Silk Sheets - 01/22/2012

Looking to up the milage gradually, we wanted a 30 something mile ride. There are lots of maps for 25 miles, and lots of maps for 50 miles, but routes between 30 and 40 are hard to find, so when a guy I met recently had this route, I figured it'd be a good choice, especially since I'd wanted to check out Silk Sheets for some time now.

Silk Sheets is the name given by local cyclists to a bunch of asphalt south west of Atlanta, that is pretty smooth and doesn't have much traffic. I don't know if the pavement is as smooth as I expected, and we still got buzzed by a few cars, but it's really pretty, and the route was nice. We found the start when we drove past a street with 20 cyclists all changing out of their bibs, and it's good they were there because they told us which way to go to start the route. They however, didn't know the names of any of the streets and told us the only way to do 35 miles was to go to some store 18 miles away and then turn around and come back. When I asked them to look at the route I had written down, with street names and turns, they told me just to follow the 6's the were painted on the ground. We got going and followed my directions. They were better and led us down this cool little gravel road that the roadies wouldn't have ever ridden on.



I can't add photos right now for some reason, so here's the link to the flickr set.

It had just finished raining when we got there at about 1:00, but it was still cool and damp. We got about 15 miles in before it started to mist again. We stopped for a little picnic break after 20ish miles and ate some trail mix and some veggies and hummus. It wasn't really necessary for the energy, but it's nice to have a break and enjoy being out of the city. Here's what a picnic looks like to a GPS.

After about 25 miles the mist turned in to almost rain, and we actually did end up being what I would call wet, but it doesn't really matter when you're just out for an afternoon. Also, while riding, we didn't feel cold at all, but once we got back in the truck and headed home, we started to feel cold. It wasn't a warm day, and being wet didn't help, but it's really impressive what exercise can do to body temperature. 

Also, on the drive home my hands both fell asleep. I think it was a combination of holding the handlebars for so long and then the vibration in the truck steering wheel, but they came back online once I got home and took a warm shower. I wonder where we'll go next weekend?