7-19-2019 North Cooper Lake Mountain Bike Park Construction has started on the new North Cooper Lake Mountain Bike Park in Smyrna! Construction is expected to take several months. Follow Recreate Smyrna on Facebook for the latest details.

Covington Century From the Covington Century New this year: Local Line Creek Brewery will be providing after ride cold ones for both the Covington Century and the Wilson 100. For those that don’t want to go for the Metric, but want more than the 30ish miler, we now have a 50ish miler! Cue sheets and RideWithGPS will be posted as soon as the routes are double checked one more time for accuracy and safety. In addition to our awesome charity partner, Newton County Trails, we are excited to welcome local Walton Wellness featuring their super cool Mobile Farmacy Bus at the McGarity Park rest stop. Mass ride start will be at 7:30am. 30milers will be a 8:00am Lunch will be served 11am to 4pm. Same great venue, same great food at the new dining hall at Oxford college at the corner of Asbury and Pierce. Check in starts at 6:30am in front of the new dining hall.

7-18-2019 Free CX Clinic Join me for my annual Cyclocross clinic on Monday, Aug. 26 at 6:15 pm Jim R Miller Park, 2245 Callaway Rd SW, Marietta, GA 30008! Everyone is welcome! Join Sorella Race Team member Trish Albert for a free cyclocross clinic. We will work on skills such as dismounts, remounts, barriers, carrying the bike, and cornering. We will also cover the basic divisions and rules for the Georgia Cyclocross Series. Everyone is welcome at this free clinic! Juniors age 10+ are welcome, but a parent/guardian must remain with them onsite; Juniors must know how to ride a 2 wheeled bike off road with no assistance.

Ride what ya brung—but we recommend a bike that is capable of going off road in the dirt & grass like a cyclocross bike, mountain bike, or hybrid. Be prepared to get dirty! Remove all bar ends, racks, and bottle cages for safety reasons. The bathrooms may be locked, so be prepared. Bring water and a snack. It will be hot! We recommend wearing lycra or close-fitting clothing since loose clothing like tshirts or mtb baggy shorts can get caught when doing cyclocross.

Please note that loaner bikes and equipment are not available. HELMETS ARE MANDATORY. We are limited on time and have a lot to cover and practice. This clinic will be safest for all and best enjoyed without interruptions, so please do not bring any children or pets. We will be starting promptly at 6:15.

Delta Eliminates $150 fee for Bicycles Delta Airlines has eliminated the $150 fee for bicycles. Oversize/overweight baggage fees may still apply if the case exceeds certain limits. It’s about time you eliminated the bike penalty, Delta! There was speculation that Delta would follow the lead of American Airlines and several other major carriers that dropped their bicycle fees in the last few weeks.

7-16-2019 Van Purser Foundation Ride From ATLPTN:  We received a few notes this past week about an ATLPTN legend, Van Purser, who is bravely fighting ALS. His friends started a foundation and are planning a ride on October 5th. We will highlight it as it draws near but wanted to bring it to the attention of the PTN early. See below from one of his friends who sums it up nicely: “We have created a non-profit to honor our friend Van Purser who was diagnosed with ALS almost two years ago. He has been a great friend/mentor to many in the ATLPTN, former owner of Bikeways of Tucker and helped start the Tucker and Webb Bridge rides. He always cared deeply for his fellow cyclists and we’d like to help him care for them going forward. To learn more about the foundation go to Vanpurserfoundation.org or if you just want the registration link it’s: www.bikereg.com/all-for-one-100. The ride will leave from the Webb Bridge starting location on Saturday October 5th and the route is a rolling mashup of a couple of the Webb Bridge routes.”

Allatoona Work Party From SORBA West Georgia Allatoona Work Party Saturday, July 20 at 9:00 am We’ll be mainly working on updates to Flaming Wildcat, including improving the entrance and adding some rollers. If you haven’t ridden the Flaming Wildcat trail, then now is your chance to check it out and lend a hand to creating what will be the best 6 miles at Toona. Bring water and a friend. We’ll supply the tools and lunch. For those that want to ride afterwards, bring your bike, too.

7-12-2019 AL State RR Championships Postponed From Topview Sports — Due to the incoming tropical storm related weather this weekend we have decided to reschedule the state championship road race to July 28th. If you already registered your registration will be rolled to the new date. If you signed up and cannot make the new date, please let us know and we will issue a refund.

Sosebee Cycling Park Benefit On Tuesday, July 16 the Marietta Tuesday Night Crit will benefit the Sosebee Cycling Park. from MTNC: Mark you calendars for next Tuesday the 16th. All donations will go to Sosebee Cycling Park. For those that don’t know about the park, it’s North Atlanta’s only privately-run road cycling park north of Atlanta located just off Interstate 75. Chandra and Christopher Sosebee are the owners of Sosebee cycling park. They rely solely on private donations for funding ongoing maintenance and future expansions. Visit the website (http://sosebeecyclingpark.com) to learn more.

See you next week and please brings a few extra bucks and support the park.

7-10-2019 Joey Rosskopf Interview Velonews has an interview with 3 Tour rookies, including Joey Rosskopf (Team CCC). ‘hat are the big differences Rosskopf has noticed when he compares the Giro and Vuelta with what he’s experienced at the Tour so far?

“The crowd, I think; which feeds the pressure,” he said. “You are always hearing about how stressful it is, how much pressure there is — especially among the riders from their directors and what they put on themselves. It all just feeds off itself … the build-up all year and the crowds.”’ Read the full article below.

What’s it like to be a Tour de France rookie? We spoke with three debutants

7-9-2019 North Cooper Lake MTB Park Final Hearing The final public hearing for the North Cooper Lake MTB Park in Smyrna, GA will be THIS FRIDAY, July 12 at 6:30 pm in the Jonquil Room of the Smyrna Community Center on Atlanta Road. Come give your input! Construction begins on July 15!

7-8-2019 Sope Creek Work Party From MTB Atlanta Sope Creek Work Party Sat., July 20, 9 am-Noon. Join us for our monthly Work Party at Sope Creek and give back to the trails that you love to ride. We meet at the Columns Drive parking lot at 9 AM at the gate by the Fitness loop. Wear long pants, closed toed shoes, bring gloves, water, snacks.

Cochran Mill Work Party From MTB Atlanta Cochran Mill Work Party Sat., July 13 9 am-Noon Join us for our monthly work party at Cochran Mill Park. Meet at the main parking lot at 9 AM. Please wear long pants, closed toed shoes, bring a helmet, gloves, water, snacks. We will see you there!

7-6-2019 I’m still here! I’m still here! With the Fourth of July, things have been a bit quiet. I’ve taken a couple of days off from updating the site since there hasn’t been anything to update. Send me an email if you have any race news, team news, century rides, etc to post! Press releases are free or ask me about supporting Southeastern Cycling with an ad! Ads are the only way I can continue to run the site as a resource FREE to everyone! Also check out the Southeastern Cycling Facebook Page! Join in the discussions about cycling and racing in the Southeast! You can also follow me on Instagram at @sadlebred.

In cycling news, Joey Rosskopf will be rocking it in the Tour De France for Team CCC! Joey is making is Tour De France Debut! Ian Garrison (Hagens Berman Axeon) won both the U23 and Elite Men’s Time Trial National Championships last weekend in Knoxville, TN. The NCGA Juniors have been hauling in medals at the Junior and Elite National Track Championships. I hope to have more on that later next week. I know of at least 4 thus far.

6-28-2019 USA National Pro Championships Congratulations to Georgia’s own Ian Garrison who won the Men’s Pro Time Trial Championships in Knoxville on Thursday@ It was last week that he won the U23 TT Championship!

6-24-2019 2019 Fool’s Gold From Mountain Goat Adventures We are excited to announce that registration for the 2019 Maxxis Tires Fools Gold Mountain Bike Races is now open. The Maxxis Tires Fools Gold is scheduled for September 14, 2019 at the beautiful Montaluce Winery, in Dahlonega, GA. The 2019 Fool’s Gold Mountain Bike Race will again offer riders a 38 mile or 60 mile course! Additional trail mileage proposed for 60 mile course! 400 rider field limit for the 2019 event – please register early so you do not miss out. Both courses begin at Montaluce Winery and will have a neutral rollout for approximately 3 miles on pavement, then transition to gravel roads. The 60 mile course begins with a stout 3 mile gravel road climb. NEW for 2019, we are proposing to the USFS that our route head north off the ridgeline onto some of my favorite “secret” trails, then across to FS 69, and finally back up to Hightower Gap, merging with the usual route. This adds 5-6 miles to the long course. The 38 mile course heads directly to the Jones Creek Ridge Singletrack Trail along gravel roads, giving riders the opportunity to space out before hitting nearly 30 miles of fast singletrack. There is a ton of other great stuff!

Cheaha Challenge 2019 From the Cheaha Challenge: Save the Date! Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17, 2020 – UCI World Championship Qualifiers Organizers of the Cheaha Challenge Gran Fondo are honored to announce that the 2020 Cheaha Challenge century distance will again be a qualifier for the 2020 UCI Gran Fondo World Championship, and our Cheaha Challenge Time Trial will again be a qualifier for UCI Time Trial World Championship. The 2020 UCI World Championship will be held in Vancouver, Canada in September 2020.