BRAG Day One ..... Rest Stop Rituals.......

This year, instead of JUST giving a day-by-day description of the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia, I plan to focus on one specific area of the experience each day. So far I've thought of ONE thing to write about, so we'll see how this all plays out tomorrow.

Today's blog topic is all about the rituals pertaining to rest stops.

Before I get to that, however, I want to say how incredibly cool it was to ride a bicycle down Peachtree Road in Atlanta on a Sunday morning. I'm guessing that's pretty much the only time it would be safe (possible?) to do so. Peachtree Road, by the way, should never be confused with any of these OTHER streets in the Atlanta area:

Peachtree Avenue

Peachtree Battle Avenue

Peachtree Battle Circle

Peachtree Center Avenue

Peachtree Circle

Peachtree Drive

Peachtree Hills

Peachtree Industrial Boulevard

Peachtree Memorial

Peachtree Park

Peachtree Place

Peachtree Road

Peachtree Street

Peachtree Valley

Peachtree Way

Peachtree-Dunwoody Road

Old Peachtree Road

North Peachtree Way

West Peachtree Place

West Peachtree Street 

I tried the Rozmo method of snapping photos from my bike while I rode.  I wanted to include a picture of the Atlanta skyline, but apparently what I DIDN'T do was make sure my camera was in the "take a photo" mode instead of the "shoot a video" mode. Feel free to insert your own personal image of the Atlanta skyline in the blank space below:


















There was one photo op I was willing to stop for, though, and only for my Sweet Girl would I have stopped my bike, leaned my bike against a tree, and ventured up to a fence to take a photo.

This is the home of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind. Sweet Girl and I have been to the museum before, but it wasn't open when I went by this morning. Sweet Girl is a big fan of all things related to Gone with the Wind. I think she might have been a Southern Belle in a previous lifetime. I, on the other hand, would have been one of the rebellious girls whose fathers disowned them and left their fortunes to a bunch of cats.


Now to my rest stop rituals. Disclaimer: These are just things that I do personally. This is in no way meant to imply this is what everyone DOES or what everyone SHOULD DO. It's really just meant to take up space in a blog post. Full disclosure here.

The first thing I do is find a tree, a fence, a post, or a building that I can use to lean my bike against. Some people just throw their bikes down on the ground, but I don't like to do that. I didn't even like to do that with my OLD bike, and I certainly don't want to treat Jezebel that way.

People have their own rituals. Some folks call other riders (or heck, folks at home, I guess) on their cell phones at rest stops. I wanted to get a photo of the people in line for the porta-potties, but there weren't enough people there yet to form a line. BRAG riders are the model of efficiency when it comes to porta-potty lines. It doesn't matter how many porta-potties there are, there is a single line of people waiting. I don't know who first came up with that idea, but it must have been a UGA graduate. At non-cycling events I've been to, there will be a line of people at EVERY SINGLE PORTA-POTTY. How upid-stay.

The above picture shows one of our devoted volunteers, diligently making PBJs for hungry riders.

After an outbreak of a pretty severe intestinal illness among BRAG riders in 2000, BRAG has provided hand washing stations (with soap) at every rest stop. Now if we could just convince some of the riders to remove their filthy riding gloves before approaching the food table.

Another tireless volunteer.

Bike mechanics are at most of the rest stops to make minor adjustments or simple repairs on the route. Little did I know when I snapped this picture that later in the day I would be waiting at the mechanic's tent to have my front derailleur adjusted. Glad I had that $20 bill in my bike bag. I don't carry much cash on my bike, because we don't usually need money along the route.


It was a hard ride today, very hot and hilly. Rozmo and I did the Hammerhead option (additional miles) on purpose, but we misjudged where the Hammerhead rejoined the regular route. Instead of riding an additional ten miles, we rode an extra fourteen. I was three-tenths of a mile away from 70 miles, so as a newly inducted member of the even-number club, I rode down the road and back to get 70.


Temperatures are supposed to be in the triple digits every single day this week. I pray I can stay hydrated.

Tony Serrano Ride 2011.........

It's days like today when I am glad I live in the South. While some parts of the country are dealing with snow (or at least cold weather), we have already gone to shorts and flip-flops. Temperatures today were in the 80's, and I think it's supposed to approach 90 tomorrow, at least at the Masters. The yellow dust has decreased a little; at least I don't taste it as much when I go outside.

It was overcast for a large part of today, which made it excellent bike riding weather. The sun came out late in the day, just enough to give me my "raccoon" look where I got sunburned around my sunglasses. I also have the tiger stripes on my feet from my cycling sandals, a farmer's tan on my arms, and the lower part of my leg is just slightly less pale than the upper part.

Today's ride took place just one town over from us, so an added bonus was not having to travel very far to ride. We had the option of doing a century (100 miles), but I'm glad we didn't take that option. We rode 61 miles, and there's no way we could have done another 40. I was whipped by the time we got back, and my knees are incredibly sore. I'm having to do that old lady thing, where I go up and down the stairs one step at a time. As soon as I came home I took a shower and turned on the Masters, then promptly fell asleep. I was dead to the world when Hubby came in the door an hour later.

This ride boasts "the best rest stops ever," and while I haven't done every single bike ride in the world, they can't be far off the mark. In addition to the usual cookies and fruit that almost all bike rides have (except the really crappy ones), these rest stops have homemade goodies. There were some little peanut-butter balls rolled in sugar with chocolate chips in them, and I would ride another 61 miles just to have some more of those. Well maybe not TODAY, but tomorrow wouldn't be out of the question.

There were 520 riders today, about 100 more than last year. Katydid and I didn't ride the longer route last year (we only rode 34 miles) because we wanted to get home and watch the gymnastics regional championships.

Hubby and I went out to dinner, and I ordered a beer. His jaw fell open, and he said, "I can't believe what I just heard." (That's only my second beer of 2011, and the other one was last Friday before the hockey game.) I said to him, "I earned every drop of this beer, and I'm going to enjoy it."

I also earned an early bedtime, and that's where I'm headed now.