Nov-26: 7 is a Good Number, Or, A Foggy Time Was Had By All

A few days before, I thought the Thanksgiving morning ride would be me, LT, maybe Smitty.

Then Iva e-mailed indicating that the $30 Turkey Trot entry fee was unreasonably high -- but it wasn't entirely clear that he intended to ride Thursday morning.  But Lt. Dave assured me that Iva intended to ride.

Next, BobH e-mailed that he would join the crew for the 30-mile ride.  That made me. LT, Iva, BobH, maybe Smitty.

Somewhere along the line, Smitty assured me that he was definitely in for Thursday morning . . . probably.  Or so it seemed in my memory. 
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Thursday morning, I shut my cell phone off at 0751.  Either people are coming and will be there on time, or they aren't coming or maybe they won't be on time, but I'm going to be ready on time. It is quite foggy.

0753, Smitty arrives.  Eventually he gets out of his warm Durango and informs me that Snapper is likely coming to ride.  So that will likely make 6 riders. It is quite foggy.

A few minutes later, Snapper comes roaring into the parking lot and slams to a stop next to me, on the side of my vehicle where my bike is leaning against the car.  After the relief that I'm okay, my vehicle is okay, my bike is okay, I hear this gawd-awful LOUD music coming from Snapper's car.  What makes it gawd-awful?  Although I ride early, I don't do "loud or happy or party" early -- I'm more like "I'll come fully awake some time after the ride starts", and until then, I'm into quiet.  Snapper turned the volume down and finally shut the music off.  Aah, more peaceful again. And the heavy fog contributes to the peaceful impression.

Sometime just after Snapper's ARRIVAL, some guy pulls his vehicle in on the side opposite Snapper.  I'm likely giving him the "evil eye" wondering who this likely Gyro is.  He stares back, and when he emerges from his vehicle says "I'm a friend of Iva's."  Oh.  "I'm Martin.  This will make seven -- assuming all three of Iva, BobH and LT are cycling to the ride and show up. It is still quite foggy.

Iva and BobH (in no particular order) arrive via bicycle.  And LT arrives at about 0810 to find everyone ready to ride.  Luckily the shock of everyone being ready early did not bring on a medical disorder. And, guess what, it is still quite foggy.

We are introducing around and bantering a bit.  A guy pulls in on the far side of Smitty.  I knew his face and knew he was there for the Gyro ride -- maybe he thought we were there for the Gyro ride. Maybe he couldn't see through fog condensing on his glasses.

While I'm explaining the main point of the day's ride -- getting LT back early so that I did not get in trouble with Mrs. Lt. Dave -- another cyclist arrives and comments "you're not here for the Gyros ride."  It wasn't really a question.  Dave later claimed that he thought about telling the guy that we were there to follow behind the Gyros and catch the pile-up when they crashed, but he apparently though better of it.  Instead, we simply started our ride -- before any more of the horde could arrive. We headed out into the heavy fog.

The point of the ride, in addition to getting Dave home on time, was for me to get in a short, fast "TT" ride.  So that's how I started -- admittedly a bit faster than I usually do. Sad thing, though, my legs started feeling as if they were working a lot harder than the speeds that were resulting.  Some tried to take turns leading at a pace that would help me, but during warm-up mode time that is hard because I don't ride anything near a steady pace during warm up (and others probably think I'm not making a steady or slowly increasing effort) because my gravity-gut really cuts into the upslope speeds and definitely contributes to faster downslope speeds.  I suppose it must be a bit difficult to figure out what hair-brained riding I'm doing. There were few cars for the first miles on Carpenter Pond Rd, which was just as well because there was a heavy enough fog, that at corners and stop-signs, we were not "looking" for oncoming traffic, instead we were listening for it.

Someone -- I won't say who - Cheeta -- was foolish enough to mention the lack of traffic.  That jinxed us.  Immediately the stream of cars coming out of the fog from both fore and aft commenced.  Near the intersection with Olive Branch Rd, the sun tried to make an appearance, but the fog emerged victorious.

We were on pace when we got to the top of Doc Nichols Rd -- just below 16 mph.  That was the first time I looked at the confuser.  The next was just before turning onto Carpenter Pond Rd from Virgil Rd -- a disappointing 16.0 mph.  "Man," I said inside my head, "Ive been working a LOT harder than that." But I get ahead of the story . . .

The fog on NC-98 between Olive Branch and Baptist roads was heavy enough that I was thinking we'd have to roll to a stop on the right-hand edge of  NC-98 and listen for cars before attempting to turn across the highway and onto Baptist Rd.  In the event, although it was still quite foggy, the only traffic was a cyclist headed west on NC-98.  Snapper said something about there being a large group emerging out of the fog just as we turned of the highway. but I never saw them.

Just after the turn onto Baptist, LT told me needed a pee.  I suggested the porta-potty on the golf course.  We were practically on top of the blue box with its yellow top before Dave could see the ediface.  LT and, surprise, Iva each visited the blue box, but the rest of us hammered down the road looking for Southview Rd.  It was lucky that some of us knew approximately where Southview Rd was because the fog was increasing in intensity as we rode down Baptist.  Five of us pulled around the corner and waited.  Soon, came a charging two-man line:  LT in front, Iva following.  It was a good thing Iva was with him and saw us, because LT was hell-bent-for-leather and apparently didn't see us -- through the fog.

We rode across the dark, new asphault of Southview Rd, still shrouded in thick fog.  My "TT" effort was beginning to fall apart as my legs became increasingly fatigued.  I had a LOT less zip going up Kemp Rd from Southview to Virgil Rd than I was expecting to have.  The fog was still heavy, and as Iva, Snapper and I approached the turn onto Virgil, Snapper urged "let's pick it up and get around that turn before some car comes out of the fog and hits us: -- we could hear a car approaching from behind.

As we rode up Virgil, the fog finally started to clear enough so that one could an almost reasonable distance. 

At the Virgil / Carpenter Pond intersection, I explained the rest of the 30-mile course, and explained how I hoped Snapper and Smitty would come to the front and pull at a pace I could hold until we got to PUE, and that I figured we should average about 21 mph from Virgil to the bottom of MVC Rd.

We made the two-mile loop, and then Snapper hit the after-burners.  Smitty and LT went with him.  I waved good-bye.  BobH tried to come around and pull me at a pace to get back up to the threesome (which, as it turned out, I wouldn't have been able to do even if I had had good, fresh legs -- Snapper hit a pace that drained all the energy out of LT and Smitty --  subsequent investigation revealed that when Snapper finally pulled out of the lead, LT immediately dropped the pace some 5 mph -- so, Snapper, while riding third is a lot easier than leading the line, it is also easier going 20 mph than 25 or 30 mph).  BobH and Iva's friend tried to close to the lead threesome -- it has been reported that Iva's friend caught the threesome, but I suspect BobH did not, because he paused at Kemp Rd for Iva to join him and then the two of them headed straight for home.  There was almost no fog during all this time, but the only thing the lack of fog accomplished was that the trailing riders were able to watch the lead riders zoom away from us, and then confirm that they had to be at least half a mile or more ahead because we couldn't see the leaders even through the mostl clear conditions.

Candidates for quote of the day:

When Iva caught me after Snapper's afterburners had dragged the leaders well clear, Iva's siimple comment was "those guys didn't do a useful pull."  (Or something along those lines.)

I later learned that while Snapper, LT and Smitty were stopped at the CP / MVC corner, Snapper asked LT if he was going to stop by the school.  After Dave reported that he was heading straight home, Snapper apparently lamented that there would only be he and Smitty to face the "wrath of Martin."  (I had already decided to let them off the hook because, as I told Iva, "they're having fun."  I did, however, tell Iva's friend not to stop when coming around the corner off CP onto MVC.  You might be wondering how Iva's friend got from catching the three leaders and then ended up with me when I got to the stopped, waiting leaders -- well, I do know how that came to pass, but I'll let you ask Iva's friend in person.)

My "TT" ride ended up being quite disappointing.  I worked hard and certainly deserved an avg pace of at last 17.0 mph, maybe even 17.5 mph.  But in fact, the ride came in only at 16.45 mph.  I'm blaming the slow pace on the 1/2 inch wide flat profile of my rear tire.  I plan on getting a new rear tire BEFORE riding Sunday. 
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Btw, Iva's friend:  his name is John (or Jon), not Bob.
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Nov-26:

PUE: DocN-Baptist-Southview-Virgil-ShadyGroveLoop; w/ LT, Iva, Smitty, Snapper, BobH, Iva's friend, aka, John; 30.0 m.; est 1350 ft climbed --> effort index = 44; 1hrs, 49min; 16.5 mph.

1st Qt. tot: 20 rides; 755.3 m.; 47 hrs, 31 min; 15.9 mph.
2nd Qt. tot: 43 rides; 2124.3 m.; 134 hrs, 59 min; 15.7 mph.
3rd Qt tot: 36 rides; 1947.2 m.; 121 hrs, 48 min; 16.0 mph.
Oct tot: 9 rides; 551.4m.; 35 hrs, 41 min; 15.4 mph.
Nov tot: 6 rides; 247.1m.; 15 hrs, 42 min; 15.7 mph.
YTD: 114 rides; 5625.5 m.; 355 hrs, 46 min; 15.8 mph. 

Rolling 12-mos.: 123 rides; 6027.2 m.; 380 hrs, 10 min; 15.9 mph
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A year ago on Thanksgiving morning, Lt. Dave and I rode a lake loop plus some extra bits.  42.4 miles @ 16.6 mph pace.  And it was not nearly as hard as the ride described above.  I was sooo much faster late last year than I am this year.  Sigh.