Silver Comet Trail and Chief Ladiga Trail on a busted seat

The rain blew through overnight and when I woke up this morning everything was wet but the showers were gone. A big bowl of oatmeal and a big cup of coffee put me in the right frame of mind to attack the silver comet trail. After watching it rain yesterday, the plan was to ride to the trail and then to Piedmont Alabama, turnaround and come back home. The bike seat felt a little nose high when I started riding so I figured eventually I would need to stop and take a look at it. The trail was so beautiful and deserted and I was having such a good time I just ignored it..

The path was really wet from the rains and I was grateful to have the fenders. They kept an awful lot of crap off of me. At mile 45 the annoying seat demanded attention. It turns out one of the seat rails was broken. All I could do was lineup the two pieces of broken tubing and try to sit very steady on it so it  wouldn't slip off. I called some bike shops only to discover that there were none within 20 miles. There was one very helpful guy from West Georgia who offered to give me an old bike seat and was willing to bring it to me. That is as soon as he got back to Georgia from a delivery he was making in Alabama. He was a very nice 68-year-old retired truck driver turned cyclist who makes bikes and has an accent thick as gravy.

It was a kind offer but in the and I decided to just make do with what I had  and get on home. I guess there's nothing wrong with riding 145 miles on a broken seat. What I didn't want to do was to give up on the ride I had planned. It was just too beautiful of a day. I suppose I could've always called dug with no o to bring me a bike seat if it had broken any further. The rest of the ride was just as beautiful as the first

 

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Welcome to Alabama and the beginning of the chief Ladga Trail

In Alabama the trail became narrower and even more picturesque. Not sure how that was possible.

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I went in 10 miles and turned around and headed back home. Welcome back to Georgia. Interesting that the Garmin 810 changed time zones automatically as soon as I crossed the state line each time.

On the way back I decided to stop for water at a little grocery store. It was just inside the state line. They called it a store and arcade but it turns out it was nothing but a couple of candy bars and a room full of slot machines. It was full of smoke and people pulling handles. They must have gotten a real kick out of the skinny guy in the tights but I didn't stay long. All in all a great day and a ride I will never forget. The wildlife and the solitude on that trail on a weekday were unbeatable. Now it's time to replenish the 6000 calories I burned.

The ride ended up at 145 miles with only 5200 feet of climbing and 166 watt average at 16 mph.