[ed. note: Guest post today, mostly by Iva]
I will try to recount the ride this morning best I can.
I wish you had been riding for me the last 10 miles. I was cooked.
The day dawned in the parking lot of PUE with me spotting Bob The Duke. He and I were the only car drivers today. Shortly thereafter Lee showed on his bike and then Norris and Bob H.
Off we went about on time at 7 am.
Of course, I was concerned having to ride with these hammers, but we had a reasonable pace with the only early highlight being The Duke's early attempts to garner polka dot jersey points. But, Norris easily reeled him back in each time.
Norris and Bob were pulling and did the bulk of the work at the front of the line all day. The rest of us had brief stints at the front. So thanks to those two for that work.
We were on the correct route on Range Road but somehow missed the turn onto Red Mountain Rd , and we continued all the way to Moriah Rd. We turned right [ed. note: this has to have been a "left"] and stopped in Moriah itself. There we consulted with a local old timer asking him where Johnnie Jones Rd was. He said it was 7 miles back up the road [ed.: hmmn, the cue sheet indicates 5.3 miles].
So we went straight on to Bahama. Once there Lee and Martin [ed.: probably BobH] worked out a plan to get the 82 miles. I recall seeing Ellis Mountain, Old Weaver, Boyce, Cheek, and Patterson in no particular order.
Norris flatted just about in front of the prison at Butner. Lee told us of the time he and Lt. Dave were nearly gunned down by guards when they stepped a few feet onto the prison property.
The Duke had not ridden in awhile but looked strong for most of the ride, but did drag (for him) about the time we got to Patterson. The big three waited for us at 98 and Patterson. The plan was to get over to Carpenter Pond. Lee, Bob H, and Norris were not going back to PUE since they had ridden. I said I was going straight home too and would get my car later. So the five of us took off on Olive Branch.
The big three turned right on Doc Nichols while Duke and I went straight on Olive Branch thinking it would be shorter. What a tough road that is when you're tired [ed.: or not tired, too]. Duke and I turned left on Carpenter Road. I said good bye to Duke as he went straight when I turned right on Hickory Grove.
I was going about 10 mph on Hickory Grove when none other than the big three came up behind me. We rode together till we got to Norwood and Ray. BobH and Norris turned right on Ray and Lee continued on to his final destination.
The day was cool and damp. The pace was reasonable but still a bit much for me where I was totally cooked near the end.
We did have a few times with BobH and Norris at the front (maybe Lee too. I can't remember; it was all a fog by that time) pushing it to 25 and one time I thought I saw 32 which must have been on an incline (obviously?).
We missed you and your navigation ability, but we had a great ride. I hope u r well soon. I finished with just about 82 on the button.
Iva
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Comments from the peloton:
The ride was a good one, the weather almost cool. Iva did a good job with the description. We did have to tweak the distance and our location a couple of times, but by putting all of our knowledge together we came out with a fine ride. It was Norris that decided to hump it along at 32 mph. My turbos were wound out and I was glad when he finally backed off a tad. I ended with 89.75 miles, which was a good distance for me.
lee
Iva was too modest in his blog.
I think the reason we missed the turn onto Red Mountain road was because Iva was pulling the train. We had only gone a couple of miles on Range Road when Iva came to the front and stated it was time to let the "old man" pull for a while.
The next thing I knew Norris had dropped of the back, my heart rate jumped 10 points and the dashed lines turned solid as the scenery blurred. If it wasn't for an ill-place stop sign we would have made Tennessee by noon. At the stop sign Norris told Iva it was such a great pull that he had set up his hammock and was just about to pull out the ice tea !
I did not get the detail level stats that Martin usually gets but here is what I had:
after 1 hour (ride time) we averaged 16 mph
after 2 hours (ride time) we averaged 16.2 mph
after 3 hours (ride time) we averaged 16.4 mph
after 4 hours (ride time) we averaged 16.6 mph
at the finish (Norris and I had 93.3 miles) we averaged 16.8 mph)
Everyone did an outstanding job and despite having to ask for directions from the locals at Moriah it was a great ride.
BobH
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Comments from outside the peloton:
It was raining late last night and i assumed that it was going to be raining in the morning and didn't get up in time to get to PUE. Harvey called me at 6:35 saying he had changed his mind and was going to try to get to PUE in time to ride. Guess he didn't make it...
I rode solo on the course you outlined (nice route BTW), I know how they missed that turn. There is no street sign at that intersection. If i hadn't been paying attention to the mileage i would have missed it also.
I find the cue sheets very helpful and appreciate you taking the time to put them together.
Smitty
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Comment from the absent "cue-sheet guy":
I've never noticed that there is no road sign at Range / Red Mtn. I just know that is Red Mtn Rd from previous riding / scouting (some in a car). An acquaintance from another riding group confirmed that there is no sign there, and they have to "watch the mileage from Hampton Rd". I look for the distinctive landmarks and terrain, and for the place where the parallel Range and Bahama Roads are spitting distance apart, with a third road (Red Mtn) connecting them.
I also just LOVE the sense of direction exhibited by the crew!
Iva writes that they turned "right" onto Moriah Rd and took it to Moriah. But, if they had turned "right", they would have ended up in Berea -- not Moriah.
BobH writes that without that stop-sign at Moriah Rd, Iva would have likely dragged them all to Tennessee. Interesting, because they were heading almost due NORTH on Range Rd. Tennessee is West. Virginia is North.
Recently, I mentioned to a non-"irregular" that I often plan routes that go from point A to point B on a given road, and later go from point B to point C on the same road. That person commented "that's clever, does your group recognize that when it happens?" My dead-pan reply was "No. Most of the time they are just lost."
Truer words were never spoken.
M
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