"Pi Day," March-14th, is always an important date on the calendar in the Raleigh Region.
Its the birthday for our long-serving RBA, Alan #306.
This year, 2022, the plan was to celebrate with a brevet-pop on March-12th,
This year, 2022, the plan was to celebrate with a brevet-pop on March-12th,
The Saturday this year closest to March-14th.
I was slated to prep Alan's garage for the post-ride gathering
And to assist with the acquisition and preparation of the food-stuffs for said gathering.
Of course, that also meant I'd have the pleasure of doing a pre-ride.
The pre-ride turned out to be a solo affair.
That's fine by me.
Done many a solo 100k, solo 200k, and a few solo 300's.
And going solo had the advantage that if I needed to stop to make note
Of some issue regarding the route, no one would be there getting "antsy."
No pressure from anyone else to keep going turned out to be a good thing.
Cuz not only was I riding a putz-along pace,
I recall making some specific notes on my paper cue sheet.
Most notably that the sign for Jordan Dam Rd was missing
And riders should therefore be alert for the "recreational sign" for Jordan Lake.
[I'm typing this 26-and-a-half months after the ride, but I definitely recall that missing sign.
Actually, it is easy to recall that turn because for many years I could never recall
WHERE the darn road was / how far ahead it was / etc..
However, since this particular 2022 ride, I always recall where + what I need to look for.
Oh, in case someone reads this that doesn't know, I don't use a GPS unit --
Unless you count my mind and the memories there embedded.]
My recollection is that I had an enjoyable ride in very nice weather.
Weather that RBA Alan would say was definitely NOT "proper brevet weather." LOL.
The above is enough of a story, and I'll be sticking to that.
However, as per usual for these catch-up posts,
I'll attach the photos from the day, even though they are likely only control photos.
After the photos, I'll include the info from my Excel log.
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| The brevet-pop start: Historic Morrisville Church (now property of the Morrisville Park District and used for community functions). Timestamp 0757 (for an 0800 start, I reckon). |
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| If one looks at the RWGPS of the route, one should notice the first several miles make a "fish-hook" and that means there is a obvious potential for a short-cut. Alan's solution was to implement a photo/info control of the Harris Teeter SIGN (other retailers also on that SIGN) at the corner of the shopping ctr / Davis Dr - McCormick Pkwy, but I misunderstood and rode into the shopping ctr and snapped a photo of the front of the Harris Teeter. Well, I reckon that counted (or at least the ride organizer [me] thought it should count. Timestamp 0815. |
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| Clyde's house in Bynum. The house and the critters are no longer the eye-popping scene that it used to be. Clyde has aged rather significantly, and is no longer able to take care of things they way he used to -- in fact, I understand that he might no longer be living at this location. Timestamp 1014. |
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| Pittsboro Circle-K -- just to help future riders know what they are looking for in Pittsboro for their control? 1057. |
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| Hmmn. No photo at the turn onto Jordan Dam Rd. No photo for the control at Ray's Supermarket? Hmmn. This was Alan's solution to ensure that people rode the "fish-hook" to finish the ride and did not take a short-cut. 1406. |
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| Route FIN. Alan's garage. Strange that the left door was not at least partially open. Maybe it was a bit chilly for that? Maybe Alan was not brewing beer (or coffee) in the garage? Maybe Alan was not doing any woodworking or other project in the garage? 1418. |
Info gleaned from my Excel log:
- (via Cameron Village) -> Morrisville brevet-pop -> (via Brier Creek)
- 0630 from my place -- 8am b-pop (elapsed 6h20) -- 5pm arrive back to my place
- hmmn -- total 10h30 elapsed that includes the likely longish chat with Alan.
- 111.8 total miles
- 19.6 commute from my place to Morrisville
- 71.2-miles for the official 110k distance of the brevet-pop
- 21.0-miles for the commute from Morrisville back to my place
- total in-motion time: 8 hours, 10 minutes
- 1:25 in-motion for the morning commute
- 5:15 in-motion for the brevet-pop (meaning 1h05 of stoppage time)
- 1:30 in-motion for the afternoon / evening commute
- total 13.7-mph avg in-motion for the entire three-piece ride
My solo pre-ride was on a Sunday.
By Wednesday, it was obvious that an obnoxious Spring storm would fill all of Sat, Mar-12.
Consulting with Alan regarding the weather and the impact on ridership, he said
"No will ride."
As a result, we scheduled another 110k b-pop for Sunday, March 20th
which was Alan's next available day.
And no one did ride on March 12th.
Note that we scheduled another b-pop -- NOT cancelled or delayed.
As such, I was the only one to get credit for the March 12th event.
| Region | Club | Type | Distance | Date | Finishers | DNF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 110 | 2022/03/12 | 1 | 0 |
| Cert# | RUSA# | Name | Club / ACP Code | Time | Medal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RUSA-P18912 | 6218 | S__, Martin | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | 06:18 |
What happened regarding the March 20th "Pi Day" celebration?
That's a story for another day (or at least another blog post, probably the very next one).
