Ice Cream Man

I forgot what it means to be hot. Sure there was one day in Seattle last year that I sweated. And there was the Cascade bike ride through the Rattlesnake Hills in June. That was hot. But I wasn't ready for hot in April.

I have some big bike rides planned and I'm training for them. First up is a 200k in north Georgia next weekend. Then there is the 1000k in mid May, from Bonifay, Florida to Cheaha, Alabama and back. Three days of adventure. So last Sunday I thought I'd go for a little bike ride to prepare.

The "spring forward" thing never works well for me. I had the grand idea of hitting the road at 8 am. I did OK if you don't count the time change and was out the door by 9:30 headed west. I planned a route that would give me quite a diverse view of Georgia, from the tall buildings of downtown Atlanta, to the pure desolation of the forest to the west. It would be good.

Heading out Ponce thru Decatur I wanted to follow the PATH as far as I could. This turned out to be not so far, as a couple miles in the PATH stopped without a clear marking for what to do next. I know it goes to the Carter Center, but continuing on Decatur Street to downtown was better because I wouldn't have to cross the railroad tracks again. You are much more visible and safer as a vehicle on the street then on a sidewalk anyway. Now if only there were more smart people in Atlanta we'd have some real bike lanes on the thru streets and not the dangerous PATH sidewalk.

The road is straight to town. First thing downtown is the Georgia State campus. I'll likely be very familiar with the campus very soon. Then downtown, CNN Center, Centennial Park, and about 5000 Wing Zones.

I've been interested in historical markers for a while, those roadside attractions that tell you who slept where, who died when, and what fantastic invention was first built on this very spot. I recently learned that Texas leads the Union with 11000 officially endorsed markers. New York is second with 2800, followed by Georgia with 2600. I can understand New York having many, New York is old, and much of our country's history happened in New York. But so many for Texas?

There are a few Georgia markers I want to see, one in particular I wanted for the web site. I had ridden past the "Surrender of Atlanta" marker many times in the past and thought how different Atlanta was back then. Here in a seedy industrial part of town, near the icky Georgia Tech campus (that's Tech that's icky, not the campus), was what may have been the turning point in the Civil War. But the sign was gone! What happened? The post was knocked down to the ground, the sign gone. The landscaping around the sign was undisturbed so it wasn't a run away vehicle. My first thought was that it had to be some kids juiced up on Bud and Hank Jr demonstrating that the South will rise again. Not true, the AJC just yesterday had an article about the sign and how it was accidently backed over by a truck and Sonny doesn't have the $300 it takes to put the sign back up. What's going on here, we go away for a year and you guys spend all the money? Come on, the battle of Atlanta, they made a movie about it and you can't fix the sign? Jeez.

So I took a picture and hit the road. Marietta Street heads northwest to Smyrna, and passes a few landmarks. There's a mexican restaurant that makes avocado tacos and mashed potato tacos that are fabulous, but they are not open. There's Bark Avenue, the kennel where the dogs used to stay. And then you're across 285 and to the Silver Comet Trail.

The Smyrna area has continued to develop. I remember two years ago pointing out some cool old houses just off Atlanta road saying they'll be gone soon. They are, replaced with the tallest, biggest, squarest houses you can imagine.

The trail hasn't changed much. Still there are plenty of people out there on a nice day, it still is plenty protected from the encroaching development. Many of the developers are using the Silver Comet as an attraction for buyers, putting in approach trails. But like the PATH through town, it shouldn't be just for recreation. Why close the trail at night? If you want to go somewhere on your bike, it's a bike way. Bikes are real transportation, not just fitness tools. But maybe this is the first step, get people riding bikes, liking bikes, they'll ride them to do their daily activities.

Rockmart is a cool old town. The Rock part of the name comes from the slate quarry that once operated there. For a little rural town, there is an over ration of great stone and brick buildings from the past. One thing bad about Rockmart is Sunday. Most businesses were closed. The ride to Rockmart was really nice, I was really cruising along at a good speed. I planned my supplies to get me to town where I could resupply. The bike store with the ice cream cooler is out of business, replaced with an Italian restaurant. Not what I wanted, so I rode around town looking for a store. Nothing. Yikes. Well, I knew there was a good store out at Coots Lake, about 5 miles back. So I head for home.

The heat turned up. I peddled along thinking Choco Taco, Choco Taco, Choco Taco. Passed the Vanwert store which I didn't like so much, to the Coots Lake oasis. What a surprise to find the store out of business. Coots Lake, you may not know, is on the western edge of the "remote area" of the trail. The eastern edge, the Paulding Chamber of Commerce, has water and some nearby stores and restaurants. The 14 miles between have no stores or other possibility for supplies. So back I went to Vanwert. This decision got me a quart of Powerade, some honey toasted peanuts, a Payday bar and a nasty little ice cream cone. And six bonus miles.

I was at the point of bonking. I took it easy for a while but did not stop riding and ate all the food I bought in about 15 minutes. It took a while but I felt better. Now I was focused on a new goal. Twenty more miles to Powder Springs and Brewsters. On the way out I saw there was a sign on the trail advertising ice cream, which was new for Powder Springs, and I love ice cream on a long bike ride. So that thought kept me going for the next hour and a half of riding. When I finally got there I couldn't face a $6 ice cream with a bunch of junk in it so I went to Mc-D's and had a value menu sundae and sat in the air conditioning for 20 minutes. It was hot.

The rest of the ride back was uneventful. I don't have a computer on my bike, so I calculated my mileage as 15 miles from home to I-285, two miles to the trail, 38 miles on the trail. With the bonus miles in Rockmart and Coots lake, I figure 117 miles and five counties for the day. Not a bad trip.