This was an awesome day filled with more adventure than most. We monitored the weather extremely closely before Alabama Power made the call to keep the ride on. The last time it was cancelled was for Hurricane Sally, and the new date fell on Delta’s arrival. If it had to be rescheduled again, we would be partly responsible for the next hurricane.

We all met in the parking lot for a 6am rollout. Introductions were made between Martha, Q, Sean, Jenn, Charles, John and Ronald while everyone was getting their gear sorted. We were almost all ready at 6, and then we heard Reveille being played at Fort McClellan. I highly recommend any ride you plan to roll from Michael Tucker park start at 6am, it was a nice touch.

We were very lucky on the way out. SAG (John and Ronald) were monitoring the weather, and meeting up with us about every 20 miles for refills. We managed to thread the needle through most (not all) of the rain on the way to Smyrna. Plenty of rain and darkness fell on us on the way back. We were navigating this thing like riders on the storm. There were plenty of roots popping up under the asphalt in many places until we got to the state line, where the Silver Comet picks up in all of its concrete glory. The roots were well marked with fading paint, and only caused one flat tire. The scenery from Piedmont to the state line was beautiful, and fog sat on the top of the mountains.     

Once we got to Smyrna, we stopped at the Atlanta Bread Company for lunch. We all laid out our gear to dry and toweled off the dirt, and had a very replenishing meal together before heading back out. We were able to charge our devices and freshen up our gear before heading back, SAG support was excellent.

There was a particular tradition that Stephen Peters created that I wanted to bring back to life on this trip. On the way back out of Smyrna, I remembered his idea. Every time that we passed a cyclist that was headed in the opposite direction, we all said “Hey-yay” in unison as we passed them. This had us giggling and commenting on their reactions, while we kept a steady pace on a long day.

The sky on the way back started promising a beautiful sunset. The haze from the wet sky was creating a warm light over yellowing bamboo leaves that we passed through. But before the sun set on its own, we started getting back into the rain. Where we had luckily dodged precipitation for the most part on the way out, we were now staying in the rain and trying to dodge the serious stuff on the way back.

Shortly after Rockmart, Jenn’s phone was reporting a tornado warning. We stopped at a gazebo in an athletic complex to look at the weather. Our blue dot was on the east boundary of a tornado warning, and we were headed west. As we were assessing the situation, the tornado sirens started going off. That was about the time we realized that we were in a matchstick gazebo in an open field. We all agreed to keep moving.

On the way to Cedartown it rained, and it got dark. At one point, Sean and Jenn were both just ahead of me when Sean hit a horse apple while riding two abreast next to Jenn. His wheel darted right, and I watched him ride right into Jenn’s rear wheel. Somehow, Jenn did not budge, she just kept moving at the same pace. I was amazed. Then I checked on Sean. His bike was fine.

Shortly after, again trailing Sean and Jenn riding two abreast, I head the snap of a twig on the right side of the trail. I think it got all of our attention, just in time to watch an eight point buck dart from the right side of the trial to the left, passing in front of Sean and Jenn in an instant, about one foot ahead of them. That gave us a little more pep to pedal.

We got back to the depot in Cedartown and looked at the radar again. While we had been incredibly lucky up to this point, we all agreed to discuss a bailout plan. This was possibly the best magic so far. We learned that an F-150 can carry eight people and six bikes.

We had a great dinner together at Mellow Mushroom in Anniston before saying goodbyes. It was a great day on a bicycle.