Feb-24: Party of Seven 138

NCBob, #5843, and I decided to ride the "Denny's Store Sortie."


I advertised on the NC-rando-list-serve (for full email, click here), extract follows:

Bob and I are doing the [Denny's Store Sortie 138-km Perm-Pop]. 

Expecting warm temps with a SW wind 10-15 on the way back; i.e., a quartering headwind.

Should still be a fun, warm time. 

I must have also advertised on the NC Rando Facebook group 'cuz ... see below. 

• Ricochet, #6628, contacted me via email:  he and Byron, #621, wanted to join the outing. 
• Tom, #8423, contacted me via FB:  he and Deanna, #12439, would join the ride.  
• Finally, Harvey, #11802, who was scheduled to do the "Bay Leaf - Oxford - Bay Leaf" route, decided to switch to Denny's Store to have people to ride with, although he thought he wasn't in shape for the extra distance. 

Party of Seven -- that's a pretty big Perm group for central NC these days. 

There used to be relatively frequent large / largish groups for Perm rides, 

But that was when there were only a handful of Perm route options available in the entire State. 

Interesting combination of randonneuring experience in the seven riders: 

• Four Mondials, and 
• Three others whose combined RUSA kms totaled less than 1200.  

Another interesting set of experience stats:

• Four riders "officially" Irregulars -- the group rides this blog was originally about; 
• (there is a definition of "official," but I'm not going to explain) 
• One additional rider that has joined one or a few Irregular rides, and 
• Two riders I had never heard of previously.  

Riders I've never heard of is not unprecedented joining me (or not me) one one of my Perms.
Even riders doing their first ever rando ride.
The most well-known "I've never heard of" rider, who did her first ever RUSA Permanent
On the "Bahama Beach" route, was RUSA #12 (her story here).


The Party of Seven met at the start.
Everyone signed the group waiver.
And received control cards in return (and some also got cue sheets).
[Me handing out cue sheets is not the norm.] 
We started riding.

A warming up pace across Norwood Rd to Mt Vernon Ch Rd to Pleasant Union Ch Rd.
But at the turn onto Six Forks Rd,
Which is an immediate downhill to one of the arms of Falls Lake,
I took the lead because I usually descend faster than most,
And I did this ride, too.


Unfortunately, the two people whom I had never met,
Appeared to take my downslope pace as the new average pace for the ride.
Frequent regatherings en route, we mostly stayed together.

The Allensville Store was rather crowded when we arrived.
Often there are numbers of locals hanging about, usually on the benches,
But this day, there seemed to be about half a dozen locals inside the store, purchasing things.
Combined with seven randonneurs, you can imagine it was a bit crowded, and
It took a bit longer than hoped to get moving again.

Immediate return down to the creek and back up to the Allensville Methodist Church corner.
Several rollers and usually around 19-22 minutes after leaving the control,
I typically arrive at the Denny's Store corner.
[Best I can recall is that on this ride, it was more on the order of 24 minutes.]

Denny's Store, left to right:  Bob, Deanna, Tom, Ricochet Robert, Harvey, Byron.  [Photo by me -- Tom and Deanna thought we should take another photo with me in the frame -- I said, "no, I've got plenty of photos of me at this spot."] 

Immediately after Denny's Store, there is a non-trivial climb up a hill.
Note:  that's up a hill, not a climb back up from a creek.
Note #2:  that's non-trivial by my standards; your thought my differ.
After that climb, the route flattens out, but is not flat, to the second control at Berea.

We did the quicker option for the control in Berea.
Better food at the other option; but we opted for quicker.

Some wanted to be quicker than others.
Ricochet, Byron, Bob, and Harvey got underway first.

Tom and Deanna seemed to want to take a few extra minutes.
I hung back to chat with them regarding their randonneuring plans, and
Mentioned that the NC rando peloton was happy to have Tom in the mix,
But were very excited that Deanna might become a regular.
"Why?" asked Tom.
"Because we currently have very few females in the group."

I did suggest to Tom and Deanna that, as they had a cue sheet (each),
They might prefer to just ride ahead, complete the ride, and
Leave their completed control cards on the windshield of Bob's truck.
No dice -- they wanted to stick more-or-less with the group.

Harvey had been moaning a bit approaching Berea.
I figured I would catch him by Creedmoor -- roughly half way between Berea and the finish.
And although I could not hang on to Deanna and Tom,
I did almost catch Harvey.
I got within 150 yards on Dove Rd, about 3-miles south of Creedmoor.
I figured I might lose a little distance on the climb on Whitt Rd, but 
I was sure I would catch him going across Falls Lake on Old Weaver Trail.

Surprise:  when I got to Old Weaver Trail, I couldn't even see Harvey!
Oh well.  Just pedal it in and save some energy for later in the day.

Permanent Route Name / #	Distance	Date	Finishers	DNF
NC: Denny's Store Sortie / 1795	138	2018/02/24	7	0

Cert#	RUSA#	Name	Club / ACP Code	Time
RUSA-T79354	6628	B__, Robert D	Randonneurs USA / 933095	06:55
RUSA-T79355	621	M__, Byron E	Randonneurs USA / 933095	06:55
RUSA-T79356	11802	H__, Harvey F	Bicycle For Life Club / 933057	06:55
RUSA-T79357	8423	P__, Stephen Tom	Bicycle For Life Club / 933057	06:48
RUSA-T79358	12439	S__, Deanna F	Bicycle For Life Club / 933057	06:48
RUSA-T79359	5843	B__, Bob	Randonneurs USA / 933095	06:48
RUSA-T79360	6218	S__, Martin	Randonneurs USA / 933095	06:59

For anyone "concerned" that the results are not in last-name-alphabetic order.
 1.  Get over it.
 2.  One needs to rebel against strict discipline every so often.