for photos:
http://roadskater.net/a2a2005/
for video:
http://roadskater.net/movies/a2a2005.mpg

when i first heard a2a was canceled, it seemed one of my yearly goals was gone.

then i realized it could not be. you can't cancel christmas or any other day
owned by the believers. soon i knew that even if no one else did, i was doing my
own a2a to make sure the string of history wasn't broken.

in north carolina, the roadskater.net team of 30 skaters and 10 cyclists licked
our wounds with our seventh 2-day 93+ mile tour to tanglewood for ms. this was
awesome and important, but only part of my mission for 2005. and by then i had
long known a group was doing the real a2a that goes from athens to atlanta on
the road!

but the heroes of a2a 2005 are not the 11 skaters (8 for the 87 miles); they are
the volunteers who gave unselfishly to make this happen, with funding from donn
bumgartner and logistics by michele runge and bruce belden.

on the way to athens i friday night i found a crack under my boots at the
mounting block where the frame attaches! yikes! after the rant we were going to
need to go for epoxy and we decided to stay in athens to give the repairs more
time to cure. i had extra equipment with me, but if possible i wanted to wear
those boots as part of the adventure!

friday night's rant (by michele) was short but very sweet. each anticipated
speed classification would have a support vehicle that would go ahead a few
miles and wait for us to come by. our support was provided by jerry and linda
morris, who drove up from florida and missed the tampa bay bucs game to spend
their vacation driving 87 miles to help a few skaters whom they didn't know keep
a roadskating dream alive! and like donn and bruce, they did it to honor henry
and the unbroken string of annual a2a roadskates.

saturday morning broke clear and perfect and it was tons of fun to be at the
classic center with a few people who shared the dream and were able to be there,
anticipating a full day of roadskating. hey the scumbags took the photo without
us! :o) it was great to see lisa out at the start, this time on her bike to do
the 38 in a support role.

the fast guys took off quickly, as they tend to do, but two guys missed a turn!
this was so funny i was rolling on the pavement laughing! but it's serious
business getting out of athens so elizabeth and i settled in on our one minute
rotations after the quick downhill through the light downtown. pretty soon we
were joined from the front by julie, who decided a day in the wind alone was not
her plan. we loved having an extra north carolinian with us, and rotating with
three is twice as much rest, so it was great in every possible way.

we took it easy on the way out of town, opting not to tuck on one of the very
fast downhills that ends going under the loop highway, then realized that henry
and his daughter anna were there watching out for us at that intersection! hey
guys! thanks! because they needed to keep up with the front pack, this is the
only traffic help we received on the course the whole day as i recall, which is
exactly what we expected, even wanted!

outside athens we thrilled at the gorgeous countryside as we flew down tallasee
road into jackson county, not much later gliding by the bear creek reservoir and
across a humming bridge underfoot. we remembered the rumble strips before stop
one and were able to easily avoid them. so far so great!

we hit the gatorback section feeling super and in good time for us. this road
has been widened with new asphalt on the edges, and "improved" in places with
patches not too much better than the original mangle. it looks to me ready for a
new coat of asphalt sometime soon, but i don't know for sure. the gator took its
toll on some of us indeed, mostly with equipment related issues, but we were
back on smooth stuff before long. and it was all still beautiful out there if
you like rolling green pastures dotted with cows and sheep and goats and horses.

in fact, the countryside was well-preserved most of the way into dacula, where
you can see it's about to be over for country living near the small town: farmer
dies, children sell; buy the farm, build a hundred houses, move away from what
you destroyed, rinse, lather, repeat.

julie was with us most of the time up to 38, with a break or two here and there,
and at dacula, we waved hi-bye to josh and bye to julie, as we headed out to try
to get past the big church before they let out. we did ok, but elizabeth was
having horrible ankle pain from the gatorback on. thankfully our personal
heroes, jerry and linda, were waiting to give us a chance to unpack, repack,
reorient and reboot, grab some ibuprofin, and head out, elizabeth now with
wrapped feet.

so off past the church down left past johnny's pizza and up and over and along
through more nice countryside and pleasant minutes rotating along just us two,
remarking over and over what a wonderful special day this was and how glad we
were to be doing a2a old-school to keep an unbroken string of roadskating
history alive. we missed our roadskater.net team members and would have loved to
have them there!

then we hit busier less friendly sections of road with a few angry unhappy souls
who would rather honk loudly than simply use that third lane in the center to
pass. ahh. we love you, especially if you will go away. then it's right onto
cruse and down the tricky stretch where club drive comes in at the stoplight.
then rolling to the busiest toughest traffic of the route: pleasant hill! yikes!

we waited often at lights and this was one we knew we'd better do perfectly! we
weren't sure if we'd stay on the road but the sidewalk looked so bad we stuck to
the highway. there's plenty of room there but people aren't expecting bikes,
much less skaters, so we got some driver impatience, particularly from that
silver bug i tried to catch at the next light! but we were fine and one or two
days out of every 365 i might ask for a few people to watch out and slow just a
bit and wait for me to get through that section, then resume their obviously too
miserable to handle lives, if their behavior is any clue.

fortunately, my horrible cramps from the tour to tanglewood had not attacked me
this day, and we were in great shape all the way up to old rosser, where you
begin the serious climbs that yield serious zoomage on leather stocking and
silver hill! so it was no big surprise that at the top of leather stocking we
needed a break, and there were linda and jerry, waiting to make sure we made the
turns!

so we lay in the grass a bit, picking through foods that didn't seem right to
find the stuff we could stand, not taking the apples and oranges but yes bananas
thank you two so much! and leather stocking was a blast! then up, ouch, arrrgh,
then up, and to our support crew at the start of silver hill. they say we did 42
to 44 mph, with just two of us together. the fastest i have on video is 39.2.
still it was fast and i had a brief frame wobble at the bottom. what fun! now my
legs are tight and it's time to climb silver hill to stone mountain.

we climbed up to the lickety split in stone mountain's five points, slowly
passing by the usual stop halfway up, but before this, we knew guigs was having
the same kind of cramping i had a week before. we decided to get our packs back
from jerry and linda and tell them it's fine to go help guigs, but when we saw
them at the stone mountain cemetary at lickety split they said they'd decided to
stay with us for now.

so over the crest and under the old train bridge and up to cross another highway
and left and down and rolling up and down making distance then clarkston hurts a
bit oh yes then down then the another of a2a's escher up and left turns, this
one in clarkston. and at the bottom of the glide before this last big hill we
saw leeann talking to our support, then saw guigs was in the grass. we said hi
and kept our momentum into the hill, thinking our support might stay there, but
they came with us, so we stopped at the end of our roll and asked back to guiggy
wazzup and if he wanted to go.

he said he wanted to wait there awhile and leeann waved us on but i asked linda
to look through my luggage for the "green packets" of electromix and other stuff
in there (i couldn't manage do describe that i had salt and lite salt, which
also has potassium, in my black bag, though i had earlier mentioned this). so
they stayed and gave guigs lots of strong gatorade powder but he never got my
electomix or salt because i couldn't get it together enough to explain it all
and my cel was now in the van in my pack!

so elizbeth leads the way up clarkston escher and over and back together then
the tricky right-left-right where an awesome driver stopped courteously in good
will without being challenged at all, just to make it easier for us. thanks
awesome car driver in very small car. you helped us believe in human kindness!

then it was along the rolling urban sections with lots of stopping for lights,
but this is what we came for and this is what we reveled in! we saw cyclists and
skaters along the way but wanted them to know about guigs being back rather than
worrying about us, and i managed to shout back over my shoulder to sam, "bottom
of the big hill in clarkston" or something similar, and knowing especially that
keno would focus on electrolytes we encouraged him to go see about him.

we waited forever at some lights, then finally came up by the cement plant and
wondered why in the world they didn't dump some cement "accidentally" in that
huge hole in the pavement out in front of their facility! so up the hill and
left we knew to look for david lampp and there he was after so much time! wow
i'll never forget how he grabbed those two forest green folding chairs and set
them down straddling the granite curb on the edge of the street. at this point
our van came along and we said go back to guigs if he needs you, 'cause we're
doing ok!

so we rolled along through avondale and by the marta tracks with stoplights at
the bottoms of the hills again and right-left under the tracks arrgh onto the
surface we love to hate and there's eddy as ever the only speedster to stay on
skates all day and skate back to bring us in a bit, then off to see the guizard
and to shepherd him home. true skateylove in action i have to say.

we finally finished the rough stuff along the tracks (which i think is much
worse than the gatorback) and dodged through five points to much bequizzlement.
on the course the whole way, through virginia highlands "oops whoah yes there's
a hold up here" after that left and i almost whacked an auto but we got by it,
then almost smacked faceup into a runner but darted around him, and uhuhhuhuh
ripples in the pavement where that pipeline was replaced, and whoah right at the
church through to the park and tons of survivors (true survivors not just
skaters of 87 miles) in the park with a quick right to the 2005 finish line with
four fans and two pups awaiting us after 8 hours and 19 minutes, about 2 hours
and 23 minutes behind the first five. elizabeth was the only female to do the 87
and i was the oldest one to finish (wow i'm not sure i like that) and both of us
in one piece with no scrapes or breaks!

our support heroes managed to get into the park with their vehicle, and quickly
whisked us off like rock stars to stone mountain so they could have a bit of
rest from their long day before going to the post-race festivities! so we got in
the van and received our tee shirts and mugs with great joy and thankfulness for
having such a wonderful opportunity to share the meaning of this day with a
couple we've often seen but never met so well before this day. it was a great
day to honor those who paved our way into roadskating so many years ago.

so in 2005 we learned there are a few like us who will not let a2a be canceled
for any reason, because it need not be canceled no matter how it must be
different. and we were among those who were in the position to support it or
complete it one way or another. donn bumgartner made a huge financial donation
to see it happen, and bruce and michele converted the ideas and funds into
action, and support drivers and others along the way made it safer and more fun,
while by others on bikes along the way brightened our day with their
enthusiastic encouragement.

a2a 2005 went down in my heart as one of the finest days of my life, spent as
part a team of two, of three, of five, of eight, of eleven, of
more...roadskaters and friends of an idea that has transformed our lives. as
with tanglewood, we did a2a thinking of those so much less fortunate, who could
not enjoy such a wonderful day in the sun, rolling with speed as if to fly, and
struggling with pleasure up great hills. and some who could not skate with us on
this day instead drove to support us, sharing it with us that way, making it so
much more meaningful through our common love of this treasure called athens to
atlanta!

thanks & skateylove,
blake

===== vehicular and checkpoint support =====
Donn Baumgartner (sponsor, support driver)
Bruce Belden (co-organizer, participant) & Michele Runge (co-organizer)
Leeann Hall (support driver)
Ken Lowry (support driver)
Jerry Morris (support driver)
Linda Morris (support passenger)
David Lampp (checkpoint 6 host)
Henry Zuver (support driver)
Anna Zuver (support passenger)

===== a2a 2005 results =====
posted by uwe brockmann, i am not sure these are finalized:

Here are the official results of the Outlaw A2A on October 2, 2005. The
route was identical to the 2004 A2A route. All participants were from
the U.S.A. The 87-mile event ended in a 5-way tie for first place in the
male category.

87-mile, overall, male
----------------------
1. Bruce Belden Tucker GA 39 APRR 5:54:26
Uwe Brockmann Stone Mountain GA 41 APRR 5:54:26
Ben Hall Atlanta GA 31 APRR 5:54:26
Eddy Matzger VA VA 38 Skate Central 5:54:26
Mims Rogers Atlanta GA 37 APRR 5:54:26
6. Blake Lambert Greensboro NC 46 ROADSKATER.NET 8:18:23
7. James McGuigan Stone Mountain GA 35 APRR 8:50:05

87-mile, overall, female
------------------------
1. Elizabeth Bailey Lawrenceville GA 38 ROADSKATER.NET 8:18:23

38-mile, overall, male
----------------------
1. Josh Willis Philadelphia PA 32 Drive Sports 2:35:06
2. Dan Gillespie Little Rock AR 55 LRRR 3:58:17

38-mile, overall, female
------------------------
1. Julie Knutson Charlotte NC 32 Charlotte BladeRollerz 3:21:27
2. Stephanie Reeves Atlanta GA 49 APRR 5:00:30

A2A = Athens-to-Atlanta
APRR = Atlanta Peachtree RoadRollers
LRRR = Little Rock RoadRollers







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