Jan-28: Me 46, Serendipity 130

I initially thought I might name this entry "Warm It Was, But Breezy". 

But on Doc Nichols I spied a cyclist ahead of me.  At first I thought, where did that person come from?  Then I thought, I think I'm catching them -- yep -- they aren't pedaling all the time, so I'm catching them.

Then I thought I recognized the position of the cyclist on the bike, but I wasn't sure.  When I got closer, I saw that they had a little round blinkie (turned off), and that was consistent with whom I thought the person might be.  But the legs, in long black tights, didn't seem quite right.  But the upper-body position on the bike was absolutely spot-on for the person whom I had in mind. 

Those that ride with me know that I can ride down Doc Nichols pretty quickly, and today was no exception.  Still thinking the legs weren't quite right, I pulled out wider to pass the person -- as soon as I saw the water bottles, I knew for sure who the rider was.  There is only one person with that upper-body position AND THOSE bottles.  Bottles that have been just about every ride since . . . I can't remember when.  Bottles that have ridden several MS-150 New Bern events.  Bottles that rode the Tour de Cure.  Bottles that have ridden near countless 100+ milers in the last three years.    Bottles that have ridden x-country in 26 days.  Bottles that rode up Brasstown Bald and two days later rode up Mt. Mitchell.  Bottles that rode the Tejas 500 last year. 

Lively conversation ensued.
"I thought that was you."
"Yep."
"How far are you riding today?  70?"
"130."
"Where are you now?"
"82."
"Had any help?"
"Nope."
"Where you going next?"
"Down Baptist and back up, I guess."
"I can probably do that.  Want some help?"
"That would be nice.  This wind is killing me."

We zipped easily down Baptist, soft-pedaling at 19.5 with a tailwind and mostly downslope course.  Oh, that all courses were all downslope and all with the wind at the back.

We moved pretty dang good back up Baptist, too -- even if I do say so myself.  However, not being a complete masochist, we turned onto Southview as "Serendipity" had never ridden on Southview, and although it is a shorter than continuing on Baptist all the way to the highway, it was not head-on into the wind, and a change of scenery is always nice, now or in the future. 

The extra serendipity rider we had picked up in the State Recreational Area turned toward Coley when we got to Kemp; we turned toward Virgil.  I think I climbed up to Virgil better than I did on Thanksgiving Day when we were trying to do a "time-trial".

At the top of Virgil we turned toward Shady Grove Rd as I was going to lead across Shady Grove and back across Olive Branch to Carpenter Pond.  However, the riding (with a tailwind) on CP was so easy that within 50 yards I said I would lead on Shady Grove, Olive Branch, and then Carpenter Pond and Leesville all the way to Doc Nichols.  I pulled over just after the turn onto DN, and emptied the contents of my untouched water bottle into her water and gatoraid bottles.  All I had left was about 4 or 5 ounces of diluted gatoraid to make my last 12.5 miles back to BJP. 

I think Lynn was hoping I would continue on with her for a bit, but I explained that I had been riding a bit harder than I would have if I had been alone, so I was taking the easy way back to BJP. 

That sums up my 19-mile cycling gift today.  Pulled for 19 miles, bringing my avg pace from just under 15.0 mph after 12.4 miles to 16.0 mph in those 19 miles.  (The average had been 16.3 when we reached the marina at the bottom of Baptist.)

The tailwind on Leesville, CP, MVC and Pleasant Union Ch roads blew me back to BJP.
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My darn Cateye has been measuring long ever since the first of the year.  I find it quite annoying.  Today, the Cateye claimed 46.5 miles, but I knew it had measured long from BJP to DocNichols and I knew it had measured long on the return to BJP from DocN.  The miles reported below were developed using "veloroutes dot org". 
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Jan-28:

BJP: DocN-BaptistMarina-Southview-Virgil-ShadyGrove-OliveBranch-CP-Leesville-U-turn @ DocN; 45.9 m.; 2hrs, 47min; 16.4 mph.

Jan tot: _4 rides; 208.5m.; 12 hrs, 54 min; 16.1 mph.
 
Although the monthly mileage is much less than I had hoped / planned for (due to COLD and the SNOW coming this weekend), I still got a personal record for January miles.  And got in two 100+ km rides -- which is two more than the total for all previous Januaries combined (only have to go back to 2006 to confirm that -- it is not as if I have been riding for years and years).