roadskater.net

No matter how far or not, how fast or not, I love to hear people's stories of skating. Ten words or a hundred paragraphs, tell us what you've been skating, cycling, lifting, or anything. Or just tell me what's up lately. So here's my freewriting exercise. I'll try to type it out once and not do editing other than spelling and such...

Well, eebee and I went out for a long skate today, thinking we would do about 30 or 32 miles. She's been training to skate and I've been training to type, read, watch p2p tv of sporting events, so you can imagine who had the lower heart rate, ha!

I finally got around to asking the thirstydog himself, Bob "Bobarazzi" Ryan if I could upload his pastel of one of my photos (see the bottom of the article for the pastel). He explained that it is one of his favorite spots but not one where he usually has his camera out (I agree and until this year with a smaller camera, I think it was the same for me). Bob said...

Pastel Image ©2008, Bob "Bobarazzi" Ryan, All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Wow. Mayors propping multiuse pathways! After Bryan's post about Critical Mass, I looked over in the right sidebar and saw this about the ride next Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Location

The Ronald Reagan Parkway will be closed to traffic from 11pm Friday, February 13th to 7pm Saturday, February 14th 2009. There will be the annual 'Run the Reagan' race, but once that's done, skaters, cyclists and other walkers/runners can jump on and enjoy the 7 mile hilly stretch.

I saw an article in the right sidebar of Roadskater.net mentioning a greenway in Lilburn, GA...
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/main.asp?SectionID=6&SubSectionID=6&Art...

I did a search and found a mapmyride/mapmyrun entry...
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ga/lilburn/878548689412

Would anybody know about skate shops in Atlanta or Athens? I have set some time aside for shopping and visiting. I will rent a car on Thursday Oct. 2^nd to check out the country side. Anything interesting besides the A2A course that I should put on my “Must See List”?  

Here is that website that I had talked to a few of you about this weekend. Crazy guy that is running the AT in 47 days.

http://www.whereskarl.com/

 

Craig

Does anybody have the total ascent or elevation gain for the 87 mile Athens-to-Atlanta (A2A) course kicking around somewhere in their GPS or training files? I have googled all sorts of term combos, as well as searched this site. Blake's A2A mapmyride entry shows highest & lowest elevation but doesn't add it up for me :-). I'm feeling a bit fuzzy headed today so it's entirely possible I overlooked it, but please post that figure if you have it!

Yesterday was our first 90+ deg day in the Atlanta metro area, and a great opportunity for me to test my recently acquired blue-lined Polar Bottle.

Yo APRR Chuck. We heard you took a fall (via email) just as we were telling cyclists at the Hartwell Challenge of the Centuries to watch for you at Bike Ride Across Georgia (BRAG). Hope you are doing well. Tell us stories of the day if and when you are willing and able! Skateylove amigo and I hope those red high heels (the Bont Semis) are OK too! If you have the Geo coordinates of your fall (I KNOW you do, along with speed and heading) we'll put a pin on the map for your tumble as part of this article. Take care...roadskater

Location

I wanted to see if there's any interest in sharing rides to Hartwell, GA, on the border with South Carolina, for the Hartwell Challenge of the Centuries.

To quote them, it is "Open to cyclists and accomplished skaters!"

I'm still not sure I can go, but if someone else is interested and we can cut the costs, it'd be fun.

It's bike or skate, and it's well supported, with routes of 35, 62, and 100 each day. Skate over the Lake Hartwell dam on Sunday on all routes. It's cool.

Getting Ready for the Long Haul.

So you think that A2A is more than you ever want to do? Think of A2A as a warm up for this years vacation. My third Bike Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) www.brag.org 433 miles in two 3 day sessions.

This is installment one of a multi part Blog

No, it's not my award to the one who lost the most weight in the Tour de Georgia. It's for the lamest spectator or other non-cyclist in the tour. There were so many, for such a small audience.

Wow. Really great stuff and sorry to be late on this with the Eddy workshop and guests coming to town, but over time, free internet video and the Tour de Georgia are both getting cooler. As I had to keep telling myself last weekend, I can't leave town right now with lots to do and some of it requiring me to be here, so I will have to enjoy this opportunity from afar it seems. If anyone thinks they want to get a carpool together later in the week, let me know (I know I'm dreamin').

Location

I received an email today from Stacey White, part of GT speed team, who is sponsoring the Marathon through the gardens in GA next month. They are involved in a fundraiser to help out Joshua Zalunardo, who was diagnosed with Brain Stem Glioma, a life threatening for of cancer. I know a lot of people on this site support many worthwhile causes and thought I would pass this on. Our money and time goes to help someone and we get to have fun doing it.

I have pasted the contents of her email with all the pertinant info...

Location

I did this ride several years ago and haven't been able to get back that far south, but it was a good one, and it is skate friendly and run by folk who don't expect everyone to be super speedy. I remember a rest stop at a firehouse that was nothing short of amazing. The details escape me and I don't have time to look them up just now, but suffice it to say many consider this the first non-race roadskate of the season in Georgia.

Location

Having skated with Blake and many others last summer at so many outdoor events, I am always looking forward to somewhere new and different to skate. I ran across this marathon a few months ago and have gotten all the details. I thought I would share with everyone. It seems like the marathon is set up for the more adventurous of us who like to race, myself not included, than those that skate outdoors for the pleasure, relaxation, scenery, exercise, etc...

Event info can be found at the following link:

http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1541333

Some stories take a while to be told...or to be tolerably painfully embarrassing to tell. This may not be the last photo from Athens to Atlanta 2007, but it's about the last one I could call an A2A pic for 2007.

We had a challenging weekend of it with the car break-in and window replacement, but after A2A was over, we had a nice few days and just kept putting off going to Athens for my car. I can't tell you why it never dawned on us that there would be a price, beyond just a daily parking fee, for this. There's a sign but it's not one I had read.

I had a chance to hang out with eebee a bit while she was working on a project to promote skating a bit. We both took our cameras to see what we'd get, ill equipped as we were, without some of my fun lenses. We got to see some new folk and some fellow Athens to Atlanta and US10K veterans as well. I was mostly chilling and hoping to capture a photo of the day or two or more. Anyway, here's a sample that's not likely suitable for print but it sure is fun the ghostly way it turned out.

Deciding to do A2A was a very last minute decision. I kept hitting the website, read numerous stories and had a lot of friends tell me how hard it was! The more everyone told me how difficult it was, the more I wanted to do it.

 

Oh. Buzz buzz buzz buzz, 4:30 a.m. came so quickly after taking so long to arrive.

We got our jolt of hot water and I pondered whether to do some coffee or not. I think I decided not to, and that it would perhaps upset my stomach.

[Editor's note: I posted this for Jim after he sent the info at my request. I wanted this story to be in the 2007 A2A Journals collection we are building!]

After the Athens to Atlanta skate this year, the Herbsts, a couple who skated the 52 mile distance wanted to know more about the granddad-grandson team who skated the full 87 mile distance.  Here's what I wrote.  My wife and daughter-in-law took pictures at the rest stops and at the finish.   I've included those also.

This book is for adding your story to this 2007 chapter of the Athens to Atlanta History Project. Add it yourself using the Outline tab while editing to select "2007 A2A Journals" as the parent of your article, or don't worry about it and I'll gather it all up later. If your story is for another year which does not exist yet in our book, please contact me or leave it be and I will add a chapter for that year. Please add your stories from previous years as well. Skateylove and thanks. We hope you enjoy our Athens to Atlanta Roadskate stories!

Saturday broke late and fuzzy, thank goodness, and it was likely eleven a.m. before verticalizing. I went to the computer for some reason and eebee helped a great deal with finding a place to get the window fixed. We decided we'd be too nervous to leave the car unrepaired at the hotel and in the city garage, as we'd need to leave some little something most likely no matter how we tried to plan.

A2A2007

 

Duane and I signed up for the 38 mile event toward end of the season. We had fond memory of the smooth pavement, chain-towing puppy, missing road, and gator back from our 2003 Texas Flyer team skate. I had vague recollection of the last 49 miles: insufficient hills, rough pavement, and a lot of traffic-basically things I can find in north Texas.

 

After Rolling in Randolph's 50 very hilly miles, I knew I had better get some last minute work in on my skate boots (more on this later). After some smoothing with stone grinding bits, I used marine epoxy and black silicone to do the best I could to put my old Verduccis back in shape...a reasonably smooth footbed shape, that is. Once I finshed that, or thought I had, I set my mind to another obsession...decorating my skate frames.

The Athens to Atlanta Roadskate took place on October 7, 2007, and it was a warm day especially for those not in the lead group. Temperatures in the upper 60s even an hour and a half into the event quickly rose from 70 at 9 am to 80 in ATL by 1 pm, five and a half hours along. For those finishing later, temps rose to 82 and stayed there until all finishers were through.

Check out my photos here:

This is a bike ride that has welcomed skaters for the past few years. Some of the Atlanta Peachtree Roadrollers do this event each year and always give it great reviews. Here's what I have learned from the website, www.cartersvillecentury.org:

From: Huston Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 3:12:02 PM Dave/Barry, thanks for the update. I was going to check out the road section on the Covenant Christian Century on Sat., but a big dog rudely jumped in front of me before I got there. I had no choice but to hit him, which propelled me over the handlebars & onto the pavement. So I spent the rest of the day at Floyd General being treated for a broken collarbone & rib. So no skating, cycling or dancing for me. So, I'm entertaining offers for my registration. Huston