silver comet ride o8

who knew that 200 miles could go so fast and so slow all at the same time! a bunch of riders(and i would now call them all friends, bc that's what biking together does for you) drove to anniston and then rode the chief ladiga and silver comet trails to atlanta last saturday and back on sunday. this was a total of 208 miles, though should have only been 202 (and let me say, when you're approaching 200, every mile counts!) but for the typical navigation of men--aww, we'll figure it out, maybe down this piece of dirt road. they're called ROAD bikes for a reason, kale! right after the thriving metropolis of cedartown, where you apparently throw your chicken bones in the road, you go off trail to some side streets for a bit. but it all turned out fairly well if you don't mind following some colorful locals in their car.

it was just after cedartown when we came out of the shaded trail and into the direct sunlight for what seemed like forever. i've had trouble all summer with the heat, but you know when you have chills and it's a hundred degrees, it's just not good! thankfully we lunched and cooled off in rockmart and i realized what i really needed was to soak my head and jersey (can't begin to say how incredibly helpful that is!!). we had reservations for dinner that night, but have to say that beer and pizza by the pool could have not been better!

we were very fortunate to have had abe's sweet wife, gail, drive our belongings over and wait patiently in the parking lot for us to arrive. we stayed at the la quinta just 3 miles from the trail and it was nice to have sidewalks all the way so some very tired bikers didn't have to dodge atlanta traffic. i'm sure this was all part of our fearless leader, jim's plan--along with the iced beer in the back of gail's car (mmmmmmm!). though it sounds like we drank a lot of beer, we were all safely in bed by 10 wondering if we'd lost our minds thinking of riding back the next day!

the return trip on sunday was pretty uneventful and we all made it back safely, wondering how the tour de france riders do that everyday for 21 days!!! truly amazing athletes! i felt pretty great on monday (endorphines are wonderful!), but it all came crashing down tues., after our morning ride. i have never felt so tired and depleted. i, stupidly, rode again thurs. morning and then realized recovery is also a very important part of training. i started saying i was taking a week off, but have to say, 2 days into it, i only think i'll last until the tues. morning ride. well, i do LOVE my bike!