Pocket Road

The guys I ride with on Sunday are considering riding the Pocket Road on Sept. 15. I had ridden this road during the 2006 BRAG on the first leg from Dalton to Cartersville. Ride Director Jerry Colley says this is the best cycling road in Georgia and from someone who has critiqued a lot of roads in Georgia, that's saying something.

The road is remote. You're in a natural pocket formed by two side-by-side mountain ridges that are almost closed at one end. A century ago, forestry had taken the old growth, but the second growth has recovered quite well. There is a stream running alongside the road, and on the morning we rode, there were several camps with wood fires preparing breakfasts. The sense of being transported to another place and time was incredible. Our endorphins were flowing and we burst out into song as we rode this stretch.

I didn't take photos of the route itself -- photos or even a movie don't do it justice -- how can you capture the smells and passing between warm and cool spots? Although we spent only a few miles along that stretch, the impression those miles left on me will be long remembered.

Still, I have to present what photos I did take. This first shot was taken shortly before the sun came over the eastern ridge. Instead of making the scene harsh with a flash, I let the rays of sun do some of their best work.



Here is the shelter at the state park along the way. This was a chance to fill up water bottles.



This last photo was taken after we had left the Pocket, but looks back across a cornfield toward the ridge that forms the east side of the Pocket. I was standing on the far side of the Oostanaula River near Highway 156 on Reeves Station road.