"Assault on Flat Rock", with pre- and post-ride commutes
72.3-miles, 5:15 in-motion, 6h08 elapsed.
Rode the core course with my Irregular and sometimes rando buddy Harvey (#11802, currently expired). Harv had recently only been riding about once a week on the greenway (same one MikeD has reported riding many times in the course of these virtual brevets), and hadn't done any hilly rides since last September or October. Therefore, he was interested in a pedestrian paced ride. I was more than fine with that -- but to get some "training effect" from the ride, I decided I'd try to stay in the 39/15 the entire ride -- including the tough climbs in the middle of the route.
I did stay in the 39/15 all day. The ride up the 1+ mile climb on Grove Hill Rd was nearly a delight, 10-12 mph on the chip-seal that was falling apart / had fallen apart while sitting and keeping the cadence up. Harvey dropped me off his front wheel -- if he were in proper shape, he would have dropped me off his back wheel.
A couple places on the Flat Rock Rd 1.4-mile climb required standing while pedaling to stay in the 39/15. Upon reaching the top of Flat Rock Rd, I told Harvey that the climbs were a lot easier than I had remembered. (Of course, as best I can recall, the last time I did the "Assault on Flat Rock" was in 2012. I guess the intervening 7 1/2 years of mostly rando rides, some with a "bit" of climbing, had re-calibrated my thinking / the perceived effort. (Prior to this ride, my blog had 17 posts tagged for the "AFR" -- I used to ride it a lot -- to get in some climbing training.))
I'll paraphrase what RUSA #12 wrote on her blog back in 2013, the last three climbs (Ghoston, Peed, Mt Vernon Church roads) are tough enough. Parts of Ghoston and Peed standing.
I rode out to the meeting place, arrived 56 minutes before Harvey wanted to start riding. and then putzed around on the flat-ish stuff near there in case anyone that hadn't committed to the ride ride showed up to start 30 minutes before the delayed start that Harv had requested the night before.
A "typical" Irregular thing before the start of the ride-proper. Harvey realized that he had forgotten his water bottles. So, we rode the 1.2-miles from PUE to one of the gas stations / c-store at the corner of NC-50 and Norwood Rd, where Harvey would be able to purchase a couple of chilled water bottles -- hoping for bottles with flip-top lids so that he could drink from them while riding -- unfortunately, he couldn't find flip-top bottles, so he purchased 2 bottles with screw-tops.
Many stories and memories from long-ago "AFR" rides and also more recent solo efforts were shared en route. [One particular memory of interest was this one from January 2011.] We may have gotten lucky in that the day was heavily overcast until our ride(s) was(were) completed.
Longest ride of the year for Harvey.
But not for me.
And only half as long as some Solstice rides I've done, but I don't worry about such stuff as that any more. Or, at least I claim that I don't.
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| Harv arriving at the "mid-way point" after completing the climb on Grove Hill Rd. |
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| Looks like the storm blew the top of that tree in the lucky direction! |
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| this photo does NOT do justice to that yard and homestead |
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And hoping this doesn't get me in trouble -- LL rode her first 100-miler of the year today (June-20). Solo. Reportedly entirely on the few roads that she mostly stays on because the lack of traffic fits her very reasonable phobia dating from Feb-20-2016.
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