I knew for a long time I was up for re-assignment in the Air Force during the summer of 2020. In spring I was notified of a new assignment to the Pentagon, so we expected to stick around Northern Virginia for a few more years. Ironically as we were driving down to North Carolina before The End of Life as We Knew It I got a phone call from my boss. The Air Force had selected me for Air War College—the “Colonel’s School” of sorts, and he wanted to know if I would accept a 10-month assignment to Montgomery, Alabama. We knew this had been a possibility and already decided we’d made it work if it happend, but still weren’t sure what it would all mean. After much prayerful consideration we decided I’d go to Alabama alone while the family stayed in Virginia: the assignment was only 10 months, it was a really bad time to sell a house and move, and there was a really good chance that my follow-on assignment after school would be back in Virginia. To keep the cost of two households at a minimum I’d live at the Family RV Camp (“Fam Camp”) on base. No, we didn’t own an RV but the cost of an RV plus FamCamp fees was still significantly cheaper than an apartment in Alabama. We’d also have to factor in vehicles, as we’d need to keep some cars in Virginia for all the drivers and we didn’t own anything (other than the Ford van) that could tow an RV trailer.

In the end I bought a 2009 Itasca Navion—a 23 foot Sprinter-based class-C motorhome all-in-one jobbie. It is small enough to drive around when needed, and it prevented me from having to buy an expensive truck to pull something with. I also brought my motorcycle as my primary means of transportation commuting to/from class, the store, etc. So far the two have served me well.

War College is much like a graduate school, with courses and homework. And a lot of reading (nearly 85 pages a night). But when I’m not in school or reading I’m pretty much on my own, which is a strange feeling. I’m not one to sit around and watch movies, so I’ve tried to make a point of exploring as much of Alabama by bike as I can. I’ve been on a relatively short leash Since COVID-19 concerns are still in effect and haven’t been able to make it to some of the more northern parts of the state, but I’m hoping as things open up this winter/spring I can more. Here’s a quick rundown of how Alabama has treated me so far, and some thoughts on what I’ve found.

Windrock Bike Park (TN)

OK, so Windrock isn’t in Alabama, but a few hours north in Tennessee. It was just about at the 1/2 way point of my drive from Virginia, so I thought I’d check it out for the day. In short: it was intense! Windrock was quite possibly the steepest riding I have ever done. The majority of the Windrock area is for Off-Highway Vehicles, but there is a bike park with a few runs that are action-packed and pretty extreme. Lots of steep berms, drops, and large drops. Did I mention it was steep? There is no chairlift, but instead they have a shuttle that brings you to the mid-point of the mountain. There are also two trails from the very top of the mountain (Windmills and Rolling Coal) that were even next-level intense. I latched up with a group of riders from Indiana and we convinced our our shuttle driver to give us two runs from the very top. It was humbling to say the least. If you’re looking for next-level technical riding, Windrock is your place.

No ski lifts but the shuttle gets the job done quick

Rolling Coal was quite likely the most insane trail I have ever ridden. “Rake and ride” trail building, as Sam would say.

Alabama Gravel

I had a hunch there would be good gravel riding in Alabama. I was wrong. It is fantastic. Montgomery sits on a flood plain just south of a large tract of rolling forested land. The surrounding counties of Antauga and Chilton have hundreds of miles of gravel roads, while just further west and north lies even more remote riding in the Talladega National Forest. The surfaces vary from sand with large, round aggregate to hard-pack clay, which means moisture makes a big difference in the quality of ride. In the short few months I’ve been here I’ve already learned the sand is best when damp, but the clay is sudden death for bikes and to be avoided at all costs! I was fortunate to link up with a small group of devoted gravel riders who gave me plenty of resources to explore. For now, Antauga county is probably my favorite, mostly because I can ride from my front door and be on dirt within 30 minutes.

Alabama Mountain Bike

I’ll be honest: when I brought my Mountain Bike to Alabama, I set my expectations pretty low as I had no idea what I would encounter. I’m happy to say I’ve found some fantastic riding, and have really enjoyed the trails I’ve found. I would categorize the majority of riding I’ve found as “flow” trail: progressive, machine cut with relatively non-technical terrain. This said, the trails are all very well made and maintained by active cycling advocacy groups. There have been some notable outliers to this general assessment, with some very chunky-technical terrain at places like Oak Mountain and Cold Water. But by my assessment, trail building in Alabama is a relatively new activity—whereas trails in other states like Virginia evolved from existing hiking trails, Alabama trail builders started with a clean slate and focused on purposely built bike trails. This is especially true at many of the state parks where there are separate trails for horses, hikers, and cyclists—which sounds like a hard thing to manage but actually seems to work pretty well. In my short three months, here’s a quick rundown of the trails I’ve ridden:

Montgomery Lagoon Park

Lagoon park is a relatively new city park in Montgomery that has a few miles of well-built and well-maintained machine cut trails. It also has a short jump-line section complete with doubles and berms. While not the place for an epic all-day ride, its a great place for families with kids, or anyone looking for a short after-work ride that’s less than 15 minutes from downtown.

Swayback

The Swayback Bridge Trail is a collection of progressive trails on the shore of Lake Jordan, just north of Wetumpka, Alabama. The trails are well marked and well maintained, and offer loops from 1 to 10 miles over flowing terrain. The “long” loop also includes some faster downhill sections with berms and a drop. Just this month they opened two more miles of trail at Swayback, which I haven’t ridden yet, but have heard is flowing and fun. My favorite part of Swayback (which actually can be found at a lot of Alabama trailheads) is the bike wash/changing station at the trailhead. Summertime riding in Alabama is hot and dirty, and it’s great to be able to wash your bike, gear, and self as soon as you end your ride.

Coldwater Mountain

Coldwater Mountain, just south of Anniston, AL, was my first major MTB expedition. Another collection of machine-cut progressive trails, the trails at Coldwater sit right at the lower foothills of the northern Alabama mountains, and includes significantly more elevation than other parts of the state. The most famous trail at Coldwater is likely “Bomb Dog”, a flowing, bermy downhill trail that drops several hundred feet of elevation. It was fun. There is also a “double black” hand-built trail called “Gazza” which was one of the most technical I’ve ridden in Alabama. In July it was pretty overgrown, no doubt due to cancelled trail work days during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall Coldwater has a lot of terrain to suit just about any style of riding.

Chewacla State Park

Chewacla is a short 45 min drive north-east of Montgomery, just outside of Auburn, AL. Like many other state parks in Alabama, Chewacla has invested in a mountain bike specific trail network and offers a lot of varied terrain. There is a long, winding trail network that was created years ago at one end of the park, and a more aggressive set of trails built on the hill at the other end. What stood out to me was the amount of wooden features throughout the park—everything from rollers to wall rides to ginormous kickers and gap jumps. Some of them weren’t out of place, but the self-proclaimed “Forbidden Zone” was a bit strange to me. I’m all about riding features at bike parks, but the jumps and features there seems much more DIY than professionally built—sometimes a bit too sketchy looking for me. There is a small swim beach, and a pretty cool swimming hole down by the lower falls.

More flow, with slightly more rocks than roots

The lower falls are worth a visit. Looks like a great swimming hole.

Cheeha State Park

The highest point in Alabama is Cheeha (2,411 feet above sea level), and the State Park encompasses the entire top of the mountain. While the majority of trails within the park are hiking-only, there are a few mountain-bike specific loops along the north side of the mountain. I really enjoyed the hand-cut feel of these trails—much narrower and technical than most of what I’ve ridden in Alabama. Unfortunately it only takes about an hour to ride every trail. Enjoy the views, though, they are pretty great.

Much narrower than the average AL single track

Lots of great views from the highest point in the state

Oak Mountain State Park

Oak Mountain is currently my favorite place to ride, given the quality of trail, variety of terrain, and proximity to Montgomery. The park itself is pretty impressive—they have just about every outdoor activity you can think of: cycling, hiking, swimming, fishing, camping, horseback riding, archery, golf, pump track, and even a nationally-famous BMX track. There are over 20 miles of trail at Oak Mountain, anything from green family-friendly flow trails to rough-and-rowdy tech trails—even a downhill-only jump line. I’ve spent multiple weekends exploring loops within the park, usually widing up and down the ridge multiple times on various trail types. I really enjoy the rough tech trails along the ridge, which feel straight out of a Virgina ridge top. The dual-personally of Jekyl and Hyde—rough-and-chunder at the top that ends with a pine-needle roller-coaster is a great way to end the day. A 3-4 hour ride with little overlap is not difficult to plan out.

Some of the flow is like a pump track in the woods. Is this gravel riding?

The singeltrack is a lot narrower on the ridge

The Red Trail along the top of the mountain

The infamous Blood Rock. Yeah, I have no idea either.

Boulder Ridge is my favorite—I could spend hours playing on the rocks

Brand-new pump track

Lake Howard

Lake Howard is a small park maintained by the city of Sylacauga, and includes roughly 10 miles of machine-cut, flowing single track around a small lake. It’s well maintained and offers some fast and fun trail, and a gateway to the Alabama Skyway route.

Fast and flowing singletrack. No MTB needed.

Alabama Skyway

The Alabama Skyway is scenic byway that starts outside of Sylacauga AL, runs along a mountain ridge to Cheeha, and then north towards Georgia. The majority of the southern end is gravel road and unimproved jeep road, the middle section is mostly paved, and the northern end a mixture of both. The Pinhoti hiking trail roughly follows the Skyway route as well. It’s also the route for the annual Skyway Epic race, with 60 to 300 mile versions along the ridge.

In Summary…

There is some great riding in Alabama. So far I’ve only really seen the middle of the state, and I hear there is some great riding in the Huntsville area further north. Hopefully this fall and winter I’ll be able to explore some more, because as I always say, there is great riding wherever you are—sometimes you just have to look for it.

2020 Part 2: Sweet Home, Alabama