2017 Skyway Beer Run

It just keeps getting better! 2017 was our biggest year yet! We had 45 total with us in the park, with 33 making the ride from Cheaha to Sylaward or from Sylaward to Cheaha. The 2 babies who were still in their mommies' bellies at the 2016 Skyway Beer Run made their appearance in 2017. Check out the pics. They are adorable in their Skyway Beer Run jumpers. In previous years, the Saturday ride had been in one direction only, and shuttle logistics were tough. For 2017, the goal was for the number of southbound riders to be roughly the same as the number of northbound riders. It worked great. On the Saturday morning of the ride, roughly half of the riders loaded up their bikes, drove to Sylaward, parked and then rode the 46 or 56 mile route back to Cheaha. The other half left camp on their bikes and rode the 46 or 56 mile route ending at Sylaward, where they loaded up their bikes in the vehicles left behind and returned to camp. As fun as the ride is, it's really hard to beat the awesome time we all had around the fire on Friday and Saturday nights. The only people who had more fun were the ones who got to Cheaha earlier in the week to soak it all in for as long as possible. 2017 was a big increase from 2016, and we're hoping the event continues to grow!

2016 Skyway Beer Run photos

2016 Skyway Beer Run

Participation continues to increase. This year, we had 20 riders and another 10 folks who hung around Cheaha. For the 3rd Skyway Beer Run, we returned to the 'uphill' version and rode from Sylaward to Cheaha. We've moved the date up in the calendar even further and settled on February for all future Beer Runs. Since some have started coming up to Cheaha earlier and earlier in the week each year in order to enjoy some additional outdoor vacation time, we've settled on the first Wednesday through Sunday that follows Valentine's Day, with the big ride being on the Saturday during that period. This year, the folks who were there on Thursday drove up to the northern half of the Talladega National Forest and rode a big loop on the horse trails near Coleman Lake. This will become a regular part of the Skyway Beer Run event in the future. Once again, this year the weather was excellent.

2015 Skyway Beer Run photos

2015 Skyway Beer Run

For the 2nd Skyway Beer Run, we decided to ride the opposite way, from Cheaha to Sylaward. We joked that this would be considered the 'downhill' version, but there was still plenty of climbing involved, no joke. This year's event was moved up in the calendar to the first weekend of March, as we were still trying to settle on a time that doesn't conflict with all the other events that tend to start up at the end of March and in April. On the Thursday before the Saturday ride, a cold front and rain covered the Cheaha mountaintop with a thin coat of ice which quickly melted on Friday morning. The weather on ride day was awesome. In all, we had 13 riders and another 7 supporters who hung out around Cheaha.