This weekend we had to travel down to Atlanta for my nephew’s birthday party and I had a chance to spend some time on a few of the trail that I “cut my teeth on” in my mountain biking journey. We were staying up at my Dad’s house which is relatively close to a few trail systems and I wasn’t going to try and get any bigger workouts in so I decided to take the mountain bike. I was going to take the single speed but after breaking a 2nd rear axle on Thursday that wasn’t an option. So the stumpy was loaded up.
I’m not the same rider I was when I moved away from Atlanta. In reality a major part of my mountain biking development came in West Virginia after we left Atlanta. So it’s always interesting when I get to go back and ride the trails that I started. On. Unless you go up to Ellijay or Dahlonega in GA, most of the trail systems around Atlanta are more town trail/urban trails/ or trails that are purpose built for mtn biking or recreation. As opposed to where I live now, where most of the trails are old hiking trails that allow bikes on them.
Town trails, not what I’m used to, but the kind of trail I started learning how to ride on. I’m not really a trail snob or anything, I really just like riding bikes, and more so in the woods, but I’ll ride them pretty much anywhere. I was riding with some purpose but not overly hard, I quickly remembered that while it’s not major climbs it’s still a lot of work. I’m really used to big long climbs and extended descents so at times this kind of constant on the gas actually starts to work me over pretty good.
Saturday I didn’t have much time but I got over to Charleston Park on Lake Lanier for a few minutes. This little trail system is not very old but it is a fun little trail. RAMBO (Roswell Area Mountain biking Organization) has done a great job with this place. Directional, generally easy to follow, flowy. These weren’t here when I lived in Atlanta, but they are the closest trails to my Dad’s house, So I’ve ridden them a fair bit. It’s only 6-7 miles but it’s a lot of fun and multiple laps is a good time.
Sunday, Katie was heading back home with all the dependents (kids/dog) so I decided to go a little further and went over to Chicopee Woods. This was one of my favorite trails back when we lived in Georgia but I haven’t been back in a couple years now. I realized that from my Dad’s house I could get to Bull/Jake Mtn in about the same amount of time it takes to get to Chicopee so I typically go up there but I was feeling a little nostalgic. I was surprised by the new gate and attendant there taking a parking fee, which I don’t really mind I just hope that Northeast Ga Sorba is getting some of that money.
It was interesting the trails there have changed some but not too terribly much. There were a few re-routes that surprised me and largely made the overall ride flow better. By and large though most of the main trail was very similar. It was really interesting to get back though, it really made me feel like I’ve progressed a lot as a rider. Most of the areas that I used to find tricky or challenging came and went without me even realizing it sometimes. With that said there are still a lot of areas out there where you can work on your skills, depending on line choices, speed, and other factors.
I really had a lot of fun and it’s always a lot of fun to get back to the places you started riding just to kind of see how the rider you are now stacks up to the rider you were when you were last there. It really got me excited to get back to a few of the other places I used to spend some time. I’m excited to get back to my “home” trails but I’m not going to complain about my quick rides in GA.
