Looking up from the center of Tbilisi, Georgia, is a ferris wheel and tower
on top of a ridge. It's a six-mile climb with switchbacks and some steep sections.
After leaving Israel, I planned to see the Republic of Georgia for the first time. I was just going to visit. I had no definite plans to ride. I was thinking about also going to Armenia and Azerbijan, the other two countries in this land bridge between Russia to the north, Turkey and Iran to the south, the Black Sea to the west and the Caspian Sea to the east.
Then I looked up the mountain from the center of town. A cable car takes tourists up to a park with a ferris wheel overlooking the city. And there is a six-mile road that loops up around the mountain. I had to ride that.
It's a beautiful climb. Incredible vistas. Not too much traffic and 180-degree switchbacks on the steeper sections of the climb. I arrived on Friday, found a bike Saturday morning and rode up twice. The first time I messed up Strava, the second, I got the whole trip.
Today, Sunday, I rode up the hill toward the park then followed a fork that led to villages on the next ridge above the park. I passed though two villages, Shindisi and Tabakhmala. At one point I was looking down on the tall tower next to the Ferris wheel.
The bike I rented was a 9-speed cross bike with a single chain ring and fat tires. With the switchbacks and the fat tires, my descent speeds never got above 35mph, but it was fun to descend for nine miles after the long climb up. Tomorrow I will ride up to the park again. I fly to Kiev the next day.
One other fun thing about Georgia was the Strava segments. On today's climb I was on 20 segments up and down, yesterday it was a dozen. The number of people recording times on segments was in the hundreds. I was in the top third of times descending, the bottom third climbing, but on every segment, I was the top 65-69 rider. Several times the only rider in my age group. I did not see any other bicyclists, but there must not be many old guys.
The view looking down from the ridge above Tbilisi
