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(Inspired by the RAGBRAI note, I decided to enter my BRAG 93 log.
I tend to keep logs of bicycle rides, backpacks, SCUBA dives.
Please excuse the spelling as this was never really meant for
anyone be me to read - doug)
The following is my summary of the 1993 Bicycle Ride Across Georgia
(BRAG), June 13-19, 1993. Some of this was written on the road, and some of
this was written "in retrospect". The tour was 426+ miles from Atlanta, GA
to Savannah, GA. It cost $60, plus meals, plus a $30 ride back to Atlanta ,
if needed (I didn't... Sandra picked me up so that we could spend a few days
on Jekyll Island).
Day 0: Pick up ride packet at Georgia Tech and stay for rider's meeting.
The ride-maps book is really decent. It's got complete maps for
each day, sites to be seen, and a set of altitude profiles for
each day of the ride (Someone went out with an Avocet 50 and made
altitude checks at 0.1 mile increments). I stayed at the rider's
meeting long enough to find out where the gear trucks would be
parked the following morning. It rained really hard, but it didn't
seem to be dampening anyone's enthusiasm.
Day 1: Georgia Tech (Atlanta) to Oxford College (Oxford), 50 miles
What a day! The sky is clear and there is no real rain forecast for the
week. I managed to get my gear on the truck by 7:30 and say goodbye
to Sandra and Kelly by 8:00. The ride went through Downtown Atlanta and down
Auburn Ave. We hit LOTS and LOTS of red traffic lights along the way
that made things a drag. Fortunately, traffic was light due to it
being early Sunday, and we were out of the city in no time. The course
is VERY WELL marked and EVERY intersection is marked both before and
after the intersection. This means that I get to travel without a map!
We cycled to Oxford College, the first Campus of Emory University.
Along the way we passed through Stone Mountain park (the largest piece of
exposed granite in the world), and the suburbs to the southeast of Atlanta.
The Oxford campus is just a satellite of Emory nowdays, but made for a great
overnight spot. I managed to get a semi-secluded spot to camp in ( Nothing is
really secluded when 3500 other people are camping in the same square
mile), and pretty much established my routine for the week: Cruise
in on bike, locate SAG trucks, search for a campsite... drop bike there,
change shoes and go get gear. The showers and facilities here ended up
second best only to Ga. Southern. The bugs here were the most
"manageable" of the week. I've never done back to back 50 days before,
and I anxiously anticipated the coming day. The entertainment was a
local musician/comedian/storyteller. He was okay, but I'd never pay to
see his blend of song and political comedy. He did a fairly interesting
echo-feedback show with his setup and the help of his sound man.
Day 2: Oxford to Eatonton, 58 miles
I believe that I am way too bike heavy for this type of trip. I'd like
to be faster on the hills and the bike seems like an anchor. I put away
40 quick miles, 15 in the rain, before I felt I had "fatigue legs".
Right now I have sunscreen, wallet, money, camera, first aid kit and
toolkit in the rack pack, and some tennis shoes and rain gear and
food in the pannier (only one, on the left side). See notes at the end
of the log on what I'd do differently.
We passed through Madison and a lot of old pre-Civil War mansions and
then passed through the upper part of the Oconee forest. Time seems to
have stood still in places, and we most certainly got that "old time
backwood Georgia" feel today. I also started to take a few pictures
today, but it's hard to start/stop to take pictures when your trying to
work in a rythm on the bike.
I managed to get into camp MUCH earlier than most of the crowd, and pick
out a secluded spot (HA!). Here I am at the edge of the field by myself,
but one tent by itself ends up being a magnet for the mindless masses
who assume if one person camps there then it must be an okay spot.
Fortunately, the fire ants and the the complete lack of shade kept
the tent city a least somewhat controlled, but I'd have opted for a
different spot had I known the mass camping mentality. My radio
batteries are shot and I have no entertainment... but I just can't see
paying $5 for the show that they have in the GYM ( I've already dropped
about $10 here) so I just read a second hand paper. My butt really
started to hurt today. Tomorrow's ride is about 71 miles and once I make
that then this ride is pretty much downhill.
Day 3: Eatonton to Thomson, 71 miles
I ended up getting to bed early on last night, and it was a good thing...
everybody who eagerly pitched tents all around me was up at 5:30.
What nerve! All these tents clustered around mine when the field we are
in is 99% empty and then they get up an hour before dawn. You really
have to develop a thick skin with so many people, and I did my best to
keep a cheerful attitude. I also finally figured out the mass camping
mentality and know that you either have to pitch a tent in an
extraordinarily remote spot, or a spot that is physically incapable of
allowing people to camp nearby (i.e. with enough trees around so as to
make it impossible for them to pitch directly next to you).
It's amazing how the first 55 miles today was incredibly easy... as
much mileage as the day before but faster and without much thought. The road is
all very secluded. We rode through the Oconee Nat'l (State?) Forest,
through lots of timberland and rolling hills. The heat , though, is
oppressive and the ride got long and hot after the first 55. I started
the day by waking up before 6:00am. The tents that were pitched around
mine were mostly older guys that took longer on the ride. They get up
around 5:30, ride by 6:45, and don't get in till the middle of the
afternoon. Anyway, I hit the road by 7:15 and got in around 1:00.
I've begun to notice that heat up.... the transition from morning cool
to daytime hot.... is around 10:20am. Today we rode through a lot of
tree country... from the quasi-Oconee Nat'l Forest across the Sinclair/
Oconee Dam and through lots of tree farm country. Anyway, it was hot
as hell when I cruised into the Burke County H.S.. This is a really nice High
School... the inside was almost Mall-like inside with really GOOD air
conditioning. When they built this school, though, they left no trees
standing. To get shade, you would have to camp next to the school on the
side opposite the sunset.... with 100's of other people. No thanks!
Some older guy with a truck gave me and my gear a ride down to my
campsite, where I erected my tent and fixed up the fly to provide some
shade. The bugs liked it too... the feasted on my legs. The ants have
taken over and there is barely a square foot without them. I've
been successful and getting a cold Coke right before arriving, and so
at least I have a cold one after I pitch my tent. I decide that the best
thing to do is to take a shower and hang out in AC until the sun
weakens. I got a shower and took the bus into town for money and some
supplies (batteries for my radio and some desitin). Man is it hot!
I took some pictures, and went back to the HS and ate ice cream and
waited on dinner. Dinner was okay, I now have batteries for my
radio, and no one is within 20yards of my tent... I'm in heaven.
The highlight of my day: I was looking for a fast food burger in
Warrenton, and was directed to a sandwich shop off the square. On
the way over, I happened by this little diner that really piled
on the meat and veggies and bottomless iced-tea for $3.50.
Some other guys found this place (I found out later that it was in
the guide... but I have not used it), and me and "the Chicago bunch"
put away some food and talked. As I was leaving the cycling masses
mobbed this place and there was a half hour wait. It was today that I
decided that it's okay to pound a meal with just 10-20 miles left
in the ride.
Day 4: Thomson to Waynesboro, 65.5 miles
Burke Couty H.S. has the coldest water coolers anywhere!... and
the warmest showers that weve had to date. It was hot as heck today
but seemed easy after yesterday. I stopped by Wendy's at about 10:30
and picked up a couple of bacon and sausage biscuits for lunch. Because
of the early start , I was in and showered by 1:00 pm. I had time
to go into town and get money/Desitin/food, etc. You know
what will really gross you out??? Starting to take a long, well deserved
guzzle of gatorade and getting a whiff of dead possum. I'm really
getting the hang of this and don't think much about how far along the
day's ride I am until I've got 50 miles behind me. Having never done
back-to-back 50 mile days before this trip, doing 50 miles
without really thinking about it has smashed my concept of a really
long ride. I thought that I had camped in a good spot away from the masses,
but a pitched in a little grass spot next to the road. Unfortunately,
the campus has a perimeter "road" that every body cruises on, and cars
did not stop cruising till around 10:30-11:00ish. I make a note to
myself not to pitch next to a well used road again.
Day 5: Waynesboro to Swainesboro, 55 miles
Today started off REALLY bad.... I have managed to lose BOTH keys
and my bike was locked to the trees. I discovered this last night and
went through everything that I had to try and find a key. No can do...
I tried to put this out of my head as there was nothing I could do about
it at 10:pm at night. You really can't get too stressed out about stuff
like this because whatever happens is going to happen. I got my gear
mostly packed and an breakfast eaten after being rudely awakened at
about 10 'till 6 (am) by one of those factory "town wistles" (you know...
one of those goes off to get the whole town up and make sure that they
get to the factory on time.... the tannery used to do this before it
burned down). I managed to borrow a hammer and chisel from a repair wagon
and broke the cable after a bit of hammering. After returning the tools,
loading my gear and hitting the road, I remembered that my shifter was
loose and my gear shifting was not quite as good as it has been.
At the second or third sag, I decided to tighten my shifter (a Suntour
bar-end) so that it would not twist and... to my surprise... I find
that the deralleur cable frayed and only three strands were intact. Lucky
for me that the "TREK Force" van pulled in and sold me a cable and let
me borrow some cutters. In ten minutes, I've got the cable installed,
the bar-end tightened, and the shifting adjusted nicely! About an hour
down the road and we hit what is perhaps the most beautiful sag spot of the
trip.... a .25-.5 mile ride down a Pecan-tree lined driveway.
to the water trucks. It was like a tunnel through the Pecans with bicycles
coming and going for as far as you could see down "the tunnel". I got
pictures, but they can't really match the actual view. We are passing mostly
farms and a few kaolin (clay) pits now, and not much else. They had us on
about 20 miles of "shake-and-bake", a gravel and tar mixture that is
quite bumpy and is used on a lot of back roads that don't require
full asphalt. It really slows you down, kind of like a slight headwind.
I got into camp and found a really nice, secluded spot in the trees with
lots of shade and little possibility of creating a tent city. One other
guy ended up nearby, but we were pretty much alone for a couple hundred
yards and he (like I) wanted privacy so we arranged things so that
nobody else pitched nearby without being in full sun. The local fire
department uncorked a hydrant and I went down for a nice bone-chilling
rinse. It's really nice sitting in a stream of 50 degree water on a
93 degree day after riding for 60 miles. I went back to camp and
just watched the various species of wood pecker cruising back and forth
among the trees. I am really quite relaxed now and not exhausted at all at
the end of the day. Swainsboro is really treating us nicely. They have a couple
of the local school buses as well as the double-deck buses that have been at
each place along the way. I chowed the all-you-can-eat barbeque and headed into
town for the BRAG talent show. I ate a few ice creams, some watermelon, two
quarts of Coca Cola and watched the silliness unfold. Some people here
really have talent, though, and my favorite was some fiddle playing by a girl
on the ride. I rode back to the college and squared away my campsite for the
evening in preparation for "Moon Base Planetarium". Having never been on
BRAG before, I was expecting some kind of tour of the stars. What was
actually presented was some jam music and some flashlight ("torch" for
those across the pond) special affects. With some color filters, some
balloons, a disco ball and some plastic, they were able to produce a light
show that jived with the music. It ended with audience participation
(everyone was invited to bring a flashlight for this). Thousands of
flashlights on a clear moonless night on a quiet little college campus in
Georgia gyrating to the same beat! It was great!.
Day 6: Swainsboro to Statesboro, 67 miles
I did the all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast and hit the road early.
The ride is flat, with more shake-n-bake and more farms. The highlight of
the day is coming into Metter. I came up on the square and there were
more than a thousand bikes. Now, you get used to seeing a couple hundred
bikes at a time at the sags and in camp, but the sheer numbers of bikes
on the square in Metter was incredible. I inhaled a hamburger, a bag
of chips and a funnel cake. I stayed about 45 minutes and then headed
out. The bridges going towards Statesboro were a pain in the butt. They
had about a 3-4" gap in them that slammed your bike like railroad
tracks. Statesboro is definitely a college town. There were plenty of
places to get meal and a beer, and that is just what I did. I got in
early, showered, and got a few slices of free watermelon to hold me
over till dinner. My campsite today was overrun with ants again.
They have infested every square foot of land since Oxford.
They come in all sizes, colors and dispositions. I think that the soil
must be just the way they like it... a little bit sandy and easy to dig.
Anyway, I did not hang around the campsite much, and finally caught a
bus to town and had some Mexican & beer. When I went to pay for my food
I found my bicycle-lock key (you know, the lock I chiseled off
yesterday morning) in my money in my wallet. I have no idea how it got
in there, except that I kept them in the same rackpack pocket on the
bike. I made it back to camp and jammed to a live concert by the "Swinging
Medallions". They played some Buffet, Otis Redding, Elvis, Van Morrison,
Ray Charles, "Louis, Louis","Play that Funky Music", etc. I listened until
about 11:00 and then hit the sack.
Day 7: Statesboro to Savannah, 62.5 miles
The last day! I'm ready for a couple of days at the beach, but sad to
see all of this wind down. The elevation maps for the day show
three long plateaus, and very little climbing. I hopped on a fast
20 man pace line for about 20-30 minutes, but it was really squirrelly.
Only about 4 guys at the front were swapping pulls, everyone else was
hanging on. A head wind blew from the east (the coast) at about 10-15 mph.
I was ready to drop off the back when the leaders made a move to
separate themselves from the back. I was at the back, but saw what was
happening and made the jump with them. Afterwards, there were only about
8 of us and these guys had a lot more strength and bike handling skill,
and we cruised for another 40 minutes. I took turns at the front along
with everyone else and the miles flew by. I lost them when I stopped for
water at one of the sags, but hooked up with a fast tandem and a 20 year
old kid who was pushing to beat the rest of the guys that he was with.
Tandems may get bogged down in the hills, but man can they cruise on the
flatlands! The kid and I could never get and stay ahead of that tandem,
and we finally resigned ourselves to drafting off of them to cut that
headwind. This worked very well until the last 10 or 15 miles into
Savannah. At that point, we started hitting RR crossings(about
30 sets of tracks, in all) at regular intervals and this (for some
reason, too much stress on the bike?) really slowed the tandem down.
They were never able to maintain the pace with the kid and I after that.
I made it into Savannah and to the Civic Center. I found my gear and
went in and had about a dozen shrimp, some veggies and a couple of free
beers. Sandra soon found her way to the Civic Center and picked me up and that
was it for BRAG 93.
Things that I would do differently next time:
* carry a daypack to transport stuff to and from the showers
* Eliminate bike weight by:
* carrying an old pair of expendable scum shoes on the bike that I can
just strap over the top
* carry less on bike food. Rely on convenience stores more.
* carry a trash bag for weather protection instead of a Goretex
jacket... it's just not necessary in Georgia in June.
* don't use the pannier and move all other stuff to the rackpack or
fanny pack.
* take a cable and cutters.
* do several weekends of back to back 50/60 milers to get prepared
to ride these kind of distances.
* pack only cereal and a couple of snacks for food.
Dead things seen along the way:
dog, cat, raccoon, possum, deer, skunk, snakes, turtle, turkey vulture,
hawk, and an armadillo.
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