Cullman to the Magic City

Since I’ve moved here, I have always  dreamed about riding from here to Birmingham. It wasn’t a real big or difficult dream, but just something I had to make time and find some willing partners to go with me.  Well, I mentioned it to the CC cyclist and with a little coaxing from his wife, he was in.

We left  on a Sunday morning at about 6:15 and headed straight South down highway 31. Traffic was very light and the temp was nice. After we crossed the Mulberry River and entered the Bangor area, the ride became very picturesque. The fog lifting off the swamps illuminated the tremendous green and dense forest giving Bangor a green fluorescent hue. I have always loved this valley early in the morning.

At some point you have to cross the mountain. CR 7 is awesome but puts you out on busy Hwy  160, Smoke Rise is a good climb but still just a dull subdivision. I chose Cannon Crossing on the West side of I-65 .  It is a hidden path that actually goes through somebody’s yard at some point. I like to speculate that this path got its name from being the only practicle place to get the cannons across the mountain in the Civil War. On the other side of the crossing , we found our way back to Hwy 31 where we continued through Warrior to Birmingham.

After a couple of breakfast gut bombs in Gardendale, we made our final leg into the magic city. It is is exciting to see the city skyline as you top the last ridge in North Birmingham. We road a victory lap down the cobbles of old Morris Ave.  and had a painful finish on the 23^rd street climb that ends at Highland Ave, before coasting down to Rojo.  The big let down, was that we arrived early at 11:00. Because it was Sunday, Rojo couldn’t serve a celebration brew until Noon.

New Found Gap Again

I was glad to sleep late on Saturday and after a small breakfast, we made a chili start up the mountain. As it began to warm, I couldn't help but think about the fact that I had ridden the same pass with 8 to 10 inches of snow just a couple months before. We had a great climb but at about mile ten my brother unleashed a series of attacks that kept things interesting until we reached the top. After a couple of picture oppurtunities we started the almost routine descent. But much to my surprise something different happend this time. In a 180 degree turn and at about 45 mph, I heard a pop like a .22 rifle and had just enough time to realize that the sound was my rear tire. I went out of control, crossed the opposite lane and had a close encouter of the Ford kind before shimmying back into my lane and came to a stop. My brother was in front and didn't know that I fell off. My tire was trashed. I started to walk with my thumb out. I couldn't believe how many cars just blew right by before two nice ladies picked me up and took me down the mountain. All in all, it still turned out to be a nice ride and we finished it off with Cajun food and a PBR.

Smokey Mtn Parkway Here We Come

We took an easy and slow start to Gatlinburg after work. One fast food run and 5 hours later, we found ourselves chill'n in front of the fire at one of my favorite $ 50 dives. Tomorrow we plan to ride our road bikes up the parkway to New Found Gap.I Always love this ride. After the road ride, we are excited about moving on to a cabin at Tsali to meet some Fl co-workers for a few days of mountain biking. . . Tsali on a single? Might be tough. I may find out the hard way.

New Hipster In Town

It may take a while for him to transition into the skinny jeans and wool cycling caps. And of course the ML will have to be replaced with PBR. But, he has the bike right so far. One of our towns local legends has been pub crawling around town at night on this smooth SS. I'm Jealous!

Another One Bites the Dust

My Bro G has good reason to spend more time in our town lately. We have taken advantage of this by hitting SLP on lunch during the week some times. Unfortuantly, Bro G was watching two tiny dogs cross the infamous "Collar Bone Creek" when he got into my back wheel and made some racing stripes of his own. I hope he and his bike recover before our epic Clingmans Dome/ Tsali trip this weekend.