Highlights of Cherohala 2004
by Barbara Gower (tall Barb) of the Birmingham (AL) Bicycling Club
http://bhambikeclub.org/

-It was never boring; no straight or flat stretches;
you never knew what was around the next bend.
-Seeing the Joyce Kilmer Forest.
-Turning the bend onto the Parkway road and facing
the Moment of Truth.
-Climbing the Skyway – actually doing it- after spending
2 weeks wondering if I would be scraped up off
the road and carried away by the SAG truck.
-Climbing past signs that said, “3000 ft”, “4000 ft”,
“5000 ft”…
-Discovering that a (newly-installed) 27-tooth cog can
make molehills out of mountains.
-Riding above the mist on the mountaintops.
-Knowing that you are on the top of the world, and
feeling like you are riding through a post-card.
-Realizing that energy is, in fact conserved, and all
that climbing was not for naught; the well-earned
thrill of coming down the other side of Cherohala.
-The well-organized ride; the wonderful people – both
the volunteers and the riders.
-The route was 100% back-roads; no traffic (unless I
was too focused, meditative, or delirious to notice it);
peaceful and beautiful for 115 miles…