I enjoyed being with everyone.
Bridge to Bridge
For several months Robert had been planning a single-track ride from Juliette to the Sac o' Suds, which he named Bridge to Bridge. He intended it as kind of a showcase of all the work he's been doing to restore trails in the Oconee National Forest in south Jasper County.
The Ocmulgee River, adjacent to the national forest in our county, sometimes floods. It can be two to three years between flooding events, but the river has overtopped its banks five times this year since January 1! Bridge to Bridge originally was scheduled for February, but Robert had to postpone it to March 7. Even then, he wasn't sure he could host it because the river flooded yet again the first week of March. Fortunately, it receded enough that he still could hold the ride in a rerouted version. The coolest change to the route is that Robert installed zip lines across three creek crossings.
I didn't plan to do the ride because my mountain bike skills aren't up to snuff to keep up with the guys. More importantly, I had to get ready for the state MATHCOUNTS competition on Monday. Still, I wanted to get close to at least some of the action. So, I took my greyhounds for a short hike to the first zip line to watch the guys cross.
Can you believe I dropped my phone right before I got to the zip line? Eventually, I found my phone but not in time to record the crossing. So, I had to look at the guys' pictures after the fact. Still, it's easy to see how much fun they had playing in the woods all day on their bikes.
International Women's Day Ride/Recon Jasper Hike
I spent Saturday finishing getting ready for the state MATHCOUNTS competition because I had a full Sunday: a ride for International Women's Day and a community-wide Recon Jasper hike that Robert had planned for that afternoon. Additionally, several friends from out of town planned to come for the hike. We decided to have dinner at Robert's and my house after the hike because no restaurants are open in Monticello in Sunday evening. Therefore, I was also scrambling to clean house and cook! (Why do I over-schedule myself so...)
I got up before sunrise to finish cleaning house, especially jolly because I lost an hour overnight because of the time change. (I'm not complaining, though, because I love Daylight Saving Time!) Later that morning, I headed out for my International Women's Day bike ride. This was an organized virtual event in which participants rode a local route of 25, 50, or 100 km. I had wanted to ride 100 km, but I only had time for 50. (Ha! Typical of a busy woman.) I did my Rabbit Skip loop, which is 31 miles long, or exactly 50 km. Perfect! Also, it had been a while since I had done this enjoyable route. I submitted my Strava file to the ride organizer. I look forward to receiving my International Women's Day Bike Ride patch in the mail.
After a quick shower and lunch, Robert and I headed back down to the Oconee Forest trails to greet our fellow hikers. About 20 of us hiked nearly six miles on a beautiful late winter afternoon.
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| Sediment left on these turkey tail mushrooms by the receding floodwaters |
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| My friend Katherine |
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| My friends Tyson and Jehan |
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| Katherine, me, and Kathleen (not pictured - Susan) |
Tuesday Worlds
We're back on Daylight Saving Time - woo hoo! That means it's time for another season of Tuesday Worlds. A nice, big crowd showed up for the first ride of the season.
Mt. Zion Church, which graciously lets us use their parking lot, welcomed us all back with goodie bags full of granola bars, fruit, and other treats. They are very generous to us, and we all greatly appreciate them.
Athens-Augusta-Athens 400K
Yesterday I did the Athens-Augusta-Athens 400K brevet. I wasn't really jonesin' to do a brevet that long, but that was the only one on the Georgia calendar this month. Oh, well - it was also good to remember what it's like to do a longer brevet because I hope to do a 1000K at the end of April. (The only reason I need to do a 1000K is to meet all the requirements of a particular randonneuring award - I'm like a magpie collecting shiny trinkets.)
I prepared myself mentally for about 18 hours in the saddle and packed my bicycle and gear on Friday night. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep too well. I hoped that wouldn't come back to haunt me too much during the ride.
Eight of us gathered for the brevet. I rode the entire time with David B., Dick, Graham, Ian, and Jim. A 400K is never easy, but between my great companions and good weather, it was about as enjoyable as I could hope for. We all kept each other going.
Yesterday was also Pi Day! (3/14) Therefore, I was on a quest to find pi(e) somewhere along the ride. We had an open control at a shopping center at the turnaround point. Graham, Ian, and I went to Publix while the others went to Subway. I found some pi(e)!
They had several types of pi(e), not just apple. I got a peach pi(e) and shared it with Graham and Ian.
Usually, I switch from my contacts to glasses in the later hours of a long a brevet. However, yesterday morning my eyes started hurting so much that I went ahead and put my glasses on then. I suspected that the pine pollen count was high even though we didn't see the ubiquitous yellow coating that will appear any day now.
Sure enough, at our lunch stop we confirmed that it's pine pollen season. Ian had pollen streaks from the air vents in his helmet, and Graham had pollen raccoon eyes.
Early in the afternoon before we got to Augusta, I went through a stretch where I felt sleepy. (Amazingly, that was the worst of it, not even as bad as the final hours of the brevet.) I got a Coke at one of the controls. Additionally, I composed some haiku to help keep myself awake:
Coronavirus
All y'all stay the hell away
An introvert's dream
That mean ol' virus
Cancelled this year's festival
But not the blossoms
That second haiku is a reference to the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival :( I composed several more haiku following our lunch stop in Augusta:
Need pi(e) for Pi Day
Convenience stores are pi(e)-less
Yea! Publix comes through
Intricate design
Adapt henna for the South
Use pollen instead
We finished at 12:23 AM for a total time of 18 hours and 23 minutes. That's about what I'd hoped for. I composed one final haiku:
Rode 400K
Athens-Augusta-Athens
My buttocks are tired
Fried Clay
Next weekend was supposed to be the Fried Clay 200K (and 420K, but no way I'd do that - it would be hard enough on pavement, never mind off-road!) Today we got word that Pat, the organizer, is postponing it due to the coronovirus. I'm disappointed but not surprised. It's such an uncertain time. I hope that we can get back to a more normal routine sooner rather than later.
Pat plans to reschedule the Fried Clay for late May or early June. I hope it works out. It's already been a mixed up racing season. The organizer of the Middle Georgia Epic cancelled that event last month for personal reasons. Our Georgia Neuro cycling team requirements are to do at least five races a year. The Middle Georgia Epic and the Fried Clay were going to be two of my five. I think I can work around these changes easily enough. Regardless, particularly with the need for social distancing, I'll be spending a lot of time on the bike.
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