Dec-19-2017: Bay Leaf - Oxford - Bay Leaf 104

Still catching up with overdue "back-fill" posts.
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On Dec-01, I noted in my Excel ride log that I had a severe head cold.
On Dec-16, I noted that all symptoms of the head cold were finally gone.

In between, the North Carolina Year-End Rando rides and party were scheduled for Dec-09.
This being central NC, the threat of winter precipitation cancelled the rides, but
The party went on, with a very reduced attendance, only about 10 or 12 attendees.
The small group made for good conversation,
Mostly telling stories, rando stories, about those in attendance, or those absent. :-O

Bob got in his R-ride, R-96 (if'n I can count), on Dec-03 riding the Lake Gaston Perm with Daniel.
I was in no condition to ride a 200-km on that date, but
Figured that I'd be able to sneak in a 200 later in the month to complete a calendar year R-12.

Iva needed to get in a populaire for his NC-P-12-Explorer-Challenge.
An obvious choice was for Iva to ride Bob's Ala-Orange Pop on Dec-06.
Bob rides his Pop quite often, but it was completely new to Iva. 

Permanent Route Name / #	Distance	Date	Finishers	DNF
NC: Ala Orange Populaire / 2082	107	2017/12/06	2	0

Cert#	RUSA#	Name	Club / ACP Code	Time
RUSA-T77566	7702	A__, Iva C	Randonneurs USA / 933095	05:33
RUSA-T77567	5843	B__, Bob	Randonneurs USA / 933095	05:33

Although the above ride put Bob into the K-Hound Kennel again,
He still needed a qualifying unique populaire for his Explorer-Challenge.
And so to, did I.

Bob and I planned to do the "Bay Leaf - Oxford - Bay Leaf" populaire on the 20th.
That way we would "use" a route that neither of us had previously counted as our Challenge Pop, and
We would "use" a route that Iva had "burned" -- Challenge-wise -- several months earlier.
However, the weather forecast for the 20th suddenly turned towards winter precipitation.  :-O

So ... a quick change in plans.
I was scheduled to get off work at 11 am on the 19th, and
If I left on time and moved quickly,
We could start the "Oxford" populaire at 12:30 pm,
Ride in 60 degree temps, and if we, er, rather, if I pushed a bit,
[Bob usually takes it somewhat easy these, but he wouldn't need to push his pace]  
We could finish before darkness descended.

In the event, we started on time, had minimal pausage time
At the crossing of NC-98 and again in Wilton,
So it only took a couple minutes longer than our 2h06 in-motion to get to the turn-around.

A slight, but noticeable, headwind on the homeward bound leg slowed us a little
As we rode the return leg in 2h16 in-motion,
Which got us back to the finish before Civil Twilight.
We were satisfied with that result.

Permanent Route Name / #	Distance	Date	Finishers	DNF
NC: Bay Leaf - Oxford - Bay Leaf / 2259	104	2017/12/19	2	0

Cert#	RUSA#	Name	Club / ACP Code	Time
RUSA-T77884	5843	B__, Bob	Randonneurs USA / 933095	04:45
RUSA-T77885	6218	S__, Martin	Randonneurs USA / 933095	04:45

 
The weather did turn nasty on the 20th, nasty by central NC standards.
Esp. so it seemed on the days that I had off from work for the remainder of the month.
So ... although I had reached R-11 in November, getting another R-12 isn't that important to me;
I let the R-series go.
The "Oxford" pop was my last ride of 2018. 


The story above contains all the pertinent information.
There may be other details, but they are not important.
That's my story for the year, and I'll be sticking to it.