PowerCycle

03/10 Felt much better today.  Took the 16 out of Eatonton and hated it.  No shoulder, several large climbs and lots of heavy truck traffic.  Eventually I turned north on the 11 and that was a hundred times better.  No shoulder but a lot less traffic and almost no big hills.  The GPS started chirping at me because it found a shorter way but out in the country I’m hesitant to trust it because it likes to route over unpaved roads which could be bad for me [update:  I just found the option to not follow unpaved roads].  So this time I saw that I’d be on dirt for 5 miles at the most so what the heck.  Well… the smooth pavement at the start of Rocky Creek Road soon turned to gravel. Nasty, bumpy, loose gravel.  There’s no way someone riding on anything but thick tires would make it.  It was mostly downhill which invariably means I’d be going back uphill.  Made it to the one and only bridge and then almost had to walk up my first hill.  A picture of that beauty is below but it’s hard to see how steep something is in a picture.  Got up it with out too much trouble but I knew I was about done for the day.  Going uphill on gravel is a lot harder than pavement though.

Rode for about 5 more minutes and spotted a park ranger who told me there was a campground about 100 yards up the road.  Only $5 too.  Sweet. The shortcut paid off.  The not so sweet part is that it’s down by the river which means I have a nice climb ahead of me in the morning (up a dirt road).  They have a hot shower which was a bonus.  Only one other person here too.  It’s called Factory Shoals Park and its about 3 miles north of Stewart, GA on Hwy 36.  Then you have to go east for a mile on Newton Factory Bridge Road.

I’ve started making a short list of things I’m likely not going to bring with me past Atlanta (heads up Dad ).  The biggest thing is probably going to be my Canon 40D.  Getting rid of it would drop 8 lbs and I don’t think I’m going to miss having a zoom lens until I get into the Rockies.  The add-on vestibule for my tent will be getting dropped off too.  The portable stool and the smaller one I use for my air mattress will be going too.  I’d like to commit to either the tent or the hammock but each has a lot of advantages over the other so I’ll be bringing both.  I might drop a couple pieces of clothing but that will mostly be to gain some space so I can carry more food if need be.  The only really heavy things left will be the water filter which I’ve never used but I know I’ll need when I go hiking, my hiking shoes and the U-lock that I’ve also never used but would hate to not have when I really need it.

The only other item of note today is that I’m really starting not to like cars.  It kind of started yesterday but today I was standing  by the side of the road trying to get a Band-Aid out of my pannier and every 10 seconds a vehicle would come blasting by.  The sheer number of cars on the road is not what bothers me the most though.  The closer I get to Atlanta the less outwardly friendly people are.  No one is rude or anything but the waves have gone from dozens per day to one or two.  The stress of living in a big city is probably the only reason–people tune everything else out when they are in their escape pods.  My new dislike of cars just stems from how obvious it is to me now.

Mood: Good
Wind Direction: Calm
Wind Strength: Light 
Weather:  Sunny/Mild
Total Ascent: 1708 ft
Max Elevation: 786 ft
Distance:  36.38 miles
Average Speed: 9.1 mph
Max Speed: 30.2 mph (flying!)