Suwanee Creek Greenway Bike Ride
This afternoon I took my bike out for a ride. I loaded my bike into my truck and hauled it up to Suwanee Creek Park and road along the Suwanee Creek Greenway. My wife and I have done this twice this week but we’ve only ridden half the greenway each time. It was late after we got off work and the park closes at sunset. Today I decided to ride the entire Greenway.
While this was only a ten mile ride I’m very out of shape and I was really wondering if this was all that good of an idea. I made it fine and I found out I could probably do fifteen miles without much trouble. There aren’t many hills involved in the ride but I managed to find one at George Pierce Park that really caused me some trouble. This was only about an 1/8th of a mile stretch but it was steep. I had to rest half way up it and then again three quarters of the way up it. I didn’t push, though.
My plan is to ride this route at least twice a week for a while. Another trail that I want to try this summer is the Silver Comet Trail. My goal is to be able to ride my bicycle to any destination I choose, within reason, around here without having to guess about whether or not I’m up to the ride.
General | Larry D. Burton | 16 April 2005 |
By Dan Lyke, 4/20/2005 @ 11:23 am
Oooh, that Silver Comet looks like fun. I think I’d have to get a road bike or do it on the tandem, though, I’m doing 25 or so miles today biking to a meeting on my mountain bike (towing a trailer for the computers), and those big wide tires just make things feel slow. Speaking of which, have I spewed my tandem evangelism your direction? It sounds like you guys are probably fairly evenly matched, but insert my usual raving enthusiasm for the dance that happens any time you have two people working together, especially as occurs with a mechanical linkage like a tandem bicycle. And the fact that two people with the limited wheel friction, even when they’re not in great shape, can kick a bicycle up to nearly 20 MPH changes a lot about the feeling of pedaling.
Keep it up! In watching newcomers acclimate to our Sunday morning hiking group I’m amazed at how much two or three hours of moderate exercise once a week can change a person over not much more than a month.
By Larry, 4/21/2005 @ 5:17 am
Thanks for the encouragement, Dan. Gerri and I have looked at tandems in the past and have been intrigued by them but not enough to fork over the money to buy one. I’d like to find one to rent for a couple of outings before I bought one. I have a feeling that we would have a bit of a problem getting in sync with each other.
I think I recall you stating you have family members in the area. Why not bring your tandem on your next visit and give the Silver Comet a go? I was looking at the map of the trail and it seems that there are some pretty interesting little places along its route.
By Dan Lyke, 4/21/2005 @ 1:40 pm
Yeah, definitely rent or borrow one first. Tandems aren’t an acquired taste, the second in our stable came from a couple who really wanted to make it work, and were fairly hardcore solo bicyclists, but despite a few hundred miles on the tandem it didn’t come together.
I think I’ll put the Silver Comet on our “want to do” map, once we get our overall range up a bit that looks like a wonderful “ride half an hour, spend an hour looking at stuff, repeat” sort of day.
By Dan Lyke, 4/22/2005 @ 8:52 am
Wait! I’ve found it! The Georgia ride we should be working up to:
Well, okay, maybe it’s a few years out…
By Larry, 4/22/2005 @ 9:38 am
Okay, I’ll work up to it. I’m 50 right now so I figure by the time I’m 72 I ought to be ready for it.
I went back out to the Greenway yesterday after work and rode 8.78 miles. It was a leisurly ride with a few stops to take pictures. You can find the pictures here. About half of those pictures have a critter in them somewhere if you look hard enough. I learned a couple of things from that ride pertaining to photography.
By Dan Lyke, 4/22/2005 @ 10:28 am
The problem with wildlife shots is that critters are small and far away, and the F stop of the lens is, broadly, the diameter of the furthest element of the lens divided by the length of the lens. So critter shots require lots of glass held far away from the sensor. This is heavy (lots of glass), big (held far away), and expensive (all that glass has to be very accurately shaped). All things you probably want to be avoiding when you’re on your bike.
In other words, as someone who routinely carries around a $800 body and a $1500 lens: that way lies madness, stick to landscapes and people.
By Larry D. Burton, 4/25/2005 @ 8:18 pm
I’m just thinking of one of those cheap digitals with the 10x optical zoom lens. By cheap I’m talking under $500. My Nikon has a 3x optical zoom which is just fine for people and landscapes. The 10x Fuji Fine Pix S5000 would make it a lot easier to get that frog framed in without getting so close he hops away. I don’t necessarily want to be able to take it with me on my bike, though that would be nice, I do a lot of walking in these areas also.
By The Bob, 9/18/2006 @ 4:06 pm
As most of you who post here do, i love biking .
I do every other day, and i am realleased of alot of stress by doing it. Being a sophmore in high school, there is alot of stres…
anyway, i live very close to the suwanee trail, as me and a few friends call it (suwanee creek greenway is too long) and IM happy to here that other people actually bike it. Although it is a well known trail, not many people ride it on bikes, and even fewer ever break from the trail.
My question to you and anyone here who reads this is…does anyone know where the suwanee trail may pick back up after George peirce park? I have searched tirelesly on my bike, but i never seem to find one. If anyone can give me general directions or a map I would greatly appreciate it. One other thing, does anyone here know any other trails within a few miles of suwanee trail??? Specifically mmountain biking, but anything would be good.
my email is thebob7171@AOL.com
thanks =)
maybe ill see u sometime on the trail larry =)
By Larry D. Burton, 9/19/2006 @ 2:20 pm
Bob, George Pierce Park is the northern terminus of the Suwanee Park Greenway. You can only go south on the trail from there.
By James Mullin, 12/6/2007 @ 6:47 pm
The Suwanee Creek Trail Currently ends at George Pierce Park, but there are some new trails that wind through George Pierce that extend it a little. Also, soon they will begin work on the Ivy Creek Greenway, that will leave from George Pierce Park and wind along Ivy Creek past Morningview (there will be a parking lot on Westbrook Rd. on land that Morningview will lease to the county), go up along Satelite, connect to the new Gwinnett environmental center off of Woodward Mill, and eventually go to the Mall of Georgia Nature Center (not open yet).