On Saturday I took the kids out for a bike ride on Saturday while Stephanie did her weekend ritual of deep-cleaning the week's detritus.We rode a combination of Columns Drive bike path and Cochran Shoals hard pack trails for about 11 miles over the course of an hour or so. We stopped in the middle for a bit of nature observation on the Chattahoochee River. Maya and Devin enjoyed talking to the ducks, but they just quacked back. We also watched plenty of kayaks and river rafts going by, and the occasional canoe.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay didn't dampen our spirits on a trip down the Silver Comet Trail. Maya and Devin remained happy and dry, ensconced in the Chariot. Steph and myself, however, enjoyed a soggy ride at 73 degrees. During a brief dinner break at the Florence Road shelter, Steph and Maya tried to catch rain while Devin and I ate raisins. Life is best enjoyed when it's kept simple.
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We’ve done a few bike trips now around Sanibel, both with kids and without. Suffice it to say that the rental bicycles are not up to par with our home bikes. I miss my FCR! That plus riding into headwinds trailing the Chariot doesn’t make for an all-too pleasant ride: there are almost no downhill runs at all. Anyway, the biking has been pretty fun. We’ve even done a few night rides – which can be a bit weird, especially down Tarpon Bay Road. You can hear the alligators bellowing in the swamps on either side of the ride (not the least bit disconcerting).
If you’re interested, you can see the map of the various cycle trips we’ve done. I doubt we’ll add too much more to this – perhaps a ride over the causeway.
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I thought this might be interesting – satellite / bird’s eye views of the Silver Comet that are approximately where I took the previous pictures. You can click through to explore the bird’s eye view (which is really cool).
Here’s the approach to Old Lost Mountain Road.
The bridge crossing Richard D. Sailors Parkway. The spurs off of the trail connect to the Wild Horse Creek Park trail system.
The parking lot / shelter at Florence Road. We usually stop here for the midpoint and let the kids run around in the play area.
The parking area just after the first Wild Horse Creek Park trail spur. You can click through to the map, go east and then north to follow the concrete path up to the Park.
The wooded area and bridge crossing over Dogwood Golf Club
Here’s the starting point at Floyd Road. The building there is the Silver Comet Depot, a cycle shop.
Not much going on up here in the past few days. The weather has been mostly sunny, with intermittent evening thunderstorms producing middling amounts of rain. Yesterday was mid to high 80s, and I hope that continues through the weekend. Here are some samplers of what’s been going on since last Saturday.
Angie’s firm had their annual customer appreciation BBQ. This time, it was at a stable just down the road in Powder Springs. There were baby chickens, as you may recall from previous posts, and a horse vaulting exhibition. Here are a few pictures of Maya and Gavin (Angie and Jason’s son) eating corn. Note: our assumption is that these two will be together some day as they love to play together.
I’ll put up some pictures of the horse vaulting later…. for now, here’s a quick view of what it looks like biking down the Silver Comet Trail. This is from yesterday’s ride where we did 15 miles and burned about 1000 calories. It’s much easier when the mercury isn’t pushing 95 degrees!
Starting off, trailing Stephanie  | Going into the Cave  |
Out in the woods – golf course on the left.  | Approaching the spur trail to Powder Springs Wild Horse Park  |
Coming up to Lost Mountain Rd.  | Crossing Richard Sailors Parkway  |
At the midpoint of our ride, where we turn around, there is a nice picnic area where the kids enjoy some run-around time and dinner.
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Just thought I'd post a bit here on what we're using to log these miles on the trails.
Steph is using a Specialized Crossroads, which is basically a "comfort" hybrid. It has a relaxed geometry, which is good for Steph as she has long legs and a short waist - she doesn't need to be hunched over.
I'm using a Giant FCR 3, which is a "performance" hybrid. It's mostly a road bike, but has a slightly aggressive geometry, similar to a mountain bike, so I'm used to it.
The kids are cruising around in a Chariot Cougar 2 (red/silver/grey). We opted to spend a little extra money in this regard, because it's carrying precious cargo. Chariots are handmade in Canada, and have a stellar reputation for performance, safety and. stability. We also tacked on the stroller kit - we plan to use this as a stroller when we travel, as the tandem stroller is heavy and just plan unwieldy. I've ordered a custom canvas bag for travelling from Hoggan's Custom Canvas. It will look something like this, but will be larger.
There are some other options too which we are working out... like rear-view mirrors, extended bars, replacement grips, etc but we haven't gotten all that put together yet.
So this morning I got up, around 8:30 and went and laid down in Devin's room. He was the first one up and tossed all his crib accouterments, so I reset his crib and he went down for another half-hour. Around 9:00am Devin decided he was up for the day, so I changed him and got his milk going. Maya was up by this time, so we all settled in for a breakfast of Cookie Monster Organic Mini Waffles (blueberry), Giant Strawberries, Blackberries, and a Veggie-Soy "breakfast pattie". Yeah, I know it sounds weird but it's actually pretty tasty, for soy.
After the kids finished, Steph was up so I decided that we were going biking. Steph almost opted to stay home and get some homework done, but I guilted her into going. We packed up some lunch for the kids and went down to the Silver Comet Depot. Here we met a likable feller named Ozzy and he got us set up with bikes. Now, Steph and I actually have our own cycles, however they are both in storage. And, mine is equipped for off-roading, so it wouldn't be a great ride on the Comet. Steph's has practically deteriorated, so she'll probably need a new one. Anyway, I got some sorta Raleigh, I think, with a Shimano 21 speed ring shifter and linear brakes - nothing special, but it works. Steph got a Specialized Crossroads, and she was quite happy with it. The kids got a Burley two-seater trailer with universal join linkage. You can see below what they thought of it:
Not exactly what you'd call an auspicious start for our trek. I like the Burley trailer. It appears to be sturdy and capable, and has enough storage space for the kids' lunch and some extra stuff. The tires are nice and big, and round (bonus!). The trailer also has a 3-piece cover which includes snap-down flaps for covering the opening. The flaps are "screen", "clear" and "tinted". We used the screen as it wasn't that cold, and the trailer tends to retain heat very well. My little thermal engine toddlers pumped out plenty of BTUs to keep the interior warm.
After the first 15 minutes, Devin was out like a light. We gave them some juice and a mini-box of raisins to keep them busy. Towing the trailer was easier than I thought. Steph remarked that I seemed to be performing a significant amount of gear-changing, but that's what a transmission is for - adequate distribution of power to the drivetrain with least amount of stress to the engine. Or something to that effect. At any rate, it was quite fun.
We rode for about 4 miles out from the Depot to Powder Springs. Steph was getting thirsty, and like doofuses we only packed stuff for the kids and not ourselves (duh!) So we stopped, gave the kids a fruit strip (pomegranate!) and turned round towards the Depot. Another four miles, and we're back at the depot and the kids are, shall we say, less than clean. We get our gear turned in and load up for the ride back home (it's a long one - about 5 minutes). We decide to let the kids eat their lunch because it's pushing 1pm and they'll be ready for naps. So we give them the sack lunch and they eat while we ride home. That was a mistake. PB&J, dates, a cheese slice and pretzel all make for great makeup/hair products. A bath is required before anyone touches anything in the house.
So, we plopped both kids in our garden tub and had bath/funtime for a half hour before putting the kids down for a nap. They really enjoyed the bath, and they are actually getting more fun out of those foam numbers and letters - they can recite some bits and pieces of the alphabet and can count a few numbers.
So, all in all, we decided we would definitely do this again as a regular activity. We will probably purchase our own trailer, and we'll have to get Steph a decent bike at some point (mine is fine, but just needs road tires). The Depot seems to have reasonable prices, plus they do free brake/adjustment service. And, if you purchase a bike from them, any rentals within 30 days prior to the purchase are deducted from the price! Sounds like a nice deal, which is good because the kids really enjoyed themselves, and getting outside is always good.
