The last-minute modification included a Strava segment called Pope's Slope, which is only a few miles from my house on Old Adgateville Road. I had to defend my home turf! This segment is in the opposite direction that I usually ride Old Adgateville Road, up a significant climb. I didn't remember ever riding that hill particularly hard, and so I thought I had a pretty good chance of getting the QOM back, particularly because my dethrone-er only beat me by five seconds. I focused as I approached the bridge that designated the start of the segment. Pound, pound, pound up the hill! I think a left a piece or two of lung out there, but it was worth it to get the QOM back.
I continued on some great dirt roads near Round Oak that I ride less frequently. They also gave me time to chill a bit and psych myself up for the other QOM I had to get back, which was going to be more of a challenge. Coming back out on Highway 11 in Round Oak, I rode a short distance to Pippin Road, site of my next conquest - Big Pippin, Spinnin' Tha Cheese (hey, I didn't name it). My Wahoo (bike computer) is supposed to let me upload starred segments from Strava so that I can see exactly where a segment starts and ends. However, I couldn't get my QOM segments to load ahead of time, and so I studied a map to know where I had to ride hard. It was 0.65 mile on the last part of Pippin Road, just before Caney Creek Road.
Pippin Road is infamous among us off-roadies for a huge climb in the opposite direction I was going. I was glad that wasn't the QOM segment. Still, Pippin has several other significant climbs. According to Strava, Big Pippin, Spinnin' Tha Cheese started at the third creek crossing coming from Highway 11. However, the second and third creeks were pretty close together, and I second guessed my memory as I picked up my pace. I got to a 90-degree bend in the road. Dang it, I had jumped too early! I knew that bend wasn't in the QOM segment. I eased up a bit but not for long because there was another creek crossing - the third one and the true start of Big Pippin, Spinnin' Tha Cheese. Yikes, it was a bigger hill than I remembered. But this was the climax of my ride, and I had to give it everything I had. More pieces of lung left behind.
I was almost positive I had gotten the QOM back on Pope's Slope, but I wasn't sure about Big Pippin, Spinnin' Tha Cheese. My dethrone-er on Pippin had beaten me by 1:21, a hefty chunk for a 0.65-mile segment, especially uphill. I had to do it in less than 2:48 to beat her time.
The plot thickened. I lost the Pippin QOM in early May. However, in just the past week, Strava has changed some of their policies, causing somewhat of a brouhaha in the cycling world. Strava has had and will continue to have free accounts as well as paying accounts with more features. One of the biggest changes in the past week is that now only paying members are on the KOM/QOM leader boards. Therefore, my Pippin dethrone-er disappeared, presumably because she has only a free account, not a paying account like mine. When I started my ride yesterday, I showed up at the top of the leader board, but I didn't have the crown symbol. I wondered - if I beat my previous time but not my dethrone-er's time, would I get the crown? That's exactly what happened. My previous QOM time was 4:09. Yesterday's time was 3:26. I don't know how in the world my dethrone-er did it in less than 3 minutes, but I got the crown back. As a bonus, I discovered later when I uploaded my ride to Strava that I got two other QOMs on Pippin Road! My too-early effort paid off after all.
I got to simply enjoy the rest of my ride without any more pressure. I rode through my beloved Piedmont Wildlife Refuge (PWR), turning off of Round Oak-Juliette Road (paved) onto Cut Thru Road (dirt). Doesn't Cut Thru Road have a creek crossing? Yep, I remembered correctly. It didn't look too bad yesterday, and so I rode through and didn't have to stop - woo hoo! A few miles later, I approached Natural Rock Crossing:
As always, I walked across here - no need to risk busting my arse. It was also a lovely spot to stop for a Clif Bar and cool my feet for a few moments:
Butterflies also love getting water here:
I thought: if I had to choose between being competitive on QOMs and just enjoying nature while riding my bicycle, which would I choose? Definitely the latter, but I'm glad I don't have to make that kind of choice.
My route took me a few more miles through the PWR, and then I headed home on paved Highway 11. It was a fairly hard but very enjoyable ride.
When I got home, Robert showed me his latest work on the trails behind our house and adjoining cousins' property. He's added a few spur segments. We hiked pretty much the entire Polyhound Trail System, about four miles, which is what turned my dirt road ride into a Jasper County XTERRA duathlon.
Robert liked my idea to take a beer with us. Recreation Ale from Terrapin Brewing in Athens, GA is one of my favorites to have after a dirt road ride. I first had it several years ago after the Fried Green 50, and I always remember how good it was in that particular moment. A few days ago I bought a 12-pack of Recreation Ale but didn't realize until I opened the box yesterday that I didn't get 12-oz. cans; I got 16-oz. cans - woo hoo again!
That makes up for the time in college when some classmates and I stopped for some beer on the way back from a field trip to Buford Dam. One of them came out of the convenience store, excited about the good deal she got on the beer. When we got them out of the bag, we realized why she got such a good deal - they were little pony bottles!
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed walking the trails with Robert. Here's a cool old barn on a portion of the trail that he just rerouted:
This box turtle is getting a better view from up on a sweetgum ball:
Large beech tree!
I've seen the grave of Heidi, Robert's dog when he was a little boy, several times before, but I didn't remember exactly where it is. Another one of Robert's trail reroutes goes right by it. Robert had a little trouble back then with the rock carving and/or spelling 💓
I was particularly interested to see this final addition to the trail system, which I can't believe I never saw before. It's hard to see in the picture, but there are rock piers left from a building that's no longer there (about 30' wide and 100' long).
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built it as a base camp for other work they did in the area during the Great Depression. About 10 years later, it was converted into a POW camp for German soldiers during WWII. After the war some of the Germans settled here permanently because they really didn't have anything to go back to in Germany. They were allowed to work on local farms as POWs. They could stay after the war if they found a sponsor. According to an older friend, all stayed who wanted to, and they were very successful farmers in Jasper County. Also, for a while after the POW camp, the building was used for things like storing hay.
One of the Germans discovered nearby feldspar deposits. Feldspar mining and processing was a significant employer in Jasper County until just recently. Interestingly, feldspar is the parent material of kaolin, which is mined in a belt just south of the Fall Line, approximately 40 miles south of here. Geology rocks!
Yesterday afternoon when Robert and I got back from our hike, I got another "uh oh" message from Strava. This one is a long stretch of Hopewell Road in Bibb and Crawford Counties. Looks like another QOM conquest is in my future.
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