July 2020 News

7-30-2020 Welcome Twisted Spokes Bicycles Welcome Twisted Spokes Bicycles as an advertiser on Southeastern Cycling! Twisted Spokes Bicycles in Johns Creek is a full service bike shop that also services handi-capable devices such as wheelchairs, walkers, physical therapy devices, scooters and other things like strollers, etc. Among the bikes they carry Bianchi, Marin, Rocky Mountain, Devinci, Niner, KHS and Raleigh as well as e-bikes (electric bikes). The shop also provides consultations, maintenance classes, and guided bike and hiking excursions. TSB also installs hitches and racks.

Organizer, Brent is a former aircraft biomed engineer and is a master wheel-builder. Brent, also an accomplished cycling racer across many genres, can fix any mechanical problem with a bike & does creative custom build work (& correction of others). Twisted Spokes is a bi-lingual shop as their 2nd level mechanic, who has been with them for 3 years, is displaced from Venezuela. TSB offers intern opportunities for youth and has anywhere from 3-5 in the mechanic bay on a regular basis.

Shellie, Co-Owner a former active duty United States Marine and multi-athlete, is a Bianchi Dama and Rocky Mountain Ambassador. Shellie provides one-on-one bike instruction for both kids and adults through RideWithShellie who want to learn to ride (both road & MTB), clinics and ride-a-longs to improve bike handling skills in addition to fitness & nutrition clinics. Shellie started bike clubs in Fulton County schools with the approval of Superintendent starting 4 years ago. Shellie is also involved with assisting Boy Scouts of America TSB serves as the bike shop of choice with the credited program for Alpharetta High School’s Outdoor Academic Program. TSB sponsors JCAAM team, HOOCH Gold Card and is a AAA Discount Partners. TSB is involved in community, safety & legislative awareness concerns regarding laws using Shellie’s knowledge & 25 year legal career. Shellie also started a Non-Profit AMindful Ride, Inc. after surviving being hit by a car over 2 ½ years ago. Sometimes you will also see Shellie in the mechanic bay or at events wrenching.

Brent and Shellie are also race promoters; and the first and only to this date, to own and operate as minorities in this genre of enduro, Third Coast Productions. 3rd Coast Enduro Series was the first to bring enduro to the southeast in 2014. For those who are familiar with the Big Creek Quick Six Enduro, they are ones who do the timing and scoring every year.

7-29-2020 Race Venue Lost this Weekend Because of Racer Behavior  This is why racers should behave themselves at races! This happened at TONGA2 this past past weekend. From Topview Sports WE LOST ANOTHER RACE COURSE! We lost another course because of cyclist behavior. This is unacceptable. Habersham High School will NO longer ever let TVS use their parking again due to behavior in the feed zone! The land owner from across the street was so upset about the behavior of the people in the feed zone that he took his concerns to the Superintendent of schools. Do you realize that this kicks us out of all Schools in this county?

1. Urinating in the owner’s yard! We know of one person whom has apologized profusely and others that the owner saw. There is a reason we provide $1500 in portos for our events!

2. Leaving over 40 water bottles and garbage (Topview Staff cleaned up your messes prior to leaving at the end of the day).
Not our responsibility but we do it in order to continue putting on races! Clean up your own garbage!

3. He mentioned dogs tied up to his fence and this really upset him…..

Act like you want to be in our cities and be kind to the locals or there will be no more bike races!

7-22-2020 Georgia Cross Survey From Georgia Cross: We all recognize that we are facing unprecedented times in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The GACX Board is continuing to monitor information from sources both within cycling and the more general guidelines being shared by the CDC, state and local governments. In order for us to make the best decision possible regarding hosting the series this fall we would appreciate your input in the following survey. We hope that you are all well and getting in plenty of riding!

Group Rides Hi everyone! I’ve been asked why I am not keeping track of which group rides in the Atlanta area have started or restarted in the last month or so. I generally do one big update on the Rides page in the spring over a few weeks and then small updates during the year as I get information about specific rides. The best advice I can give you is to join the Facebook page of your favorite ride and check on the shop/club’s website or contact them to see if it is going on. Some have started, then stopped again, then re-started. It’s humanly impossible to keep up with 100+ group rides weekly. If you do choose to go to a group ride, please use your own discretion. No one is responsible for you but yourself-whether you get sick, have a mechanical, or anything else.

7-20-2020 Silk Sheets Parking  About a week ago a friend of mine posted on social media about a new place to park at Dirty Sheets that is on private property. I was invited out by Steve, the property owner, to check it out this past weekend. Steve is the owner of Klankwerks, a custom bike frame building shop. His property is right on the Dirty Sheets route.

Steve greeted me and showed me where to park, which was under a great shade tree. Most of the parking is in the field away from their house. While I was getting my bike out of the car I must have seen 15 riders pass the intersection near the Klankwerks property. The location is central to the middle of the route, and it makes a good place for a rest stop if you are doing multiple laps or adding miles in the middle of the route. It’s about 10 minutes past Cochran Mill Park but closer to Serenbe if you like eat there after your ride.

For now, Steve is limiting the number of cars to 4-6 per day to see how parking goes. Carpool with your riding buddies! Parking is free, but reservations are required a day or two beforehand. He can be reached on Instagram via DM @Klankwerks.


The view from the back of the field at Klankwerks.

If you go out there, please be considerate and remember this is private property! Steve and his family live on the property. Be courteous and don’t be too loud. There is no water, so bring extra. There is no restroom facility, so do what you need to do before you arrive.

Other places to park include Cochran Mill Park ($5 parking fee), Rico Park at Rico and Upper Wooten, Hutchinson Ferry Park ($5 parking fee, and I’m not sure if it’s always open) and Serenbe (Park away from businesses. The gravel lot behind the farmer’s market area is a good place to park. Serenbe is also private property. I highly recommend The Blue Eyed Daily or Halsa for lunch). The Chatt Hills police will ticket your car if you park on the side of the road.

7-16-2020 GA 400 Ride Cancelled From the Promoter (edited for clarity and length): The GA 400 Ride is cancelled. We are in the process of working with BikeReg on our options for you. Our hope is to offer you to apply your registration to next year, full refund or donate. If you have registered you will receive an email explaining the actions to take.

7-13-2020 Mission Move Physical Therapy Press Release

I’d like to introduce you to Mission Move Physical Therapy, a new advertiser with Southeastern Cycling. Mission Move is a performance-based physical therapy practice that has been helping active adults and athletes in Roswell, Ga since 2008.

“Mission Move is not your typical physical therapy experience. We provide one-on-one attention for a full hour with a PT who has extensive training in strength and conditioning. At Mission Move, helping people with their pain or injury is only the start. Once you are feeling better, we teach you how to stay better and help you become stronger and perform to your highest potential,” says founder Dr. Joel Eaby PT, DPT, ATC, who is also an avid cyclist and certified bike fitter specializing in treating runners, cyclists and triathletes.

If you’re experiencing pain or want to bring your cycling performance to the next level, call Mission Move at (678) 400-0300. Telehealth appointments are also available in addition to in-person visits.

April Fool’s Bike Ride From Bike Walk Baldwin We will host the 2020 April Fools Ride on July 25th. The ride will be held as a show-and-go format. Registration will be open from 7am to 9pm. For those who want to wait until day of to register, you can arrive any time between those hours, pay, sign a waiver and head out on the course. If you have pre-registered and email a signed waiver to me, you are welcome to show up as early as you like to get started with the ride then stop by registration when you finish and pickup your t-shirt. Unlike previous rides, our rest stops will only be open for the specific hours listed below. These hours should accommodate most all riders who start between 7am and 9am. Volunteers will be onsite to hand out food as riders arrive and to ensure that we minimize the number of riders gathered at any time. They will also have containers to refill your water bottles for you.

7-11-2020 Red Clay Ramble Is On! From Chainbuster Racing Lastly, good news/bad news on the gravel racing front. Mulberry Mayhem will be postponed from its scheduled August 8th date, but we have been able to reschedule Red Clay Ramble Gravel Race for August 8! More details on that will come next week.

Twilight Cancelled From Swagger Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and with heavy hearts, it is imperative to cancel the 2020 Athens Orthopedic Clinic Twilight Criterium presented by Terrapin Beer Co, which had been postponed from the Spring to September 18-19. Our responsibility to the community we call home weighed heavily in this decision.

Approximately sixty days out from the event, there is still so much uncertainty. Along with the rising number of cases locally and considerations for the regional, national, and international spectators and athletes the event draws, financial and medical consideration were also taken into account. The amount of pivoting to ensure a safe event for all that attended created an AOC Twilight that was stripped of components that make the event so special. Participants will have several options regarding their entry fee and should check their email in the coming days for more information. Now, we shift our energy and focus towards a traditional Spring event in 2021, tentatively scheduled for April 30 – May 1, for the 41st running of the Athens Orthopedic Clinic Twilight Criterium! We are extremely thankful for the support of all of our partners, participants, staff, and volunteers and look forward to building an even better event for 2021.

USA CRITS announces postponement of remaining dates due to challenges related to Covid-19 Press Release The remaining scheduled USA CRITS events are postponed until 2021. These events include:

Athens Orthopedic Clinic Twilight Criterium, Athens, GA
Benchmark Twilight Cycling Classic, West Chester, PA
Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Criterium, Spartanburg, SC
Sun City Criterium, El Paso, TX
Winston-Salem Cycling Classic, Winston-Salem, NC

Other than Benchmark Cycling Classic, each of these events had been rescheduled from the Spring in an attempt to allow them to safely move forward. Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Criterium may still have some form of more localized activities, but those would not be part of the Series. “Given the current conditions, we can’t produce the level of event that has become our standard while checking all the necessary boxes. We have continued to work with each venue locally to determine how the event could happen. The very things that make our events enduring, in this case, worked against us,” said Scott Morris, Director of Development. USA CRITS events generate the largest cycling crowds in the US. The events are built around concerts and community festivals with engagement opportunities for sponsors. They are purposely built for the fans with D1 Teams and athletes from across the country helping to put on #theshow.

“First and foremost on our minds was the safety of our athletes and the fans. Beyond that, we had to address the impact to our local and national partners. Healthcare is a major local supporter of our sport. In addition, the level of permitted activities continue to change on almost a daily basis at the local and state levels making it impossible to plan for all aspects of the event day,” continued Morris. USA CRITS will continue to partner toward a sustainable, watchable, team-based format for the sport of criterium racing in America. Several new venues are under consideration for 2021 and progress will be made toward converting events over to a more team based format while continuing the surrounding individual races. Meanwhile in 2020, there will be some virtual racing opportunities and other initiatives those taking precautions can participate in.

7-8-2020 Dalton Grand Prix Postponed I have learned that the Dalton Grand Prix scheduled for the first weekend of August has been postponed.

7-7-2020 GA Games Cancelled The Georgia Games has cancelled all of the cycling events that were supposed to take place this weekend.

7-6-2020 Dirt Church: Allatoona Creek Park Work Party From SORBA West Georgia Dirt Church: Toona Workday Sunday, July 19, 2020 at 10 AM Come show our trails some love. We’ll be fine tuning the Mason’s Bridge reroute, finishing the first phase of Wildcat and fixing some other trouble spots.

7-3-2020 Rumble at Roebling Cancelled From HHC: I am writing to you on behalf of Hilton Head Cycling to notify you that we will not be going forward with the race weekend which we had scheduled for July 25th & 26th of this year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent governmental directives on masking and social distancing guidelines it will not be possible for us to conduct our event. Also regrettably the GBRA and Top View Sports has scheduled an event in North Georgia on the same weekend. We fell this will adversely effect event registrations making it difficult to support you racers with the event you deserve. We appreciate your patronage and hope that you can reserve our weekend for next year. BikeReg.com will be processing refunds to the method of payment used for registration and you should see these refunds by the middle of next week. Thank you so much for supporting our event, and we hope to see you next year.”

6-30-2020 BBC The Beautiful Backroads Century has announced the date for 2020-Sept. 19. September 19th marks the 20th Anniversary of the Beautiful Backroads Century (BBC) Bike Ride. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, Anheuser-Busch will not be the host location of the BBC this year. The host location will be moved to Cass High School. It is crucial the ride occurs this year due to the financial needs of our charity – Hickory Log Personal Care Home. Hickory Log is a safe place to call home for men with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The BBC is a primary source of income for them. Hickory Log is celebrating 50 years this year and your help and support of the ride are needed more this year than in the past. The ride will include a t-shirt, rest stops, $5 Food Truck Voucher, and SAG. Due to Covid-19, we will not be serving a meal or beer at the end of the ride. Our partner, Sosbee Cycle park, will be hosting food trucks at their location on the day of the ride. For those people who still would like to support the BBC, but do not feel comfortable riding on September 19, there will be a virtual ride.

6-29-2020 Georgia Commute Options Interview A couple of weeks ago Georgia Commute Options interviewed me about teleworking for my corporate job. Look for more of the interview in October-Bike to Work month!

Teleworking Like a Professional

Mission Devo Cycling Becomes USA Cycling Center of Excellence Mission Devo Cycling, a Junior development program out of Atlanta, has become a USA Cycling Center of Excellence. “Centers for Excellence are USA Cycling not-for-profit developmental clubs that specialize in junior and under-23 rider identification and development in road, mountain, cyclocross, and track.”.

USA Cycling Foundation awards grants to Centers of Excellence programs

6-27-2020 Holly Shelter Race Postponed This weekend’s Holly Shelter gravel grinder race is postponed because of North Carolina group number restrictions. They are working on rescheduling.

6-26-2020 North Cooper Lake Park Closed The Skills area at the North Cooper Lake Park MTB Trails is currently closed through the first of next week. MTB Atlanta is upgrading and repairing elements of the skills park!

6-25-2020 Ian Garrison Named to Olympic Long Team USA Cycling has named Ian Garrison to the Men’s Road Olympic Long Team for Tokyo 2021. Congratulations Ian!

6-18-2020 Georgia Games From the Georgia Games: With the reopening of Georgia, we are going to host the 2020 Georgia Games CYCLING Championships competition this year. See our website for details: www.georgiagames.org. In order to host these events for the athletes, we will need to institute some changes and modifications to schedules, waivers, venue, social distancing and protective wear, etc. We will post these on our website as we get them updated. EVERYONE will be required to wear a mask or official face covering at all times except during direct competition. Trish’s Notes: The crit and TT are at West Oak in Marietta, home of the Tuesday Night Crit (TNC). The road race will be at Cass High School in White, GA (some of the Bud Plant/Sosebee Bike Park area). The dates are July 11-12. There are only 3 road events that I know of this summer, so take advantage of this one!