Jul-3:
VGCC: Kerr Lake Loop; w/ Lt. Daaave, Iva, Tito, Iceman, Mallet; 84.3 m.; est 4028 ft climbed ---> effort index = 124; 4hrs, 58min; 16.9 mph avg pace.
1st Qt. tot: 20 rides; 755.3 m.; 47 hrs, 31 min; 15.9 mph.
2nd Qt. tot: 43 rides; 2124.3 m.; 134 hrs, 59 min; 15.7 mph.
Jul tot: 1 ride; 84.3 m.; 4 hrs, 58 min; 16.9 mph.
YTD: 64 rides; 2963.9 m.; 187 hrs, 28 min; 15.8 mph.
Prologue:
Happiest comment of the ride: me to Lt. Daaave, somewhere between Boydton and Clarksville: "This is great. I feel SO much better than I did on the 100-miler two weeks ago."
Saddest comment of the ride: Lt. Daaave's rejoinder to the above: "I feel a LOT WORSE than two weeks ago."
Most amusing comment of the ride: Iva to me as we are working our way back on to the group somewhere between Clarksville and Shiny Rock: "If I had your legs and my body, boy, then I could climb!"
Silliest question of the ride: me to Lt. Daaave while sitting in the Stovall gazebo, just before leaving to finish the ride: "Have you got legs for the finish?" How silly! Unless he is in the midst of bonking, Dave always has sufficient legs and / or guts to "handle" me -- even if I am fresh and he is tired. WHAT was I thinking?
When Lt. Daaave found out that he would have the 3rd off, he suggested we go riding on new roads: mountains, north of Durham, north of Oxford, just as long as it contained some new roads. After some discussion, we came up with the Kerr Lake Loop 200k Permanent modified to start / finish at VGCC. Iva and Tito indicated they were interested in a ride on the 3rd. Then the Mallet and the Iceman -- maybe not in that order -- chimed "in". One comment on the Iceman: he may be the New Bern MS-150 RouteMaster, and he may have ridden many, many local roads, but I think, that if we hadn't arranged for him to ride in someone else's vehicle to VGCC, that he might still be lost trying to find the start at VGCC on Poplar Creek Rd near Dabney.
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The ride:
5:30. Lt. Daaave arrives at PUE after fulfilling his airport taxi roll.
5:35. We are en route to VGCC.
6:29. Wheels-away into the FANTASTIC riding conditions.
~ 12 miles. An early flo-max break. Iva played along and seemed to have accentuated the practical joke. ------> As PaulN slid by our hiding point (just around the corner of the gas station / convenience store), he also seemed to be playing along, as he proclaimed in a clear voice and an impassive face: "I wonder how far ahead they have gotten?"
Shortly after, we were all on roads none of us had ever cycled. What was around the next curve? Dunno. Is that the actual summit or a false summit? Dunno.
Iva and I were trailing somewhat off the back of the main group of four as the main four got to the Warren County line. Iva and I were impressed that the fast guys, apparently engrossed in their conversations, rode past the CL sign, apparently never having noticed. Now that is they way a group ride ought to be, we thought.
~ 24.7 miles. Me to Lt. Daave: "Should I instigate a sprint for the state line?" Response: "Sure." I didn't even have to fake a charge for the line. The two Pauls were already zooming ahead in sprint competition. The Mallet was first into Virginia.
~ 29 miles. We started crossing the causeway & Kerr Lake Dam. Very refreshing air and scenes. A nice chop on the water. Fishing boats. Were there any sailboats?
~ 30 miles. Left turn off VA BR #1 immediately after completing the traverse of Kerr Lake Dam.
Are we SURE this is the correct road? Not entirely.
We see the vehicle traffic lining up and the pedstrian line forming at the "ranger" station to get into the VA state park. We all agreed it was a good thing we had gotten to this point so early in the day -- before the traffic got TOO busy.
~ 32.5 miles. Ah, here is Phillis Road. This last 2 1/2 miles have been on the correct road. Whew!
Phillis Rd. What a great road to cycle. Small rollers (many being "poppers"), a lot of shade. The road leads us very comfortably into Boydton, a town with an interesting looking downtown area trying to "fight back" against the US-158 Bypass.
~ 9:15. ~ 42 miles (after having had to turn around to go back to the only convenient convenience store). Refueling stop in Boydton. Avg pace, ~ 16.7 mph.
Skipwith Rd (another great cycling road) to Skipwith -- don't blink. Then down Wilbourne Rd to VA-49 on more great cycling roads.
VA-49 / US-15 to the causeway / bridge across the north end of Kerr Lake and over into Clarksville. Again with the fresh air, choppy water, and interesting scenes.
In Clarksville, trying to turn from the main drag onto College Street. Iva and are are still scratching our heads. Here we were, trying to figure out how to trip the turn light, when a vehicle pulls up behind. It seemed that everyone agreed we'd wait for the next light cycle (they were short) for the vehicle to trip the turn signal. Next thing Iva & I know is that we are left behind. Oh, well. We got left behind a lot -- but not for very long as we were always able to use the topography to get back onto the group.
College St. & then Shiny Rock Rd to Shiny Rock (don't blink) and the NC state line. More great cycling once we had cleared Clarksville. Even the roads in and on the edge of Clarksville were no problem.
The rollers did start to get bigger -- more in line with what we had expected for the whole ride. We were NOT complaining, just noticing. It is still hard to comprehend that the entire "north side" of Kerr Lake had only smallish rollers. It was great! Have I mentioned that before?
Iva & I got dropped on one of the increasing in size rollers as we neared Shiny Rock. But we got ourselves organized and started closing on the lead four at a high rate of speed, wondering if we could catch them in time to "slide past" and nick 1st & 2nd at the state line.
Not enough road to finish the catch, and the two Pauls noticed and contested the Granville County sign / line. The Mallet was the first to return to North Carolina -- though he did not realize that the Granville County sign / line would also have to serve as the NC state line sign. Did the Iceman know that the Granville County line sign was the state line, too? I dunno. (There was no NC State Line sign.)
60+ miles done. Only ~ 10 miles to Stovall. Shallow climbs. One rider went to the front and started dragging the group towards Stovall. Although that rider was not doing 20 mph upslope (only 19.5; the 20+'s were only on downslopes), that rider eventually thought to ask those immediately behind if the entire group was still together. He eventually also recalled the leader's recent rant about not pulling the group @ 20+ mph when TOO far out from the finish. After mulling the situation over, that rider decided to relinquish the lead to others so as to stay in the good graces of the leader.
(That rider thought that he noticed that the upslope speeds immediately slowed to only 15 +/-, but maybe the upslopes were steeper. Nah. The rest of the group had recognized that some of the legs in the group might be a bit tired whereas that rider had apparently forgotten that key point.) I did notice that that rider did "win" the sprint to the "pizza place" in Stovall -- but only because the Iceman backed off his pace and probably that rider was the only "contesting" the "pizza sprint". Funny thing though: although I got to the "pizza place" first, I never did get any pizza. Arrival in Stovall, ~ 11:15.
Half an hour for pizza / deli-sandwiches / banana / coke / ice cream in the gazebo. Then . . . on to the last 14 miles via more low-traffic, great cycling roads to VGCC.
I think everyone enjoyed the ride. Even though the Mallet damaged his front wheel trying to catch the sneak county line attack just after Dexter (and I mean JUST after). Hey, fair warning of that CL was given while still in the gazebo in Stovall: "turn left onto Chewning Rd and stay straight on that road all the way to Dabney, even though the road changes name just after Dexter."
What?! You didn't realize that in NC most roads change their names when they cross the county line? Tsk, tsk.
Due to the Mallet's mechanical, we didn't arrive at VGCC until about 12:45. (Otherwise, we would certainly have arrived around 12:40.) Everyone was back to PUE, or home, by 1:30.
Great day. Great company. FANTASTIC ride.
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Comments from the peloton:
It is a bit of a stretch to refer to the following comment as being from the peloton, but:
From: PaulN ---- Date: Tue, Jul 7, 2009 4:03 pm
Thought I would tell you my version from "up front" coming back into NC at the Granville County line.
I was definitely ready for the sprint. I had a cue sheet and had watched the terrain for the previous 6 MILES. I saw the sign and knew what was ahead. I also noticed that Martin was still a bit back behind our lead group so I executed a brilliant Mis-direction strategy: "Hey," I said to the others up front, "how far back is Martin?" Then I smoothly accelerated.
I should have abandoned all coolness and jumped on the big gears like crazy. Paul, the Mallet, wasn't fooled and he whipped me to the State Line but good....after all my planning.
Iceman
From: PaulS ---- Date: Tue, Jul 7, 2009 4:07 pm
Just call me the Manx Mallet!
From: me ---- Date: Tue, Jul 7, 2009 5:36 pm
PaulN, et al - to take out the Mallet, one must not only pull off an excellent mis-direction play (or be lucky enough that he mis-directs himself such as choosing to look back over his right shoulder while drifting to his right while one goes by on his left) and dig deeper than you've ever done (thank goodness they were out of pizza in Stovall because I think my stomach would have have ejected it during my dig to the CL), but one must also be sure that the UpsideDown ( * ) Mallet yanks his own foot out of his pedal and damages his front wheel. Only the combination of the three will get the "line" for you.
( * ) For the non-US born and raised, and probably for the young amongst us, watch the "Bullwinkle and Rocky" shows for the "Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman" cartoons to understand this moniker. (The Mallet is from Epsom Downs. And I probably have the name used in the "Mr. Peabody ..." cartoons slightly wrong, but hey, he damaged his wheel, certainly he must have been upside-down for a moment or two.) For the non-Brits that may not know, "Manx" and "Manxman" refer to those from the "Isle of Man" (I hope it is only one "n"), another of those curious parts of Great Britain that are not, strictly speaking, English nor Welsh nor Scots nor Irish. [I am confident that PaulS will correct me if I am not entirely on point.]
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