Me, Merrill, Frank and Kevin rode the Isabella Oakmulgee 70mi gravel route today. We started in SW Chilton County, rode NW into Perry and got on my favorite gravel road out there, Old Selma Road. That road alone has almost every surface type and is 6.3mi of remote wilderness with tree tunnels, sunken roads, and some great views from the top of Sand Mountain. From Perry, we crossed back and forth with Chilton before rolling south into Dallas County, then Autauga before getting back into Chilton.
It was a chilly 40ish when we rolled out, and I couldn’t stand it, so we went chasing hills to warm up, and that happened quickly. The route is about 90% dirt roads with 80% of that being very remote wilderness. There are a ton of climbs, but none of them were too terribly long although they also threw us some nasty pitches. The descents are super fun, but none of them were long enough proportional to the hills.
There’s a lot of super hard pack red clay out there that feels like concrete to ride on. There were some patches of sand here and there. In the middle of Old Selma Road there were some pretty large puddles, and it hadn’t rained much in a good while.
Had a great time on the first dudes only ride in a good bit. Thanks for showing up, I needed this.