The Great Bicycle Shop to open on the St Marks Trail

Imagine an interstate highway without gas stations. Life on the road would be a lot harder. Now, imagine a rail-trail without a bicycle shop.

Unfortunately, quite a few rail-trails get by without a bicycle shop, which is at the very least a horrible inconvenience. Driving past Atlanta last year, I was finally able to overcome my navigational incompetence and find part of the Silver Comet Trail. As luck would have it, we hit the trail right next to the Silver Comet Depot in Mableton. Instead of walking a couple of hundred yards on the trail and admiring the pavement, we were able to rent a couple of bicycles and spend an hour or two exploring the trail.

You don't have that convenience on the Tallahassee/St. Marks Historic Railroad Trail. The nearest bicycle rental is miles from the trail. If you need a new tube or a minor repair, you're not going to get it along the trail. At one time there was a bike shop at the trail head near Capital Circle, but that belongs to a dark past.

But lets look to the bright future. Sometime this year, the Great Bicycle Shop will be opening a store along the trail at 3624 Woodville Highway, about a mile and a half north of Capital Circle. The store at 1909 Thomasville Road will stay open, while most of the rental business moves to the new trail-side store. Repairs and a limited amount of sales will also be available at the Woodville Highway location.

The folks I talked to at the Thomasville Road store were cheerfully vague about a possible opening date. "In about a month," was mentioned, but with the stipulation that there have already been problems in changing an old house to a storefront, and there may be more. Work proceeds at the rate that it does and not always at the rate we'd like. But when it does open, I'll know where to go with out-of-town visitors who show up without bicycles.