I figured that the first test would be to see how closely it followed one of my regular rides. From the shop to Dekalb Technical College out on Memorial and 285. It matches the route I have allready been using(essentially a modified version of the walking route) turn for turn. I’ve heard from others that it been closely matching the regular routes they all ready take, and it’s deviations are logical enough to give them a try.

My favorite part of the whole deal is that they mounted the panoramic street view camera to a trike, so that they can capture images of cycling trails, or really any relevant street which can’t be accessed by car. No street view for the silver comet or chief ladiga trails yet, but I’m sure they won’t be short of volunteers if they ever plan to map them. Which makes me also think that if you were the google team you would want to do that ride off season so that you didn’t have a whole bunch of cyclists just following you along and ruining all the shots..

We just got a used mid 90’s Cinelli Pista frameset. It’s selling for $850, that includes Dura-Ace headset & bottom bracket and American Classic seatpost. 54cm squared frame, real good condition, a few scratches but that’s about it. Come check it out, it’s in the window.

proceeds benefit Haiti relief, so come out.

I had heard via Faster Mustache and Fresh Loaf about some of the Beltline trail being “opened up” (physically not officially)…No matter how technically advanced the eventual execution(if it ever happens) of the project it’s a trail at best right now.

I knew that a good bit of it has been sucessfully mountain biked recently, and I figured with the recent snow maybe a good bit of trail would be rideable on my cross bike.  That idea being a good enough reason for me,  I checked out some online maps. The beltline peoples website is super helpfull in that regard so I got a pretty good feel for likely easy access points of which there are plenty. My three points of interest were Glenwood, MLK, and behind piedmont park.

Somebody else can review it from a mountain or 29er or pugsley perspective and I bet they’d see it in a whole different light.

My first intersection point was the derelict sand/gravel hoppers on Glenwood.  I picked this one first because it was the closest and I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to work out so well and I like setting the bar low to start. Sure enough it was only rideable for maybe an eigth of a mile, and then turned into a beach. At that point it didn’t look like it would even be fun on a mountain bike, and I bailed off onto a muddy side street that was pretty fun.

Rode on out MLK, I basically knew that there was a foot bridge over MLK that in pictures online looked like it had good looking trail going at least one way from that point. I went south first. The trail is mostly dirt with a bunch of dead/smashed down kudzu vine on top of it with sections of railroad ballast. It made for bumpy medium paced travel and immediately made me start wondering how big a tire I can fit on this thing 40’s maybe bigger possibly…I hadn’t put air in my tires for a few weeks so didn’t really want to let much more out. Rode that for a good distance until the trail underpasses a road and intersects with what appears to be bikepath in construction, all the melted snow and loose clay formed an ankle to schin deep bog and I didn’t feel like wading through to get to the other side of the trail which continued on….how far? well I turned back so that’s a mystery for another day. I doubled back and went north from MLK, a short little section with maybe more ballast than the other that deadends at active Marta line. I’m sure that the beltline plans to build a bridge or tunnel over it and join up with the trail somewhere on the other side, I just turned around and put my big hopes on Piedmont.

Piedmont was last, and it had my highest hopes. Destinations at both ends Highlander/Astoria, Midtown/Reynoldstown, Piedmont park/Grant Park. It’s a section that  I could see myself incorporating into a longer “recreational ride” or a fun diversion on what would otherwise be boring old “transportation”. Mixing the recreational and the transportational is the usual goal for me. Look for the big piles of railroad tracks everywhere on Monroe south of Intown Bikes. I didn’t bother going north but they were ripped up in that direction too so there could be more to ride over that way. As I got on I saw some guy on a lefty urbanish hucking machine he was eyeing me down hopefully maybe he had just ridden it and thought I didn’t have a chance or maybe once he saw me dissapear he gave it a shot… The trail didn’t dissapoint lots of mud, a little bit of ballast but generally awash in packed dirt/mud, some of the same kudzu vine over dirt/ballast but not enough to really annoy me. You basically just pick your way down the trail through the ruts of the trucks they used to transport the machinery and work crews who ripped up all the railroad ties. You have to think a little avoiding big ruts/loose ballast piles, sharp metal, and stacks of railroad ties that the trail kind of winds in around and through. The bridge over ponce is a tad sketch, I just portaged the bike and looked where I was stepping. You wouldn’t want to fall all the way through… There are a few road crossings and a bridge over north avenue that is pretty cool and rideable. Once I was over ponce I got to the point where I was keeping up a good bit of speeed, and the trail stays well paced and rideable until it dumps you out at Dekalb and Airline. All in all maybe two miles of off road riding in the middle of the city not too bad.

I will try to do regularly for as long as it lasts. Now the only question is what kind of tires to try out next. Something bigger than a 35… good on the street dirt and gravel. Lots of choices from Panaracer, Schwalbe, and Conti,  or maybe just go with the biggest tire we have in stock.

The traditional minutes before taking off on an epic ride photo. This is the best of three as we were facing southeast on a cold clear winter morning, so we are only kind of squinting. This is also the one where I decided to do something extra goofy with my hand. On my left is Josh Frank of Peachtree Bikes, and on my right Kyle Ary, both veterans to our Georgia Overnight Rides.

It’s been so long since this trip that I’m allready thinking of another…with or without bikes. This trip was so cold that no one felt like pulling the cameras out along the ride un-gloving etc. The ride out was much more pleasant than the return due to our route and the fact that we were still fresh. We stopped for lunch in Lawrenceville and the best bet from our local contact was a Subway…The route offered a couple of miles parallel dirt/off road, but still had us on some busy highways.  As usual the last few miles approaching the park were the most scenic. Coming into Fort Yargo I could immediately tell that we were going to have the park to ourselves, save a few chilled mountain bikers, rangers and a handfull of RV’s were the sole inhabitants, of a very large state park. The ride in to the campgrounds from the entrance alone was about two miles.

We got settled unloaded the bikes and headed straight back out to the liquor/beer store of legends… and it lived up to it’s reputation. Better selection of beer than anywhere I’ve been in Atlanta, other than Hop City. Add to that a good selection of cigars, wine and liquor… well anytime I’m in that area I’ll be back. Anyways I think we left with three cigars,  two six packs that were new to all of us(one of which was a Bells Double Cream Special, one of my top five beers ever), and a four pack of something or other from Oskar Blues. It was a good night and we didn’t have to bring any ice back for the beers.

The yurt itself is noteworthy. Completely element proof, this one even had a heater, it was more like hosteling and less like camping on the inside but of course outside you had isolation, the elements, the view, and the campfire. This also enabled us to cut down on the weight we were carrying(I could have cut down considerably), and made an all ready challenging ride just that much more doable. On the general topic of gear, what we were riding… Comonalities….Steel…Brooks saddles all around, not a tripple to be found(though it would have been nice), lots of layers wool caffeine and beer.

Kyle-Atala from the 70’s? 6 speed mostly Campy with a Sach’s freewheel which had to be carb cleaned at some point due to the low temps freezing up the internals. He ran Michelin Speedium 700×23’s the whole time with no problems even on our small section off road(I bet he could fit at least a 25 in there…) This was also the maiden voyage for his new rear wheel I had just built Velocity Aero’s(I think they bring the build together). A carradice held most of his stuff, but he had to borrow my freight backpack to put his sleeping bag in.

Josh Frank-Bridgestone RB-1, lots of Shimano if i’m not mistaken. New VO headset to replace the tange that had loosened up on him last trip. Oh and he has a fancy little Nitto rack(Marks Rack I believe) and a Rivbag to match.

Me- The same Bilenky that i’ve described in detail before… The only gear change since last time…spd pedals and the Gearne mountain shoes I’ve been using for Cross this year(nice for this distance of a ride).

On the topic of gear there is one little camping necessity that I can never seem to find anywhere that I have been thinking about carrying through the shop for spring when people might be inclined to care about such things…

The next morning we woke up and did it all in reverse, and we took a worse route, and our legs weren’t quite as fresh, and finishing off the morning beers didn’t help either. We made it back to the neighborhood with Josh’s computer clicking over to 130 miles for the ride.

Billy came in 1st last night at the NACCC goldsprints. He put on a good showing all night, and beat out B of the Highlander in the final 750 meter sprint. He won the PBR chrome bag pictured in hand above.

Thanks to everyone who came out and raced or spectated, and special thanks to The Highlander for hosting the event. This was just the 1st round of more goldsprints to come. 2nd round’s in March so be ready.

photo cred: Chicken

more info @ www.bicicoop.org

Long forward facing semi horizontal dropouts 130 spaced, quality parts throughout. Sugino cranks, conti top contact 37s, surly hubs, delgado rims, cane creek sealed headset, etc. 47-57mm brake reach so it can fit fenders with a still plush tire, once he decides on a fender set, my money is on being able to fit a 32 in there. Rack and fender mounts all over… and there is allways a derailleur hanger and all the appropriate braze ons if you want to go down that road later on. All in all a bike that could see service as a commuter/road/light trail/light tourer. We can also get ahold of the road tripple version.