Bicycle Ride in the Snow and other Stuff - Gainesville, Georgia

Snow started again Saturday morning about 10 AM and continued most of the day. The temperature was in the mid 30's for much of the time so the accumulation was much less than the multitude of TV weather programs predicted. Now they are blaming it on the slow arrival of the weather system caused less snow. They did get it right about the temperature this morning which you can see was 18 degrees. Due to the potential icing on highways, bridges, etc. most events of the morning at local churches were cancelled.

Yesterday, I got dressed in my bicycling outfit and went for a ride in the snow. Even had on short sleeves and no face mask. Just had to do this to prove a point that we folks in Georgia can ride in the snow and cold also. The rest of the story follows: I did about 100 yards out and back, Debbie took the pictures, and we went back in to warm up. Reports have it that I was the only Chicken City Cyclist out on a bicycle yesterday. Given that there was no wind and if I had dressed properly, riding would not have been too bad from about 11 to 2 since it was about 39 degrees then.

I drove up into the north Hall area just to see how the snow fall was there. Picture below is on Highland Drive off Mt. Vernon Road. This would be a nice fixer upper for someone. There did not appear to be any big difference in the amount of snow that fell in that area.

The wintering over saga of the Pink Flamingo continues. As you can tell, there is a lot more snow on his/her wings and more snow on the ground. If anyone has Pink Flamingo pictures, please send them to me. I would like to let this little one know that there is hope that someday he/she will live in a warmer climate.

And, to verify that the Georgia state law requiring all people to gather at their nearest grocery store in case of the possibility of snow or ice was being followed, I visited our local Publix to stock up on coffee and Flying Dog Tire Bite beer. I did not need bread - Debbie is busy downstairs making fresh bread even as I type this. Nothing like taking wheat berriers (seeds to those who don't know what a wheat berry is) and having it come out as fresh baked bread in about 4 to 5 hours. Raisin bread, rolls, regular whole wheat - you name, she can make it. No preservatives or other junk that is not part of the things that are recommended daily allowances.

Pink Flamingo Stranded by Snow Storm in North Georgia

Winter finally arrived in Gainesville this evening with about an inch or so of snow. We went to our Wednesday night church event at St. Paul UMC on Washington Street. If prayers are answered for school age children, there will definitely be no school tomorrow in Hall County and Gainesville.

View of the back deck. The snow gauge is showing just about an inch inside but I don't know how accurate that is. From my old weather man days, I am supposed to take a ruler and make several measurements on a flat surface and average them. I'll go with about an inch and be done with it. Stuff is supposed to turn over to freezing rain later tonight so who knows what tomorrow will bring.

View out the front. I could not get Debbie interested in going out to sit on the bench for a picture.

We have one bloom on our camelia and if you look closely, you will notice the Pink Flamingo in the picture trying to take off but the snow has his/her (how do you tell when they are plastic if they are he/she) wings weighted down so they can't flap in the wind to get the lift needed to head back to Miami for the winter.

May consider going bicycle riding in the morning just to prove to all the wimps that it can be done. Picture to appear later if that happens.

Bicycling Was A Cinch This Saturday

Shaklee has finally gotten the replacement for my pre-ride meal bar released and delivered. They are delicious and come in 2 flavors. They have much the consistency of a granola bar but are a bit chewier. Lots of protein and carbs. http://www.shaklee.net/nhd/product/MealBar I had one of these and half a Cinch drink for breakfast before leaving to ride. Made 44 miles after starting about 12:30 and finished about 4:00. Used 24 ounces of Performance which is Shaklee's sports drink that was developed for Flight of the Daedalus, the 72 mile human powered airplane flight over the Agean Sea back in the late 1980's. After this ride, I only have 1940 miles to go in 2008.


Progress comes to North Hall. At the intersection of Mt. Vernon Highway and Hubert Stephens, it appears there will soon be a convenience store. Hope they have good ice cream since this is one of my frequent routes on the bicycle. Ride down Hubert Stephens toward Murrayville found me hitting over 40 mph and I was braking. If I could get the road blocked at the bridge so that I could use both lanes, I really think I could hit between 50 and 60. Yes, my life insurance is paid up.


Fitzgerlad, Georgia has nothing on Murrayville except maybe the total number of roosters roaming around. This rooster is the mascot at one of the local convenience stores on Highway 60. Was relatively friendly and given the size of the spurs, I am glad. There was a lady in a truck and she would not get out since she is scared of chickens. Don't understand that but maybe she was attacked when she was young.

View of Wauka Mountain from the west. There is a tower or two on top and years ago when I was active in Amateur Radio, I climbed most of the way to the top of one of those to work on an antenna.

Sunset near Murrayville after I had finished the ride. A good ending to the day.

Hawk Spurs Me On - 1984 to go for 2008 in 2008

Twas a nice day to be off work in the afternoon and ride a few miles to get the legs working after 10 days off the bike. Made an easy 24 miles - easy if one does not count Westmoreland hill just west of where it crosses U. S. Highway 129 north of Clermont.

Was on the east end of Westmoreland and spotted a nice hawk perched in the top of a tree. As I approached, it began to give me a royal fussing out, left its perch, circled around while continuing to screech, and settled back into the same tree. It continued to screech for several more minutes until I was out of the sound range. I like to think that it was cheering me onward knowing that I still had the west side of Westmoreland to climb. Actually, was probably laughing about the aerodynamically challenged guy on a bicycle. The link below will give you a short rendition of what it sounded like.

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/Song/h3390so.mp3

Laurel Park near Gainesville, Georgia

My New Year's 2008 long weekend started out nice with the 38 mile bicycle ride around north Hall and south White Counties. On Sunday, I could have ridden but did not have enough time to get in a good ride so passed it up. Was 124 miles short of hitting 2007 in 2007 but will definitely do 2008 in 2008 by starting much earlier on the push to get the distance.

On Monday, I decided to check on the mussels at Laurel Park in north Hall. What I found was a new park area where dogs can build their muscles while romping and playing. There is an area for small dogs (29 pounds or less) and large dogs (30 pounds or more). Not sure what one should do with the 29.5 pound dog but guess you could round up or down as you feel lead.

The above is a view of Lake Lanier from the east side of Laurel Park. The next picture will give some indication of the sediment problem that we have in the lake but which, for the most part, nobody sees since it is on the bottom. I estimate that the sediment here is about 5 to 6 feet deep and this is just a small cove. There is an effort underway to dredge out some coves in Longwood Park near downtown Gainesville but have heard nothing about clearing out this area or others just like it elsewhere around the lake.

Laurel Park has been selected as a site for a mega-ramp for the use of fishing tournaments but I am not sure where it will be built. Currently, the boat ramp is just outside the park entrance and the ramp that was in the park has been closed off.

What may be one of the most interesting facts at Laurel Park is the old grandstand for Looper Raceway, a dirt race track that was in use before the lake was built. The link below takes you to a University of Georgia aerial map collection showing the location in 1951.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=1080089&t=k&om=1
Unfortunately, vandals are breaking up the concrete and taking pieces as keepsakes. Oh, before I forget, there were dead mussels mixed in among the rocks here at the grandstand.

New Year's Day found Debbie and me going to Jefferson to visit the Real Deal store complex, an excellent conversion of the old Jefferson Mills which closed a few years ago. There is a little bit of everything for decorating and outfitting a house from furniture to rugs to floral arrangements, etc. On our trip to Jefferson, we drove out Athens Street. I just had to stop and get a picture of 2 pairs of tennis shoes hanging over a power line crossing the street. It is difficult enough to get one pair to go over but to have 2 pair is an outstanding accomplishment and much harder than the effort to throw the paper roll over the power line in my front yard (see earlier post).

To recap the weekend of what was really important:

Florida lost!

FSU did not get embarrassed by Kentucky even with 36 players missing!

Hawaii got embarrassed by Georgia! They played like they had 36 players missing.

Clemson vs Auburn - who cared except the Tigers?