Dec-11: An LT Hill Training "Shadow Ride"

I was going to do the Tar Heel 200 Permanent with about four or five others today.

LT was going to lead interested "Irregulars" on the 69-mile version of the Johnson Mill Journey.

That was all planned when today was forecast to be partly to mostly sunny with temps ranging from ~ 28 F near dawn to 50-55 F in the afternoon.  But the "weather liars" got us.  Rain (and in some locales, snow) filtered in from the south and west.  Temps in Raleigh stayed near or above freezing at dawn; but I'm doubtful that temps topped 40 F this afternoon.

Most, hopefully all, the randos that were looking to get their "R" ride on the Tar Heel were struck with some "common sense" yesterday afternoon or last night, and decided to "stay in out of the rain."

LT, Levi, Smitty and Robert had decided to start their ride at 9:30 this morning.  And by the time I called LT at 7:30 to find out what his plan was ... LT had switched to "let's just ride around Bayleaf and stay close to PUE so we can bail before the rain starts."  I signed on.

One thing about LT:  he'd rather ride mountains than hills; he'd rather ride hills than flat.  So ... an LT Hill Training Shadow Ride resulted.  Different housing developments than last week's ride.  We did Boxelder Rd the opposite direction as last week.  But we did Boyce Mill Rd the same direction.  And then added in a couple more non-flat sections.

LT, Smitty and I called an end to our rides after 18.9 miles.  Levi (looking for miles to get closer to his yearly goal - he probably needs another 232 miles by year-end) and Robert ("I've never done a ride this short") opted for a bit more.  They did a 9.4 mile loop:  Pleasant Union Ch Rd to Six Forks / New Light to Ghoston to Peed to MVC Rd.  They did not quite beat the rain.

We all retired to LT's for a beer and some soup or gumbo -- THANKS, Laurie.  Over soup, crackers and beer, we traded memories of rides and moments from earlier this year.  We managed to get Robert quite wide-eyed in horror about some memory from before he started riding on Apr-24.  I filled in the information (that is not in the blog entry) about my May 600 km ride that I did not complete -- Robert's comment:  "and you're trying to talk me into trying those things?"  We, primarily Dave, did get him interested in riding the length of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Next year. 

No one mentioned Levi's "bell boy" moments from the 69-mile Johnson Mill Journey a year-and-a-half ago.  Darn.
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Dec-11:  

PUE:  An LT Hill Training Shadow Ride, no description (there's a reason); 18.9 m.; 1 hrs, 13 min in-motion; 15.4 mph. 

Q-1 tot: _16 rides; __938.2 m.; _60 hrs, 39 min; 15.5 mph.
Q-2 tot: _31 rides; 2,263.3 m.; 151 hrs, 29 min; 14.9 mph.
Q-3 tot: _37 rides; 2,293.2 m.; 156 hrs, 31 min; 14.7 mph.
Oct tot: _13 rides; 1,050.6 m.; _58 hrs, 44 min; 15.3 mph.
Nov tot: _10 rides; __726.4 m.; _48 hrs, _6 min; 15.1 mph.
Dec tot: __2 rides; ___57.1 m.; __3 hrs, 45 min; 15.2 mph.
YTD tot: 109 rides; 7,328.8 m.; 489 hrs, 15 min; 15.0 mph.
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