Several Irregulars had expressed a willingness to occasionally start from somewhere other than PUE. Almost all the Irregulars have re-iterated their interest in finding new, hidden gems of roads or scenery or historic (or even semi-historic) places to ride, or during rides.
I have an interest in exploring "east" of Wake Forest / Rolesville for new Irregulars routes and possibly new Permanent or Permanent Populaire routes.
Happy convergence of interest.
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Some snippets of the roads from the first long-half of the route were not new to some of us.
E.g., I had ridden some of Fowler Rd ... from Lizard Lick Rd to Hopkins.
Iceman had ridden some of Sledge / Mort Harris Rd on the NCBC Louisburg route.
We had all ridden the short bit we did on Brantleytown Rd,
Either as part of the "Showdown in Black Creek" Permanent,
Or on this year's Irregular's Summer Solstice Whirligig ride,
Or both.
But ... by-and-large, the first 35 or so miles were new.
Once we got to the middle of East River Rd, we all knew the roads the rest of the way.
Well ... maybe not Iceman ... his cycling miles were much reduced the last couple years,
And he may not have ever ridden May Rd and Peach Orchard Rd previously.
He did keep asking about some markings on the roads between Lousiburg and Youngsville.
I'm pretty sure they were from the Tour de Grace.
Anyway, enough of this ... the general concensus was that it was a good route.
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This route / ride could have been called ... The FireHouse Tour
We rode past the Hopkins Fire Station at about 14.5 miles into the ride.
I'm pretty sure we rode past at least one Bunn Fire Dept. Fire Station.
We stopped, our only refueling stop, btw, at the Fire Station in Louisburg.
We got awfully close to the Youngsville Fire Station ... but I'll have to verify we actually rode past it.
And when Ricochet and I got back to the Wakefield McD's ...
At least two fire engines fired up their motors and sirens from behind
The shopping center where the McD's is located.
Upon arriving at the Louisburg Fire Station, Capt. LT went in to use the throne.
When he came back out, expressing that he felt much better,
He also commented that he couldn't locate any firemen, but did find the commode.
He further commented that at least he didn't have to fix the commode before he could use it.
Now, What The Heck Is Dave Doing In The Firehouse? Somebody said he went in hoping to find a piece of wire to improve the faux toe-clip(s). Is he having to bribe them or something -- he's been in there an awfully long time. Dave FINALLY emerged and said "I had to fix the toilet so I could take a crap!" Figures. This adventure just kept piling on. Let's go.The other three (Ags, Ricochet, Iceman) eventually filtered over to the Louisburg Fire Station.
At least two of them also made use the commode(s) inside.
Shortly after that, one of the Louisburg firemen made an appearance, and ...
LT started talking "shop".
Robert finally had to call Dave away from "shop talk" to continue the ride.
Before the others had drifted over to the fire station,
Dave and I recalled another part of the Roxboro-Yanceyville Adventure.
Ags was part of the five-man crew today ... but he had his cycling shoes on,
Not "tennis shoes" and faux-toe-clips.
Writing of Ags ... he actually pulled today!!
Actually, he took probably the hardest pull of the day.
On Sledge / Mort Harris Rd, smack into the headwind.
Iceman and Capt. LT also took some hard pulls.
Ricochet took a pull or two, also.
But I think Robert and I mostly tried to suck wheels.
We're no dummies ... and the others were chomping at the bit to lead.
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Heading into Youngsville, only 8-ish miles more to ride,
Robert sent the other three on to the finish,
And "nursed" me home.
It had been my turn to have "my lucky day".
Meaning, there wasn't much strength behind the veneer my legs put up today.
We started at 0800 ... maybe a minute or two later.
Robert and I finished before 1240 ...
And that includes a three stop-light cycles long delay to get across US-1.
I mentioned to Robert that the route might have rando potential,
But it is a kilometer short.
Robert's reponse?
"Start from the other end of the parking lot."
Hidden Gem During the Ride:
Perry's Pond -- dating from 1718.
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Oct-01: Wakefield: Firehouse Tour; 61.8 m.; 4h,03m in-motion; 15.2 mph.
Q-1 tot: _23 rides; _1822.2 m.; 123 hrs, 05 min; 14.8 mph.
Q-2 tot: _30 rides; _2604.9 m.; 174 hrs, 22 min; 14.9 mph.
Q-3 tot: _29 rides; _2479.2 m.; 161 hrs, 05 min; 15.2 mph.
Oct tot: __1 rides; ___61.8 m.; __4 hrs, 03 min; 15.2 mph.
YTD tot: _83 rides; _6968.1 m.; 464 hrs, 35 min; 15.0 mph.
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| Robert insisted on some test photos after the ride. My mother likes this photo -- she says her side of the family is finally showing through in my jaw-line and lower half of my face in general. . |
Great ride. Thanks for setting it up.
ReplyDeleteCpt. LT
Note to self:
ReplyDeleteWhile this was and is an excellent route, it took LT, Ags + Iceman 2 stop-light cycles to get across US-1 / Capital Blvd, and it took Robert + me 3 stop-light cycles.
Therefore, it may be more reasonable to finish using the routing from Youngsville to Wakefield that the "Showdown in Black Creek" Permanent uses -- that would add 4 or 4.5 miles, and some climbs, but getting across US-1 up near Youngsville is not nearly so difficult.
Using the "Black Creek" finish would also fix the "short of 100k" problem ... if this route were to be "rando-ized".
...M