We have a great new route in SW Chilton and North Autauga counties, if you like climbing. We rode the 63mi Isabella Southwest Chicken route today, and everyone else loved it. I had not verified 35mi of this route, and aside from the 12 Climbs of Christmas, 3-4 with 12-16% grades at points, I will agree, it is a great route. I got about 4,500’ of climbing, but it felt like 6,000’. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great raging descents as well. The route is very remote and rural, and surprisingly we counted about 12 cars today. There is one verified water stop at 35mi, the Bethel Baptist spigot.

We had a great group of seven to show up. When the fast crew shows up, I do my best to keep up, and today was some very needed torture. But I want everyone to know, when I throw a ride out don’t worry about what pace we normally roll. If I had more slow friends today, we would have all been happy to split into two groups and I would have been happy to give up some of the suffering.

It was about 43 degrees at the start with heavy cloud cover all day and 23mph wind gust. The temp made it to 60 by the end of the ride, but the sun never fully poked through the clouds. It was great riding with everyone, thanks for coming!

I made a segment of the south loop, and we are the only ones who have ridden it. Terri found her legs later in the day and got the QOM, beating Rick by 2 seconds. She also got a lot faster on the descents. I looked for her at the bottom of a long, long, loose descent today, and was shocked she was on my wheel. Great job Terri!

The next date I am looking to put something out is 1/13. Thinking about doing a new Bankhead metric route with bailouts so more folks might want to join. Keep an eye out.

Merry Christmas! https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/kxi3x4sf3dn6vueayn2x0/AKk7FfhoapqlnOCKkOeaNcI?rlkey=ofpjo1uvbb4tjgyt6gk10n6o9&dl=0