Jun-28: NOB Lite 128

Bob's 128-km perm-pop.  
Essentially the first 60-miles, i.e., the flat part, of his North of Burlington Perm,
Then continuing to retrace the start back to Graham.

Most unusual thing on the day:
It appeared that Bob did not have a cue sheet with him.
He ALWAYS has a cue sheet with him.
But perhaps not when he does his own routes.

I didn't have a cue sheet either.
I hoped to hang with Bob.
He probably planned to slow down to my pace.
That worked.


Let me describe the course: 
Tour de Graham (different start than the full NOB perm).
Tour de Town of Haw River.
Wend one's way over to NC-119.

Nine miles into the route, while wending to NC-119,
I should mention that those first miles had been on very smooth road srufaces,
Anyway, nine miles into the route, at the turn onto some road (which name I'm not looking up),
Bob quipped, "welcome to Driscoll Drive."

I chuckled.
Because when I first did Bob's NOB Perm,
When in the midst of a 6 or so mile section of back-to-back rough chip-seal roads,
I had asked Bob if he had included those roads in order to practice
For the Lone Star 1000 which he was planning to ride.

"Driscoll Drive" was just a quick, humorous way to refer to all the Texas chip-seal roads.
I'm confident that everyone knows of Texas chip-seal by reputation,
Even if, like me, they've never ridden a bicycle on those infamous roads.

The turn onto NC-119 is at a fairly large Presbyterian Church,
With very attractive grounds, heavily shaded by wonderful trees.
Sorry -- no pic, and I didn't attempt to determine the species of the trees.

NC-119, a low traffic road, flat by local standards,
At least for most of the miles that we were on.

NC-119 all the way to the turn-around at Seymora.
Passing through Baynes, Hightowers, and Red House en route.

B

Baynes "town" sign, outbound.  No pics for Hightowers, Red House, or Seymora.  Maybe next time.  [Photo by me.]

The route on NC-119 also passes by one of the Leasburg Volunteer Fire Stations.
I thought it would be a neat idea to take a photo there,
To send them to Byron and Ricochet, perhaps causing a little confustion.
[Byron is route owner of the "Leesville-Leasburg-Leesville" perm, and 
Ricochet lives even close to the L-L-L start than does Byron, and
It is hard to get either of them, but especially Ricochet to ride any other Perm.]

Ricochet bit, sending a text reply:  "Where's that?"
And before I could even look at his text, he added another:  "Besides Leasburg."
Clearly because he knew what I would be tempted to respond.

Bob mentioned that this location was the closest the NOB Lite route gets to the Leesville-Leasburg-Leesville route.

It was the third consecutive day of low humidity, lower than average temps, severe clear weather.
I had ridden my "Bay Leaf - Oxford - Bay Leaf" perm-pop two days before.
Bob had ridden his "Ala - Orange" perm-pop the day before.
Neither of us seemed to be negatively impacted by those rides.
Bob, being in super shape, that was expected.
Me, not in decent cycling shape and not riding enough to correct that, was perhaps unexpected. 
We were each keeping relatively high cadences, not seeming to wear out (much),
And with the humidity at lower than 50%, our respective kits remained seemingly dry.
[Usually, this time of the year, I dripping with sweat even before I swing a leg over.]

We took over-long sitting on the outside bench in Seymora.
Neither of us had any time constraints, and it was such a nice day to just sit and enjoy.
After 35 minutes discussing the great issues facing North Carolina randonneuring,
And perhaps also those facing all of RUSA,
We finally got back on our steeds, taking advantage of a northerly breeze to speed us on our way.

Baynes is almost halfway between the turn-around and the start/finish.
And I mean HALFWAY.
We decided to stop at the Grocery Store there to get and partially enjoy a cold drink.

Baynes General Store, taken when outbound, but it fits into the story better inbound.  [That's my explanation, and I'm sticking to it.]  This Baynes store is comparable to several other well-known old-timey country stores still surviving and scattered on several central NC rando routes.

Repeat in reverse of the Tour de Town of Haw River.
Repeat in reverse of the Tour de Graham,
Interrupted when Bob saw new Graham RUSA member MikeC,
Who was encouraged to join RUSA when he read, in the local paper, about Bob's PacTour last year.

We chatted about cycling with Mike for 15 or 20 minutes,
All three of enjoying the mild weather,
Then Bob and I finished our ride.

Great day in the playground (as so many say or write).
In-motion time was 5h22, which I offer as proof of our LONG stops.  

Permanent Route Name / #	Distance	Date	Finishers	DNF
NC: NOB Lite Populaire / 3285	128	2017/06/28	2	0

Cert#	RUSA#	Name	Club / ACP Code	Time
RUSA-T72978	5843	B__, Bob	Randonneurs USA / 933095	07:00
RUSA-T72979	6218	S__, Martin	Randonneurs USA / 933095	07:00