Mar-13: Warm enough to sweat

Warm enough to sweat in SUMMER clothes. 

I waited until 12:30 for the roads to dry.  :-)  The wind was up by then. :-(
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Act 1 - "TT":

Not much to say.  I coasted down MVC -- was avg'ing 18+ mph at the bridge.
I worked pretty well up MVC to NC-50 and across to Old Creedmoor Rd.
At least I thought I was.  13.6 avg mph when I turned onto Old Creedmoor. 

I don't know when I decided to make the ride into a "TT".
At the turn off Leesville Rd onto Doc Nichols, I had 10.00 miles in 40:00 mm:ss.  15.0 mph 'xactly.

"Fast" fun on DocN.  1.9 miles later, total time 45:45.  1.9 miles in 5:45.
We won't tell anyone it was seriously downslope, with a tailwind.

Olive Branch was great.  0.9 miles in 3:47. 
Don't tell anyone there was a tailwind.

NC-98 was great fun.  0.7 miles SMOOTH miles with a TAILWIND.

I "attacked" down and up the first mile on Kemp, to Virgil.
I "attacked" the 2.37 miles of Virgil. 
At least it felt like it.  Smooth pedaling and reasonably high cadence (for me).
At the right turn off Virgil onto Carpenter Pond (I decided to add some distance to the "TT"),
I was avg'ing 15.4 mph.  Had been avg'ing 15.5 after Kemp.
How fast does that translate for the time on Virgil?
I don't know, and I'm not going to calculate (SURPRISED, aren't you).
It was enjoyable and I don't want to ruin the feeling with facts.

Across CarpPond and Leesville to Panoramic Rd.  Avg up to 15.6 in 2.5 addtln miles.
Leesville, Carpenter Pond, MVC back to PUE.  Avg for the whole ride -- 16.4 mph.
Top of the head calc ---> 18.0 mph avg the last 10 miles.  I'll take it.
The wind was not helping all the time in those last 10 miles.

Just after crossing the bridge on MVC, headed for PUE,
This fast guy came along side, and . . . it was JohnH.
He rode about 2/3 the way up MVC with me,
Which was just enough time for him to tell me that he MIGHT ride tomorrow,
Then told me to stop chatting and finish my "TT",
And he rode off up the hill.

Attire for the ride?
Headsweats head cover / sweatband. Helmet.
Faded orange SHORT-sleeve jersey.
Short fingered gloves.
Socks. Shoes.

No leg warmers.  No knee warmers.  No arm warmers.  No wind vest or shell.
Only ONE jersey.  No toe covers.
No old running headband masquerading as a neck warmer. 

Oh, I SWEATED enough that drops were dripping from my helmet / headband,
And my shoes were actually slightly damp.

WARM is a good thing.
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I stopped at PUE to eat some food, drink slightly warm A&W Root Beer that fizzed all over the shirt I changed into for "meal-time".  :-(

Took longer than I intended for my rest-meal-time stop.
But it was shorter than the max allowed at any one stop for a RUSA Fleche.
Don't know what that is?  Look it up. 
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Act 2 - "Putzing Around":

One wardrobe change:
I put my red long-sleeved jersey on under my orange short-sleeved jersey.
There were a lot of clouds working in while I was eating. 

Funny thing about this "putzing around" -- and I did start pretty slowly on the re-warm-up loop of 4 miles on Pleasant Union Ch Rd -- I happened to look down at my confuser at 'xactly 10.00 miles, so I checked the total time of the "putz ride" at that point -- only 20 seconds more than for the first 10 miles of Act 1 - the "TT".  :-o

But I had no desire to try to turn "Act 2" into another "TT".  I did ride Kemp reasonably well.  And Baptist was slightly downslope, with a tailwind.  And Southview, although into a headwind, is pretty flat.

As I apporached the Southview / Kemp corner at about 4:35 EST, I saw a rider go by on Kemp.  Looked like he might have been wearing a long-sleeved wool jersey, but it was really too far to see properly.  Before I got to the corner, another rider went by -- I could see his fenders.  After I turned onto Kemp and was able to see THREE rando looking riders ahead, I concluded that the first rider I saw (second of the 3 randos) might, repeat might, be riding a fixie.  And further concluded the rider might, repeat might, be MikeD, but it was really too far to be sure.  I later determined who the rando cyclists likely were.

I rode Kemp from Southview to Carpenter Pond pretty well (for me), and was holding roughly the same deficit to the rando guys -- until the last bit up to CP got steeper.  So . . . if that was MikeD, it seems that if he has ridden 110 hilly-miles and I have ridden only 48 not-as-hilly-miles, then he won't drop me quite as fast as he could if we each had the same miles in our legs.  Note: "he won't drop me quite as fast ...".

One last thing from the "putz around":  I rode MVC up to PUE faster than I did during the "TT".  You might ask:  Why?

It could be that I was more warmed up.  But I don't think that made any difference.
It could be that I was not distracted talking to JohnH.  That likely contributed, but I think that was not the major reason.
I think the major reason I rode faster the second time up MVC was that I was motivated by the very large raindrops that started falling. 
Never amounted to anything, though.
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Mar-13: 

PUE: (1) DocN-Kemp-Virgil-Panoramic U-turn; 29.7 m.; 1hrs, 48min, 0sec; 16.5 mph;
. . . . . . . .(2) 6Forks-U-Nrwd-VctCh/Kemp-Bap-S'view-Kemp-CP-MVC; 23.9 m.; 1hrs, 32min, 40sec; 15.5 mph;
. . . . . . . . . . . .total 53.6 m.; 3hrs, 21min; 16.0 mph.

Jan tot: _4 rides; 208.5 m.; 12 hrs, 54 min; 16.1 mph.
Feb tot: _4 rides; 222.0 m.; 14 hrs, 47 min; 15.0 mph.
Mar tot: _3 rides; 178.2 m.; 11 hrs, 41 min; 15.3 mph.
YTD tot: 11 rides; 608.7 m.; 39 hrs, 23 min; 15.5 mph.