Enjoyed another great visit up to the N. Ga Mtns. Weather was perfect. No humidity and in the 70s. Met some cool folks who invited us to campfire with them. Took the SS up because I'm fed up with my stupid geared rig. I was pretty trashed Sunday after a huge effort on Saturday. I set several PRs on P1,P2 and Bear Creek in addition to getting KOM on the climb from MG to Bear Creek! I am really proud of that one. I think being on the SS helped because I couldn't granny it up and get lazy. It was almost 40 minutes of nearly all out effort to the top of the climb. Then I had a blast bombing down BC though too many hikers (boo!). P1 was it's usual badass slap-in-the-face self with some serious climbing right after leaving Bear Creek. P2 went by quickly today although my time was longer than last July at around 35 minutes. Feelin' good climbing over to P2 although FS90B can suck it!. Need more fire road climbing! P2 downhill was so much fun although had to dodge hiker with dog and slow noob. Passed two freaks biking up P2 then I did the same going back to meet up with Renee. Always nice to meet back up with her after a while of solitude. Back down P2 again for a double-dip of downhill daring. Biked out to 52 to get a few road miles in to kill some time. Then dirt road back to MG for an epic ham supper. (Renee also caught a yellow jacket in the eye but didn't get stung.)
Campfire with banjo. New terms: race gravy, fire penis
horrible sleep Saturday night due to dogs crowding me off bed. ( I love em anyway.)
Sunday had epic huge bfast with tons of sugar,fat,carb. (french toast with sugared fruit, ham, chz eggs, coffee)
Off to P3 and P4 and finished some more awful fireroad climbing. Goddamn wish I had more than one gear at this point. P3 toasted me again although I wasn't really pushing. One day I will clean those switchbacks. Finally found P4 with an amazing view of Brasstown Bald at the entrance. It was pretty short and had some climbing. Memorable quote from one of the guys in the group after finishing P4, "Mountain biking is dumb" ,said in a whiny voice.
Bombed back down P3 which is always stoooopid fast. Showered for the first time in 2 days then drove home. Yeeha!
I sick as I was of those damn mountains I'm already clamoring to get back at em.
The solar eclipse just happened and it has me feeling cosmic and appreciative of our wondrous universe. It makes me feel pretty small and realize that most of my concerns are really trivial. I was amazed at how the quality of light changed and how the crickets began to chirp. Not to mention the crescent-shaped lights on the ground beneath the trees. We had a colander out viewing crescents on the patio because we had no solar glasses. Briefly, a cloud covered the sun and we looked up for a few seconds at the eclipse. Then some neighbors let us borrow their glasses. They are neighbors who for some reason we have never even spoken to, but people realize this is a rare event, so it makes us more human, more kind. This is an amazing time to be alive, with my daughter just turning 1 year old and now this truly inspiring event of nature. One can't help but feel gratitude and a sense of contentment. One of my favorite Carl Sagan quotes: “The surface of the Ea...