Nov-9-2008

What I did on Sunday, OR, My unintended Single Speed experience

I intended a leisurely 70-ish mile ride on Sunday (Nov-9th), checking out the scenery as I went. The first hour was good -- I rode to Bold Run Hill Rd via a different route than the Dalton touring group, and then detoured down past Camp Kanata to look for some little orange markings. The scenery beyond the golf course on the west side of Kanata Rd was great. The scenery through the valley on Bold Run Hill Rd was good -- I'm confident it would have been great if I had been riding away from the sun instead of into it at that point.

Most of the second hour was good. But I don't remember too much of scenery, etc. Except that I did not see any of the (more than a dozen) llamas at the corner of Long Mill and Pokomoke Rds. Still well within the second hour, I had just crossed NC-56 and was headed north and downslope on Mt. Olivet Ch Rd, looking forward to the tree tunnel I would be in for the next several miles as it would protect me from the increasing northerly breeze, when, as I tried to shift from the 50/12 to 50/11, Snap!, the rear gear cable broke.

Suddenly I was in 50/11 whether I liked it or not. I got the chain ring from the 50 back to the 39 and then turned around. I had 30.3 miles @ 16.3 mph on the confuser. I estimated a bit over 20 miles to get "straight" back.

During the previous two rides, I had been having to "help" the drive chain when I would shift from the 39 to the 50, probably due to staying with the chain too long (only 7000 miles :-) ). Therefore, I was pretty sure I would not be able to get back into the 50. Later, I would find that I could not get into the 30, either. So, I had 20 + mile ride on a 39/11 single speed ahead of me.

First thing I had to do after turning around was go a mile back "up" Mt. Olivet to NC-56, where I then cut 1/4 mile across to Gordon Moore Rd and then had another 3 miles almost entirely upslope to get to Pokomoke Rd (about a 1/4 mile from Pokomoke - i.e., NC-96).

I stopped at the corner of Gordon Moore & Pokomoke Rd for a minute to take a good drink and get my right heel onto the ground. I think the confuser showed 34.6 miles @ 16.9 avg pace. I calc that I rode those 4.3 miles at an avg of 22.8 mph.

I do NOT ride that fast, esp. with so much "up" -- not steep, just 4 miles of it. However, since I was now on a singe speed with an 11 tooth cog, the only way I could keep the cadence high was to keep the effort high. The result of the high cadence using the 11 was that I was flying faster than I could have imagined.

The next section was mostly flattish, actually a net downslope, but there are a couple little bumps on Pokomoke / Bruce Garner / New Light Rd, esp near the Franklin Cnty line. I got to the New Light / Ghoston corner with 45.4 miles @ 17.1 avg. I had ridden the 8.8 miles after leaving Gordon Moore Rd avg'ing 18 mph.

Because I was going so well, and I had a fear of falling over in front of traffic on New Light or Six Forks Rd near NC-98, I decided to take on my usual Ghoston-Peed-Mt Vernon Ch Rd finish. I climbed the 1.1 mile Ghoston Rd in 4:37. A full 38 seconds faster than I ever had done before.

I don't typically note the time to cover Peed Rd, and today was no exception to that. However, I noticed that when I turned onto Mt Vernon Ch Rd from Peed Rd, my avg for the entire trip, as reported by the confuser, was 17.2 mph. I had held 9 1/2 mph on the steep of Peed, and then zoomed across the false flat upslope from the sharp corner to Mt Vernon Ch., and I guess the net result was fast (for me).

The 39/11 may have limited my speed on the downslope section of Mt Vernon Ch, and the efforts on Ghoston and Peed had definitely taken a toll. Even so, I held on to a min of 9 1/2 mph on the steepest part of MVC. The confuser reported 17.0 or 17.1 mph avg when I turned off Mt Vernon onto Pleasant Union Ch Rd.

The slight northerly breeze was a nuisance going across Pleasant Union Ch Rd. So was the stop sign at Six Forks. I finished in the BJP parking lot with a shortened 52.5 mile ride @ 17.1 mph avg for the whole ride.

My calculations indicate that I avg'd 18.3 mph for that last 22.2 miles. I deem that excellent for me, esp given the G-P-MVC finish.

I don't recall any of the scenery that last 22.2 miles -- I was concentrating on pedaling. It is kind of amazing what one can do when one has to, and I think I learned that I have more "go" in me than I realized. Also, that with practice, our "hills" just north of Raleigh are little more than what Karen's friend Andy refers to as speed bumps.

My legs were a bit tired after the ride and for a few hours afterward, but not unduly so. I would still have rather done 70 miles at 16 1/2 mph or so. I love the sensation of going fast. But I'd rather see more -- which happens when I slow just that tad, and go longer.