nmanhipot

Anybody here ever ridden Sweat Mountain? I rode Wiggley Road to Summitridge Road, Lane and Court yesterday. That has to be greater than 20%. When I was seated, I started pulling a wheelie on every pedal stroke. I thought I was either going to face plant or break my stem. I borrowed an iBike Pro Wattmeter that had a very accurate inclinometer on it. I have to get something like that back on my bars. What a cool toy.

larryfeltonj

What's the commute route you've been taking? I'm curious because sort of a hobby of mine is evaluating utility cycling routes from the East Atlanta/Ormewood Park/Grant Park area, and I'd like to get a feel for the general area which is causing you problems.

Taxis are an interesting separate problem. I work downtown, and walk over the entire downtown area. I'm assertive of my rights as a pedestrian in the crosswalks, and the only times I've had to jump back have involved cab drivers. I've seen cabbies do some really insane maneuvers.

larryfeltonj

I haven't ridden there, but thanks for pointing this out to me. I'm going to put it on my list to ride. Most of my cycling is intown, but since my fiancee lives in Cobb County I'm always on the lookout for interesting cycling and hiking venues there. Wikipedia has an article on Sweat Mountain at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_Mountain

nmanhipot

Cool! Here's a route you can use. Ignore the Woodstock part of it: https://www.routeslip.com/routes/49789 It takes a couple of minutes for it to show up. Another great climb on this same mountain which is longer but not quite as steep is Highborne Drive, also off of Wigley Road but very near Sandy Plains. If you can cap both of these in one ride, you'll be my hero for sure! Being a clydesdale, these two are absolute torture. I had to stop and rest at Summitop Lane when I was climbing Summitop Road, it was that hard for me. Give it a try and let me know what you think. You can do it in 39x23 because it's not very long but I imagine I would have an equally difficult time in my 30x26 on my commuter bike. Hmmmmm. Now I'm curious. Sounds like a good detour on the way home tonight!!

nmanhipot

Oh so much better on a triple! I did Sweat Mtn again just now and made it all the way up to the radio towers (shhhh. Don't tell anyone). I have a new found respect for my triple-chain ring, disc-braked commuter tank.

larryfeltonj

I'm looking forward to trying this route. My plan at the moment is to pick a day, probably next week, that I can get off work early and try the first route you posted. I'll
post a note here after I've done it, to let you know how it went.

nmanhipot

Cool. Here's the full route including the gravel road up to the top:

https://www.routeslip.com/routes/50868

larryfeltonj

Great! The 40-60% chance of rain over the next few days has pushed my plans to ride the route forward a bit. But it's on my short term list.

doink

hey guys. i just picked up a road bike and am eager to ride with people and for lack of a better term, learn. i go to school in milledgeville, but im in lilburn this week to take care of some things. i plan on riding around stone mountain a couple times this week. anyone planning on riding this week?

nmanhipot

Welcome, doink. There are always people out at Stone Mountain but I won't be anywhere near there this week. Anybody else?

nmanhipot

I know the feeling. I am loving my commuter bike I got back in January. It's a road bike with BB7 mechanical disc brakes. Oh, the joy! I've gotten in over a hundred miles this week and rode through three downpours on Monday and Tuesday. In addition to unaffected braking, I can't believe how much cleaner the bike stays without rim brakes. I hope bike mfgrs push the trend and put them on high-end bikes. Last night, I just hosed it down, dried it off, lubed the chain and it was as good as new. Sure, I'll have to relube the cable housings soon and some of the allen bolts are a bit rusty but it's worth it being able to ride through the storms.

nmanhipot

I'm having a good day today! When I got to work, I logged my commute with the Clean-Air Campaign and saw this message at the top of the login screen: Congratulations to the $100 Visa gift card Spotlight winner for this quarter: (nmanhipot) - our Bike Champion!! Woo hoo! Then I went to routeslip.com and found out I have logged 961 miles in the last 30 days. I was feeling like a real stud until I called my wife to tell her the good news. I told her about the gift card and she said, "You should give it to me so I can use it at the grocery store." *smile faded* and I said, "Or to buy tires with."

TimArchy

We may not have any mountains downtown, but there is some stuff to climb.
https://www.routeslip.com/routes/9829
Just a little route I put together linking my night rides from last summer.
62mi and 4500 ft of climbing (routeslip counts every slight grade so the actual climbing is a bit less than stated.
Did a race/ride on it last fall. Only about 8 of the 25 who started finished the entire thing. Only one on a brakeless fix.

larryfeltonj

Before I looked at the route I wondered if you included Atlanta Ave between Confederate and Boulevard, a lifetime favorite killer hill of mine (I grew up three blocks from it and it was a favorite balloon tire bicycle challenge). One way to make the Ormewood Park/Grant Park leg of the route even more killer is rather than turning toward the Berne Street traffic circle off Glenwood hold off until you encounter Muse Street just the other side of Southside High. It's a short monster of a hill.

I like this route. I'm starting to accumulate routes faster than I can try them, but since I live six blocks from the southeast Atlanta section of the route I intend to add it to my list to try when I have a Saturday free.

Do I know you? I live a couple of blocks from the SOPO space in East Atlanta, and chat with various SOPO people frequently, but I'm getting very slow memorizing names these days.

TimArchy

I'm sure I've seen you around. My name's Kyle. I helped to start the coop and I try to get there as much as I can, usually after 8pm on tuesday and thursday.

TimArchy

I was thinking of throwing in vernon ave and marion st but it made the route too complex. There was already over 100 turns in it to begin with. If you want a challenge, check out Mary George on the west side (where the route makes a u-turn on perry blvd). Turn left off of Perry at the top of the hill. You'll go down a steep descent and hit a solid 20% grade on concrete going back up.

larryfeltonj

I'll check it out. I'm over near Perry Blvd at lot, particularly where it intersects with Hollywood Road. Prior to riding the whole route I'll probably try out selected section that I can squeeze into my normal activities.

TimArchy

Mary George is about 1/2 mile from that intersection. From hollywood go on perry past the high school. You'll see may george on your right before you go down the hill.

larryfeltonj

That's within easy proximity of my normal travels. One of my interests is photographing older cemeteries, and since my fiance lives in Mableton, I've been using the opportunity to focus on westside cemeteries on both sides of the river (Hollywood, Mayson Church, Proctor Creek, Turner-Sewell). As a byproduct of this I seek out good westside cycling routes. Of course a route emphasizing hills might be dubious as a "good" route under most transportational circumstances. It could certainly be a fun and challenging route though.

larryfeltonj

I'm starting to post various utility routes originating in the NPU-W area (southeast Atlanta) on my blog. I've been trying out https://bikely.com.

The links to the first two routes I've entered on my blog are
https://larryfeltonjohnson.typepad.co...mute-rout.html

and

https://larryfeltonjohnson.typepad.co...te-from-e.html

My purpose is to promote the use of the bicycle for errands in my area.

larryfeltonj

I'll post more info when I get all the details, but for those of you interested in USCF racing in the Atlanta area, I just got back from a meeting of Neighborhood Planning Unit W (Grant Park, SAND area, and East Atlanta) where an application was filed for a criterium on September 8th to be held in Grant Park. I don't have the race times yet, but the permit was to block the streets (in and around Grant Park, and I'm speaking of the park itself rather than the neighborhood) from 12 PM to 8 PM.

I'm really interested in promoting cycling in all its forms in southeast Atlanta, so I'd love to see a big turnout of both racers and spectators. I'll post more specific details as I get them.

nmanhipot

Thanks for the update and the involvement Larry.

I was at the Tuesday Night Crit this past Tuesday for a rare appearance when a local track rider, who also happens to be a current world champion and world record holder in the 750 m pursuit, stopped the peleton because it failed to slow down in turn one when there was on-coming traffic. Riders were splayed accross both lanes and the guy driving the truck was screaming at the riders to get out of the way but you can't hear more than 10' at 30 mph. The peleton was brought to a screeching halt the next time it approached turn 2, where there was also a minivan blocking the outside lane with a busted tie-rod. The guy who stopped the peleton was well within his rights, IMHO, and he threatened to call the cops to shut the ride down permanently if the lead riders in the peleton don't slow down when there is an on-coming car in turn one. There's a good chance this ride won't last too much longer because one police officer already said that if there is another complaint against the ride they will shut it down permanently. I'm really surprised none of the inconvenienced drivers on Tuesday night called the cops.

Pedal Wench

Larry, will there be a women's division - specifically a women's Cat 4 start? Sorella Cycling as been trying to get our racers out to as many races as possible, and I'm sure there would be interest.

TimArchy

Don't forget:
This Weekend!
The Rock
alleycat race and afterparty

Register on the day of the race at No Brakes at 4pm.
Race starts at 5p.
Paced ride to Stone Mountain. Drop your bike at the bottom and run to the checkpoint at the top (there will be people at the bottom to watch the bikes). Run back down and haul a** back to Jes's house near Johnny's on Highland for the afterparty.
Lots of prizes.

Register early at www.sopobikes.org/therock

larryfeltonj

I've sent a note to the organizers (aaron's cycling) asking them about the divisions (and specifically about women's Cat 4). One thing I noticed is that the schedule on their web site says Sept 9th, but I have the 8th in my notes from the permit application. I'll get that one figured out too.