Aug-18: Flat River Cafe' 204-km Perm

Things of note from the ride:

• Route owner Byron did not know, until pointed out to him on this ride, that there is a BBQ restaurant / cafe' attached to the grocery / convenience store in Hurdle Mills.  We had a nice lunch on the return from Leasburg, headed for Hollow Ridge Grocery atop Mt. Tirzah.  Lunch special is meat-of-the-day plus two sides (think "South'ren" vegetables) with a roll or about 4 hush-puppies.  Not open on Sundays.  I recall that they stop serving lunch around 2 pm, and start running out of things earlier than that.  If you think you'd like to stop en route for lunch, plan accordingly. 
• Stagville Under the Stars, Star-gazing at Stagville, Friday, Aug-24. 
• Bahama Days, Sep-15. 
• Despite the recent rains, Lake Michie is very low.  The "islands" in the middle of the lake (really it is just the Flat River held up behind a dam) and the "beaches" along the edges of the lake are all easily visible.  Also, the several rocks that are usually hidden beneath the lake surface as visible.  If you're interested in seeing the "beach" at Bahama, NOW would be a good time to ride the Bahama Beach Permanent-Populaire. 
• The mulberry bushes / trees (? - I might not have correctly identified the species of tree) that line both sides of the longish lane from Red Mtn Rd back to the first farmstead after turning off Hampton Rd onto said Red Mtn Rd -- WOW !!  Fiery red color.  Wish I had had a camera.  Get on your bike and go see it now. 
• Between Bahama and Mt. Tirzah, I had gotten a couple minutes ahead of Byron and Mick/Mike.  I was just beyond the county line and the bridge over the Flat River on Moores Mill Rd, I was having to work rather hard on one steepish section, I thought to myself "if I'm having to work this hard here, what will it be like when I get to the wall?"  About two seconds later, "oh, this is the wall, and you're only 30 yards from the top; no wonder it has been a bit harder."  Duh. 
• There are several farmsteads on Hester Store Rd and Gordonton Rd that I really like the look of.  Well cared for; nicely landscaped with trees, bushes, boulders and flowers in about the right amounts.  One particular farmstead on Gordonton Rd was all decked out as everything appeared to be in full flowered bloom.  The farmhouse and yard are set back off the road (on the east side) about 150 yards.  Wish I had had a camera, again. 
• Only one dog attempted to be a nuisance -- and that only on the outbound trip. 
• Byron got in his R-insurance ride ahead of his Taste-of-Carolina 1200 in about 10 days. 

That about sums it up.


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Aug-18:  

---> Leesville-Leasburg-Leesville 204-km Permanent ---> ; 139.5 m.; 9h03 in-motion; 15.4 mph; L-L-L accounted for 127.3-miles and 8h18 in-motion w/ 10h43 elapsed time (including 53-minutes for lunch and some longish control stops). 

Q-1 tot: _22 rides; 1,610.3 m.; 108 h, 42 m; 14.8 mph. 

Q-2 tot: _29 rides; 2,711.5 m.; 182 h, 48 m; 14.8 mph. 

Ju1 tot: __9 rides; __751.5 m.; _49 h, 10 m; 15.3 mph. 

Aug tot: __6 rides; __575.7 m.; _38 h, 10 m; 15.1 mph. 

YTD tot: _66 rides; 5,549.0 m.; 378 h, 49 m; 14.9 mph. 

Pending approval from route-owner Byron (which seems incredibly likely -- see above for the cast that was on the ride), I'll have 6003-RUSA-credit-kms for the year-to-date.  I would have gone out to do the Bahama Beach perm-pop this morning, but the radar looked too darn wet.