The 8th annual Camden Cycling Clubs Three Rivers ride was held on Saturday November 5, 2022. The three rivers bordering this event are the Satilla, Crooked and the St Marys rivers. The event started at the crack of dawn in front of the Howard Gilman Memorial Waterfront Park in downtown St. Marys, Georgia. 

This event offers participants options for 10, 30, 40, 62 and 100 miles rides. Since my longest training ride of the year had only been 35 miles long I decided a metric century (62 miles) would be enough of a challenge. Athens, GA, where I live and ride, is very hilly with some occasional steep climbs. I was very much looking forward to riding 62 flat miles. The metric century route had us go all the way out to the city of Woodbine and back. Part of the route took us on the busy Hwy 17 but the organizers had plenty of signs alerting drivers of the event and most of them were considerate.

At mile 12 of the ride there was a photo opportunity in front of a submarine at the entrance of Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base. The rest stop at mile 16 was inside the Crooked River State Park. This is a beautiful state park situated next to the Crooked River with many huge live oaks dripping with Spanish moss.

These organized rides are fun because you get to meet and ride with some interesting people with different levels of conditioning. The first group of riders I met and rode with were part of the Savannah Cycling Club and they were fast. We completed the first 15 miles in 44 minutes (20m/hr) which was way above my normal pace. When you’re riding with a group however, riders take turns out front setting the pace and breaking the wind before moving to back and conserving energy in the draft of the riders in front. At the mile 16 rest stop I decided to ride with a slower group.

Before the event I thought I had stretched, hydrated and sipped enough pickle juice to keep the leg cramps at bay but, at mile 52 without much warning, the cramps hit both legs very hard. I had to get off my bike and try to walk the cramps out. I was off my bike for less than 5 minutes before an event support person on a motorcycle came by to see if I needed any help. Fortunately there was a rest stop at mile 53 where I was able to work out the cramps, with only 10 miles left there was no way I was going to let a few leg cramps get in my way.

The volunteers who manned the rest stops were extremely nice, friendly and easy to talk to. The food and drinks at the stops were also very good – Gatorade, peanut butter sandwiches, pickles and pickle juice, bananas, crackers, cookies and other treats.

If you are ever thinking about doing a group ride this annual event would be perfect.