Sep-25: Denny's Store 138-km perm-pop

Mick's been wanting to ride the route since March or April.
(The route was approved Jan-03-13, but not ridden until March 30th.)
Usually, due to time and/or recent rides and/or plans for rides in the near future,
He's ended up doing either the Bahama Beach 103-km 'free-route' or
The 102-km Get 'er Dunn.
However, things finally aligned.

0730 official start.
NO breeze at all.
Nice sunshine in the first few miles, but as we approached Falls Lake:  fog.
Steam rising off the surface of the water.
Steam hanging just above the surface and filling the valley,
Some piling up and spilling over the crests of the "hills" surrounding the lake valleys.

By the time we were clear of the lake-fog,
The sun was partly to mostly hiding behind increasing clouds.
The clouds would slowly increase throughout the day,
Resulting in significant overcast the final 16 or 20 miles.
And there were some drops of water falling from some of those clouds.
Not so many that anyone would have given any notice, but
Those sprinkles did put a concern in my mind about my post-ride commute.
Turned out that not a single further drop fell from the sky after (roughly) 2 p.m..

The breeze stayed quiescent all the first half of the ride to the Allensville store.
We rode past many limp flags.
Mick referred to them as "sad flags."

Farmers and their crews were harvesting tobacco in several places en route.
I'm not glorying in the tobacco -- I'm just reporting a fact.

I think that the better scenery (and climbing) is front-loaded on the route.
I'm slowly trying to collect photos of the more interesting places.
One or two pics a ride.
Enough to maybe entice riders, but
Not so many that there is nothing left for discovery.

Speaking of discovery -- I finally remembered the Deep Creek.
I gave Mick plenty of warning.
He had to agree that it certainly was a Deep Creek.

I was thinking we'd short-stop the Allensville control, but
In retrospect, I think Mick was playing for time for his "no-legs-today."
As I type this, I'm thnking we might have spent a little less time at the control
IF I had pointed out the bench(es) where a 5-min sit might have been better than a 10-min stand. 

The Allensville Convenience Mart control c-store.  One of the less scenic things en route; however, it has its uses.  

By the time we reached the Denny Cemetery,
Flags were no longer at-rest, limp, sad.
The one at the Cemetery was pretty proud, and
Unfortunately, pointing in the opposite direction from my previous visit.
(In other words, we could look forward to 40-miles heading into the breeze.)

If one looks carefully at the right-hand side of the above-linked photo,
One can just make out the Denny's Store corner (just beyond the car in the photo).
We made the semi-obligatory stop at the corner:

Mick pictured with the DS sign.  I think I've finally figured out the best angle for these photos.  This is almost it. 

We hopped back on our bikes after the photo-stop,
Heading for Berea,
Where we stopped for some lunch.
40-minutes.
At least the conversation and food was decent.
(Don't ask what the conversation subjects were; I have NO recollection.)

As the Culbreth Rd bridge over the Tar River is still "out,"
We followed the well-marked NC-DOT detour.
And soon were zipping through Culbreth, past Shoofly, and then through Stem,
Headed toward Creedmoor.

The roads from Berea to Stem were new roads for Mick.
Also the roads from Creedmoor to New Light Rd.

For me, however, the 30-miles from Culbreth back to the finish,
Roads and a distance that once would have been a MAJOR undertaking,
Has become sort-of "well, that's been the fun part of the route, now we gotta' get back."

Is that a good thing?
Meaning that I can now ride much farther to find and enjoy new sights.
Or is that a bad thing?
Meaning that I may be becoming somewhat jaded.

I choose to not address the above rhetorical questions.
Instead, I will let the future reveal the answer.

On a completely different front:
Assuming the ride gets approved,
This ride put Mick past the 10-thousand RUSA km mark this year,
Making him the first North Carolinian to top 10K this year, and
Making him the third ever North Carolinian to attain K-Hound status at least twice.

As Mick rode the entire course with the route-owner,
My guess is that it is a good bet that the ride will get approved.

Permanent Route Name / #	Distance	Date	Finishers	DNF
NC: Denny's Store Sortie / 1795	138	2013/09/25	2	0

Cert#	RUSA#	Name	Club / ACP Code	Time
RUSA-T35610	6169	H___, Michael A	North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045	07:07
RUSA-T35611	6218	S___, Martin	Randonneurs USA / 933095	07:07

H___, Michael A | North Carolina Bicycle Club | 933045  
2013 annual total=10009 km
2012 ACP SR, annual total=17004 km 
====================================================
Sep-25: 

--> Denny's Store Sortie 138k Perm-Pop -->; 108.5 m.;  7h05 in-motion; 15.3 mph.
 - pre-ride commute:  9.0 m.;  0h33 in-motion; 16.3 mph.
 - - DSS:  87.6 m.;  5h47 in-motion; 15.1 mph; DSS elapsed time:  7h07.
 - - - post-ride commute:  11.9 m.;  0h45 in-motion; 15.8 mph.

Q-1 tot: _11 rides; _940.3 m; _64h42; 14.5 mph; 1275 RUSA kms. 
Q-2 tot: _18 rides; 2293.9 m; 158h18; 14.5 mph; 3142 RUSA kms.  
J-A tot: _12 rides; 1274.3 m; _84h50; 15.0 mph; 1450 RUSA kms. 
Sep tot: __6 rides; _663.4 m; _43h10; 15.4 mph; _830 RUSA kms. 
YTD tot: _47 rides; 5171.9 m; 351h03; 14.7 mph; 6697 RUSA kms. 

Eddington Cycling Number:
After this ride:  108.
Meaning that I have completed at least 108 different rides that were at least 108 miles long.