Chasing Al from Newnan to Carrollton

Day 1 of BRAG. We were at BRAG HQ before dawn. We were leaving our car there for the week. We were also dropping our luggage off with the luggage service that would shuttle it to each of our hotels during the week. As we packed our bikes and locked the car, we watched the flow of blinking bike lights start down the route.

Soon we were on the road, too. We rode along with some guys from Atlanta for a while who entertained us with talk of the ride from Atlanta to Alabama on the Silver Comet Trail and their plans for a ride in North Carolina. Later we met a big guy from Atlanta who was riding a vintage 80s Bianchi. It was one beautiful bike, restored with great care and attention to detail. We ended up seeing a lot of him. We'd leave him behind on a long climb, but he'd catch up on long descents. It went like that from the half-way point to the end of the day. It was a fun game, and all three of us enjoyed it.

The climbs were long. Traffic was scarce.

The rolling hills were excellent. Because we don't do hills regularly, we decided against any extra miles other than those we'd rack up riding to our hotel. So we did 63 miles. The amount of climbing today (2503 feet) was very close to the amount (2751) that we did in the Horrible Hundred in Clermont, Florida. The difference was the gentler slope to the climbs. Longer, true, but gentler. Which made for an interesting ride, but a ride that could be ridden and enjoyed by someone from the flatland of Miami.

The weather today did give us a brief scare. We saw ugly clouds gathering just ahead. But they were moving fast and headed into North Georgia, leaving us dry.

The rain clouds that gave us a scare, then went away.