Nov-29: "TT" route 'n Quiet "Lynn Roads" for 100+ kms

Or 

Wait 'Till Too Late and Ride Some In the Dark 

 

first, a RWGPS of the "psuedo route" -- ( https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34760245 ) 

- I actually started from my abode, but for public maps I like to show the start from a public place. 

- - approx 2560 ft of climbing in 63.8-miles --> approx 40 ft per mile (avg). 

- and in case someone actually reads this some day:  I do NOT have a GPS unit of any sort

 

actual route stats -- 65.5-miles, 4:39 in-motion (~ 14.1 avg mph) in 4h45 elapsed time -- I had NO time to pause for photos. 

- note that I started the ride at 1:25 pm, finished at 6:10 pm -- yes, the last half-hour was quite dark. 

- with 20 miles still to go, with 15 miles still to ride -- I was CERTAIN I would cramp tonight. 

- - however, I slightly backed off the effort on the flat, downslope, and shallow incline sections and the legs were much better at the finish. 

- - I suffered on some of the climbs in the last 25-miles. E.g., 

- - - Kemp up to Virgil, 

- - - middle of MVC up to Norwood, 

- - - bottom of Norwood up to Six Forks, 

- - - bottom of Honeycutt headed "home". 

 

Oh, one more thing of note: 

- I stayed in the 39/14 gearing the ENTIRE ride. 

- - I was tempted on Norwood and Honeycutt to use some smaller gears, but I can be stubborn and determined. 

- - (Not as stubborn and determined as some (e.g., LL), but ... .)  

 

 

btw, the temp at the start, with the thin layer of clouds sucking all the heat out of the sunshine, was about 63F. By the finish, the temp was around 53F, but the last two hours the temp felt chillier than that. There was almost no breeze, but 14 to 20 mph will create an apparent wind and effectively create a wind-chill temperature significantly below that. 

 

I was wearing my arm-warmers the entire ride -- started as little more than wrist-warmers, but became forearm-warmers and ultimately full arm-warmers. I finally had to adjust them so that no skin was showing between the bottom of the short sleeves and the top of the warmers. Once no skin was exposed between the arm warmers and the jersey sleeves, I felt warmer (almost) everywhere -- the exposed fingers occasionally were chilly and toward the end of the ride, some of my toes were chilled (perhaps mostly on downslope sections).  

 

 

I was pleased with my late Sunday afternoon / early evening ride. 

 

First time I've really used the USB re-chargeable head-light that I found on-line more than a year ago ("first use" except for dark work commutes, but commutes of 1.1-mile each direction hardly counts, does it?). 

 

But the head-light is not why I'm pleased -- I'm pleased that I avg'd 14-mph for 100+ kms on a somewhat hilly course even though I haven't done any hilly rides longer than 30 or 35 miles for at least three months -- been getting my "monthly" 100 km rides on the greenway (by riding 17+ miles to meet Iva or MickH, then riding 28 or 30 miles on the greenway with them, then riding the 17+ miles back to the start. 

 

Christmas decorations were up at many homesteads along the route and I tried to take notice the last 15+ miles of the ride (as daylight transitioned into dusk and then evening/night-time darkness). 

 

The just risen nearly full moon was visible ahead of me on some road(s) -- probably the "flat" part of Mt Vernon Ch Rd between Carpenter Pond Rd and NC-50 (as that seems to be the only road heading in the correct direction just before and after sunset – or maybe the moon appeared while I was on Norwood Rd – certainly there was no where on Carpenter Pond Rd that would have in the correct direction(?)).  The moon was a very fuzzy, big, nearly round globe -- fuzzy because of the thin overcast of clouds obscuring what would have been a bright nearly full-moon.  

 

On the MVC climb, after the steeper part near the bottom was behind me and the road was become straight-ish, there was an eery lighted apparition at the top of the climb.  I wondered what it was.  I thought maybe that "dual monolith" in that field near the school was lighted and I was seeing that -- but I reasoned that those "two legs" are not in line with the road and are also behind a screen of trees.  I couldn't figure out what the lighted thing(s) was(were).  Then, I got close enough to figure it out -- three small landscape trees of that new, fancy housing development on the left side the road were what I was seeing. 

Anyway, I am still pleased that I was able to do that ride, staying in the 39/14 gearing the entire ride, and did NOT cramp.  

I did pre-emptively use TonyG's cramp cure when I got back to my place -- six ounces of water with too much salt dissolved in same.  I may not have needed to do that since my legs had stopped aching after the last 15 or so miles of the ride (I had backed off the effort because the legs were complaining before that), but "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".  

I proved to myself that if there is a January Populaire available that I can get to, that I can complete it (and get the last ride of an interrupted P-36).  However, I have decided that if there is not a Populaire that I can ride in January, I will not worry about it as, in the final analysis, rando rides are just bicycle rides. 

 

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Addendum Dec-03:  During the last "mile" in the dark to get to my abode, I noticed that most of the sidewalk transitions to cross the side-street and parking lot entrances had been "shaved" recently.  Perhaps even during the 4 1/2 hours since the start of my ride.  It was very easy to see the shaved concrete in the bright light from my head-lamp as the shaved places were a brilliant white compared to the faded gray around them.  I had not noticed the shaved places at the start of my ride, but since it was still daylight and I was alert to traffic, etc., and this was a Sunday afternoon ride, my guess now is that the shavings had taken place several days earlier. 

 

Today, the "shaving" team is working on the sidewalk that goes by the front of my abode.  I walked the half-mile to the grocery store and sure-enough all the places where one slab of sidewalk had become higher than the next slab, well, there are now newly-shaved, bright-white "ramps" smoothing the way.  I'll be doing a lot fewer "bunny hops" on the bicycle in the near term.