A history nerd goes on a bike ride-photo dump

The past few days have been unusually fall-like here in Columbia! I figured I'd take advantage of it and head out for a nice bike ride (on Sunday... jeez it took me like 14 years to finish this post). Started out at the Broad River side of the River Front Park, shot up through campus, across the river to Cayce, and back through downtown. 90k later (!) I did lots of exploring, and a ton of pictures!

Started out at one of my favorite spots on campus- Cool Beans! Lemon poppy seed muffin and machiato, plus some chocolate covered espresso beans for the back pocket!

I took advantage of the early hour, plus post-football game hangovers, to ride through the Horseshoe without running over or into anyone. I love riding on the Horseshoe, but when I'm walking to class with 2000 other kids, I hate every single person who nearly kills me on their bikes between classes.

It was also quiet on the Cayce side of the Riverwalk. Cool temperatures and tree covered river paths. It was a good morning!

Always one of my favorite signs! My old ghost hunting friends may recognize this!

Welcome to Old State Road! Former Indian trail, turned trade route between Charleston and the upstate. Sherman marched this road on his way to capturing Columbia. Lot's of history out here. There are other portions of the road heading south that are actually paved and usable. Our section, sandy, rocky and... haunted?

It's a nice, but bumpy, jaunt through the swamp. As teenagers, we drove down here in the middle of the night looking for ghosts. Legends on the road feature stars such as the KKK, Peewee Gaskins, Red Eye, and my personal favorite, the ghost of a murdered girl walking down the road. If you stop before the church on the curve, you can see the shadowy silhouette of the girl walking and as you get closer she disappears. Some people may also call this apparition a tree branch.


The unfortunate reality of this road is that it freaks me the fuck out. I'm fascinated by ghost stories, but let's face it: they're not real! However, I'm a 145lb dude wearing spandex riding down a dirt road in the swamp. There are lots of things out there with bullet holes in them, and I've been chased off the road in a car... can't imagine what happens if someone decides to give me shit on my bike. It was never the ghosts that scared me... it was the hobos and the crazy people in the woods.

I enjoy riding out there, but it might take a few rides before I can do it on my own. There's too many opportunities for riding out here with the side roads and trails, plus extra riding back in Lexington. I don't want to pass it up!

Does this happen everywhere or is it just a South Carolina thing?

I love our historical markers. I'm a bit of a history nerd... duh. So it's great to be somewhere and get a history lesson on that exact spot. It works better than reading it in a book.

I decided from here that I was going to reenact Sherman's march toward Columbia. Except instead of artillery, I was on my bike. And instead of foraging, I was eating gels.

Song stuck in head intermission: "See, I'm just a factory worker's son from a railroad town.
And yeah, I can feel the steel mills rust." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZePV9kswemE

So, back in the day we would just take State St. in West Columbia to Old State Rd. You can't do that anymore since they closed the railroad crossing in Cayce. So leaving Old State I decided I didn't want to go back to the Riverwalk, and took off straight for West Columbia. I rolled slowly to the railroad crossing to make sure I wasn't going to get plowed and ran the track cyclo-cross style. I took off through Cayce expecting to get chased down by some CSX official.

Luckily, I made it through Cayce and West Columbia unscathed and rolled toward the Gervais St. bridge toward Columbia. In person it looks like we have a decent skyline.

After this I ducked back onto the Riverwalk... hooray.

Even though the weather has been great, cooler temperatures make the "view" on campus and at the Riverwalk a little less appealing, well except for this shot of the river.

I left the Riverwalk and popped out in Lexington, and set up camp to begin my final assault on Columbia.

Ventured over to Owens Field for the first time in ages. I was looking for the B-25 that they used to have out next to the road, but apparently they cooped it up in this ratty hangar. Shame.

Holy crap!!!! Sweet trails at Owens Field!!! I never knew these existed! In between shredding and/or ripping this trail I took opportunity to reminisce on my soccer career and watch some kids ripping and/or shredding at the skate park. I know skateboarders are rebellious, but I thought it was pretty funny that there were mandatory helmet signs, but not a single helmet in attendance. I also thought it was ridiculous that these kids had their parents out there coaching them. Like, angry little league parents screaming from the side of the bowl. I think that's doing it wrong.

Best mid-ride lunch stop ever. Virgil's Cream Soda and a chocolate croissant at Earthfare. I don't think I was going to pick up any cute Earthfare girls wearing my kit... mainly because I smelled like West Columbia.

USC's Koppenberg. In front of Capstone. It's short, and fairly steep (I don't go uphill well), and not exactly easy to trudge up one-handed.

So, the star marks where one of the aforementioned artillery shells struck the capital building. I didn't have a flag, so putting my bike on the state house was the only real way I could complete my capture of the city.

Ride was pretty sweet. It was nice to head out without really worrying about anything. I basically just took off and then stopped riding whenever I ran out of stuff to look at. Even when I was back at the car, i thought about riding around a little while longer... ya know, just cause. I don't usually do long rides, but it was cool to be out ALL day. Even if there were multiple stops involved.



P.S.- Midweek I'm really lame photo-op: Cycle-Smart got our new kits! I'm super stoked! I had to show it off!