Photograph by Manuel Sulzer
When I was a travel writer, I mountain-biked around the world—from Chile’s Atacama Desert to the wilds of British Columbia. Unfortunately, I don’t travel like that anymore. But I still ride singletrack any chance I get. I love Sope Creek, Big Creek, Cochran Mill Park, and, farther north, Five Points and Pinhoti. But these days, the place I keep coming back to is a 200-acre forest in southeast Atlanta, beside I-285, just down the road from Scott Antique Markets.
Southside Park is in a lower-middle-class area, hemmed in by concrete, long neglected—the kind of place that certain city leaders might hand over to police foundations. But six years ago—thanks to Atlanta’s chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, an organization that advocates for mountain biking on public lands, along with funds donated by REI—this overlooked greenspace became something else: the lone city park dedicated to mountain biking.
If it’s above freezing, below 90, and the sky is blue-ish, I’m thinking about throwing my bike in my truck and driving 20 minutes from my home in Cabbagetown to the park, off Jonesboro Road. I pull into a shady spot near the ball field, where I might catch a rec-league game after riding, and clip into my Specialized. In the forest, there are three loops—described as “easy,” “moderate,” and “difficult”—which cover seven miles and climb some 400 cumulative feet of elevation. The riding is variable, but much of it can be described as “flowy,” some of it as “rooty,” and a few bits are sufficiently angled for getting air. (Rule of thumb: If it feels like a foot, you probably jumped four inches.) The easy loop is little more than a relaxed hiking trail, while the difficult loop is short but worthy of the designation. It took me a while to consistently ride this super-rocky stretch without falling. I have a theory that when I-285 was built, in the late ’60s, a lot of the cleared rocks got dumped here. Trash followed.
The forest has grown up and around the unfortunate things humans have done to it. It’s pretty wild. On any given day, you may see deer, skunks, opossums, raccoons, woodpeckers, owls. I’ve heard coyotes howl, too, and seen a red-tailed hawk take wobbly flight with a rodent in its beak. I see all manner of Atlantans out there, joyously riding the full spectrum of bicycles, from carbon-fiber Santa Cruzes to rusty Schwinns. You can walk the trails, too—though I’d advise staying alert. As I’ve become an evangelist about the place, I’ve taken my brother, my partner, and a number of cyclist and could-be cyclist pals, one of whom even had his bachelor party there. But my favorite way to ride Southside is alone, with my dog running right behind me, occasionally veering off to chase a squirrel. It’s my Prozac—and his too.
Not that I need one, but another reason I keep coming back to Southside is its abiding mysteries. Chief among them is a toddler-sized toy bike that sits half buried in the dirt at the top of the moderate loop. On the side of the toy, a peeling plaque reads:
SOUTHSIDEBIGWHEEL
RIDDEN BY ANDRÉ 3000
1981
ORIGINAL ATLIEN
I don’t know if it’s really Mr. Benjamin’s boyhood bicycle. I suspect not. But I like to entertain the possibility.
Other great mountain biking trails
Pinhoti and Bear Creek Trails System
Just outside Ellijay in North Georgia, this sprawling, single-track mountain bike trail system offers one of the best rides in the state. A popular route combines the original Bear Creek trail with the newer Pinhoti trail for a difficult but exhilarating 18-mile ride through the Chattahoochee National Forest. Make it an overnight adventure by booking a stay at Mulberry Gap, a rustic camping and glamping base camp.
Five Points
Located just shy of the Tennessee border, this extensive trail system stretches across Lookout Mountain, offering plenty of steep elevation. The Cloudland Connector Trail allows you to ride from Cloudland Canyon State Park all the way to the Lula Lake Land Trust, and even make your way into downtown Chattanooga.
Cochran Mill Park
Close to the airport, this park boasts 800 acres of forested multiuse trails, threaded alongside creeks and hills. Stop for a snack at the scenic Henry’s Mill Falls.
Charles Bethea, formerly a writer-at-large for Atlanta magazine, is an Atlanta-based staff writer for the New Yorker magazine.
This article appears in our August 2024 issue.
