Ride 19: Georgia

The Peach State

• State: Georgia (#19)

• Area: Atlanta

• Route: Downtown, the Beltline, Stone Mountain, Decatur

• Final Mileage: 50.41

• Final Elevation: 2,835 ft.

• Date: February 23, 2025

We’re back! We know it’s been a little bit since we last updated you all on this project. The past year has been full of exciting change for both of us, including a new job, engagement, and move (Michael) and now the imminent arrival of a new baby (Alex)!

It was Michael’s move that set up our latest ride. After spending nearly 11.5 years in Washington, DC, he left for the warmer pastures of Atlanta—Meagan’s hometown—in early January 2025. He and Meagan found a place in a fun community just east of downtown called Decatur. The area’s walkability, train accessibility, and abundance of restaurants and breweries made the move a nice transition from DC.

Though Atlanta is further north (and also west) than many people realize, its location in the South means that the consistently cold spells of winter ended earlier here than they did in much of the rest of the country. Almost as soon as Michael and Meagan arrived, the warm weather allowed Michael to immediately begin exploring the city’s extensive trail network and planning the next 50-mile excursion—which would come sooner than anticipated.

Less than a month after the move, Alex decided he wanted to be the first guest at the new Decatur abode. So hew flew down for a weekend in February, giving us a chance to do our first ride in nearly nine months.

Saturday was dedicated to touring the town, with stops at Ponce City Market, the Beltline, Piedmont Park, and the Little Five Points neighborhood. Meagan also joined as we visited several excellent food and drink establishments around Decatur, including Chai Pani, Three Taverns Brewery, and the historic Brick Store Pub—and capped the evening with a Rush Hour 3 viewing.

The next morning, we set out on the ride. Our route would take us through downtown and midtown Atlanta as well as a big chunk of the city’s east side, with long stretches on the Beltline and the Stone Mountain Trail.

If you’ve never been to Atlanta, there’s an important piece of local knowledge that you should know: hills. Lots of hills. Everywhere. Michael discovered this early on when he began exploring the town. There were few, if any, routes that were entirely or even mostly flat, and the most popular trail segments, including the Stone Mountain Trail, have constant elevation changes.

It therefore wasn’t a surprise that Atlanta was by far our hilliest 50-mile ride to date: we gained 2,835 feet of elevation. But that didn’t make the day any less fun.

We began from Decatur heading west toward downtown. Along the way, we passed through several neighborhoods, including Candler Park, Little Five Points, and Inman Park, all hubs of activity and great places for early-morning visits to local parks and coffee shops.

The Krog Street tunnel

From there, we ventured into downtown, home to many of Atlanta’s most iconic sights, including the Georgia State Capitol, Mercedes-Benz Stadium (where the Falcons and Atlanta United play), and Centennial Olympic Park.

Using the city’s superb network of bike lanes downtown, we looped back east to see one more historical landmark: the neighborhood and church were Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., preached. The church today sits directly across the street from its old location, which has been preserved by the National Park Service as a historic site.

This rounded out our time in the downtown area, after which we headed toward the Beltline. An urban walking and biking path, the Beltline is an incredible undertaking by Atlanta and its inner suburban communities to connect people across the metro area to some of the city’s coolest amenities. Though it has not yet been completed, we were able to peruse one of its most active sections in the northeast, which took us past an array of restaurants, cafes, breweries, parks, and more. This is a must-visit part of the city.

For much of the ride, we were too busy figuring out the navigation to take pictures, so here’s one of the Beltline courtesy of New Realm Brewing!

Piedmont Park, right off the Beltline

After covering this piece of the Beltline, all that was left was an out-and-back on the Stone Mountain Trail, which took us to—you may have guessed it—Stone Mountain. At 825 feet, it is the tallest outcropping of exposed granite in the world and one of the highest points in the Atlanta area. The mountain has a contentious history: it is considered a memorial to the Confederacy. On its side are carvings of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson, and the effort to create the memorial received support from the Ku Klux Klan.

The mountain sits in the middle of 3,200 acres of land in the eponymously named Stone Mountain Park, which brings in four million visitors annually, making it the top tourist attraction in the state. In addition to hiking or riding a cable car to the mountain’s summit for an elevated view of the metro area, you can camp, picnic, take your kids to a playground, go out on the water, and walk or bike the paved roads that loop around the mountain.

By the time we reached the park, we had already logged 33 hilly miles, and we had done our best to preserve energy for what lay in store here. The hills on the park’s ring roads made what we had already conquered look like child’s play. We decided to only bike the inner ring, which in addition to being shorter than the outer ring also had some good pit stops (such as the Grist Mill) and slightly-less-extreme hills.

Pit stop at the Grist Mill

Waiting for us toward the end of our lap around the ring was a nearly 200-foot climb over the span of less than a mile. This was perhaps the most trying part of the whole ride, but we conquered it. And at the end of that climb was a merciful exit from the park.

At this point, it was 2:00, and we were both exhausted and ravenous. Mustering what strength we had left, we hopped back on the Stone Mountain Trail and made a beeline for our end point in Decatur, where we met up with Meagan, her sister, Emily, and their dad at the Wild Heaven brewery for some much-deserved brews, lunch, and rest.

And that’s how we notched our 19th ride. Though this was one of the most difficult ones to date, it was also among the most meaningful. Alex helped Michael successfully kick off his time in Atlanta, exploring new ground in a great city. Stay tuned for more dispatches from this part of the country in the near future!