Bombing downhill at night with some locals

Hello Everyone,

If my previous ride was a good time, for a first go at biking in Alabama, last night's ride was objectively awesome. As mentioned, the German resident of this town told me about a group ride on Monday nights. It was exactly what I was looking for, and once again America both embraced and confounded its stereotypes.

Despite some spotty GPS service on my phone, I found my way to the trailhead by early afternoon and got set up for a ride. I wanted to get out and give Arthur a good run as I knew I'd have to leave him in the truck when I went out in the evening. We did about 10 miles, and he was tuckered out by the end.

The trail we did was called Bomb Dog, named for a retired sniffer dog of one of the guys who helped build the trail. They told me later they named the trail in honour of this dog, because as they were building it, he ran away and was never found. Very much not what I wanted to hear as I go around the country biking with my dog.

Aside from that macabre bit, it was an amazing trail. Very fast and had great views. I even figured out my gopro, somewhat, so I have a few videos of it. After that, we had a late lunch and hung out until the others arrived.

I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't a group of late 40s, mid-50s guys, all professionals, and who had been doing this every Monday night for years. They were pretty excited to have a foreigner along for the ride, and have since invited me to join them in North Carolina this weekend for some biking there. It's a bit of backtracking, but they said it would be a shame to come this far and not hit some of those trails. I'm very seriously considering it.

They also provided some great advice on where to go next, so I'm going to skip Mississippi and hit up Chattanooga, Tennessee. They had good things to say about it.

The ride itself was incredible. Night riding is always cool, but being up on the mountain, you could see the city lights below through the trees. These are locals, so on the downhill sections, they bombed it. Figuring I had to keep up, I did as well. It was exhilarating.

Arthur did well in the truck, and was a popular guy around the campfire. We had a few beers and some sausages and then they packed it in. Arthur and I stayed at the trailhead overnight.

Today has been a day of laundry and organization, and soon, travel back to Tennessee. I'm looking forward to it.

wes

#Travel #Biking