and gained most of it back five years later 🙁
Several years ago we lived on the westside of Atlanta, near Smyrna, GA. I wasn’t much of a cyclist back then – and to be fair Atlanta isn’t the easiest place to be one. Anyway, our local Publix was close to the Silver Comet trailhead – which is a paved trail that goes all the way to the Georgia/Alabama border, then continues on to Anniston, Alabama on the Chief Ladiga trail.
After we moved to Charleston, SC I got into cycling – and due to my self-employment work I could free up many hours to ride long distance rides. This was great for my physical fitness. I once set a goal to lose 30 lbs in less than six months! I achieved that goal – and then some, knocking off close to 40 lbs of weight.
That was almost five years ago – and a lot has changed in our lives. Greenville, SC is home. Our son is almost two years old. Several job changes later and most of that weight has crept back. It turns out you won’t always have 10 hours a week to dedicate to working out. And if you don’t have great discipline at meal time, or snack time, or late night snack time you’ll end up right back where you started.
Anyway, tomorrow I’m going on a long ride again. First day will be over 100 mile ride from Smyrna, GA to Anniston, Al. Spend the night at a Bed&Breakfast, then wake up and ride back to Smyrna/Atlanta. The goal is to rack up 200 miles in two days.
Thankfully there are no cars to worry about – so in theory it’ll be ‘easy’.
Here’s the bike I’ll be riding, with a few bits and bobs bolted to it for comfort and gear.
To quote my friend Mountain Man Bill – “Hike your own hike – and finish”. Maybe one day he’ll see the light about bike touring vs just walking.
There is this really cool app called Epic Ride Weather and it shows me temperature, precipitation, wind and wind direction along my planned routes. Since I’m a newbie at solo long-distance riding, I welcome any tool that can help me anticipate challenges I may encounter.
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