April 26, 2020

Sunday Ride covid-19: day 45 | US: GA | info | act

Crossing the bridge at Juliette. Photo by Giles.

Giles and I did another social-distancing ride today, rediscovering some old roads and finding some new. It was another beautiful day—again almost cold for me on the bike. This time, we went up east of the Ocmulgee, taking Upper River Road north to 18, then north on Jarell Plantation Road.

I knew Giles intended to try the bridge photo again (on the right), so I knew we were headed to Juliette, but instead of heading west on Round Oak Road, we went east through Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge. Man, what a road! What a day! The trees were tall and green and the road snaked through the lush green for a few miles. This—this!—is why I ride. Too quickly the road ended, and we headed north on GA-11 toward Monticello. After a few miles on this larger road (larger means faster), I started getting tired. This naked bike sure takes a toll. I realized I forgot to tell Giles, who was leading today, that I needed to have breaks. We had already covered 35 miles-or-so, and I really needed to rest, but we kept going.

Instead of going into Monticello, we turned abruptly left on a short road to intersected with GA-83, south-west toward Forsyth. Giles had intended to take another smaller road south, but it ended up being gravel. Looking down the road, I told him I was game, but we decided to stay on 83 and take 23 into Juliette. Finally I was able to rest a minute, but not before Giles got his photo.

We took Jarrell Plantation Road back to 18 (it is a nice, curvy one after all), then 23 south toward Macon. However, after a couple of miles, we turned right, heading west on another curvy country road. We eventually ended up in Bolingbroke, ending our ride on Rivoli for the last few miles.

Well done, Giles. Check out the map.