I had ridden on the east side PATH trails once before, five years ago. (See 9/6/15 blog post.) Back then, I rode to the trails and met Robert, who brought his bicycle in the car. We both then rode the trails from the monastery to Lithonia and back with a grand finale picnic back at the monastery. I had mapped a good route from home to the monastery that mostly kept me off of state highways. Saturday's 250K route utilized these same roads, out and back. I also added some additional mileage in Jasper County to get me to 250K.
One good thing for me about the pandemic is that I've been getting more sleep. I think of good health as a three-legged stool with exercise, good nutrition, and sleep as the three legs. Admittedly, the sleep leg of my stool has often suffered. It has been good to be less sleep deprived the past few months. So, I haven't made an attempt to get up particularly early to do my virtual brevets. On the other hand, I didn't want to start too late on my 250K because I knew that it would take me around 11 hours. I woke up just before 7:00 AM and got on the road about 8:30 AM, about as late as I should have started to get home before dark.
My route first took a jag to the east to get some needed extra mileage. I headed east on Rock Eagle Road and then north to Shady Dale. From there I rode west to pick up my main route to the monastery.
In 1944 twenty-one Trappist monks left Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky to form a new one in Georgia. Today, the Monastery of the Holy Spirit is a wonderful place to visit. Although some portions are off limits to the public, it has lots to offer: a store, chapel, tours, and picnic grounds. Also, several people I know have taken retreats there.
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| Chapel |
The monastery is the easternmost trailhead for the PATH trails. Many people are more familiar with the Silver Comet, a trail west of Atlanta, which is also a PATH Foundation trail. While the Silver Comet is relatively flat because it was constructed on an old railroad bed, the east side trails are much hillier and more winding. Eventual plans are to connect both sets of trails. Maybe this will happen during my lifetime.
It was very nice to know I wouldn't be dealing with traffic for the next 38 miles or so. The afternoon was warm and pleasant. Although I saw other people walking and biking, it wasn't crowded.
The South River Trail follows the South River, crossing it twice:
Earlier that morning, before I got to the trails, my 250K route had also crossed the Alcovy River and the Yellow River. These three rivers form the Ocmulgee River, which is the western boundary of Jasper County.
In DeKalb County I passed this sludge application area.
The civil engineer in me found this fascinating. Sludge application is a method to dispose of the final waste that comes from a waste water treatment plant. Typically, it's applied as a fertilizer for trees. You can't see much of the sludge application area from the trail, and so most people probably don't realize what's there.
I continued onto the Arabia Mountain PATH:
This isn't a great photo, but there weren't many vantage points from the trail. Arabia Mountain, Panola Mountain, and Stone Mountain are three monadnocks east of Atlanta, rising from an extensive batholith. (Geology rocks!) The rock outcroppings have some unique ecosystems that are even home to some endangered species.
The trail ends near Stonecrest Mall. I turned around and began retracing my path.
Restrooms and other facilities along the eastern trails mostly were closed due to COVID-19. I started out with two full water bottles and carried a couple of large bottles of Gatorade in my Yogi Bear picnic basket. A few miles after my turnaround point, I stopped at the Arabia Mountain trailhead and was glad to find that their outdoor spigot worked. I still had an unopened bottle of Gatorade, but I knew I needed to fill up while I had the chance.
A little farther down the trail, I stopped in a nice, shady spot to eat the sandwich I had packed:
The trails really are a wonderful amenity. If I lived in eastern suburban Atlanta, I would be grateful to have this natural respite nearby. We humans just have to be mindful of our nonhuman neighbors:
As I approached the monastery on my return trip, I noticed this marker:
This portion of the trail was finished only about a year before I rode the east side trails five years ago. The PATH Foundation has done a remarkable job creating trails in and around Atlanta. Robert and I were still living in Atlanta when the PATH Foundation formed. He volunteered in its early days and went to the opening of one of the first demonstration trails near Clarkston in the mid 90's. They planned to show people using the trail in various ways. Robert thought he might be a runner or walker. However, they had some in-line skates, and when no one else said they could skate, Robert said he'd give it a try. I got got to see a clip of his brief skating career on the TV news that evening.
It's amazing to compare today's network of PATH trails to the roughly six-mile bicycle path that my sister and I rode back in the 80's, which is now part of the PATH system. We'd ride from our house and pick up the bicycle path at the intersection of McLendon Drive and Ponce de Leon Avenue. It was about 10 miles total from our house to Stone Mountain via bicycle. That was an epic ride for me back in the day!
I said a fond farewell to the east side PATH trails and continued my route back toward Monticello. There was a little more traffic on the short stretches of state highways than there had been in the morning, but it wasn't too bad. Still, I was glad to make it back to more rural roads in Newton and Jasper Counties.
It was late afternoon, and I was starting to feel the mileage. I pulled over at quiet church to take a short break. It always feels good to take off my cycling shoes for a few minutes and wiggle my feet and toes. This goes a long way toward preventing hot spots. As I sat in the grass, I wrapped my arms around my knees. I didn't realize how grimy my legs had gotten, largely because of the sunscreen I had put on; now my arms were grimy, too! I had something to eat and drink and got back on the road. I felt much better after refueling.
In north Jasper County I stopped to take a photo at this subdivision that Robert designed:
Back in the late 90's and 2000's, before the Great Recession, Robert designed subdivisions left and right during the housing boom. Developers usually didn't care what the street names in their subdivisions were and left the naming up to Robert. He often used some kind of theme. In this one he named several roads after well known pro cyclists at the time: Hamilton Drive, Armstrong Drive, and Lance Court for Tyler Hamilton and Lance Armstrong. It's ironic that they both later fell from grace due to doping. Most people in this subdivision probably don't know the notoriety of some of their street names.
I was almost out of water, but it wasn't too much farther to Shady Dale, where there's a church with water. But first, turtle rescue at mile 137!
I made it to the church in Shady Dale and was grateful for the water. I was tired, but I had only about one more hour of riding. I thought about my friend Divya, who had posted a picture of herself as Rosie the Riveter a few days earlier:
I shared with her a picture of me as Rosie back in 2002:
So, inspired by Rosie, Divya, and myself, I finished my V-250K.
Next up...V-300K!
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