I know that I have told some that the Denny's Store route is my favorite among my rando routes.
And I reckon that is true.
Except maybe in the Autumn when certain sites along the Bahama Beach route are colorful.
And maybe except when I might prefer a flatter route for "cadence practice."
Then the "Bay Leaf - Oxford - Bay Leaf" is the option.
But I reckon that the Denny's Store Sortie is my favorite among my rando routes.
I'd like to get to ride it more often than I do.
But at 138-kms, it does take me roughly an hour-and-a-half longer, or more,
Than it takes me to ride the Bahama Beach mini-hill-fest and
Maybe as much as two hours longer than it takes me to ride the mostly flat Oxford route.
So, when the available time window has a tight-ish back-end constraint,
I end up riding the Bahama route, or the Oxford route,
Or, the last couple years, the "Raleigh - Berea - Raleigh" route.
Understand that the RBR route is essentially the last 40% of the Denny's Store route.
Well, the last half of the RBR route is essentially the last 40% of the Denny's route.
The first half of RBR is the reverse of the second half.
And since RBR starts / finishes only half-a-mile from my hovel,
There is no extra commute time when I do the RBR route
Whereas there is a half-an-hour cycling commute to and from the other routes mentioned above.
What has the above got to do with the ride I did on June 4th?
Not much.
But the fingers just starting typing away, and the above resulted.
I did the 5.6-mile commute from my hovel to the Denny's start in 25-minutes.
It usually takes me 21 to 24 minutes, in-motion, for that pre-ride commute.
So, I obviously was "taking it easy" on the way to the route's start.
Starting more-or-less on time at 6 am,
I got to the first intermediate control, at the Allensville Store, 42.3 miles into the route,
After roughly 3 hours.
That's usual.
The clerk that always asks about Lynn #5519, asked her usual question:
"How's your ex-wife?"
I told her, "okay."
Then, I got into a conversation with the clerk and a vendor that was delivering something.
Topic was the "vagaries" of cycling and careless drivers.
Conversation must have lasted 10 or so minutes.
That was the only interesting thing regarding this rando rodeo.
I didn't even take a photo at the Denny's Store crossroad.
I did finish the route in 6h35 elapsed, 5h54 in-motion.
Surprisingly, according to my Excel log,
Instead of taking the usual 6.7-mile afternoon post-ride commute route,
I rode back to my place via the 5.6-mile morning pre-ride commute route.
The 5.6-mile route is safe enough in the morning, when there is no traffic.
But the usual 6.7-mile afternoon route is safer, the road being wider and smoother.
According the Excel log, I did the afternoon 5.6-mile post-ride commute in 22-minutes.
I must have been motivated.
That's my story for this ride.
And since I have no other memories of this, my 36th Denny's Store ride,
I'll be sticking to the above story.
Organizing some papers, or more to the point, "cleaning up," I came across my Control Card for this ride. Here follows a summary of notes made on that Card:
ReplyDeleteI arrived at the first intermediate control at the Allensville Store, 42.3-miles into the route, 3h00 after the start, with 2:56 of that having been in-motion. That means I had 4-minutes of pausage time en route; pauses for stop-lights at NC-98, at NC-50, at US-15, and in Butner; pauses for stop-signs at, as best I can recall, six locations -- wow! I didn't realize there were so many stop-lights and stop-signs en route, especially given the remoteness of much of those 42.3-miles.
I left the Allensville Store Control 17-minutes after I arrived. The 10-minute conversation referenced in the text explains why I had such a long stop (usually, when solo, I would only be at the Control 5 to 9 minutes, total).
I arrived at the second intermediate control in Berea 52-minutes after leaving the Allensville Store. That equates to 4h09 after the start. Although there are two stop-signs in the 12.8-miles between the two controls, my in-motion time was also 0:52. I presume there is some rounding and truncating that explains the total travel time including the two stop-signs appearing to be the same as the in-motion time.
I left the Berea Control 19-minutes after I arrived. Some of those minutes were likely due to visiting the men's room for a #1 visit. More of those minutes were likely due to a conversation with the owner/clerk. I probably purchased a Snicker's bar or a Honey Bun and ate that before leaving the Control.
I arrived at the finish Control 6h35 after the start of the ride, meaning I covered the final 30.7-miles in 2h07, including 2:06 in-motion. (I must have had good luck at the several stop-signs and the two stop-lights between Berea and Bay Leaf.)
I just visualized the route from Berea to Bay Leaf and counted 11 stop-signs. Never would have thought there were so many -- most are at rural intersections where there is seldom cross-traffic, but eleven, wow!