Other Rides Reach Out to Me
By Jim Qualls
We have many miles of great riding in Georgia, and BrownsGuides.com is offering an interesting forum to let more people know about it.
I’ve been riding bikes in Georgia most of my life, since way back in the late 1960’s on my banana-seated kid bike. Growing up outside of Roswell when it was much more rural, I enjoyed the freedom that bike gave me to roam
around. Several years before the invention of the mountain bike, I rolled down dusty dirt farm roads, across fields and pastures, and through the woods to ever new adventures. Like the state song by Ray Charles, “Georgia” does “reach out to me”, calling again and again with another road to go down, another trail curving temptingly out of sight. Photo: Jim Qualls
Sometimes I ride “because its there”, other times because I’ve been there and loved it before. And I ride to keep fit.
I usually ride my road bike with friends and on organized group rides—there is safety in numbers, and the conversation is good. But my mountain bike is my personal favorite, maybe because of the type of riding I enjoyed doing as a boy, but also due to the type I most prefer now. Riding off-road proves more relaxing to me because I don’t have to worry as much about traffic—and I like where it takes me. No place on earth is better to me than a beautiful stretch of “singletrack” in the north Georgia mountains, alongside a clear, cascading stream, through the hemlocks and the rhododendrons. But I do also enjoy the road rides. It’s the places, the people I ride with, and even other joys that can be hard to describe. And I love that good-looking blue Klein road bike of mine: Nothing better than watching the sun glint off of its carefully waxed paint as I pedal down another road.
Home turf is Peachtree City, Georgia, and I will gladly share this unique place. We have over 90 miles of recreation paths here, in addition to our streets. There’s plenty to tell about in the counties closest to my home—Fayette, Coweta, Meriwether and southern Fulton.
I have ridden in many places in Georgia. On the road bike, I recently rode with a group from Peachtree City to the state capitol in Atlanta and back (76 miles) for the the 2008 Georgia Rides To The Capitol rally. Nearly 2000 riders, mayors, and other state leaders gathered to focus on bike-friendly roads, alternative transportation options, and a brighter future for us all.
You may have heard of the highly-acclaimed Bike Ride Across Georgia (BRAG)–I’ve ridden a day or so of it before: The first time was from Columbus to Thomaston, 63 miles, half of it in the rain. My longest ride so far, 115 miles from Peachtree City to Pine Mountain and Callaway Gardens to Warm Springs and back, was another great experience. There’s the Silver Comet rail trail that I have enjoyed for several years now, from the west side of Atlanta all the way to the Alabama line. And there’s what local cycling guru Steve Shackleford (of Bicycles Unlimited) bills as “The Funnest Ride In Georgia”, in the northeast counties of Habersham and Rabun. Oh, boy! The list goes on and on.
The mountain bike has taken me along countless miles of dirt roads, past the cow pastures that always get my attention, and even on the old Indian route called the McIntosh Trail. A repeat favorite is Dauset Trails near Jackson, with about 1500 acres of great middle Georgia beauty, alongside rocky streams and fern-covered coves. On the western border in Heard County are the privately-owned trails called Windridge Farm. On the coast, I’ve ridden all up and down St. Simons Island, from the lighthouse to Fort Frederica. I’ve even done a little riding in the edge of the surf of the Atlantic Ocean (not good for your bike).
My clear favorites are those mountain trails and roads. Stonewall Falls Trail in Rabun County, the Unicoi State Park trails and Smithgall Woods roads in White County are standouts. I’ll sometime tell about a great day of riding on the trails in Fort Mountain State Park, which ended with me having a life-changing crash on the paved road on our way back.
So much to tell about, and to hear about from others, too—we’ll do it right here on BrownsGuides.com.