Kristine and the kids out on the shoals in the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge outside West Blocton. I met them there 150+ miles into the ride. It was great to cool off and swim with them in the river amongst all the Cahaba River Lilies! The Cahaba River is the “longest free-flowing river in…
Listening to introductions from Samford University’s Rosemary Fisk before the start of the 12th annual Old Howard Century on the campus of Judson College nearby Samford’s original location in Marion, Alabama. The ride down to Old Howard “Let’s meet at the I-65 bridge at 3:15AM.” Sounds to me like planning a meeting with the mafia,…
Skyway 2016 100 mile podium. Left-to-right: Jeff Clayton, Brian Toone, and Hefin Jones. I was freezing cold after the race so I donned a skull cap and my winter jacket thinking I’d take it off right before the podium but then my zipper was stuck and I couldn’t get the jacket off. Oh well!!! Shout…
One of the lessons that I learned the hard way during RAAM is that it really doesn’t matter how much power you can put out on the bike. It doesn’t matter how long you can sustain a Zone 5 heartrate. It doesn’t even matter a great deal how fast you ride your bike. The only…
There and back again – topocreator county map showing my outbound route to Clemson in blue and my return route to Birmingham in red. 17 counties traversed on the outbound route, 18 counties traversed on the return route. Click to enlarge and see detail and annotations. I just finished reading the Lord of the Rings…
Low water bridge … under water! Flooding caused a few route changes this year. I was prepared for the flooding, though, as I practiced fording a river on my Thursday ride back in Alabama. I found all the dirt roads and gravel roads I could find that I felt were good simulation for the Rouge…
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brian Toone (@kartoone76) It has been a busy week of riding and racing with the Cheaha Climbing camp on Thursday, the Southern Cross race on Saturday morning, and then following that up in the afternoon with a “5 Gap” ride up to the highest point in…
The ridges get larger and higher the farther east you go in Alabama — ultimately reaching 2407′ on top of Mount Cheaha, the highest point in Alabama. This elevation trend is true locally in Birmingham as the ridges stack on top of each other getting larger the farther east you go until you hit the…
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brian Toone (@kartoone76) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brian Toone (@kartoone76) If you follow my instagram account, then you know that I’ve posted the picture of “The End of the Appalachians” sign several times. This sign is located in Tannehill State Park.…
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brian Toone (@kartoone76) “Ok, google. Where is the highest point in Mississippi?” I asked my phone as I pedaled into a nasty headwind on the Natchez Trace Parkway. I knew the answer was somewhere in Northeast Mississippi, but I wasn’t sure how close it was to…